User:Lcafiero

Larry Cafiero (lcafiero)

About me

My name is Larry Cafiero. I'm 51, and I live in Scotts Valley (Santa Cruz County), California, U.S.A. I'm a journalist by profession: Currently, I am a copy editor on the news desk at the Santa Cruz Sentinel. More importantly (to me at least), I'm a returning student at Cabrillo College, currently studying in the Unix/Linux Administrator Certificate program. I the former president and current secretary/treasurer of the Cabrillo College GNU/Linux Users Group.

I consider myself a FOSS evangelist after finding out about -- and using -- FOSS programs during my campaign as the Green Party candidate for California Insurance Commissioner in 2006 (270,218 votes, 3.2 percent). Since then, I have published Open Source and Free Software Reporter (http://www.opensourcereporter.net) and I currently blog as Larry the Free Software Guy (http://larrythefreesoftwareguy.wordpress.com).

Not only this, I also run HeliOS Solutions West and Felton Linuxworks in Felton, California. Both entities consist of promoting Linux through providing Linux conversion services (HeliOS) and retailing used computers and parts (Linuxworks).

After several months of distro-hopping -- I started out with Debian and have leaned toward its derivatives for a most of this time -- it wasn't until the beginning of this year that I started using Fedora on a regular basis to help test a GNU/Linux version of dbEntrance, a MySQL browser currently on the market for Macintosh.

Introducing Fedora at Cabrillo College

Karsten Wade, another Fedora ambassador, and I introduced Fedora 9 at the Cabrillo College GNU/Linux Users Group installfest in May 2008. I remarked to Karsten that Santa Cruz may not be big enough for two ambassadors, but he disagreed and urged me to apply. So here I am.

Needless to say, we brought Cambridge to Cabrillo when it became available and, like clockwork, we'll be bringing Leonidas when that's ready.

Why I use Fedora

Fedora is an outstanding distro, and it works for me on several levels. As a long-time Mac guy (I still am, although I am warming up to Intel with GNU/Linux), perhaps the most important point to me is the fact that Fedora continues to develop for the PowerPC platform. This is smart, because there is so much Macintosh hardware out there that's still working, good as new, which has been abandoned by Apple because their OS progress leaves this perfectly good hardware behind.

Fedora Activity Day - SCaLE 7x in Los Angeles

On Feb. 20, Fedora Activity Day will take place at the Westin Airport Hotel in Los Angeles from 10 a.m. to whenever they throw us out.

More information

Felton Linux Users Group

As an offshoot of Lindependence (see below), some geeks in Felton have gathered together to form the Felton Linux Users Group. Felton LUG may be distro agnostic, but Fedora is aptly represented there.

Join me in Lindependence

My primary project until July is organizing the Lindependence 2008 project in Felton, California, U.S.A., where GNU/Linux and FOSS are being introduced to a town of 6,000 in the Santa Cruz Mountains during the course of the month of July. Three meetings/installfests were held in July 2008, and approximately 30 people converted to GNU/Linux right off the bat. We're monitoring their progress as time goes on.

We will be doing more Lindependence events going forward -- with 2009 events slated for Boulder Creek, California, and Chennai, India (which is being called Lindia).

OSWALD -- Oregon State Wireless Active Learning Device

Oregon State University is developing a small computer originally called the Computer Science Platform for Learning (with an original code name of "Fuzzy Walrus"), which recently was renamed OSWALD -- Oregon State Wireless Active Learning Device. OSWALD provides a huge flexibility and variety of uses beyond the educational realm. You can take a look at http://beaversource.oregonstate.edu/projects/cspfl

Fedora would benefit greatly from participating in this project, just as the OSU would reap the rewards of having Fedora help out. As such, I have joined the Fedora Mini SIG.

Miscellanea

I am opening a retail store in Felton called Felton Linuxworks which sells refurbished machines running, you guessed it, Fedora . . . . I am a big San Francisco Giants fan, and a fan of baseball in general . . . . Last year, I ordered a specialty license plate for my car, a 1994 Volkswagen Jetta, which reads "GNU LNUX" (and you can see it here: http://larrythefreesoftwareguy.wordpress.com/2007/08/17/wearing-your-loyalties-on-your-bumper/ ) . . . More to follow.