Starting a Computer Co-op?

spacechicken asks: "I am studying at a major university in Australia. As is the case with (almost) all educational facilities there are never enough computers available for students. So I (with some friends) are thinking about setting up a computer co-op at (or near) the university. In exchange for membership, members will get a small amount of storage and reduced usage and printing rates. The hope is to not only provide word processing/web surfing (using Linux, Staroffice6.0 and Netscape) but also access to various apps needed for serious academic work (eg CATIA, ProEngineer). We are planning to run standard PCs, with higher end machines if needed. My question is, does anyone have any experience with this type of facility? Any advice?"

Over here..

[fille]

..our university sells and hires pc's and laptops to students. For something like a Euro a day, you can hire a desktop. Moreover, there is a sort of a co-op where you can get an account on a Linux-server and try your linux-software, check your mail, make backups, etc. But they don't provide other services since the number of volunteers is quite limited.

Very important: try to use rooms and other infrastructure from the university. Usually, they will provide it for free and especially a fast internet connection is something you want from them.