1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.
Ok, I’m Mike Donald, I’m 51 yearsw old and I live in Manchester, UK
2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?
My introduction to computers came in 1989 when I was working in a Magistrates Court in Manchester. It was a ICL ME29 mainframe computer system. I had never seen a computer close up before this time 
let alone owned one.
I took an interest in its workings (hardware and software) and within a year I was writing small search programs to cut down on the amount of time it took to search the system for an account with a given set of conditions. I ended up running that mainframe for about 2 years. I still didn’t own a computer of my own.
I left the Courts service in 1991 and as a complete change took my HGV class 1 licence as I had always wanted to drive articulated lorries! Strange I know, but whatever. I did that for 12 years and left about 2 years ago, to rest and play golf
I bought my first computer (a Packard Bell Easynote F7305) in 2004 and fudged my way around for a while. Over the next few years I bought a Philips desktop computer, which is still going strong and a top-of-the-range Sony Vaio. This Vaio is what I now use every day.
I was thoroughly disillusioned with Windows due to what I saw as ridiculous shortfalls in a system that had been around for years (XP). Its failings were legion, in my book, so I tried Ubuntu in 2007. Sadly I didn’t know enough to get the wireless working and I had one or two video problems, so I then experimented with Mac OSX86. I managed to get that up and working on my desktop and my Vaio, in various states of success.
Last year I tried Ubuntu 10.04 and was extremely impressed with how much worked “out of the box” and stayed with that until 10.10 arrived and upgraded before it was released. I have participated in testing new releases since.
3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?
In my Ubuntu travels the Ubuntuforums have been invaluable as a problem-solving source. I decided early on that I would like to help others in the way that I was helped by people on UF.
4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?
I have very recently become an Ubuntu Member, and I’m very pleased about that
5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?
I use Ubuntu, BodhiLinux and PCLinuxOS on a regular basis.
6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?
My most satisfying day (and night) on UF was when I spent 8 hours helping someone through a particularly convoluted set of circumstances to a fully successful outcome. I stayed up all night to do it. Both myself and the user were very happy with the outcome.
7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?
No answer given.
8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?
I would genuinely love to see Linux take a much larger share of the market place. I believe this is going to be very difficult though, due to both economic pressures and literally getting the word out to people that there is an alternative to Windows.
9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?
If I could tell prospective Ubuntu users one thing it would be to read, read and read before jumping in, and to make sure you can go back to what you have, before you start.
I’ve been working with RSS feeds and have built a new page that will read rss’s from several sources and display on this blog. A little project, learned a few things about arrays (the sorting by date was fun). Take a look 
This video and music works together really well. I hope you like it half as much as I do.
Well, it didn’t go smoothly. I could not access the login screen 
It took a bit of doing but I was able to resolve the problem. I had to manually disable each plugin in turn and try to access the login screen. This blog uses many many plugins and the whole process was quite tedious and time consuming. After much trial and error I discovered the problem plugin and have disabled it.
Not quite how I wanted to spend an evening 
Really getting the feel for this, enjoy
Some may have noticed a new page on this blog – My Travels
It is basically a map of the world with countries that I have visited coloured in Green. Not the most complicated thing going, but interesting enough for a look. It appears I am fairly well travelled! In terms of where to go next, I think it has to be India or Russia.
I really can’t explain why I want to go, but I think the history and culture of those 2 places would be a great thing to experience. I also expect the food would be amazing! I guess I need to get my domestic stuff sorted and make plans. With any luck I should be able to get to one of these places in the next 24 months.
Watch this space
Our latest interview is from a new member of the forum staff, Rubi1200. Hope you enjoy!
1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.
I am father to two wonderful boys and adoptive father to a very sweet street cat. My interests include medieval literature, medieval history, and computing. I was educated in medieval literature, mastering in Middle English romance, and currently work for a company that provides research materials to academic institutions. In my spare time, I like to listen to jazz and Afrobeat, watch sports on television with the kids, and learn about Linux.
2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?
