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Retired Engineer, (and in the end Accountant when I gave up the will to work!), living with my wife in Barkingside, Essex, England.  I've been playing with computers since the days of the Commodore PET at work and a Dragon 32 at home.  (I still have the Dragon and it still works!! - Motorola 6809 processor and all.)  At work I've also programmed PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) from Mitsubishi to control complex conveyor systems.

I taught myself BASIC for the PET and the Dragon plus OPL (Organizer Programming Language) for Psion Organisers (a very underestimated portable computer of the 1980/90s).  Today I'm trying to teach myself Python, C and all but the brain isn't as willing as it used to be!!  (The pain killing drugs may have something to do with my lack of knowledge retention now though.)

Most of my computing life was spent with Microsoft Windows until, when they wanted to charge me £65 to reinstall my personally purchased copy of XP, just because I'd changed a few bits in the computer.  I had been looking at Linux as an alternative to Windows, which was another reason for repeated re-installations of Windows.  At the time I settled upon openSUSE 10.3, after trying a number of distributions, but dumped that about the time Pulse was introduced and I couldn't get the sound to play nicely.  A search took me to Ubuntu but I just couldn't get on with it so I drifted to Mint 6.  Mint provided the right level of user participation, (Root was a dirty word in Ubuntu), plus the screen real estate wasn't wasted on secondary task bars.

I currently run two computers, a 64 bit dual AMD desktop, running with Linux Mint Debian, 64 bit.  The second computer is a SONY VAIO laptop, in the Conservatory looking out into the garden.  This computer is also now running with Linux Mint Debian Edition 64 bit.  Both systems are on the Latest (stable) repository as I need reliable computers.

In addition to the normal (Angry from Barkingside) letters, database of DVD owned and Blood Pressure records, I use the desktop to record activity outside the front of my home through a webcam and the program motion.  The files generated from this are now automatically stored to dated directories in case they are ever needed.  I also record radio programmes for me to copy to a 'music' player and listen to them whilst walking my dog Buttons.  The laptop is for daily use whilst looking out onto the garden.

I run LuckyBackup on the desktop to another drive in the box plus a USB drive with hard drives slotted into it.  I also have a NAS running on my Wireless Router employing a Western Digital My Book.