tuxx Real Name:  Alexander Age:  22 Resides:  Villach, Austria, Europe Occupation:  Systems and network administrator

Favorite website(s):
http://forum.matrox.com/mga/viewforum.php?f=2
http://www.carinthian-linux.at

Favorite book, movie, or TV show:
Stargate SG-1

Favorite game, application, or program of all time:
Call Of Duty, Call Of Duty - United Offensive
 
What are you playing and working on right now:
Integrating Linux in medical institutions, Linux-Thinclients.

What is your current screensaver, background, or wallpaper:
A slideshow with pictures from digitalblasphemy.org (dualscreen setup).

What's so special about your computer room:
A picture says more than words: http://www.tuxx-home.at/my_room/800x600/01.jpg

How many computers do you have:
Sony Vaio FX405 Laptop, IBM Thinkpad T42p, Fujitsu Siemens Laptop, AMD Athlon 800 workstation (selfbuilt), some HP-UX boxes and an IBM AIX RS/6000 workstation.

What was your first computer:
A 386 with 33MHz, don't remember the exact technical specifications.

Do you remember the first program you ran on it:
command.com

Geekiest moment of your life:
The birth of my son.

When did you first realize you were a geek:
When I removed the bed out of my room to have more place for external SCSI disk towers.

Have you ever said anything geeky that someone else did not understand:
Yes.

What is your favourite quote:
"A computer scientist is someone who, when told to 'Go to Hell', sees the 'go to', rather than the destination, as harmful."

If you were a computer program, you would be: why:
Solitaire. Everyone knows you and uses you everyday ;)

What do you do when you are (heaven forbid) not at your computer(s):
Spending time with my family.

You have a time machine that can only be used once. If you use it you will not come back. What date would you set it to, and what ONE thing would you take with you (not a computer):
I'd travel to 01-01-2366 and I'd take a box of cigarettes with me.

Alexander, who kindly suggests you go check out http://www.tuxx-home.at/ , has very good knowledge in nearly all main programming languages (C/C++, Perl, shell scripting, java, PHP, ... and also in programming languages of "the enemy" like C# (.NET), C++ (MFC), VB, VBA, ...). Alexander actually snickers whenever someone asks how much memory is needed for Windows NT to run smoothly.

	BlueLoop Real Name:  Alex Age:  Always 23! Resides:  Ettlingen, Germany Occupation:  Slacking worker

Favorite website:
Bl0rg , www.entropia.de , www.wenger-online.de

Favorite book, movie, or TV show:
I have no TV. Book: Cryptonomicon. Neal Stephenson

Favorite game, application, or program of all time:
notepad.exe...the best html editor ever :-)
 
What are you playing and working on right now:
A mobile laser projector.

What is your current screensaver, background, or wallpaper:
Four livecams from diferent places around the world.

What's so special about your computer room:
Computer rooms are sanctuaries. Everyone needs to have a safe haven.

How many computers do you have:
C64, Amiga, PC and a Laptop.

What was your first computer:
C116

Do you remember the first program you ran on it:
We made a long trip to buy this computer. As we came home we realized that the floppy had a defect, so I had to type my own programs for the next to weeks until we got a new floppy.  :-)

Geekiest moment of your life:
Alex, who didn't specifically suggest what his geekiest moment was, probably once faced the ultimate question: "If you had a choice to have a hot date with a sexy supermodel or a permanent T3 connection in your home, which would you choose?", and chose...poorly.

When did you first realize you were a geek:
Some geeks have the inherent knowledge of geekiness built into their genetic code.

Have you ever said anything geeky that someone else did not understand:
"LOL" is still not an accepted humorous response in social situations.

What is the funniest/most bizarre computer/Internet/geeky experience you have ever had:
Alex is probably that guy who was in the computer store and took over the salesman's discussion on the details and specs of a new computer, when he realized the minimum-wage representative couldn't close the deal on his own.

What is your favourite quote:
" closely followed by '

What do you do when you are (heaven forbid) not at your computer(s):
I rebuild a very old house, so there is always something to do...

