ST-Hosting free VPS

msatt · February 2

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Great News for Open Source Developers

ST-Hosting have kindly donated a fantastic server in Frankfurt (de1) which will be available for at least two years !!!!
This is extremely generous and has been made available because they, like us, want to help the Open Source community.

For those interested in figures, it is an AMD EPYC 7402P 24-Core Processor with 128GiB RAM and 1TB SSD. So we have lots of capacity available

We also have space available on our other European and US servers. Absolutely FREE, no catches, no credits, no price bumps.
Server locations and end dates are always on our website at https://fossvps.org and currently are :-

Moldova Chisinau courtesy of Alexhost till 31th January 2027
US Buffalo Courtesy of MSATT till 22nd November 2026
US Los Angeles Courtesy of MSATT till 21st of December 2026
Romania Bucharest courtesy of Hosteroid till 6th March 2026

Rules for a free VPS

Free and open source software developers only.
White hat only
Not for commercial use
No service level agreement but we are good.
Don't be a dick rules
No excessive high cpu, disk or bandwidth

Warnings - be honest !!!

Multiple registrations will get you banned
Good reputation on this forum (no history, no server - sorry)
Email address (purely for admin emails), don't make a request if you wish to be anonymous
Failing to accept the verification email will lock you out from re-applying

If you would like a VPS, just complete this form asking what you are developing and links to previous developments.

Acceptance will give you 2 VCPU, 4GiB Ram, 64GiB disk with NAT + IPv6 /96 access on Ubuntu, Debian or Alpine in your preferred location.

For those concerned about using NAT we have our in house Open Source version of NPM. Which provides a reverse proxy so your websites are fully accessible.

We are genuinely doing this to help, so please, no abuse as it messes it up for everyone. FOSSVPS has no income and is a team of 6 volunteers. Apart from a free VPS there are no other rewards. This is driven by the community and is for the community.

Mike

msatt · February 15

Couple of updates.
We just released another free server in Buffalo as our existing one has proven popular. This was donated by a current user of LES and FOSSVPS, thank you so much https://jetno.de
So we now have Germany (de1), Moldova (mol1), Bucharest (buc1), Buffalo (us1 and us1a) and L.A. (us2).
if you fulfill our conditions in the first post you can have your own free VPS.

We also have a new 'rebuild' feature.
Allowing you to specify you would like either a re-install at current location or alternatively reinstall with different OS.
The rebuild also works across locations, e.g. if your VM is in Moldova running Ubuntu, you could request a rebuild in Frankfurt (de1) with Debian.
Note this is not a migrate.
With a rebuild, all of your data will be lost and it is only available if you are using NAT and IPv6 (not have a static IP).

somik · February 15

@msatt said: If you would like a VPS, just complete this form asking what you are developing and links to previous developments.

Add some https://getbootstrap.com/ CSS to make the form look nice. Ask your favorite coder LLM (github AI or chatGPT etc.) to help if needed. It'll give you a full copy/pastable code with bootstrap.

Also, upscale the background image

NVM, here you go:

Screenshot:

Code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>VM Provisioning Form</title>
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

  <!-- Bootstrap 5 -->
  <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

  <!-- reCAPTCHA -->
  <script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js" async defer></script>

  <style>
    body {
      background: url('../images/fossvps-logo5.webp') center / cover no-repeat fixed;
      min-height: 100vh;
    }
    .form-card {
      background-color: rgba(40, 0, 50, 0.95);
      color: #fff;
      border-radius: 1rem;
    }
    label {
      font-weight: 500;
    }
  </style>

  <script>
    function updateIpOptions() {
      const locationSelect = document.getElementById('server_location');
      const ipSelect = document.getElementById('ip_sel');

      ipSelect.innerHTML = '';

      const defaultOption = document.createElement('option');
      defaultOption.value = '5';
      defaultOption.text = 'NAT + IPv6';
      ipSelect.appendChild(defaultOption);
    }

    window.onload = updateIpOptions;
  </script>
</head>

<body class="d-flex align-items-center py-5">

<div class="container">
  <div class="row justify-content-center">
    <div class="col-lg-8">

