Jim Nanney
From SmlugWiki
Contents |
About Me
What brought me to love linux is likely not to affect the masses. I was used to the old DOS 3.1 interface and had a hard time migrating to the "point and click interface" of windows. I was thoroughly impressed with the power that the linux command line offered, versus the dumbed down command line your got with DOS. Doing repetitive tasks was just easier with Linux (or more to the point with BASH, the Bourne Again SHell)
I love to tinker with things and change them around. For me, this means taking the source code to something I use, changing it to work the way I want, and recompiling it for me. I've become a strong advocate of Open Source Software. The paradigm of buying something and having no rights to change it to suit your own personal needs has hindered me in the past. This sole provision of complete ownership of the software you purchase, has pushed me to not want anything other than open source software.
Linux as a Religion
It has been said, Linux zealots are a religious bunch in that they advocate Only Linux and nothing else. While this is somewhat true, I can not dismiss it as easily. Linux is a representation of freedom. Freedom to share and collaborate, freedom to use your PC for more than just email (or just email if that is what you want). The real freedom comes in being able to change it to suit your needs. All the source is there. Everything you need to rebuild it with your own changes.
The point of Linux and the accompanying software is simple. We want you to take full advantage of your hardware, and software, without limitation. You own it, you should be able to use it as you see fit.
Plus, I really like Free as in Beer (or if ya want to buy me one, a Free Beer).
Linux Distributions
While I don't wish to start a flame war over favorite distributions, I will add my personal favorite and my reason as to why here. In my home environment I run Fedora exclusively throughout.
In my home, I have eight PCs running Fedora Linux:
- My wife's PC
- My 3 daughters each have their own PC (which use LTSP)
- My PC
- My laptop
- My home network's server,
- My MythTV PC
The only PC with anything other than Linux on it is my work PC, and I use VMWare to handle Windows on it for development purposes.
Fedora is my distribution of choice, due mainly to the team's commitment to using only free "as in rights" software. I recently decided to join the Fedora Ambassadors Project group to help spread the word about this great distribution and about the team's commitment to freedom and excellence. I am also participating in the Fedora Free Media Program in which we send out DVDs to people who might not otherwise be able to afford them or afford to get them.
Contact Info
You can catch me at the Next Meeting
or
Email: jnanney at mscoast dot com
Coast Grocery
My wife and I last year started a business called Coast Grocery. We started it with the intent to show that a business can grow from the very startup to full scale using nothing but Linux. So far we have achieved that goal and we are continuing to strive to keep it that way.
I'll leave the advertising out, and simply say it is very possible to create and run a business using only OSS software.
French Language
Recently I've been working on learning the French language and have enlisted my family as participants so we are all learning now. If you are interested in learning we are keeping our notes online at French Notes at mscoast.com.
GPG
Key Fingerprint: 0025 ADF6 2AE0 7866 BD74 1141 DC64 4F4B 2DEF 0C93
Key Id: 2DEF0C93
Member's GNUPG Key List
Links
- My Fedora Project Wiki Page
- My Pantryscanner Project
- PVR without dedicated MythTV box.
- My Home Page / Blog
- nthday.sh shell script - Creating a 3rd Monday of the Month Cron Job
- Subversion Information
- .htaccess and it's many many uses
- Coast Grocery My wife and I run this company purely on linux and have had a write up in the Linux Bible 2008 Edition by Chris Negus.
