[Ormskirk LUG] Hello :)

[Gavin Hamill]

On Tuesday 27 May 2003 10:19, you wrote:
> Hello Gavin
>
> Good to hear from someone with an interest in Linux.

Yup, non-MS is the way to go :)

> As you have probably gathered by the Ormskirk LUG
> website we are few in number and struggling to gain
> some momentum.  

Yes, judging that the last post was in February, I did gather that :)

> Actually we only have ourselves to blame

Don't worry about it, it's the same with most small groups everywhere!

> Perhaps with your experience of LUGs you may be able
> to help us??

Urk I wouldn't go that far :) I generally steered clear of the daily running 
of the group, and was happy to sit on IRC in #blug and talk bollocks all day 
:)

> How close to Ormskirk are you and if you don't mind me
> asking, what brings you here?  

I'm in Southport itself, on Hawkshead St., so Southport College is only around 
the corner from me :)

> Do you have call to use
> Linux at work or is your interest purely for home use?

At the moment I have no work, I moved for personal reasons - the health of my 
fiancee - it'll take too long to explain :)

So I'm on the jobhunt for 'Sysadmin' or 'IT Helpdesk' work right now - UNIX 
flavoured would be preferable, but I'm smart with M$ crap, too.

> I'm a lecturer at Southport College (a FE college) and
> we hope to run the first Linux course next year, 'An
> Introduction to Linux', subject to enrollment of
> course.  

Yes, I'm in a house full of Southport College relations... my fiancee used to 
work there (1994-1998) on the IT Helpdesk, she's now doing an evening 
jewellery class there, and her mum does a pottery class on Fridays :)

> My interest in Linux is really due to all the
> software development tools that are included.

Ah, I'm more in the systems side of server admin and whatnot - my programming 
skills are best described as 'capable' - I can knock reasonably complex Perl 
together that works "OK", but I code like I'm still using BASIC :)

It's more a means to an end for me :)

Aside from the mail/web admin, I like to play with digital TV under Linux - 
I've now got a digital Freeview receiver running under Linux with remote 
control, 'pause live TV', etc. 

As far as Linux distros themselves go, I am a self-confessed Debian whore - 
it's the only way to go :>

Cheers,
Gavin.