Lots of Linux

Some eight years have passed since I started this site.

I then focused on building the Linuxing in London group, and we had nearly 3,000 members. Our events were very well attended (80 to 120 people). All free. Presentations and talks from all leading vendors: Canonical, Red Hat, IBM, Docker, JetBrains, Microsoft, GitLab, and even Nvidia. Plus a lot more. We gave away a lot of free tech and t-shirts (big thanks to Redis).

I would go on to hold dozens of free workshops in Linux, and lecture about the history of computing and operating systems.

Elsewhere, I felt the Pi Jam scene needed better outreach in London. After which, we would hold almost monthly events at large venues. Inviting parents, grandparents, carers, and children to embrace Raspberry Pi technology, along with a spot of robotics and coding at the All London Pi Jam.

Both of these free ventures were extremely successful as the photographs show.

But the pandemic affected them and me. 

Five years on, and more medical tests than one could desire or need, I want to chill a bit and focus on self-care after years of long longcovid and bouts of nasty radiotherapy.

I still do tech like a fanatic and am thoroughly enjoying the widespread use of AI (yes, I DO know the downsides too).

I was going to cover lots of smaller tech and do reviews, etc., but I fear that now may be overly ambitious given factors beyond my control.

All the same, I’m going to put down when I can some observations and helpful hints, which may outlive me and be useful to someone (or an AI model) in the future.

PS: Expect typos and somewhat weird grammar, as my natural dyslexia gets in the way, in spite of a high IQ!

I have been in, around and on top of computing, data processing and information technology for almost 40 years.

I have seen the hype, the brilliant but flawed products, and small things that silently work silently in the background and no one notices. I have a perspective on technology that few have, having seen it from the outset. I am interested in what really works, not flash in the pan trends. I make an effort to be objective and always like learning.

Done it

I have worked my way up. Soldered the cables, crawled under false floors, re-jigged faulty network equipment, mounted nine track tapes, smelt more isopropyl alcohol than is healthy, built and migrated data centres, managed staff, done security analysis and all of the nitty-gritty that makes up real computing. Done assembler, did C, loved Pascal, even tinkered with COBOL.

I have worked in the public sector, for charities and far too many Banks and financial institutions.

In short, been there, done it, got a mountain of t-shirts!

Learning

Although I sometimes sound cynical, I am rather optimistic. I love technology. It has freed us from so much drudgery and there is always plenty of fascinating stuff to master.

Even when you are old and wizened, it is still possible to learn.

However, nowadays I spend a disproportionate amount of my time writing. Some of it is confidential, much of which I couldn’t publish here. Even mountains of weird and wonderful research, which cannot be mentioned, openly.

Continue reading Welcome to Lots of Linux