(Updated: 2005-05-14)
Name: Eric Sandall
Homepage: http://eric.sandall.us/ SMGL Page: http://smgl.sandall.us/
IRC Nick(s): sandalle, sandalle|mobile, sandalle|work, sandalle|laptop
Role in SMGL: Lead Developer
Age: 27 (1979-11-18)
Location/Country: Mountain View, CA, USA
When did you first start using Linux and why?
I first began using Linux when Debian GNU/Linux 2.0 (Slink or Hamm) first came out. As Debian doesn't release very often, this was a while ago (early 1990s). 
I was interested in computers and wanted to learn more about them, MS-DOS and MS Windows were not great platforms to learn this on, as they did everything for you (usually poorly) and didn't let you play. I heard about Linux through some website or through someone in school (don't remember which). I stuck with Debian for a while, mostly because I liked it and enjoyed getting things to work (though XFree86 was a pain :)). I looked at Red Hat, but it looked too pretty, and I had more problems getting it to work on my ol' AMD 586 than I had with Debian; Debian also seemed to run faster and not install so much crap. I also was in favor of the "free as in speech" aspect of Linux, I was already getting tired of the MS world with it's slow (and buggy) patches, closed arena, etcetera, though I still keep it for games.
How long have you been using the SMGL distribution?
I've been using SMGL since early January of 2002, after the first article about SGL appeared on Slashdot talking about this "new and different" distribution. Once I read the description about SGL on Distro Watch and on the SGL webpage, I was too enthused to do anything else but install it on my laptop (test machine, desktop has all my games =)). I helped out very little in those days (though I did send some money to Kyle) as I didn't feel my skills up to par with the other gurus, and Kyle's attitute towards people was a little scary when I began to think of helping. I remember forming the GAG (Grimoire Auditing Group) to help Kyle with the grimoire, but we didn't get much done, as I'm not a very good organizer, CSM (founder of Lunar Penguin (LP)) did most of the organization after I got GAG going with Kyle's permission, and Kyle setup a CVS account on http://savannah.gnu.org for us to use. We did fix some things, but then things just stopped when CSM disappeared (later I found out that he brought some people from SGL to LP), and a little later Kyle went into "deep coding" stage, as he stated later. I'll stop now so that I don't turn this into a rant. :P
What piqued your interest in SMGL initially?
I thought SGL was the best distribution out there (better than my beloved Debian), and wanted to see it continue (thanks Ryan Abrams (RA) and Eric Schabell (ES)! :)), but didn't want to run a fork (LP). So, when the e-mail came from RA (IIRC) saying that he had a web page up and how to change the mirror to get the newest sorcery, I was very happy. After using the new SGL for a bit, I volunteered to take the editors section as I felt I should start contributing and that this was a much friendlier (and democratic) environment, more to my liking. =) My involvement eventually grew to disk and games, then I was offered the position of Assistant Grimoire Lead (Asst. to Schabell), which I gladly accepted. Then Ryan had to depart for Real Life(TM) (RL) and Schabell became our Project Lead, I was offered the Grimoire Lead position and have held that for a while, then Project Lead when Schabell left, then back to Grimoire Lead a few years later, and now "just" a Lead Developer and doing what I can for this great distro.
What future do you personally see for SMGL?
Of course, I see SMGL as becoming the best distribution out there (with Debian trailing second 
as it offers the best of all worlds (if you have the time). Once we have all the issues worked out (package mirroring so old version don't break, kernel's setup properly, etc.) for 1.0, we'll have a huge influx of newbies (which is good, leads to a bigger talent pool). We've (well, SGL, but since we are SGL (Kyle's SGL is now SL, since it's closed source, and we continued the project after he dropped it (yes he did! :)), we are SGL) been number one on DistroWatch for a while, we're well on our way. =) Well, we had been #1 on DW for a while, but then we dropped a bit after the initial wave hit and we're #2 for source-based distributions.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Education/Career/Skills?
