Apologia of discourse

Since 1992 I have been involved with the development and documentation of the Linux operating system, a free UNIX clone for personal computers. To this end I have authored two books (Running Linux and Linux Installation and Getting Started), as well as a number of on-line documents and magazine articles. I was the original coordinator the Linux Documentation Project and a long-time moderator for the USENET newsgroups comp.os.linux.announce and comp.os.linux.answers. I also started the Linux HOWTO project, for which I wrote the Linuxdoc-SGML tools suite, which has since been repackaged as SGML Tools. I have been a frequent contributor to the publications Linux Journal and Linux Magazine.

In addition to documentation work, I have developed a number of software packages and kernel drivers for Linux, most of which are related to my research. I also participate in the Extreme Linux working group.

Linux is an important development as it represents a powerful, complete, and free operating system for personal computers which is covered by the Open Source development model. Under Open Source, software is developed in an open community --- all modifications, bug fixes, or new features must be contributed back to the community as source code. Here is the Open Source Definition.

The Linux kernel itself is covered by the GNU General Public License, as are many of its applications and libraries.

Linux Magazine

I am an editor for Linux Magazine, a new monthly print magazine all about (you guessed it) Linux. It's a good publication with a great set of writers.

Running Linux, 3rd Edition

In August 1999, the Third Edition of Running Linux, my second book, was published by O'Reilly and Associates. Here is more information from O'Reilly, and the cover. In case you feel the sudden urge to buy it, here is a direct link to the book's page on Fatbrain (I am boycotting Amazon.com over patent issues). Translations in Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Chinese, traditional Chinese, and Japanese are available internationally (note, however, that not all translations are up-to-date with the 3rd Edition).

Linux Installation and Getting Started

I'm also the author of Linux Installation and Getting Started, a freely-distributable book about, unsurprisingly, installing and running the Linux operating system. This book is now maintained by SSC, Inc. and the latest version can be found here. You can also read the HTML on the web.

Translations in Spanish, Russian, Slovenian, and Korean are also available.

The last version which I released was version 2.3, which you can get here. I am no longer actively maintaining this book; it is now covered by the GNU GPL and you are free to distribute and modify it under certain conditions. Please start with the most recent version if you plan to make any changes or translations.

O'Reilly Linux Conference

I was the program chair for the O'Reilly Linux Conference, held in Monterey, California, August 21-24, 1999. This was part of the joint O'Reilly Open Source Conferences which you can find all about at conferences.oreilly.com.

Hold the Press

I've been interviewed a few times recently.

O'Reilly interviewed me for their website -- and I even got to talk about something other than Linux! I have also been interviewed by Amazon.com, Borders.com, and LinuxCare.

The Wall Street Journal carried this article on their front page about the Red Hat IPO. Makes it sound like I don't know how to use the Web, but at least I am "one of the world's leading experts on compilers". I was interviewed again by the WSJ for this article about Napster.

This one from Salon Magazine asks, "Can free software geeks write for stupid users?" The LA Weekly did a good job of rendering my opinions on the role of Open Source software in computer science research and the future of operating systems. Wired News asked me about the dangers of Linux going mainstream. I've also been in Wired Magazine a couple of times -- "The Greatest OS That (N)ever Was" from August '97, and way back in September '94 with "The Kernel Kid".

The GNU General Public License and UCC Article 2B

I did some looking into how the GNU GPL would apply if Article 2B of the Uniform Commercial Code were adopted. Here you can read my short paper on the topic.

Extreme Linux

Extreme Linux is an effort to bring together the many academic and industrial groups doing research in high-performance/scientific computing using Linux. The official site is ExtremeLinux.Org and contains information on our mailing list, events, and software packages.

Other Publications

I wrote an article for Dr. Dobb's Journal in May 1995 on Implementing Loadable Kernel Modules for Linux. I just discovered that it's on-line.

Talks

Here are slides from my talk at the Boston Computer Society UNIX/Linux SIG meeting in July '95, Troubleshooting and Repairing a Linux System.

I was in Amsterdam in December '94 for the first International Linux Symposium there. This was probably the first major Linux event, and nearly all of the major Linux developers at the time were there: Linus Torvalds, Remy Card, Patrick Volkerding, and others. My paper, "Porting Applications to Linux", is available in HTML or LaTeX format. Here are slides from the talk (PostScript, 23 pages).

Back in 1995 I did two tours across the United States and Canada, promoting Running Linux and the Linux operating system in general. They even gave away tour T-shirts and mugs (I never got a mug). The slides from my presentation, Linux Frontiers, are available here as PostScript.

Other Web Sites

I used to maintain a site on Linux in High-Performance Computing; it should be superceded by extremelinux.org.

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