You have a time machine that can only be used once. If you use it you will not come back. What date would you set it to, and what ONE thing would you take with you (not a computer):
I will set it back for 1 day and take all my money with me, so after a day there are two of me, and after two days we are four...so i can do all my Inventions in parallel.

Alex, who once postponed a moving date so that his computers could set new uptime records, can actually read the error message details when a Windows program has a problem.

	Beezly Real Name:  Andrew Age:  25 Resides:  Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, UK Occupation:  Sysadmin

Favorite website:
flickr.com, slashdot.org

Favorite book, movie, or TV show:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (book/film - I love the film version just for the way it was produced)

Favorite game, application, or program of all time:
A tough one - I've become quite enamoured with amarok (amarok.kde.org) recently - but that's only an MP3 Player. Gaim (gaim.sf.net) and XChat (xchat.org) make my life more interesting - enabling me to talk to friends and colleagues all the time, no matter where they are, so I guess it has to be those.
 
What are you playing and working on right now:
I'm working on some tools to synchronise code changes across the two clusters that I run. It's written in Python.

What is your current screensaver, background, or wallpaper:
I have a photo that I took when walking up Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh with a friend: (http://flickr.com/photos/beezly/18349216/)

What's so special about your computer:
The computer I mostly use has around 160 Opteron 248 and 848 CPUs in a cluster. I don't have a clue what it does most of the time - Scientists run code on it, I keep it going and add new stuff to it.

How many computers do you have:
Personally mine? I think about ten dotted around the country. I don't really know.

What was your first computer:
Spectrum ZX-81 with a little rubbery keyboard - I can only just remember it.

Do you remember the first program you ran on it:
I suspect the first computer I programmed was an Oric 1 (http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=180) - I seem to remember it had some neat commands on it like "BANG" (which would make a gunshot sound) - we got rid of this machine when I was about 3, for an Oric Atmos (http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=79).

Geekiest moment of your life:
Actually, I think my geekiest moment was realising that I had surrounded myself with geeks. Like the time when a friend dumped his girlfriend by e-mail and I had to explain to him that that was not "normal".

When did you first realize you were a geek:
I don't think I ever did - it was just a normal part of my life from such a tender age!

Have you ever said anything geeky that someone else did not understand:
HAHAHA! I do that EVERY SINGLE DAY!

What is the funniest/most bizarre computer/Internet/geeky experience you have ever had:
I used a regular expression to answer a phone-in quiz question once - They were asking what the only word    (+permutations) in the english dictionary was that had 3 consecutive double letters (ie. xyzAAFFWWpqr) - egrep '(.)\1(.)\2(.)\3)' /usr/share/dict/words told me the answer - bookkeep (+ er, ing etc etc)

What is your favourite quote:
ASCII Character 34

What do you do when you are (heaven forbid) not at your computer(s):
I play bass guitar with a few different bands, and I've recently got more interested in photography.

You have a time machine that can only be used once. If you use it you will not come back. What date would you set it to, and what ONE thing would you take with you (not a computer):
Andrew saw what happened in that Simpsons episode where Homer and his toaster travelled through time, and was too afraid to answer this question.

Andrew, who has an undying adoration for all things computery, is very proud of  www.beezly.org.uk - and somewhere on that site is the boot output of his very own 14-CPU sparc machine! Andrew can type and talk to people at the same time (a very rare male skill), and is trying to learn how to do the same while playing bass guitar.

	Tolimar Real Name:  Alexander Age:  ~$ echo $((2005-1978)) Resides:  If I would write here "Oberursel", would that realy help you? ;) Occupation:  Auxilary slave at my university

Favorite website:
http://mirrors.playboy.com/

Favorite book, movie, or TV show:
Book:  Lord of the Rings
Movie:  Twelve angry men
TV show:  Am I disqualified, if I tell you, that I don't own a TV set any more?

