Ubuntu Wiki

Hi. My name is Tim Alexander. You likely don't know me, but I've been here since Warty. I'm running Ubuntu as my main OS, and have been for a while now, keeping my eye out for how I can help the community.

I'm in Software QA, but I've been programming since I was 8 years old. Sure, it was only Qbasic, but still. I started on the harder languages a year or two later, and had moved to assembly by the time I was exiting my pre-teen years. I moved from the windows OS once I felt like I had learned most of what I could about the OS. I was building my own OEM disks with custom settings, programs, etc, and just felt there wasn't enough power. That's when I became obsessed with the Linux OS. I tried plenty of distros, but kept coming back to Ubuntu, as it was the one that I started with. I suppose I never left. I still have the same installation that was on my computer, which is now running my SSH, Web, and File server. It also serves up my media content, and hosts my torrents and giFT files.

I'm not a hardcore Free Libre software zealot by any means, but I do appreciate both the pragmatic and ethical side of the argument. I can't stand people releasing Freeware anymore, when it could be released as GPL, and always try to suggest the GPL license where I can. The little bit of software that I've completed for public consuption has been released under GPL, and the bit of media content (pictures, videos, music, etc) that I've done was all released under the Creative Commons Sharealike License.

I've got an idea about an "Open Source Charity" organisation which would act as a non-profit that you can donate your time to, when working on nearly any open source project. It takes a bit to explain it, but basically it's just a non-profit that's goal is to further the adoption and quality of Open Source. That said, you can donate your time to the organisation, work on an open source project (Any project on sourceforge, or select other projects) and in doing so, claim a tax deduction for the fair market value of your skills on any given FOSS project. I've worked out a lot of the details, but I'm still working on a few things before getting it off the ground.

I'm also lead QA, and part time developer on PHP Navigator. It's out on sourceforge if you want to take a look.

I've got a thread here which I'm particularly proud of on the forums: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=308152 It's about the Averatec 2370 laptop, basically a tutorial on getting everything working.

I also have a nice writeup of a different project that I'm working on, called Software Alternatives Migration here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/software-alternatives-migration

Lastly, I have an idea for something that is missing on the Desktop. Parental monitoring software for linux. Sure, there is dansguardian, but that is parental control, not monitoring. I am working out the issues with a keylogger/screenwatcher/recording proxy/IM grabber combo that I've come up with, and it should be released shortly.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to work on things in the past months due to buying a house, and working long hours. The buying a house part of it also means that I have been looking into smarthome systems, and gotten involved in yet another project called LinuxMCE (http://www.linuxmce.com/) which incidentally is based on ubuntu. It's basically an adaptation of plutoathome for the ubuntu OS, which adds a lot of value ot the base system.