Stefan Ebner (sebner)

Age: 18
Location: Hermagor, Austria
IRC Nick: sebner

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
A friend of mine and myself were somehow the “geeks” in our school class and he told me something about suse so we tried suse 9.0. I’m still wondering that I didn’t remove the windows partition on my parents pc accidently but since it was new and strange I deleted it some weeks after I installed it, also because the DSL-modem wasn’t working. Later we tried 9.1 with the same result.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
I installed Dapper Drake (version 6.06) in august 2006. I sometimes had a windows partition but since the installation ubuntu was my default system.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
In October 2007 I joined the ubuntu-motu channel on freenode and discovered that Andrea Veri (bluekuja) was not living that far away so I talked a little bit to him and he convinced me to start contributing. After buying a new laptop he started mentoring me from the 1.1.2008 on

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?
The different Packaging guides (Debian/Ubuntu ones). Looking at examples on REVU. Through my work on many merges. Hanging around on IRC tells you a lot about the how the teams work and don’t forget about the wiki pages.

What’s your favorite part of working with the MOTU?
Of course the people. It’s often just great fun to work with them and you can learn a lot talking to them. Besides you have the great feeling to give something back.

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?
Well, as in many interviews already pointed out: Don’t be shy and just ask if you need help. Looking at the wikipages, doing merges and syncs and upload stuff to REVU is a great way to learn how you can contribute to ubuntu.

Are you involved with any local Linux/Ubuntu groups?
In the past I was part of the german ubuntuforum team but stepped back in favour of concentrating to become a MOTU. In the future I’ll help the new Austrian Locoteam and forum to grow.

What are you going to focus on in Jaunty?
I’ll concentrate on C# apps which includes packaging new ones and merges and syncs existing ones from Debian. As I’m MOTU now I’ll also sponsor the work of others besides my own.

What do you do in your other spare time?
Hmm? spare time? what? I’d say nexuiz.

Nathan Handler (nhandler)

Age: 16
Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States
IRC Nick: nhandler

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
My first introduction to Linux was with a Slax live cd. That was sometime in 2005. I used the cd a couple of times, but never actually installed it to my computer. During the summer of 2006, I decided to install Linux as my primary operating system. I tried Suse and Fedora before trying Ubuntu. Ubuntu had the best support for my hardware, and a great online community.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
I have been using Ubuntu for a little over 2 years. I started with Dapper Drake, but updated right away to Edgy Eft.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
I started to get involved with the MOTU team during the Gutsy Gibbon development cycle. I began by patching some of the bitesize bugs on Launchpad. I did not do anything MOTU-related during the Hardy Heron development cycle. However, in the Intrepid Ibex developement cycle, I really started to get serious about working towards becoming a MOTU. I performed a lot of merges and syncs, and continued to patch bugs on Launchpad.

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?
Emmet Hikory (persia) helped guide me when I first got involved. He helped teach me the basics of patching and some of the development processes. The many guides and irc logs on the wiki were also a great help. Almost every MOTU-related task has been documented on the wiki. I also can not forget to mention the IRC channels. They are filled with MOTUs and other Ubuntu users who helped answer all of my questions.

What’s your favorite part of working with the MOTU?
My favorite part of working with the MOTU is that there is always something new to learn. When you master one thing (if that is even possible), there is always always something else out there for you to learn.

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?
Spend time on IRC. IRC is one of the most valuable resources available. Not only is it full of thousands of people that are willing to help guide you on your way, but it also leads to many new friendships.

Are you involved with any local Linux/Ubuntu groups?
I am currently not involved with the Chicago LOCO. However, I have worked with many of the LOCO members over IRC.

What are you going to focus on in Jaunty?
Now that I am a MOTU, I am going to be devoting a lot of time to sponsoring patches from other Ubuntu contributors. I will also be reviewing more packages on REVU. I also want to get involved with Kubuntu.

What do you do in your other spare time?
When I am not at school or doing MOTU-related tasks, I am usually working on one of the many Perl scripts that I’ve started. For me, programing helps me think logically and relax.

Stéphane Graber (stgraber)

Age: 18
Location: Sherbrooke, QC, CA
IRC Nick: stgraber

one thin client with a 22" screen, another with a dual-head setup and my laptop with a standard desktop install

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
I’ve been using it for almost 9 years now. My first distro was Mandrake Linux, I then switched between distros for a few years including Gentoo, Corel Linux, Caldera, LFS, Slackware, Red Hat and Debian to finally use Debian and then switch to Ubuntu.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
Since Warty.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
My first package to be uploaded to the archive was pastebinit a command line pastebin client, this one was uploaded on the 7th of December 2006 (feisty).

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?
I mainly learned how Ubuntu works by discussing with people on IRC and reading some wiki pages. Being around for a long time I actually saw most of these team structures being created.

For the packaging, I initially simply read the Ubuntu Packaging Guide, then followed the REVU process doing changes when needed.

What’s your favorite part of working with the MOTU?
Being able to get my favorite applications directly in Ubuntu, fixing some others and helping some others to do the same. And of course hours long discussions on IRC

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?
Just go on IRC, ask people and read some wiki pages. Packaging is not as hard as it may look.

Are you involved with any local Linux/Ubuntu groups?
I recently moved to Canada where I’m not involved in any LoCo but I’m still one of the admin of the Ubuntu Switzerland LoCo team. My role is now to mainly follow the discussions on the mailing-list and discuss on IRC.

What are you going to focus on in Jaunty?
Improving LTSP to get desktop-like experience, getting ltsp-cluster uploaded to Universe, improve a bit iTalc’s integration with LTSP and getting more educational packages uploaded/improved for Edubuntu.

What do you do in your other spare time?
I work on upstream LTSP and on some of my personal projects (pastebinit and a few others). Yeah, I don’t really do anything beside working on open source projects