Steven Murphy

Steven Murphy

At one time in my life, computers were my hobby, my job, and the love of my life. All that's changed now. I find myself much more interested in hobbies that don't directly relate to computers, like music and video production and R/C vehicle racing. Of course, computers are still the love of my life ( Note to self: Always tell wife she is my only love), so I have to work computers into my hobbies somehow.

I recently began enjoying the hobby of R/C vehicles. R/C stands for "radio controlled." My first vehicle was a one-tenth-scale monster truck, the Traxxas T-Maxx ( www.traxxas.com ). This hobby is fun ”pure, noncomputer-related fun. Of course, I want to create a Web site to share my fun (computer related !). And I also want to create cool videos of my truck flying ten feet in the air as it soars off a ramp at 25 miles per hour . Getting my videos on TV would be even more cool.

Ever since I moved to a city whose cable system offered TechTV, I have devoted a good portion of my evenings to getting my face on that network. It's there now. My mug shot goes scrolling by with every promo of their Netcam Network. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of buying video capture hardware before researching my options under Linux. I'll never make that mistake again. I bought a device that had a USB connector and my Linux kernel didn't support USB at the time. Anyway, as I said, I got my face on TechTV.

Now my goal was to get my new hobby, R/C monster truck racing, onto TechTV in a show called You Made It. I decided to do this using Linux as the only system (no commercial operating systems). Of course, what awesome video of dirt-spitting R/C monster trucks would be complete without an equally awesome soundtrack to go along with it?

My long-time passion has been playing music ”no, not the radio, though I do play a good radio. I'm referring to real musical talent. Of course, I have very little. I make up for that by pretending to be good and just faking it for my friends . Okay, so I played guitar in three bands in my youth. I still can't read or write music. And yes, I did just buy a drum set and basically sat down and started playing as if I had been playing for years. But this is just a result of my training through persistent pencil tapping during my 12 years of schooling before I left to pursue an easier degree in data processing at a technical college. Also, owning a synthesizer makes up for the lack of any real ability to play the piano, because sequencers let you input music note by note. Who needs someone standing over him with a knuckle-cracking ruler yelling, "Tempo! Tempo!"?

As it turns out, my hobbies and my love for computers go hand in hand. This a good thing, and it keeps my life interesting and challenging. Linux is also one of those things that came along at the right time in my life. But more on that later.

My first exposure to computers was at the age of 16 while on the island of Guam. My father bought an Atari 400 but returned it and got the 800 instead. I was hooked. Before that, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life, beyond following in my father's footsteps by joining the Navy and traveling the world. I had already lived in Japan for four years and was currently in Guam, so what else was there? Anyway, I had a love/hate relationship with my Atari computer. I loved showing off the cool things I came up with to my friends, who simply hated their non-Atari computers, which paled in comparison. Eventually, I moved up to an Atari 1040ST and taught myself C. I now live in the house where I learned C by reading the white K&R book (ouch!). But what a fun time I had. Eventually, my schooling came to an end and I found myself in a job surrounded and dominated by the "Personal Confuser." [*] Not an Atari in sight. I knew how things were going to be from then on.

[*] Personal confuser: A term I first heard used by Leo Laporte while watching his show Call for Help on TechTV. This term pretty much sums up the entire PC industry.

I am not one who listens to mainstream music or watches the most popular movies or television shows. I also don't go with the pack when it comes to computer operating system. When I finally decided to sell my Atari 1040ST and buy Intel-based PC hardware, I did so knowing DOS and Windows were nowhere on my agenda. Instead I bought QNX from QNX Software Systems, Inc. QNX ruled then and it rocks now. Unfortunately, it wasn't free, and my first job did not pay that well. I bounced around from OS to OS, trying OS/2, Windows 95, Windows NT, but none of them felt right. QNX felt right, but I simply couldn't justify the expense at the time. Then along came this little-known operating system called Linux.

I remember installing Slackware from 50 diskettes. I was simply amazed this thing was free. And then I discovered Free Software, GPL, Debian, and XFree86. A whole new world had suddenly opened up to me. All this and the Internet too. I've had my good times and my bad times with Linux. As easy as some marketing people might tell you Linux is these days, don't be fooled. It's still not for my mother-in-law, and she can write Microsoft Word scripts for multipage data-entry forms. But if you're willing to put in the effort and learn a thing or two about Linux and [*] nix in general, I know you will find as much joy and satisfaction in using Linux as I have. There's a lot of software just waiting to be discovered. This book will hopefully enlighten you on the possibilities with Linux and the plethora of applications available for it.

”Steven Murphy

December 2001

 



Multitool Linux. Practical Uses for Open Source Software
Multitool Linux: Practical Uses for Open Source Software
ISBN: 0201734206
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 257

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