Name: Tommy Boatman
Homepage: Currently under development. I will post the link once it has launched.
SMGL Page: My SMGL Page
IRC Nick(s): tboatman
Role in SMGL: General Developer - I spend as much time in Bugzilla as anyone else. I am also planning to take over maintainer duties for a few grimoire sections.
Age: 38
Location/Country: Houston, TX
When did you first start using Linux and why?
I've used Linux since the early 90s because I wanted an alternative to Microsoft. As of December 2006, I'm 100% certified Microsoft-free. I still retain one machine running Windows 7, along with my laptop, to remain compatible with Microsoft exclusive software. Mostly they run graphics-intensive games, or otherwise sit donating idle cycles to my distributed environment.
How long have you been using the SMGL distribution?
I've been actively using SourceMage since 2006, and a contributing developer for as long as I have been using the distribution. All of my mission critical stuff is running on either Debian or SourceMage.
What piqued your interest in SMGL initially?
Jeremy Blosser (emrys) is the guilty party. When I met him for the first time (for completely unrelated reasons) he was wearing a SourceMage T-shirt, and I wondered what it was. When I got home I did some research, loaded a system with it, and have been running it on at least a couple of my home systems ever since. Eventually I would like to convert my entire setup to SMGL, but right now I spend more time concentrating on making the distribution as strong as I can within the areas on which I work.
What future do you personally see for SMGL?
I don't necessarily see SMGL taking over the world, but source distributions are superior to built distributions in nearly every way except for quick out of the box running. As the open source and GPL movements grow, there will be even more of a demand for source distributions as a means to keep up with current technology. Binary distributions are notoriously stale in their stable releases - the core packages are usually several version behind the most recent stable release of the packages themselves. I see SMGL poised to take great advantage of this with its simplicity in package management, even if only in a niche capacity for the time being. It's more solid than just about any distro I've used and far easier to deal with than the "leading" source distribution whose name I shall not mention here. I am extremely impressed with the philosophy of SourceMage, specifically that issues within a package are addressed to the package maintainers themselves, rather than by writing some hack patch that is specific to a single distribution. This in and of itself strengthens the entire Linux community.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Education/Career/Skills?
I hold an AA in Computer Science from San Jacinto College, and am currently working on finishing my BS. I have a bizarre collection of computer skills ranging from MS-DOS all the way through IBM mainframe operating systems and everything in between. I've spent time as an MVS systems op, a Cisco TAC technician, VAX/VMS operations and administration, a corporate technical writer/trainer, and currently teach information technology classes.
Any personal messages for the Source Mage users out there?
I've never seen a more friendly and receptive development group on any project I've considered working with. If you need help, just ask! If you see me online and need anything, I'll do my best to help. If I cannot do so, I will definitely find you someone who can. My personal pledge to our user base is that I will continue working to stabilize and improve this distro to the limit of my abilities.
vi or emacs?
vi - Always and forever, I tried emacs once and deleted it off my systems as quickly as I could. While nano is the default in our base system, I make sure to recast my base to include vi or vim.
KDE or GNOME?
I've been a bit of a diehard KDE user since 3.0. I am finally warming up to KDE 4 and am running it on my primary desktop. I've also worked through a few bugs in the KDE 4 implementation on SMGL. GNOME is certainly usable as well - I use it on Solaris systems when I have access to them. Enlightenment is nice too!
BSD or GPL?
GPL - not enough experience with the BSD license to have an opinion. Some projects that I follow use the Q Public License, which I personally do not like.
What other OS programs/software have you worked on?
I worked with the old Linux Documentation Project many many years ago (early 90s). I also spent a little bit of time dabbling in Debian development, but quickly found it somewhat distasteful. I've worked on virtually every operating system in existence.
Do you have any family?
My mother and sister live in the city, and I am quite happily attached.
What other hobbies?
I am an avid soccer fan (Chelsea FC, Houston Dynamo, Juventus, Real Salt Lake). I haven't played in a few years, and am dying to get back on the field. I also target shoot and reload my own ammunition. I'm currently designing a garden for the back yard, which is something I've wanted to do for years.
What kind of car do you drive? Or what is your dream car?
I love my Kia Rio, and the new Kia hamster commercials. My girlfriend liked the Kia enough that she bought one of her own!
Please attach a recent photograph of yourself - if you're brave enough ;=)
To quote Pepper Potts in Iron Man 2... "No"