||<>|| = Caleb Howland = LOCATION: United States, Earth (Sol III), Sol System, Vulcan Sector, Sirius Sector Block "No principle can be enforced through law; a thousand laws cannot masquerade as, or take the place of, one principle." == About Me == I am a college student, a worship leader, an avid sports enthusiast (cricket, tennis and basketball, mainly), and - of course - an Ubuntu user. == Introduction to Linux and Ubuntu/Transition from Windows == I was first introduced to the Linux world in 2010, after, ironically enough, the end of Sun's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSolaris | OpenSolaris operating system]] (an open-source version of Solaris, now called [[http://openindiana.org | OpenIndiana]]). A friend of mine had Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix on his machine, and I decided to burn my own live image of Ubuntu 10.04 (then the latest LTS release) onto DVD and boot it. The rest, as they say, is history. At the time, I was running Windows XP on a Gateway2000 500 SE computer (now known as the E-3600). I began with a Wubi install, then, in 2011, when I acquired bigger hard disks, began a dual-boot system. In mid-2012, I quit using Windows almost entirely to move to Ubuntu. In September of 2012, I bought a Fujitsu convertible laptop, and temporarily left Ubuntu to get a feel for [[http://microsoft.com|Microsoft's]] [[http://windows.microsoft.com|Windows 8]] operating system. When its 64-bit version refused to comply with my biometric scanner, however, I permanently switched back to Ubuntu as a host operating system. In December, I loaded the old Gateway with a modified version of Lubuntu (I installed LibreOffice in preference to GNOME Office) and gifted it to a friend who didn't have a computer and wanted one. The next year, the fan in my Fujitsu laptop ceased to function, causing me to acquire a Toshiba laptop with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFI|UEFI]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#Secure_boot|Secure Boot]]. From April 2014, I dual-booted Windows 8.1 vs. [[UbuntuStudio|Ubuntu Studio]] 14.04 LTS. Then, [[https://archlinux.org|I discovered Arch Linux]], a modular operating system that relies on end-user tinkering to function. With Arch Linux, I discovered how to manipulate a lot of the "stuff under the hood," most notably [[http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/|systemd]], a modern multipurpose daemon that is now the standard init system and network controller for Debian and Ubuntu. '''My current operating system and hardware configuration as of 5 January 2016 is: Toshiba Satellite L55t-A5232, Xubuntu 15.10''' == Why do I use Ubuntu? == Ubuntu, as I have come to know it over the years, is a very principle-centered operating system. Before, when I used Windows, almost everything I used was closed-source (which made it legalistically centered), and, as such, I had to bug the devs about all sorts of stuff. Not so in Ubuntu! All one has to do here is raise a little flag and someone who doesn't get paid, someone who's enthusiastic about what he or she is doing with the Ubuntu project, will be glad to help. == What Ubuntu releases/flavors have I used in the past? == I began my journey with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I stayed with GNOME (the default desktop environment at the time), and later moved to [[http://unity.ubuntu.com/|Unity]] with 11.04. Around the end of 2012, I began to become disillusioned with Unity and began to pursue other desktop environments and the Ubuntu flavors associated with them. At some point in my life, I have used every official Ubuntu flavor except Mythbuntu and Ubuntu Kylin. = My Contributions = == Lubuntu Communications/Marketing == From 10 April 2013 onward, I have assisted the Lubuntu Communications and Marketing Team with spreading the word of Lubuntu. At first, I primarily worked on the StartLubuntu (later StartUbuntu) project developed by [[amjjawad]], designed to introduce Windows XP users to Ubuntu and its derivatives before Microsoft dropped support for Windows XP. Now, I help out with QA for artwork and the Box icon theme (see [[http://lubuntu.me/downloads/|the Lubuntu.me download page]] for more information on the Box theme). == Ubuntu GNOME == From 28 December 2013 to mid-2014, I became [[https://www.facebook.com/UbuntuGNOME | Ubuntu GNOME Facebook Page]] Moderator. I left the moderation team because I was no longer involved in the Ubuntu GNOME project. == Ubuntu MATE == I was an avid GNOME 2 user before I used Ubuntu. Now, we have [[https://ubuntu-mate.org|Ubuntu MATE]], thanks to dedicated users of GNOME 2's more direct fork, the [[https://mate-desktop.org|MATE desktop environment]], particularly [[https://launchpad.net/~flexiondotorg|Martin Wimpress]], the maintainer of MATE on Arch Linux. I helped test the 32-bit (i386) series for both the unofficial respin and the first official release of Ubuntu MATE. I continue to work with the QA team headed by Michael Tunnell to make sure the Ubuntu MATE images are "safe for distribution" to the outside world.