[CS-FSLUG] OT: Re-introductions.

[Don Parris]

On 1/2/06, Nathan T. <celerate at gmail.com> wrote:
<snip>
>
> It seems people in this list have gotten around a fair bit, but I'm
> sorry to say I've forgotten a lot of you. I was wondering if some
> people might be interested in re-introducing themselves.
>

I'm Don Parris.  I started using GNU/Linux with Red Hat 5.1, moved to
Mandrake 8.0, and finally to SUSE 8.0.  Before I migrated from
Mandrake to SUSE, I recognized the benefit of GNU/Linux for churches -
even though I still knew very little about the OS.  I simply
understood that having all that software for $80.00 was a lot cheaper
than what churches were spending - not to mention the fines some would
face for using illegitimate copies.  At any rate, I am now using a
mixture of SUSE 10.0 and Ubuntu systems.

So, with the help of the SUSE-OT listserv, I wrote my first version of
"Penguin in the Pew".  I also wrote "IT As Ministry", a rather
rudimentary essay on Christians and technology.  A few other articles
I wrote led to my joining this list, and a few other
Christian-oriented libre software sites.  I felt that each of the
groups needed to know more about the others, and worked to build a
collaborative community.  I am thrilled that many continue to
cross-participate.

I wrote the MySQL/PostGreSQL back-ends to CHADDB and contributed the
original "quick-start" guide to the JSword/Bible Desktop project.  I'm
really not a developer, so I should probably stick to writing.  I
recently joined LXer.com as a Senior Editor.  I focus mostly on the
Christian/religious, non-profit, and medical communities.  I also
write a fair bit about OpenDocument (am now a member of the
OpenDocument Fellowship) and other issues.  I am Vice-Chair of the
Charlotte Linux User Group, a moderator of this list, and actively
working to help churches in the Charlotte area migrate to a libre
software platform, on behalf of The Freely Project.

Blessings,
Don
--
DC Parris GNU Evangelist
http://matheteuo.org/
gnumathetes at gmail.com
"Hey man, whatever pickles your list!"