PORTLAND (AP) - Oso Martin had a dream - collect old computers, teach volunteers to fix them, give the good ones away to good causes and make sure the rest are responsibly recycled.

He made that dream come true when he launched Free Geek on Earth Day 2000.

There were times when Free Geek almost didn't get off the ground. Finding people willing to donate old computers wasn't the problem. Paying for a place to store and refurbish them was. At one point, Free Geek owed $12,000 in back rent.

Today, Free Geek not only is current on its rent, it has expanded its space twice. The organization occupies an old building that stretches across a southeast Portland city block. Last year, when Oregon employers were either laying people off or locked in a hiring freeze, Free Geek boosted its staff from six to 13 plus added four paid internships.

Even with its success, Free Geek continues to reflect Martin's community values. Everything from furnishings to the toilet paper is donated. Everyone is equal. The core staff - 13 people, including Martin - earn the same pay.

"The receptionist makes the same amount of money as me, and I think that's appropriate. Her job is just as hard as mine. It's just different," says Martin, who earns about $17,000 a year.

In some ways, Free Geek is uniquely Oregon. But its power is moving beyond Oregon, as people in other states are beginning to recognize the work Martin has done.

Lately, Martin has been asked to help establish a Free Geek operation in Lancaster County, Pa. Another guy e-mailed from South Bend, Ind., asking whether he could use the Free Geek name for his computer recycling operation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are 315 million obsolete computers, monitors and other peripherals in the country, containing an estimated 1 billion pounds of lead, 2 billion pounds of cadmium and 400,000 pounds of mercury. Most everyone agrees that these toxic materials should not be disposed in the country's landfills, where they might leach into groundwater. There's also agreement that it's best not to ship these old machines to a developing country, where improper dismantling can threaten both workers and the environment.

There's widespread disagreement, however, about how obsolete computers should be handled and who should pay for it.

Free Geek's warehouse is filled with central processing units and computer monitors stacked from the floor almost to the ceiling. There's a separate room for printers - known affectionately by the Free Geekers as "printerland." There's also "stereoland," as well as a yet-to-be-named pile of laptops, phones and other gizmos taking up space Martin would like to see turned into a free Internet cafe.

A private donor gave Martin enough money to start Free Geek. But the organization won its big break when it received a $40,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Quality and the city of Portland in 2001. Other public and private grant money has trickled in.

Then, Free Geek received $159,000 in the summer from the Meyer Memorial Trust, a Portland-based foundation that supports a broad spectrum of nonprofit efforts in Oregon and Clark County, Wash. The money is to be used to expand Free Geek's staff and operations and to help other nonprofits learn to use Open Source Software, freely available applications that are easily customized.

Martin isn't stuck on any one interpretation of what Free Geek means. "You're freeing your inner geek. You're becoming a geek for free. It's about freedom and doing that in a geeky way," he says.