The "free as in freedom" issue implies I'm a deadbeat unless I pay for the distro I use. (Unless it's one of the commercial distros that doesn't need donations. Right?) That could be difficult not because I wouldn't donate money (I would), but because there are so many that I could spend years determining which should get my donations. I can't give money to all of them.
In other words, how do you fund Linux if you don't have a favorite distro or if you aren't sure your favorite is the most worthy? My favorite distro is Knoppix, but that's based on personal idiosyncrasies, and I am not at all sure if Knoppix is objectively better than MEPIS, the other liveCD I like.

I have considered donating to OpenOffice, though. OpenOffice and the Mozilla browsers are almost more important than Linux itself, because they work in Windows, and that solves (a)Internet Explorer's inferiority and (b)Microsoft's obnoxious price-gouging on its office suites the last time I checked.

If you're simply looking for something in the Linux community to donate to, I'd suggest donating to whatever distro you prefer. By donating to a distro, or even a specific software project, you're financially supporting a product that you enjoy. Without these donations, some distros or projects could be forced to call it quits simply because they can't afford to continue their work.

Hou can always donate to LQ! http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/donation.html

If you use SSH, I'd consider donating to The OpenSSH project. It's the defacto standard for SSH access these days, but they have recently fallen on hard times. I know they could use the help.

It was like a lightning bolt to the brain. It occured to me that I had forgotten to mention LQ. A large portion of my Linux knowledge is because of LQ and it's certainly worthy of a donation as well.

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SSH? Don't worry, I'll look up what that is, but it's begging for this question: is that a distribution that specializes in running very quietly?

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Yeah, but I'd like to be sure my preferred distro (Knoppix) is the best in at least some aspects, and I'm not. Are you saying I should be less cautious? I really think that only the most worthy distros (by some kind of objective standards) should get donations.

SSH is the secure shell.

If you find Knoppix useful, then they've obviously done something right. Help the ones who have helped you!

You know, this kind of remembers me the
time when I wanted to do something for the
community. Sort of giving back. So I started
answering threads with 0 replys, but soon
after that, I thaught it was not enough. So
I decided for donating but, who? Who should
I donate to. I made my decision by ivestigating
wich was the most frequent resource I was using.
LQ won the bid by far much more than other
resources. I ended up donating for Slacware too.
And when Slackware 11 get released I'm not
going to download it. I'm buying it.

-W

Yes... buying your distro of choice from them also helps as they make money, and you usually get nice-looking media!

Another idea: many projects sell T-shirts and other knick-knacks. These are always nice to buy if you don't particularly want or need media.

And on that note, LQ.org also offers merchandise: http://www.linuxquestions.org/merchandise/

Ot instead of deciding on one oproject spread the amount you would donate accross a few projects, for example say you were going to donate £20, you could give £5 to one distro you use, £5 to another distro you use, then say give £5 to Kde andd another £5 to whoever.

Although £5 is not at all alot, its something and surly everything helps, regardless of how small it may be.

Michael.

is it not possible to donate to kernel development? does linus work on that alone, or is it a team effort? it seems to me if you want to donate to "linux", then the kernel is a pretty fundamental part of it... i've google around and I couldn't see a place to donate to the kernel...