First post - and a forum suggestion

[gmiller1977]

Hello there!

First a thanks to Jason for getting my account set up on the forums.

Before I introduce myself, perhaps we could use a forum just for new user introductions?  A place where not-so-familiar faces can fill in other users as to who they are, their experience level, interests, and how they found themselves here?

My name is Glen (Miller) and I've been a Linux user for about 15 years now.  First cut my teeth on RedHat 5.1.

I'm an IT Director for a company in Toronto, and run a consulting business on the side servicing the SMB market

Although I spend most of my desktop time on Windows 7, I have a love of Linux for servers - currently Ubuntu Server 10.04.  Aside from the obvious licensing value that Linux offers, I prefer it for speed and stability.

I'm hoping to find other like minded people to share ideas and experiences with, and to provide help if I can.  I have no doubt I'll have lots to learn from the group as well.

I currently live outside Lindsay, not far from Sturgeon Lake -  and I work from home 90% of the time. 

My wife Natalie has a love/hate relationship with all of my old computer hardware I refuse to recycle.

I have a beagle named Zoe.

I love to fish, but never seem to have time anymore.

I have a 2010 Ford Ranger.

I (try to) love the Maple Leafs 

I like rye and coke

I like to BBQ - charcoal not propane!

...and that's basically me.  lol

At any rate, I hope to meet some of you some day, and I look forward to taking part in the forums.

Cheers!

[harry]

Maybe we'll see you at one of the monthly meetings Glenn. I think Bill lives not too far from you, but he can confirm. Looking forward to your posts.

[ebojemus]

Hey Glen, Welcome to the forums!

Sounds like there is another telecommuter on here, I am much in the same boat I work as a sysadmin for a web hosting company that uses CentOS, Cloud Linux and Win Server 2k3 and 2k8, Might be able to swap a few good stories / tips as well!

[fox]

Welcome to the forums, Glenn.  I hope we'll see you at some of the meetings and given your expertise, it would be great if you could contribute to the presentations.  FYI, I have a pet named Zoe too, but she is a guinea pig. 

[HappyPaul]

I have a Chihuahua Jack Russell mix named Charlie.

[admin]

Before I introduce myself, perhaps we could use a forum just for new user introductions?  A place where not-so-familiar faces can fill in other users as to who they are, their experience level, interests, and how they found themselves here?

Done! Perhaps everyone else could do a brief description? I'll start.

I'm Jason Wallwork, your friendly (usually) President. I was a former member and then President of the Kawartha Computer Club and discovered Linux probably around 1995. I first tried Debian Linux but the installer scared me and didn't really get into it until Red Hat 5.0 first and then Mandrake Linux (now Mandriva). Mandrake back then was the first distro to make Linux easy with a pleasant graphical environment (KDE), a great installer for setting up dual-boot and the browser and multimedia plugins so you could view media right away. I started the Peterborough Linux User group first as a Linux SIG of the Kawartha Computer Club but it became its own group around 2000, I think. Early members mostly used Mandrake Linux back then though the distribution pretty much sucks now.

I use Windows 7 mostly on the desktop but still play with Linux desktops in virtual machines usually (Virtualbox or VMware player) and have worked with Linux servers mostly for fun but I have setup a couple of useful servers - one as a Windows server clone for a high school lab, the other as a Moodle server for a local non-profit using Ubuntu. Several of us pluggers participated in a group setup of an LTSP setup with several computers for a business that provides refurbished computers to non-profits and individuals.

I'm an instructor at Fleming college. I teach computers part-time. My interests aside from computers are politics (I'm almost always involved helping the NDP during elections), science, and anti-theism. I've been married almost 20 years and we have 4 cats who we love when they're not driving us crazy. We both live in Peterborough.

[fox]

Jason, I didn't know you were much older than 20!  

My name is Michael Fox.  I teach Environmental Science and Biology at Trent University.  My first computer was an IBM PC clone in the early '80's before there was such a thing as Windows, and in 1986 I bought my first Macintosh, a Mac Plus.  Many Macs later, I use MacOSX as my working operating system.  I experimented for fun with an early version of Suse Linux for PowerPC (6.5) in the mid-90's, but I didn't find it very useful and took it off my Mac-of-the-time.  About 3 or 4 years ago I got interested in Linux again when I became unhappy with Apple for not making a mid-range tower after the Cube went the way of the dodo.  (I still have an operating Cube at home.)  I first played with Ubuntu 7.10 on a virtual machine on an Intel Mac.  I could see that it had improved a lot since my initial experiment, and I decided I would experiment with it much more.  I made a triple-boot system on my PowerBook G4, and later bought my first netbook (MSI Wind U100), explicitly to play with Linux running natively.  I used it regularly at home and travelling, mainly for email and internet, but continued to learn on it.  I have since tried about 10 different distros, bought a more powerful 11.6" netbook (Acer 1810TZ Olympic Edition), and am now alternating between Ubuntu 11.04, CrunchBang Statler (Debian-based, openbox and XFCE versions) and Bodhi Linux 1.2 (Ubuntu-based, Enlightment wm) on the netbook.  I continue to use MacOSX as my main operating system because of specific software and compatibility, but plan to move entirely to Linux when I retire.  My current interest within Linux is in alternative window managers and desktop environments, and as I am not a fan of KDE, I pay a lot of attention to the changes and new customizations in Unity and Gnome 3.

[admin]

Jason, I didn't know you were much older than 20!  

Lol. I'd be the youngest guy with grey hair. Seriously though, I was building computers 20 years ago!