[Edited this question due to "unclear what i'm asking"]
So, i'm having the following problem: I need a "thing" (a server, a linux box, a free service, whatever) to forward emails to a list of about 200 people. A small group shall be able to adress this "thing". I'm not searching for a concrete software recommendation, i want to know which would be the best approach to fulfill this task.
I thought of the following things:
A linux box that acts as a simple mail server. That would require everyone who wants to distribute an email to this list to set this server up as SMTP on their mail programs. I would appreciate something easier to use for the "sending" group.
A program (or maybe a script for thunderbird, is this possible?) that automatically checks a certain, existing mail account for incoming emails and directly forwards them to the list. This would be easy because the "sending" group does not have to set up something but just send an email to the special mail account.
An online mail service which - maybe free - does the job. This would only require to set up one or several accounts for the "sending" group. Only thing I don't like on this option is that I don't have the full control over the things happening.
So what do you think is the best option? Or are there better possibilities?
Thanks in advance