Computers were always something that fascinated me, although I have only owned a computer for about 7 years now. I first became interested in Linux around 2005 and experimented with Ubuntu Dapper Drake in 2006.
3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?
I joined the Ubuntu Forums in 2010 and have tried to post on a daily basis in order to provide support to users in various sub-forums such as General Help, Absolute Beginner Talk, and Installation & Upgrades.
4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?
Yes, I am an Ubuntu Member (thanks to the Forum Council and all those who supported my application). My main areas of contribution are Wubi installs, booting problems, and anything else I think I can help someone with or at least point them in the right direction. I also try to give support when I see a post has gone unanswered in order to give people the feeling that their problems are not being ignored.
5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?
I love playing around with different Linux distros, either as a LiveCD, in a virtual environment, or installed to a partition on the disk. Some of my favorites include, but are not limited to, Linux Mint Debian Edition, CrunchBang, Knoppix, and openSUSE.
I don’t really have a least favorite application, although I am not too fond of remote desktop software and uninstall it at the first opportunity.
I have too many favorite applications to really put my finger on anything specific, but I would say that VLC, Htop, and UNetbootin are up there near the top of the list.
6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?
I’ll start with the last part of the question first; I do not believe I have any. My fondest memory? I think there are too many to really pin this down to anything specific, but I will share one story that I think exemplifies the forums and Ubuntu in general.
I once responded to a post by a user who was having various issues trying to install Ubuntu, including graphics card problems, confusion about the best partitioning scheme and so on. I walked the user through the various steps until Ubuntu was installed successfully in a dual-boot configuration. The user was so grateful that I received messages on the Visitor Message page on my profile, numerous private messages thanking me profusely, and a friendship request (accepted of course).
Additionally, I am always happy when a user responds that the fix I suggested worked for them and that the problem is solved.
7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?
Unfortunately, none (yet).
8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?
Personally, I hope to see more people becoming involved with Linux as well as Ubuntu.
9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?
Help other users if you can and try and uphold the spirit of Ubuntu in all you do whether on the forums or outside of it.
Good news, we have expanded the staff on the Ubuntu Forums. The new staff are:
nothingspecial, lovinglinux, ubudog, sisco311, oldfred, coffeecat, Rubi1200, oldos2er, mörgæs, not found and Merk42
Congratulations are in order 
It has been some time since I posted any music, time to fix. Stone Roses are my band of the moment, hope you enjoy!
Our next interviewee is Ubudog, a name that should be familiar to those who frequent the Ubuntu Forums. He is particularly active in the support areas helping all he can. Ubudog is also heavily involved with the development of UbuMonkey, which describes itself as “A lightweight, fast web browser for the modern Linux desktop.”
1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.
My name is Michael, and I am a freelance software developer.
2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?
I first became interested in Linux back in 2007. I was using Windows Vista then, and I was looking for an alternative. I found out about Ubuntu, a user friendly Linux OS. I tried it, and I’ve been using it ever since.
3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?
I became involved in the Ubuntu community back in 2009. I joined the Ubuntu Forums. At first, I had to always ask questions about the CLI, etc, but now I love to help out new users solve the same problems I once had.
4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?
I became an Ubuntu member in June 2011. I contribute the most to the Ubuntu Forums, and I am normally online in my spare time.
5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?
I regularly use Ubuntu, but I like to try out the latest Linux distros. My favorite application has to be Firefox. With all the add-ons available, support community, etc, it’s one of my favorite tools.
6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?
My fondest memory of the UF has to be the community cafe. I’ve had many laughs there, it’s a great place to meet other members of the community and have lighthearted discussions.
7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?
I’ve had much luck converting people to Ubuntu. In my case, people like most being able to try Ubuntu out before installing it. (LiveCD) People are really amazed to see how much faster/simpler Ubuntu is.
8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?
I hope to see Linux grow and be adapted by more users. I hope to see Ubuntu’s community expand and to see users from all aspects of life.
9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?
The one thing I would tell new Ubuntu users is: Don’t be afraid to ask. There is a huge, friendly community out there and someone has an answer. There is no such thing as a stupid question.
