Who Am I?

I've been generally interested in computers for the majority of my life now, ever since receiving a Sinclair ZX81 (with 16K RAM pack!) for my 10th birthday.

Over the years I've programmed in various languages, starting with Sinclar BASIC. Add in a smattering of assembly (Z80, 6502, 68000), quite a lot of C in the 90s, a lot of perl for various scripting, a small amount of things like TCL and more recently getting to grips with Python.

The two major jobs I've had so far have been for ISPs, the first for Mersinet Internet Ltd, an ISP based in Liverpool, UK. The other was with Demon Internet. I'm currently unemployed and likely to stay that way, due to some medical problems.

My Linux poison of choice is plain Debian GNU/Linux. I use this both for a server and my desktop machine. I occasionally flirt with Ubuntu, a Debian-derived allegedly user-friendly Linux, but I always find there's something I hate about Gnome or KDE and I go back to my nice Debian + fvwm2 setup.

I've tried out Devuan, a systemd-free derivative of Debian. Sadly (as of Nov 2017) whilst it does the job the development equivalent of Debian's Stretch ('stable' as of June 2017) isn't well maintained, not getting most of the security updates passed through at all, let alone in a timely manner.

I have some small bits of code of my own making available here. You could also check out my GitHub profile.

I love many forms of music, anything from Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, through R.E.M. and U2, to Sarah McLachlan and Lisa Loeb. I'll sort out more of a list here sometime, probably including a list of my CDs.

On a completely different note, I LOVE Cats! In fact one of my best friends ever was Pepi.

Unfortunately I don't have much of a social life, in large part due to suffering from Avoidant(Anxious) Personality Disorder.

Myers-Briggs tests aren't worth the time spent on them.

Politically I come out as -3.62(Left), -4.41(Libertarian) on the Political Compass test, last tested August 2002.

I have a bunch of random tests results too, which I add to whenever I come across a new one that I can be bothered to take.


For Those Mad Enough To Want To Know What I Look Like...

Well, ok then, just click here.


Presence on the 'net


Computer Gaming

Over the years I've played a lot of on-line games. This started really with Quake World Team Fortress, although that's mostly a dead thing now. I then moved on to play Q3F, a similar mod based on the Quake3 engine, also now long-since dead.

I also played online strategy/empire-building games such as Planetarion, and for the first 3 months of its European life I played Dark Age of Camelot, an on-line, 3D MUD-like game. I gave up on that due to the need for lots of social interaction to really get anywhere in it, something that doesn't fit will with my anxiety problems. Not that this stopped me from playing World of Warcraft on and off for years, some Star Wars: The Old Republic, and a few other MMOs like Guild Wars 2.

In the early/mid 2000s I played lots of Battlefield 1942, an FPS (first person shooter) based in World War 2, and one of its successors "Battlefield 2". I never bothered with any of the other games in that series.

In the mod 2010s I got into space sims again. At first that was backing Star Citizen (which as of typing in late 2017 still isn't more than a tech demo), but that also lead to renewed interest in Elite: Dangerous. I backed that in November 2013 and then enjoyed playing on and off from the start of the 'Premium Beta' in May 2014. I've come to have a somewhat love/hate relationship with it since though, taking many breaks of as much as 6 months from playing it. I've spent far too much money on extra hardware (HOTAS, TrackIR5) in order to play it how I like, and have ended up contributing to its community through some tools.

I'll no doubt be playing something different by the time you're reading this.


Pictures

Here are various pictures of friends, fleeting acquaintances, and meets I've been to over the years:


End Note

Oh yes, you may have noticed a lack of fancy icons and whatnot, and certainly graphics anywhere but where its obvious you're going to get them. That's 'cos one of my pet peeves is people who put massive images on their home pages, which then take AGES to view and REALLY piss me off.