Guys, having lived through the Warpcore project, I hope you don't mind if I give you a few insights/tips/ideas before this project should get on its feet; as I'd rather not like to see another TA Crack Rack be dismantled.
Mind? Why would we mind anything that tries to help us out!?
First and foremost, write a charter, and don't be cocky while doing so. When The Warpcore Project(TWP) was created, we wrote a charter that served us well. However, we were too cocky to write the part about dissolving TWP, so when it came time, we had to "wing it", which while worked, isn't something that's fun to repeat.
I was planning on writing a charter.. But if you could help out a little, with your past experience on writing a charter.. also, you seem to know what went wrong with the previous charter, so maybe we could improve on it.
Second, watch the costs, carefully. TWP was a failure for really two reasons. Besides Clay's health, the other factor was costs. Clay ran this out of his home, and was pocketing the costs. Even with the small money we brought in from then then booming e-commerece parterships, it cost too much to run. Between the power for the nodes and the AC, and running the AC itself, the project cost too much to run. Even though you have free power and AC, don't think that that'll be all your costs. Make sure you can pay for every last expense you have a chance of encountering.
Again, maybe you could help out (along with everyone else) and think about what other costs this project may entail. Electricity and A/C are covered.
Third, devote the time needed to set up the system. Clay put a lot of time into TWP, and as a result, the system itself ran well. From the custom power panel he made, to the custom Linux/network setup for running the nodes, it ran smoothly. Save yourselves the headaches of having to constantly maintain it, and try to build the rack to run itself(for the most part).
Time is definately important, as is a good setup. I have lots of time, and love 'tinkering' around with stuff like this. I already have a nice Linux setup, with a k6-2 500 that will be configured as a pproxy/router/dhcp server for the crack rack. The only thing i'm missing for this setup is a hard drive, which shouldn't be too hard to find. I have quite a bit of Linux experience, so setting this system up should only take a couple of hours. I also have an extra 5 port hub right now, and an 8 port, which should give enough room to grow for a while.
Fourth, keep the interest in the rack alive. One of TWP's downfalls was losing interest. Unlike the TA.com project, which I consider more sucessful, a crackrack don't have the freedom of enhancement and innovation that a web-service has. Keep the users interested, otherwise, you may be a in a hard spot should you need support in hard times.
Keeping interest will take some ideas. Currently the idea for a webpage with webcam seems pretty good. If we could possibly get some 'newbies' (to use the word lightly) involved (perhaps even web design, content, etc.), that would probably helped out as well.
Lastly, stick with a Star Trek name. It's sort of TA's unoffical theme for crackracks and teams, and it would be a shame to abandon it.
Startrek you say? .. aww. I kinda had "andromeda" stuck in my head!
Looks like we're going to need to vote on a name too.
Anyways, I hope you take the above into consideration. I heartfully hope that if the project goes forward, it'll suceed, but I also know what can get in the way. Use the above to guide you, and keep the dream alive.
Thanks for the advice, help, and good wishes.