Favorite game, application, or program of all time:
Game would be "Wing Commander 1", application or programm (what's the difference?) would be vim ;)
 
What are you playing and working on right now:
I found some discs with old Lucas Arts adventures and started to re play "Zak McKracken"...

What is your current screensaver, background, or wallpaper:
Webcollage!
You can do really cool things with it:
http://blog.schmehl.info//2005/06/10#webcollage

What's so special about your computer:
It works :)

How many computers do you have:
Active?  Only three.  My iBook, my Workstation at home (selfmade barebone from shuttle), and my Server.
Inactive... let's see... my old Sinclair QL, my old Atari ST 1040 ST, my even older Atari 512, my old Abacus...

At work... well... I needed seven Fingergs to count that wide.

What was your first computer:
My fathers Sinclair QL.  Wonderful machine!  Wonderful tapes!  They looked quite nice, when my sister weared them as necklace.

Do you remember the first program you ran on it:
Uhm... that must be "Superhirn", a Mastermind kind game.  Only with numbers since he didn't know how to use colours.

Geekiest moment of your life:
When I was at a conference bored, and started a nice chat with somebody I haven't seen in my life.  Just to realize a couple of minutes later, that he was indeed at the same conference in the same room.

When did you first realize you were a geek:
About 5 seconds after my birth.

Have you ever said anything geeky that someone else did not understand:
Did I ever?  Did I ever?  I DO IT ALL THE TIME!

What is the funniest/most bizarre computer/Internet/geeky experience you have ever had:
To run away from a women just to meet her later on IRC.  NO FURTHER QUESTIONS!

If you were a computer program,  you would be: why:
emacs. You can use emacs to cook coffee, and I'm famous for my heart attacking "not even a horses hoe will sink in it" coffee.

What is your favourite quote:
Since I'm to lazy to translate my favourite german quote, here my faviyrite english quote:

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
    -- Benjamin Franklin

What do you do when you are (heaven forbid) not at your computer(s):
Don't know.  That didn't happend yet.

You have a time machine that can only be used once. If you use it you will not come back. What date would you set it to, and what ONE thing would you take with you (not a computer):
I would travel to the day of my burial to see who's there and if they realy followed the stupid rules I set in my last will. And I would take with me a second time machine to get back. (Yes, that's cheating, I know.)

Alexander, who after looking at his own website and his blog,  realized he would rather promote Debian instead. Alexander claims that he can do a trachea cut with his Leatherman multitool, which makes him a good person to have around the office.

	----*(A) Real Name:  Alan Age:  Slightly decaying Resides:  Earth just above sea level. More accurately Wales which means I get to laugh at Google every time I see their opening map page has typos. http://maps.google.co.uk/ Occupation:  Linux hacker

Favourite website:
www.google.com (even if they can't spell Carmarthen)

Favorite book, movie, or TV show:
TV: most things by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firminn. Doctor Who(new stuff was great except the last episode)
Movie: We don't have movies here, we do have films though. Probably Princess Bride or Apollo 13.
 
What are you playing and working on right now:
Sending you an email, what a daft question. "Why is ps always in run state?"

For a larger sample width mostly finishing writing up my MBA thesis on the Linux desktop. Have no fears .. a good hunter studies the habits and motivations of the prey carefully...

What is your current screensaver, background, or wallpaper:
A shot of Rhosilli and Worms Head.

What's so special about your computer room:
My desktop is fanless. Its a tiny VIA EPIA based box from Lex.

How many computers do you have:
Varies but not a lot. All the interesting big iron lives in the Red Hat machine rooms and makes noise somewhere else.

What was your first computer:
First used was a Commodore PET. Shortly after computer prices became saner and I had a ZX81 and then a  Sinclair Spectrum.

Do you remember the first program you ran on it:
The first thing we did on the PET was some introductory basic stuff at the school computer club, about four of us to a machine. There were not really the resources to play games except on special occassions then.

The spectrum I tended to use more for writing games (normally particularly evilly hard adventure games) than playing. I did like Knot in 3D, thats a game crying out to be reimplemented in OpenGL [Hint...;)].

