*Real name: Gregory Simonian
 *Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
 *Ubuntu derivative: Ubuntu
 *E-mail: vahag1991@yahoo.com
 *Web site: http://scienceonlooker.blogspot.com
 *Total Years using Linux: 1

= Support Media =
Mainly on forums and IRC. You can find me as "cactaur" on ubuntuforums.org. You can also find me under the alias of "cactaur" on #ubuntu-california and #ubuntu-students on IRC on irc.freenode.org.

= Linux Experience =
Went through the "try as many distros as you can get your hands on" phase, and Ubuntu remained as the best one for me. I have some programming experience in Java, not that it's of much use currently in linux.

I've also helped at a [[http://homepage.smc.edu/morgan_david/linuxdemoday/|Linux Installfest]] sponsored by the Linux Users of Los Angeles. The primary distribution being installed was Ubuntu. Also assisted at the [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CaliforniaTeam/Projects/GutsyRelease|California LoCo InstallFest]].

= Ubuntu and Me =
Total Reinstalls: 2

First reinstall was after a strange crash course with permissions, where I accidentally changed all of the permissions in my system using the not so smart command:
{{{sudo chmod 777 /}}}

Second reinstall was more humorous and [[http://scienceonlooker.blogspot.com/2007/11/fscked.html|well documented]]. It essentially involved the fsck command and GPartEd mounting filesystems without my knowledge.

= Contributions =

== IRC ==
A frequent visitor to and member of #ubuntu-california. My primary function on #ubuntu-california is moral support and helping to stimulate discussion.

I also sometimes pay a visit to #ubuntu in my free time to help people whose problems I can understand and solve. Usually I help solve the small problems, so that the real experts can go on dealing with the particularly difficult ones.

A recent channel I've joined is #ubuntu-students where we try to encourage Ubuntu advocacy in younger groups of people; namely in high school. Still projects to get going over there.

== Forums ==

I've been a member of the forums for far longer than IRC. On the forums, I've done my share of give-and-take. However, after I started helping at #ubuntu, my forum activity has largely waned. My most valuable contribution to the forums has been a [[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=351341|howto]] I wrote for the script xplanet-gnome 
== Other ==

My blog has also been a medium where I heavily advocate Ubuntu and Linux. I've also put up my [[http://scienceonlooker.blogspot.com/2007/02/real-time-earth-desktop-with-xplanet.html|xplanet-gnome tutorial]] there. I've also done a post about installing pidgin, which I found was a very widespread problem for people. The solutions were already all over the Ubuntu forums, but I figured [[http://scienceonlooker.blogspot.com/2007/06/pidgin-202.html|one more guide]] couldn't hurt. Sure enough, that page turned out to be one of the most popular on my blog and has helped literally tens of people.