DavidMandala

About Me

Contact

  • Email: <davidm AT SPAMFREE securedbythem DOT com>

    Freenode IRC Nick: davidm

    LP: davidm

Background Info

  • General all around Computer and Electronics Geek.

    Started working with computers in the early 1970's with an IBM 360 mainframe, then on electronics training and day to day repairing radios and radar devices though out the rest of the 70's. Started playing with microcomputers in 75-76 creating software in ASM and BASIC on the Apple ll, TRS80 and others. In the beginning of the 80's I formed a computer consulting company that developed Interactive Laserdisk applications -- Stuff that later became known as Interactive Multimedia. Lots of fun that, did over 200 of them over the years, mostly in "C" with some ASM device drivers. CP/M, MS-DOS only no MS-Windows.

    Started with Linux in the mid 90's and co-founded BALUG (Bay Area Linux Users Group) with David Sifry and Art Tyde. Worked for Linuxcare back then before it got crazy. Moved on to Arizona to work at DevelopOnline where we used Linux as a back end to enabling remote access to embedded hardware, kind of fun but then came along the dark days of 911. Following that cash ran out, no financing to be had, so the company closed and I went on to play in the embedded Linux space creating devices that tracked School Buses, and also functioned as remote connect DVR's on-board the buses.

    I switched to Ubuntu Linux from Debian in the Breezy/Dapper time frame and shortly thereafter switched all of my X86 machines to it, then I switched my wife to it and then installed it for 10 friends and more indirectly as I've made recommendations to remote friends and they have installed Ubuntu too. Additionally I've switched at least one commercial company to using Ubuntu as the base of their embedded products, though I'm under an NDA about that. Confused :\

    I enjoyed using Ubuntu so much that when as luck would have it Canonical had an opening for a manager of the mobile team I applied. So with some interviews and time I began working for Canonical in Sept 2007 still working on Linux, somewhere between embedded and Netbooks space.

    Was with Canonical for almost 6 years and it was great fun we bootstrapped ARMel and now the ARMhf archives, developed Ubuntu netbook for ARM, and then worked on ARM server, sorting issues making sure server loads work on ARM server class machines. I personally built a pandaboard cluster for more info on that see my blog.

Contributions

  • Was the manager of the Ubuntu ARM team

  • Wrote the initial PO to XPI "C" converter program and bash scripts for the Ubuntu Mozilla team that Alexander Sack checked in. See: PO2XPI

  • Member Dallas/Ft Worth, TX, USA Local Community Team.

  • Worked to bring the Ubuntu ARM port to fruition, see the UMPC Portal and ARM press releases. It's real and it's what I've not been able to talk about for the last 6 months. We will be adding pages to this wiki, for now the LaunchPad build system is crunching through source packages. A couple of hundred down, 8K to go Smile :-)

  • Provided a half hour presentation at the Jaunty Jackalope UDS on the process of troubleshooting (otherwise known as debugging). I've provided the contents of the presentation here: Troubleshooting Process and the Seven Step TroubleShooting Process that I prefer here.

LaunchPad Teams

Trade Shows

Future Plans For Ubuntu

  • Continue to use Ubuntu and be an evangelist for all things Ubuntu.

Testimonials

JoeyStanford: I've worked with David since he's joined Canonical. He's made, with his team, great strides in the mobile platform of Ubuntu. He's also a geek which a somewhat rare quality in an experienced project manager. He's very Ubuntu focused and continues to drive his efforts, and those of this team, towards the Ubuntu goals. I wholeheartedly recommend him for Ubuntu membership.

ColinWatson: I served as David's mentor when he joined Canonical last year. He took to it like a duck to water and really didn't need to ask me all that much; he's a tremendously smart, articulate, and friendly guy, and I'm sure I learned at least as much from him as he did from me. He clearly loves working on the Ubuntu mobile project and puts his heart and soul into it. The mobile project is much stronger for his attention to it, and the other team leads in Canonical's Ubuntu team have gained a lot from his experience as well. I have no hesitation in recommending him for Ubuntu membership, and not a moment too soon.

JonoBacon: I have worked closely with David, largely on community best practice. He is a witty, committed, focused and intelligent guy, and I have always seen him have the community's best interests at heart. His work on Ubuntu mobile has been excellent, he has a familiarity and keenness around MOTU, and he is always keen to learn what to do best for his team and the community in general. I wholeheartedly support his application for membership.

TedGould: David cares about Open Source and about making Ubuntu a great platform to deliver Open Source to people. And about make Ubuntu run on some of the hardware that you'd never guess it could. I was strongly considering buying him a toaster for Christmas so that I could run VIM on it. I strongly recommend making David an Ubuntu member as he is already an excellent representative of the Ubuntu Community.

AlexanderSack: David helped the Ubuntu Mozillateam by developing a po-xpi converter (written in C) which allows us to produce firefox and other mozilla translations from rosetta. His code has been developed further since, but its still running and working like a charm. Further, he has always been responsive on questions and hence I fully support his application.

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DavidMandala (last edited 2020-10-22 22:38:04 by davidm)