Geekiest moment of your life:
Ah that would be proposing to my wife.. but the details are not available.

When did you first realize you were a geek:
When people started using the word to mean hacker.

Have you ever said anything geeky that someone else did not understand:
Regularly. I try not to do that to people but it happens.

What is the funniest/most bizarre computer/Internet/geeky experience you have ever had:
Actually the oddest one I know about was about me rather than me being present. Someone walked up to a bearded hacker type in an airport and asked "Are you Alan Cox". It wasn't, but it was Richard Stallman.

If you were a computer program,  you would be: why:
A reimplementation of myself would be pretty cool, although I suspect they day I can plug a USB connector in my ear and hotsync my brain is a while off yet.

What is your favourite quote:
"If you give a man a fish you will feed him for a day. If you give a man Tech Support he will call you for the rest of his life."  --Gordon Wolfe, VM Technical Services; The Boeing Company, Seattle WA

What do you do when you are (heaven forbid) not at your computer(s):
Eat, sleep, be merry, explore the big big room with the blue ceiling, learn Welsh, spend time with friends and  build [ok computer controlled] model railways. At the moment I'm thinking of adding "sueing Lloys Bank" to that
but hopefully it won't be neccessary.

You have a time machine that can only be used once. If you use it you will not come back. What date would you set it to, and what ONE thing would you take with you (not a computer):
One tempting answer is "George Bush" and "the end of time". I think I'd set it about a thousand years in the future and cheat on the question by taking an axe with a DVD of encylopedia data set into the handle. If its gone primitive I'll need the axe, if its gone forwards I can hopefully explain and if I die in transit and turn up dead with that axe in hand it'll give the anthropologists nightmares for a long time.

Alan, who guesses that his claim to fame is as a Linux kernel hacker, but claims that was an accident while he was getting a platform to run AberMUD, (his real project--now shelved), still prefers the old meaning of the term "hacker". Alan, who likes taking things apart (therein lies the hacker), uses his hacking skills to repair tiny N scale model railway (thats raiload to those in the USSA) locomotives for fun.

	ShelterIt Real Name:  Alexander Age:  A bit more than yesterday. Resides:  Canberra, Australia Occupation:  Coffee-drinker and project mangler

Favourite website:
BlogLines.com

Favorite book, movie, or TV show:
Dune by Frank Herbert

Favourite application, game, or program of all time:
Eclipse 3.1
 
What are you playing and working on right now:
A thesaurii lookup-based search repository using all XML goodness with AJAX.

What is your current screensaver, background, or wallpaper:
A macro picture of a fly.

What's so special about your computer:
It doesn't compute.

How many computers do you have:
One work computer desktop 2GHz and a laptop 1.6GHz, nothing special.

What was your first computer:
ZX Spectrum 16k.

Do you remember the first program you ran on it:
Monty Mole!!!!

Geekiest moment of your life:
Proposing to my wife over internet.

When did you first realize you were a geek:
Umm, right now?.

Have you ever said anything geeky that someone else did not understand:
Eh, pretty much all the time, even in front of most geeks.

What is the funniest/most bizarre computer/Internet/geeky experience you have ever had:
Wouldn't have a clue; too many

If you were a computer program,  you would be: why:
An email application; all the stuff you'll know.

What is your favourite quote:
"Life is not a problem to solve, but a puzzle to play."

What do you do when you are (heaven forbid) not at your computer(s):
Being a family man, fixing the house and reading (non-technical) books and listen to bucketloads of baroque music.

You have a time machine that can only be used once. If you use it you will not come back. What date would you set it to, and what ONE thing would you take with you (not a computer):
1607, Mantua Court, premiere of Monteverdi's 'Orfeo', and I'd bring a recording device! (the opera is lost, apart from fragments).

Alexander, who challenges you to visit http://shelter.nu (his site) and http://tmiga.org (his Topic Maps interest group), has an obsession with XML and semantically rich data mixed with an ever great obsession for baroque music. Alexander not only knows what Be OS is, you has an opinion about it.