[FreeGeek] Welcome - intros

[Dustin Harriman]

Hello all,

My name is Dustin Harriman.  I have a degree in Computer Science and 5
years professional experience as a Unix Systems Administrator.  I
recently wrote an article about Freegeek appearing in Momentum
Magazine, which is now featured on the front page of the Freegeek
website.

Dave contacted me recently after reading the article I wrote.  It made
my year to know that Freegeek Vancouver was going to be founded very
soon.

I've been an avid Linux fan for 11 years now, and I've installed Linux
countless times for friends, family, and my employers on all kinds of
hardware, from an embedded ARM board all the way up to very fancy and
expensive enterprise hardware.  I'm quite up to date with most mature,
enterprise-level Open Source Software, including automated linux
distro installers like FAI (which I highly recommend eventually
learning and using on most or all computers that will be refurbished
by Freegeek to save time).  My favorite distro is currently Ubuntu
(which I see is Freegeek Portland's also).

I'm not much of a software developer but I'm good at automating things
and gluing together other programs at the system level (using python
or bash scripts).  My command line kung foo is definitely "advanced".
I've set up numerous OSS servers (email, web, DNS, automated backups,
groupware, system monitoring, firewalls, etc), and I've devoted much
time separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to these kinds
of systems, favoring systems that are relatively simple, cleanly
designed, mature, and easy-to-maintain (which will all be important
when possibly maintained by interchangeable volunteers).  I'm a big
fan of avoiding "NIH syndrome".

I've unfortunately recently moved away from Vancouver, after quitting
a Systems Administrator job with Business Objects Vancouver.  I'm
taking a sabbatical year to devote myself to meditating at a Buddhist
monastery near Kamloops and give my whole computer geek act a
much-needed rest. ;)  This will limit my ability to participate in
Freegeek Vancouver for now.  I'm delighted to be on this mailing list
none the less and lurk from the sidelines.  If and when I ever move
back to Vancouver, you'll all meet me very soon after and I'll very
likely want to get deeply involved.

Perhaps my technical knowhow and perspective will come in handy from
time to time.  That's what I can offer to your group for the time
being (as well as my enthusiasm and support).

Cheers,
Dustin Harriman

My Blog: http://ca.blog.360.yahoo.com/dustinharriman
RSS Feed: http://ca.blog.360.yahoo.com/rss-RkGSoVA1brWtXrVH9Gr5CzgVujwwGg--?cq=1

"Freedom is not the capacity to do whatever we please; freedom is the
capacity to make intelligent choices"  -Francis Moore Lappé