About Me

My name is Redmar, I live in the Netherlands and am currently a student of Theoretical Biology at the university of Utrecht. I have been using Ubuntu as my main OS since the release of Gutsy Gibbon.

Contact Information

Contributions

My main contributions to ubuntu are as a member of the Dutch translation team. On IRC I'm usually present in the Dutch Ubuntu support channel (#ubuntu-nl) where I try to help people out. I use my laptop for testing the latest alpha/beta of ubuntu, and try to submit any bugs I run into.

History

Thanks to the great work done by the Dutch gnome translation team, and others, many programs that are shipped with ubuntu only need a limited number of strings translated. Rather than listing every program I worked at, I will only included those for which I did a large number of translations.

I've also participated in all online translation sprints organised by the Dutch translation team, which usually occur shortly before a new release.

Currently

• Manage the (dutch) status page for translations - Mark packages when they are ready to be translated, import translations from upstream into launchpad and submit finished translations to the various upstreams (gnome, launchpad, transifex etc). The script to synchronise the table with launchpad was written by Rachid.

• Supervise interns - Students from a CS college are required to do an internship where they contribute to an open community. Supervising consists of checking their translations and giving feedback.

• Localised ubuntu images - A very exciting project that allows you to build customised localised ubuntu images, where I am responsible for the creation of the Dutch images. I've created a (dutch) wiki page where people can suggest things like modified wallpapers or their favorite Dutch radiostations to be included on the image. I am currently working with other members of the Dutch LoCo team to organise distribution of those images for 12.04.

• Virtualbox - I am working with Timo on a full overhaul of the Dutch translations for Virtualbox, which contains a lot of errors. These improvements will probably not land for 12.04 though, since they have to pass by upstream first.
• I try to keep an eye on calls for testing new power management options, and test them on my netbook when I can.
• I participate in the monthly meetings of the Dutch translations team.
• Support for localised screenshots for ubuntu docs is available for precise, so I'm currently working on getting those done. This isn't much work, but will be a nice touch.

In the future

• First of all, I plan to continue with the work listed above.
• Make sure that every coming release of ubuntu will be 100% translated, a mark our translations team first hit for oneiric.

• Continue to work on package descriptions. This is an insane amount of work (over 60.000 strings) but it would be great if all descriptions that show up in the software center are translated. Thanks to nightmonkey we can focus on the most popular first.

• Work on other ubuntu-related translations such as SSO, Ubuntu One etc, or applications that are popular with ubuntu users but are not yet translated.

Testimonials

Je bent zot op Vertalen, bedreven in het onderzoeken tussen alle antwoorden. Je helpt, en je durft ook te vragen. Je bedient je van zeer helder taalgebruik. Dit is een kunst. Ja, ik denk dat jij best we in aanmerking mag komen voor memberschap, niet zozeer als titel, maar als bevestiging dat je goed bezig bent.

(eng) Your joy is to translate, and beyond. Helpfull, and not afraid to ask for help yourself. Speaking and writing clearly, as in a plesure. Yes, well, my thoughts about aplying for ubuntu-membership: you should go for it, not for the title, more as a confirmation you are on the good path.

written by OerHeks

"I know Redmar some time as an enthusiastic and active member of the Dutch translation team. Redmar does not only translation but also helps novice translators well. Redmar is a driving force in the Dutch translation team including by regularly attending irc-meetings and creating wiki pages for organizing Dutch translations." -- testcees

Redmar heb ik leren kennen als een actief, hulpvaardig en enthousiast lid van ons vertaalteam. Zijn taken bestaan uit veel meer dan alleen vertalen en daar zijn wij hem heel dankbaar voor. Blijf zo doorgaan, Redmar.

Redmar is an active, enthusiasic member of Ubuntu Dutch Translators, always willing to help others. Besides translating he does much more for the team, for which we are grateful. Keep up the good work, Redmar! Hannie Dumoleyn - Ubuntu Dutch Translators

In de korte tijd dat ik Redmar ken, heb ik hem ervaren als een zeer actief en hulpvaardig persoon. Hij is een echte regelneef, en deinst niet terug een groot project te organiseren. Dit kan hij dan ook erg goed. Ook is hij een heel actief lid in het Nederlandse vertaalteam - hij vertaalt veel, maar coördineert ook een heleboel in dat team. Hij is hulpvaardig naar andere (nieuwe) leden toe, en ik ben het ook volledig met OerHeks eens: Jij verdient het gewoon member te zijn. tiwiedie - Beginning Translator

I know Redmar since I became active in the Ubuntu Community. He's one of the most active Ubuntu Dutch Translators. Besides translating itself, Redmar takes care of some organizational tasks of a translation team like writing meeting minutes, communication with international community and upstream projects, and supervising beginners. Redmar did sustainable contributions to the Ubuntu Community and I foresee he will (at least) continue this way. Therefore I wholeheartedly recommend him for Ubuntu Membership.

-- rachidbm

Redmar is een zeer gewaardeerd lid van het vertaalteam, met een grote bijdrage aan de vertalingen van de Ubuntu-manual en het Ubuntu-besturingssysteem. Samen met Hannie heeft hij het vertaalteam op een hoger plan gebracht.

rvdb Lid Ubuntu-vertaalteam

If you know me and have something nice to say, please leave a comment here.