"start a blog"

"start a blog" came the cry form Jono. I sent a reply saying that I kindof had one, but that Id been to lazy to update it. So why was Jono asking me to start a blog? Well I have recently been asked to join the Lugradio team as a co-presenter, as one of the team had left. I felt very honored to be asked, as Id been a fan of the show since it started and had recently had the opportunity to stand in for one the the presenters who was off on honeymoon. Recording Lugradio as just as much fun as listening to it, I have to say.

So why the blog? Well because all the other presenters, as ardent Linux fans, had one I guess. Anyway it only makes sense to do so, so that people can learn a little bit more about me.

So who the hell am I? Well on the show I started to try and answer this but I seem to remember it being a little disjointed, so lets try again. Well to sum up, Im a 38 year old network geek. Ive been around computers, in one shape or another, for about twenty years I guess. In the early days I had a Commodore64 and then progressed onto an Amiga. When this finally died, I got a PC. I remember it feeling like selling my soul to Bill. The Amiga community was very much like the Linux community, only smaller.

Work
I havent always worked in IT, infact Ive only really done so for about five or six years. Currently Im a Senior Network Analyst for a financial company, and Im based in Birmingham. Ive only been in this role for about six months and Im still enjoying every day. The center I work in, is a hub for all the company's WAN connections, so I get to play with lots of different Cisco kit. I sometimes think that giving me a role like this is like giving a train spotter a job as a train driver! :-)

Our network is almost entirely Windows 2000, and I have to say it works very well indeed (I know that this is heresy to some, but never the less its true). In the six months since Ive been there I have managed to get a few Linux servers into the Machine room and generally pimped the use of open source. It is a slow process, but at lease they are open to the idea.

My Dream
Long term, I dream of the day when I could manage a newtork, the size of ours, using only open source software. When every desktop and server would be running Linux. That day isnt here yet, nor I suspect is it close, but never the less it keeps getting closer. I mean there are obviously roles that Linux could very easily take over now but by no means can it do it all, in my humble opinion.

At home, its a different story. For the longest time I ran a dual boot system - Windows & Redhat. I kept Windows around for the things that either couldnt be done in Linux or that I didnt know how to do in Linux. As time went on I found I was booted into Linux much more than I was booted into Windows. It had become my primary OS. It was probably 18 months ago that I finally stopped using windows on my main machine.

I only have two machines in my home now that run Windows, my CD/DVD Burner and my laptop (which dual boots). I recently made the burner into a dual boot machine to see it I could migrate this role to a Linux only box. Im fairly confident I can but Ive not burnt disks under Linux before. Should be interesting.

Anyway I shall leave it there for now and vow to do my very best to keep this updated. Watch this space