      <div class="card form-card shadow-lg p-4">
        <h1 class="text-center mb-4">FOSSVPS Registration</h1>

        <form method="POST" action="fhandler1.php">

          <!-- Name -->
          <h5 class="mt-3">Personal Information</h5>
          <div class="row g-3">
            <div class="col-md-6">
              <label for="fname" class="form-label">First Name</label>
              <input type="text" class="form-control" id="fname" name="fname" required>
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-6">
              <label for="lname" class="form-label">Last Name</label>
              <input type="text" class="form-control" id="lname" name="lname" required>
            </div>
            <div class="col-12">
              <label for="email" class="form-label">Email Address</label>
              <input type="email" class="form-control" id="email" name="email" required>
            </div>
          </div>

          <!-- Forum -->
          <h5 class="mt-4">Forum Used</h5>
          <div class="d-flex flex-wrap gap-3">
            <div class="form-check">
              <input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="forum" id="let" value="LET" required>
              <label class="form-check-label" for="let">LET</label>
            </div>
            <div class="form-check">
              <input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="forum" id="les" value="LES">
              <label class="form-check-label" for="les">LES</label>
            </div>
            <div class="form-check">
              <input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="forum" id="nodeseek" value="NS">
              <label class="form-check-label" for="nodeseek">Nodeseek</label>
            </div>
            <div class="form-check">
              <input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="forum" id="facebook" value="FB">
              <label class="form-check-label" for="facebook">Facebook</label>
            </div>
            <div class="form-check">
              <input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="forum" id="other" value="Other">
              <label class="form-check-label" for="other">Other</label>
            </div>
          </div>

          <div class="mt-3">
            <label for="forum_user" class="form-label">Username on Forum</label>
            <input type="text" class="form-control" id="forum_user" name="forum_user" required>
          </div>

          <!-- Purpose -->
          <h5 class="mt-4">Project Information</h5>
          <div class="mb-3">
            <label for="vm_purpose" class="form-label">Purpose of VM</label>
            <input type="text" class="form-control" id="vm_purpose" name="vm_purpose" required>
          </div>
          <div class="mb-3">
            <label for="git_page" class="form-label">Public Web / Git Page</label>
            <input type="url" class="form-control" id="git_page" name="git_page"
                   placeholder="https://example.com" required>
          </div>

          <!-- VM Config -->
          <h5 class="mt-4">VM Configuration</h5>
          <div class="row g-3">
            <div class="col-md-6">
              <label for="server_location" class="form-label">Server Location</label>
              <select class="form-select" id="server_location"
                      name="server_location[]" onchange="updateIpOptions()" required>
                <option value="de1">Frankfurt</option>
                <option value="buc1">Bucharest</option>
                <option value="mol1">Moldova</option>
                <option value="us1">US Buffalo</option>
                <option value="us2">US L.A.</option>
              </select>
            </div>

            <div class="col-md-6">
              <label for="ip_sel" class="form-label">IP Configuration</label>
              <select class="form-select" id="ip_sel" name="ip_sel" required></select>
            </div>

            <div class="col-12">
              <label for="os_sel" class="form-label">Operating System</label>
              <select class="form-select" id="os_sel" name="os_sel" required>
                <option value="101">Debian 13.1.0</option>
                <option value="102">Alpine 3.22.2</option>
                <option value="100">Ubuntu 24.04.3</option>
              </select>
            </div>
          </div>

          <!-- CAPTCHA -->
          <div class="my-4 text-center">
            <div class="g-recaptcha"
                 data-sitekey="6LcijwUsAAAAAFVQgYL5ozgeLnhlkjfnhiH4Ntgw"></div>
          </div>

          <!-- Submit -->
          <div class="d-grid">
            <button type="submit" class="btn btn-lg btn-primary">
              Submit Application
            </button>
          </div>

        </form>
      </div>

    </div>
  </div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

msatt · February 15

@somik - Looks so much better, thank you - love it.
I am a nerd and doing 'pretty' stuff never works for me.

mizzik · February 15

Rather than a free VPS, it seems more like data collection.

somik · February 15

@mizzik said:
Rather thæn a free VPS, it seems more like data collection.

