This site is intended to give something back to the open source software community. I've been using Linux as a hobbyist for about a decade. The first years were slow going. As someone transitioning from IBM's OS/2, but with no background in Unix, I struggled to learn the commands and configuration settings. The payoff, though, is that much of what I've learned in implementing one piece of software has helped me master new applications in this ever-changing cyberworld.

Today's flavors of Linux are far easier to install than Slackware and Redhat were back then. Users now have the challenge of sifting through thousands of open source packages. I hope some will benefit from the reviews and advice here. My particular interests at the moment include:

• Virtualization
• Web services for groupware collaboration and content publishing
• Linux distributions suited to older computers
• Python, especially the Django web framework
• Media servers, audio/video players and conversion tools

Comments are welcome following any article. If you want to send me a message privately, please use the contact form or mail it to the user "xsiteadmin" at the domain "surveypoint.com".

Paul Saletan
2010/02/15