Overview

I am a lifelong computer hobbyist and power user. My computer is my creative outlet, my productivity tool, and my entertainment.

I am fairly new to Linux. I am here for learning, creating and community.

History

The Early Years

I was born in 1971 in the midwest United States.

My youth was mostly spent outdoors from dawn to dusk, riding my bicycle and playing with kids in the neighborhood. The only time spent indoors was for lunch and dinner, and after dark to catch a TV show or two before bedtime.

The late 70's brought technological innovations that captured the imagination. Electronic games like Merlin, Mattel's Electronic Football, and Simon. Early video came consoles like Odyssey, Atari 2600, Intellivision, ColecoVision and Vectrex. Arcade games like Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pong, Pacman, Donkey Kong and Centipede. All of these were amazing wonders to a boy.

My first experience with computers was in grade school where I had access to an Apple II and a Tandy Color Computer. I quickly became fascinated with computers.

In high school I found out you could get library passes from teachers to skip study hall and go to the library, which had an Apple II. Shortly after I asked for and received two 5 1/4" floppy disks for Christmas in 1986, which I put to good use. I started to take notice of two Tandy 1000 computers in the corner that no one used.

As Apple II became popular I transitioned to the Tandy 1000's and started learning DOS and how to program in BASIC.

That same year I worked a summer job and used the money to purchase my first computer, a Tandy 1000 EX. I spent long hours programming and gaming.

My first expansions for my Tandy 1000 were (a proprietary board) upgrading the 256k RAM to 384k) and a 3 1/2" 720k floppy drive to replace my 5 1/4" 360k drive.

I moved to vocational school for my sophomore and senior years, taking Accounting. It was the only class that had computers in it. I spent my time learning DOS and BASIC programming on monochrome IBM XT's.

In 1989 I enrolled in a programming contest at a local technical college. I got fourth place. I could've gotten first place, but I used my time poorly, choosing to hyper focus on the visual design first. I'm still kicking myself for that one.

I graduated high shortly after (1989) and hired into the local telephone company. I made my career in telephony, which parallelled my computer hobby quite nicely.

In 1991 I upgraded to a custom built 386-33DX with an 80mb hard drive.

The BBS Years

A co-worker invited me over to his house and showed me his Commodore 64 computer, his BBS and his 300 baud modem. I purchased a generic 2400 baud modem and started dialing local and long distance BBSes.

The concept of the BBS was very appealing to me, so I set about testing BBS software.

I started my own BBS in 1991. VBBS software came with the source code when you registered it. I modified the source code and wrote scripts to create a unique experience for my community of users. I authored and released several BBS utilities and additions for VBBS software.

During this time I was into the PC demo, music and ANSI art scenes. I started collecting files and posting them on my BBS. I joined several networks, including FidoNET and VirtualNET.

There were several local Sysops in my town, and we would get together regularly to share ideas and work on our BBSes. One local Sysop and I would get together for ANSI art drawing sessions where we would pass the keyboard back and forth and draw art. In 1993 we formed an ANSI art group along with several other Sysops and released our first art pack.

By 1996 the BBS scene was dead. Everyone had moved to the internet. I created a website in 1995 and moved my files to the web along with my BBS name. I shut down the BBS shortly after. I still have a 1994 snapshot of my BBS.

The Early Web

In 1995 I started my first website and carried over the theme from my BBS.

I purchased a seven disc SCSI CD changer and installed it onto my web provider's server to provide up to 4gb of static files for my website. I hosted MOD music files.

I would later rewrite the website in PHP with a MySQL database for dynamic web pages.

IRC

Sometime around 1998 I started to use IRC. I wrote an MP3 player script system for mIRC with a daemon on the back end that provided functionality for file lists and sharing, and communicated with mIRC through DCC. I did not make this public, it was for personal use.

For about a decade I was part of an IRC community consisting of several channels, and had my own chat channel.

The Maturing Web

Between the years 2005 and 2008 I hosted two forum websites for hobbyist communities and for regional events.

Second Life

I have been creating in Second Life since 2007, selling products, running businesses and mentoring others.

I owned and maintained public sandboxes from 2013 to 2020, and have had rental properties over the years.

In 2009 I developed a web server interface for my businesses and products Second Life. I would later expand this into a land security management system for my Second Life properties.

I have a YouTube channel that teaches how to script, build and 3D model (Blender) for Second Life.

Second Life taught me so many things about running a business, and expanded my skillset in so many ways.

Gaming

I have a long history of gaming on the PC, going back to the mid-80's.

I was an early adopter of multiplayer gaming, first gaming via serial cable between two computers, then over modem, and in person via coax ethernet cards.

I played multiplayer Quake on dial-up (yes, it was painful).

I have over dozen MMORPG's under my belt. Meridian 59, Ultima Online, Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, Star Wars: Galaxies, Horizons, Final Fantasy Star Trek Online, Elder Scrolls Online to name a few.

I am currently an admin and GM for a Wurm Unlimited server, and have over 9,850 hours in-game as I write this sentence.

Music

As a fan of MOD music in the BBS days, I gravitated toward making my own electronic music. I loaded my iPad 2 with several DAW's and a ton of instrument apps, from synths to drum machines, and set about making my own mysic, which I released on Soundcloud, and later used as bumper music for my YouTube channels.

Today I own all of the gear to make music, including Ableton Live and FL Studio. I occasionally dabble as part of my creative pursuits on the PC.

Tech

I have written and shared tech docs and tutorials over the years, as well as technical tutorials for YouTube.

In the late 90's and early 2000's I put together a tech doc (for personal use) on ripping DVD's and converting them to DiVX.

Video

Gaming

Administration

Computers

History

Became fascinated with computers at an early age, and started using them every chance I could. I cut my teeth on Color Computer, TRS-80, Apple II, IBM XT and Tandy 1000.

Bought my first computer ate the age of 16 with money I earned from a summer job. My first computer was a Tandy 1000 EX.

Upgraded to a 386-33DX with an 80mb hard drive in 1991.

Purchased a 2400 baud modem in 1991.

Community

Ran a BBS on VBBS software (1991-1995)

Ran forum websites for hobbyist communities (2004-2008).

Sandbox communities (2013-2020).

Art

ANSI artist for my BBS (1991-1995).

Founded an ANSI art group with several other Sysops and released an art pack (1993).

Graphic design for Second Life businesses and products.

Programming and Scripting

Created my first website in 1995 and hosted MOD files. The website would later be converted to PHP for dynamic pages.

Released BBS utilities and add-ons.

Wrote programs as a hobby in BASIC, QuickBASIC, Visual BASIC, Fortran, COBOL and Turbo Pascal.

Joined IRC in 1999. Authored my own MP3 player script for mIRC and a daemon for it.

Joined Second Life in 2007 and started scripting (LSL), building (SL, Blender) and selling my own products. I am still in Second Life, creating and selling products.

Started a YouTube channel for Second Life to teach building and scripting for Second Life. I still run the YouTube channel.

Ran several businesses in Second Life, including rentals, sandboxes, club lighting, scripted gadgets and vehicles.

Started mentoring users in Second Life, and continue to do so.

Developed my own web server system for Second Life land security.

Career