If you think so, I would recommend you not to go to a doctor, ever!

msatt · February 15

@mizzik said:
Rather than a free VPS, it seems more like data collection.

It may 'seem' like whatever, but you are being cynical. It is insulting when we are genuinely providing a free service.
I have and never will do anything with the email / name apart from use for admin messages. The purpose of the other questions (which are only used during registration) are to prove you are creating Open Source and to prove you are not a dick.
So please consider there are people who do things for the benefit of the community and not for any other gain !!!!!

mizzik · February 15

@msatt , it was just my opinion... but judging by how heated you got, maybe I hit the nail on the head.

teamacc · February 15

Your new DE server is not listed on your NPM page.

You mention "dont request a server if you want to remain anonymous" - is the email address published or is it just your internal administration?

msatt · February 15

@teamacc said:
Your new DE server is not listed on your NPM page.

Agreed it is out of date - full NPM details are included in the VM config email.

You mention "dont request a server if you want to remain anonymous" - is the email address published or is it just your internal administration?

@msatt said: I have and never will do anything with the email / name apart from use for admin messages.

So yes it is purely internal admin.

msatt · February 15

@mizzik said:
@msatt , it was just my opinion... but judging by how heated you got, maybe I hit the nail on the head.

Well try understanding your insults can hurt.

somik · February 16

@teamacc said:
You mention "dont request a server if you want to remain anonymous" - is the email address published or is it just your internal administration?

Given most people only know who you are by your username and many people use email addresses like [email protected] i think the concern is valid

@msatt said:

@mizzik said:
@msatt , it was just my opinion... but judging by how heated you got, maybe I hit the nail on the head.

Well try understanding your insults can hurt.

And @msatt need to chill. Think of how @VirMach replies to messages. If it's a confrontational message, you dont have to reply to it. Ignore it. If you do need to reply, keep it short and dont take it as a personal insult.

As for @mizzik, as @msatt said, it's a free service. Take it or leave it.

As I see things, nothing in life is free. You either pay with cash or your data. If you can trust google/amazon/microsoft/facebook/twitter with your data knowing that they are busy selling it, I think you can trust @msatt since selling data on just a few users wont net him much income

IAmNix · February 16

To follow up these cynical people who can't believe anyone does anything just for the benefit of the community;

Thank you @msatt and @Not_Oles for doing this work for the benefit of the community.

As a FOSSVPS user I can vouch that they are reasonable people who deliver on their promise.

This new DE1 server is an excellent addition, further proving the FOSSVPS model to work and be appreciated by both users and providers.

msatt · February 16

@IAmNix Thank you, it is only by comments like this that peoples trust and cynicism will change.

I find it amazing that people are happy to pay $7 for a VM from a new provider and potentially have all of their data used. Some even request KYC. We ask for an email address, some way of proving you are involved in Open Source and not a dick.

@somik considering what @VirMach does, I think it is a bit unfair to compare me like that and it is me, so comments are personal.

@somik said: I think you can trust @msatt since selling data on just a few users wont net him much income

Absolutely and I can swear there is absolutely no income generated by anything associated with FOSSVPS.

TigersWay · February 17

Little information, SSL certificates from https://npm.*.fossvps.org are "not trusted" on Firefox, while OK on Chrome of course. ssllabs.com confirmed it.

msatt · February 17

@TigersWay thanks for the report, I use chrome and have not seen any issue. npm generates its own certs so I will look in to this immediately.

Update.
Confirmed problem - the certificates should have multiple domains included but only the first is being used, hence the failure. Updating to single domain and should be fixed in about 10 minutes.

Bass · February 18

Maybe this is something to try.

hornet · February 18

@somik said: [email protected]

How dare you post my email! Haha! Just kidding! Thank you for offering this cool resource for the opensource community!

ST-Hosting free VPS

Great News for Open Source Developers

Rules for a free VPS

Warnings - be honest !!!

Comments