Forum Family & Friends: YouCanToo

By Archie Arevalo (Archie)

David Moore is a long-time PCLinuxOS regular who goes by the handle, YouCanToo. He is 56 years old, single and lives with his peek-a-poo "Dudley Doo-Wright". Many of us who have been hanging out in the forum would say YouCanToo shines with his unselfishness to mirror the PCLinuxOS repository and his more recent venture, the Knowledge Base. But he is more than just a geek ... he's a geek in a white hat!

We corresponded for this interview, and I asked the following questions.

Your forum avatar proudly displays you as a baker. How did you end up being one?

In the early 80's, I moved to Florence, OR to help my dad in his bakery. I had been working as a Sous Chef in Hawthorne, Nev. Being a baker was not my first choice as a career, but my dad needed the help so I moved and started working in the bakery. About two years later, he sold the business and I ended up in Portland, OR working for Motorola ― repairing cell phones. The "Brick" (model H) was the hot cell of the day. It wasn't until 2005 that I started baking again.

Have you always lived in Lebanon, Oregon?

No, I moved to Lebanon from Portland in 2006. I am originally from Nevada. I have also been to Vietnam, Okinawa, Japan, Korea, and the Antarctica while in the service. I was an SP5 in the Army ... a 26V2T (Microwave radio repairman/instructor).

You have been using Linux (on and off) for quite a while, what got you started?

Actually, I started using Linux in 1998, but it wasn't until later that I found out about the Linux Counter and signed up, #188967. I started out using an Atari TT030 ($2,995) running TOS, DOS and Minux. In early 2000, I bought a 386 clone and used my first version of Linux, Red Hat 5. I then moved to Mandrake 5.3 (now Mandriva) and stayed with them until version 9.2, which at that time I started using PCLinuxOS only! Somewhere along the line, I gave Ubuntu a try since I had received a free CD from them. Well, that lasted less than a day and I reloaded Mandrake. I am not really a distro hopper at all.

Overall, how was your trip on the FOSS landscape?

It has had its ups and downs. Overall, I have to say I am glad I stuck with it. I have seen many friends that have bought that other OS and seen the roller coaster ride they have had. It seemed they were always paying for the next release, or the latest version of some software. If they weren't paying for it, they were getting copies and using them.

And what is it about PCLinuxOS that you like?

I like the idea of a rolling release. Why does one have to continually reinstall their system like with most of the other Linux distros? I like the idea of "it is ready when it is ready" ... I would much rather have software that is mostly bug free than having something rushed out the door and then discover the problems. I like the overall feel of PCLinuxOS. It is clean and polished. Overall for me, it has been very stable and bug free. I just can not imagine using any other distro.

You are also hosting PCLOSusers.com, which is also an integral part as a mirror for PCLinuxOS RPMS and SRPMS, for a few years now ...

I started it on March 27, 2007.

and more recently the PCLinuxOS Knowledge Base ...

Launched on February, 2011.

Would you explain your ideas behind these websites?

When I started the pclosusers.com repository, there weren't but a few repositories at that time. There was no standard in sync times, so you never knew if they would be in sync or not. I don't remember there being a PASS server at that time ... so I started pclosusers.com so I could update my own system and some of my friends. It was also a way to give back something to the distro and community that I have grown so fond of. I chose to sync it 3 times daily at 6 AM, and at 2 and 10PM PST.

As for the Knowledge Base, we've had a wiki for sometime and it kept being spammed. Eventually, the maintainer(s) got tired of it and tossed up their hands at doing the job. Then one day in the forum, someone posted about how we needed a knowledge base. Shortly after reading that post, I decided to take it on, as it would be an asset for the distro and the community as a whole. On February 09, 2011, I posted a request/poll for a name for the new knowledge base ... and the rest is history in the making. Thus, pclinuxoshelp.com was born.

I have also recently acquired the MyPCLinuxOS community projects domain (http://mypclinuxos.com), and I am planning to get it back up and going.

What about Linux For All?

It's a users group I started shortly after moving to Lebanon in 2006. (http://linuxforall.com)  It is currently inactive due to poor turnout.

Let's go back to the Knowledge Base. How is the progress?

It has been slow but steady. As we have but a handful of folks that are doing any work on it, and making sure that the information is as accurate and error free as possible. Another important point we consider is to make sure that information is easy to find.

There's just a handful of volunteers ... besides myself, Sling-Shot has been the most active. But I also want to thank Coffeetime, Ericthered, Metzner and Russell.eberhardt for their contributions. Also, a big thank you to everyone who signed up with the Knowledge Base. Without all of you there would be no Knowledge Base!

Currently we have 128 registered members. For more statistics on the Knowledge Base, visit our status page at http://pclinuxoshelp.com/index.php/Special:Statistics.

If any readers of this interview wants to contribute, what should they do first?

The first thing to do would be sign up for a user account. To do this either PM Sling-Shot or myself, with a username you wish to use and your email address. Right now, due to spam on the Knowledge Base we have to manually setup your account. When we have done this we will email you a password so you can log into the knowledge base. Once logged into the Knowledge Base, you can change your password to whichever password you choose.

The second thing would be to choose an area that you would like to work on or make changes to.

We can always use people to double check our work. Lastly, if nothing else, I would ask you to make suggestions or submit information for inclusion to the Knowledge Base.

Will you give discounts to PCLinuxOS users who would buy bread from you?

Of course. When ordering just enter "PCLOS" in the coupon code box. I am not sure if it would be cost effective to order bread and have it shipped. The cost of the shipping will be more than the cost of the bread, since all bread is shipped either overnight or second day air depending on your location.