BSDNow Q&A 2020

We asked for it, you answered our call. This episode features you interviewing us with questions that you sent in. JT, Allan, and Benedict answer everything that you ever wanted to know in this week’s special episode of BSDNow.

NOTES
This episode of BSDNow is brought to you by Tarsnap

Interview - Allan Jude - [Allan.jude@gmail.com](Allan.jude@gmail.com) / @allanjude

Interview - Benedict Reuschling - bcr@freebsd.org / @bsdbcr

Interview - JT Pennington - jt@obs-sec.com / @q5sys

AMA questions

Benedict: You work at a university right? Were you already into tech before you started working there? What do you do there?
Yes, I do work at the University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt, Germany. I’m a lab engineer there (without a lab, but with a big data cluster). I teach in the winter semester an undergraduate, elective course called “Unix for Developers”. Yes, I was already in tech by that time. Did some previous work at companies before (selling hardware at the call-in hotline and later in the store) and during my CS studies.
Allan: What’s the next big FreeBSD Project you plan on doing?

JT: How did you get involved in BSD? Weren't you a Linux guy?

All: Is there any way you can create an entire episode of BSDnow on hardware that runs OpenBSD and FreeBSD? We see you audacity, etc on a mac.
Benedict: Not sure about OpenBSD (don’t use it), but FreeBSD should be doable for my part. If we switch from Skype to a different video chat tool, the rest is already there. Production side may be more difficult, but not impossible.

All: if you could finish up one project right now... what would it be?
Benedict: Updated ZFS chapter in the FreeBSD handbook.

All: How did all of you guys meet?

All: My question is, do you guys use FreeBSD as your main desktop OS? If not, what do you use?
Benedict: No, but Mac OS is close enough. Doing a lot of SSHing into FreeBSD from there.
All: Can you all give us the best shot of outside of their windows?
JT’s answer: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-2LSbspL/0/69437dbb/5K/i-2LSbspL-5K.jpg
Allan: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UnKXnKMt6cn8FDhNA
Benedict: No, it’s dark outside anyway. ;-)

All: How old were you when you got your first computer and what was that computer?
Allan: 12 or 13, a 486DX2/66hz with an insane 32mb of RAM, 400 and 500 MB SCSI HDDs, 14400 baud model, and a 1.7x CD rom drive
Benedict: Around 13 or so. 386DX2, 4 MB RAM, IDE disk drive (no idea how big, but it wasn’t much), 3.5” floppy, DOS, and a lot of games.
JT: Technically the first was a Atari 1200XL with a 6502 CPU running at 1.79 MHz 64KB RAM. It had it's own OS and you could load programs off of either cartridges, floppy disks, or cassette tapes. First PC Clone was a Packard Bell with a 386 and 1mb ram which later was upgraded to 4mb and a Dual speed CD-ROM. My dad got me a Compaq 286 laptop... this one (show)... a year or so later because he got tired of fighting me for the computer.

All: Can we have a peek at your bookcase and what books are there?
Allan: No picture handy, but my shelf is pretty small, mostly a collection of autographed FreeBSD books. I have D&I with all 3 autographs (took some travel to acquire), and a copy of my first book (FreeBSD Mastery: ZFS) autographed by Jeff Bonwick and Matt Ahrens, the creators of ZFS, plus a bunch of other big names in ZFS like George Wilson.
JT’s answer: So... my library is packed away... but here’s about half of it... the rest is still in storage. https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-SBG2KDv/0/0b9856b8/4K/i-SBG2KDv-4K.jpg
Software Collection: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-HfTVPN9/0/ad610dd4/O/i-HfTVPN9.jpg
Benedict: A mix of FreeBSD books (by MWL), the graveyard book, 4 hour work week, the once and future king (took me a long time to finish that one), Total Immersion swimming (still learning to swim) and some books in german language, fiction and tech. Groff lives in there while the pandemic lasts.

All: What desktop/Window Manager/shell do each of you primarily use?
Benedict: Mainly Mac OS, when on FreeBSD it’s i3. Zsh with zsh-autosuggestions currently.
JT: Lumina/zsh
Allan: Lumina and tcsh, want to learn zsh but never gotten time to change

All: What spoken languages do you speak?
Benedict: German and English (obviously), learning a bit of Spanish via Duolingo at the moment
JT: English, Bad English, and some French.
All: Do you have Non-Computer hobbies if so what are those?
Benedict: Tai Chi Chuan (Yang Style)
JT: I'd say photography, but that's a job for me. I have a lot of varied interests, Krav Maga, working on my VW Corrado, working on the old Victorian house I bought, and camping/backpacking. Ive done the northern half of the AT (Appalachian Trail, I want to finish it up and then do the PCT and CDT. (Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail).

All: When COVID passes, when are either of you are coming to BSD pizza night in Portland, OR, USA so I can buy you a beer/wine/whisky or pizza/coffee/tea (or six)

Rapid Fire:

All: What was the first car you ever owned?

All: Do you own a vehicle and if so what is the make/model?

All: Favorite Star franchise? Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Battlestar, etc.

JT: Will you ever host any more BSDNow episodes?

All: Favorite superhero? Marvel and/or DC.

All: Favorite game(s) of all time?

All: Pants or no pants on virtual meetings/presentations?

All: Do you or have you used alternative operating systems that are not "main stream or is considered retro" if so what are those?

All: Who has more animals at home?

Allan: Does Allan have any batteries for his tetris cubes? Can we see that thing light up?

Allan and Benedict: Are you guys going to go on JT's new show?

If you’re wondering what show this is, here are the two shows Im a host of:

https://www.opensourcevoices.org & https://www.theopiniondominion.org

Allan and Benedict: Have Allan or Benedict lost anything on the way to and from a conference?

Benedict: Is Benedict going to do his NOEL blocks again?

Benedict: Does Benedict make his bed every Wednesday morning? It always looks great!
Not just Wednesdays, but pretty much every day. Here, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKZRFDCbGTA Nuff said. ;-)
JT: Are you batman because the episodes are always awesome sir so thank you
JT’s answer: Can you ever admit to being batman? If I were batman wouldn't I have to deny it?

All: What's your Daily Driver Hardware?

All: Who has more servers or VMs at home?
Benedict: Allan, easily
JT: Allan definitely beats me with VMs, but I think I might give him a run on servers. 4x 4u HP DL580s, one HP DL980, three HP C3000 8 bay bladecenters, three HP C7000 16 bay Bladecenters, 2x Sun 280R, bunch of Dell and IBM 1Us… but all my stuff is old. Allan has all the new and shiny stuff.
The Pile in the Kitchen: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-HBScrpk/0/4b058cc5/X2/i-HBScrpk-X2.jpg
The other pile: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-wNxFszV/0/e7a4b2d6/X2/i-wNxFszV-X2.jpg

All: What book(s) are you currently reading?
Benedict: Antifragile by Nassim Taleb
JT: Douglas Hofstader - Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. Douglas Rushkoff - program or be programmed. Also a 4 part book series on the American civil war written in the 1880s, by people in the civil war.

All: Favorite mechanical keyboard switch? Cherry MX, Kalih, Gateron, etc.
Benedict: Cherry MX brown currently
Allan: Cherry MX Blue (Coolermaster Master Keys Pro-L)
JT: I prefer scissor switches, so I use a Logitech K740.

Tarsnap

• This weeks episode of BSDNow was sponsored by our friends at Tarsnap, the only secure online backup you can trust your data to. Even paranoids need backups.

• Send questions, comments, show ideas/topics, or stories you want mentioned on the show to feedback@bsdnow.tv

  ---