I'm working on a BS in Computer Science at Washington State University. To help pay the bills, I also work as a Systems Administrator for the Institute for Shock Physics at WSU (NT/2000 mostly =(, some RedHat Linux machines, one Debian machine, and 3 SMGL machines :)). I've been programming C/C++ since '98, and have been running my own network/server in my apartment (I'll get cutoff the Internet if I have too much bandwidth going through my machine, otherwise I'd offer to mirror) and setting it up as a Beowulf Cluster for fun.
Any personal messages for the Source Mage users out there?
Keep with it (just in case you're thinking of not, but then again, why would you do that? :)), this distribution is the best out there, and beats the pants off of any other.
vi or emacs?
Both. I prefere VIm, but that's because I mostly edit scripts and small files, which VIm is good for, but EMACS has quite a few features (I've never really used it) that are good for other situations. I'd say VIm is the best, but not perfect for everything you might want to do (read e-mail perhaps?).
KDE or GNOME?
Started out GNOME, but it was (still is?) too buggy (things crashed too often for me in GNOME), slow, and ugly. I tried Enlightenment for a bit, this was more stable than GNOME, prettier, but a little slower, so I dropped it after a few months. Then went WindowMaker (quite an improvement!) and stayed with this for a few years. I then heard of a WM called BlackBox...this blew me away! About 15,000 of C for a WM, it was fast, flexible, and very stable. Everything I needed. I used KDE for my two daily use boxes as it looks pretty (I like my transparency), more stable than GNOME and faster than E16, but still use BlackBox for my server (light footprint). And now I'm back to GNOME. 
GNOME 2.4 is more stable than 1.4, and isn't as crappy, plus KDE seems to keep getting slower for a while after that. Now I mostly use Enlightenment DR17 and then KDE when I'm in the mood for pretty.
BSD or GPL?
GPL. No question for me. BSD is nice, but it allows companies like MS to take a protocol (i.e. TCP/IP, PKS, etc.) and change it and distribute it without being required to give back to the community which it borrowed from, thus hurting everyone but themselves. I see this as a road to closed everything, as they (closed source companies) can take what we, the Open Source (BSD, QT, GPL, LGPL, etc.) put our time and energy into and poison it with "Intellectual Property" of their own, then force it down 95% of the users throats, and call it a "standard", all the while, the OS community has to work extra hard to make their protocol work with the proprietary protocol (i.e. Kerberos PKI from MIT). BSD is nice in that it does encourage closed source companies to work with us, but I believe that, overall, it only hurts our freedoms.
What other OS programs/software have you worked on?
I tried BeOS for a bit; very pretty, very fast, easy to use, but limited support, though they did/do have a Linux compatiblity layer. Also tried QNX RTOS, this was also fast, but closed source, so that lasted only a few weeks. Haven't really worked on any other OS's or programs, though my brother and I are working on a game, mostly for fun, that's based on D&D 3rd Edition (started it on 2nd, then 3rd came out). Only text right now, and my g/f has already beaten as much of the storyline as we have, so now she's prodding us to put more in, so are a few of our other friends. I'm also working with the freeglut project to bring a better GLUT implementation (with a better license ;)) to the masses. And I'm starting to help with the WorldForge project (particularly the Dime client, as I've always wanted to write a game, and this seems like a good effort to help out in.
Do you have any family?
My parents are divorced (beginning of January 2003) and I have a younger brother who's going to Whitman University (in Walla Walla, WA, USA, funny name, eh? and two younger sisters, one in 6th grade, the other in 4th. Married to SweetPotato.
What kind of car do you drive? Or what is your dream car? I ride a bicycle. When I need a car, though, I borrow SweetPotato's 2005 Hyundai Elantra with all the extras. Soon I might fix the first gear on my motorcycle and get a motorcycle license, but not sure on that yet. My dream car would be one of the following: Some nice BMW or a Mercedes-Benz.
Please attach a recent photograph of yourself - if you're brave enough ;=)
(sandalle on the left and SweetPotato on the right ;)) Happy hacking,
-sandalle