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Robert Shingledecker (tireless contributor), has been working with Linux since kernel 0.95. He was the first to implement Linux servers in a large scale in the City of Garden Grove back in 1994. He is responsible for bringing Linux to several dot coms. He also created early Linux server appliances including a pre-Knoppix liveCD based on RedHat.His website is:www.shingledecker.org
Robert Shingledecker’s IT career spans 35 years, beginning with hand-coding machine language programs targeted for Burroughs Corporation minicomputers. Later, he enjoyed using an assembler and then COBOL. Always having a passion for computers, he was an advocate for COMAL, and was an early hacker on MINIX and Coherent OS. In regards to Linux projects, Robert led the first large-scale deployment of Linux in the city of Garden Grove, California, where in 1994 he deployed Samba on DG/UX systems. He also designed a massively scalable Linux/AOLserver/Sybase e-commerce system. Robert then became CTO of several Linux-based dot-com companies. While building Linux-based, no install, live CD-ROM appliances, including firewalls, VPN, web, email, and database appliances, he became interested in Damn Small Linux. Soon, Robert joined John Andrews to help lead Damn Small Linux development. Now retired, Robert spends his time writing code and working on Damn Small Linux. He also enjoys traveling.
p.23------As the project grew, DSL also grew by adding an important developer. When Robert Shingledecker joined the Damn Small Linux development team, he implemented some of the key features of DSL previously mentioned. Robert' s innovations brought about easy procedures for installing DSL to USB flash drive and adding MyDSL extension to a running DSL system.[...]Robert, what encouraged you to join DSL development?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Robert: I have been involved with Linux CD-ROMS since the early 1990s. I created install-type CDs to automate the specialized setup of servers and desktops while I was working at the City of Garden Grove, California. Later, I work for a Linux startup and created live Linux CD server appliances. We created firewalls, mail servers, VPN, LAMP-style systems, several database servers, MySQL, Postgres, and even some prototype commercial ones like Raining Data's D3.These live CDs were automated to provide whatever services the customer desired. During this development. I had created my own live desktop. Occasionally, I would check Distrowatch.com to see if anyone else was doing the desktop approach. I always felt that there are far more desktops than servers. Demo Linux and later KNOPPIX were far too slow to be practical for everyday use at the time. When I found Jonh's Damn Small Linux, I liked what I saw and began to explore ways to expand its capabilities. What was the first goal of Damn Small Linux and have they changed?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Robert: I certainly have not had a roadmap. Things just progressed in an evolutionary way: from adding a flexible backup/restore system to needing a write-enable /opt directory to add more programs. Later, we create self-contained compressed mountable applications, originally called .ci extension, later named UCI. My goal was to honor John's original goal of keeping the distribution at or under 50 MB. Many would remaste DSL, only to add or change an application. So, my thoughts were focused on how to allow easy flexible additional applications to be added to DSL. These additional applications I called MyDSL extensions. Originally, they were tarballs and UCI. They would either load into RAM disk under /opt or mount under /opt. Some of the user community really wanted to use Debian on live DSL CD. This led to a script to make much of the filesystem write-enabled, which led to the .dsl extension type. This is basically a tarball, but the unique extension type would trigger the script to set up all the symlinks needed.Recently. I added the capability to use mountable compressed overlay images. These new overlay mounts do not need to be self-contained, yet they have the same advantage in low system resource use as the UCI. I try to keep DSL updated with newer technology, while at the same time, keeping the same the distribution under 50MB and also acknowledging and full supporting the smaller, older, less capable hardware.We are constantly look for the best of breed, "small is beautiful applications" and utilities-for example, Lua. We heavily use Lua Fltk and create many of our own GUIs. We are not only a small distro; we run well on small resources.What draws people to DSL?---------------------------------------[...]Roberts: DSL is small distribution and one that runs very well on very small resources. It is extremely flexible in offering many choices of configuration and expandability. After you read ther chapters that follw, you will begin to realize the potential.The DSL project welcomes the user community. The MySDL, extensions only represent the framework. The actual extension are required, discused, and created by the community of DSL users. This active community shares in the ownership of this seamless extensions.What is the most interesting hardware known to running DSL?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Robert: What comes to my mind is the oryginal ThinkNic Internet Appliance, which is a CD-based machine witch 4MB ramdisk (to save configuration) , a Winmodem, and an Ethernet port. We fully support this "first of breed" Linux appliance.[...]Why is DSL good for hobbyiests?-----------------------------------------------[...]Robert: The fun of tinkering with old hardware you found in the closed. Now you have a neat small web server, a picture fame, or a car MP3 player. You creativity is set free to explore and share with a community of DSL users. You can create and share MyDSL extensions or learn to code with Bash, Perl, C, Lua, Lua/Fltk. It's all in there.DSL includes lots of hardware support. So, you can build a web surfing appliance for Grandma. Or perhaps buy or obtain old "throw-away" laptop. We support many of them. Or even buy an embedded device and use DSL , as the embedded OS. We are like Tinkertoys for Linux: a Linux construction kit. It's all about having fun!What are the challenges to someone who comes to DSL from MS Windows?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Robert: All the decisions are NOT forced on you. If tinker toys or a construction kit are not fun for you, the basic desktop is still fully funcional when you start out. However, with so many choices and options available for extending DSL, it can be ovewhelming to a new user. But they will soon want to explore.Even the community of DSL users does not agree on a single installation or runtime enviroment for DSL. We often have "Tastes Great! Less Filling!" types of forum debates.Also, DSL is Linux, and therfore we respect the UNIX file permissions. Some users are used to running everything as the superuser. We do not. Some expect every new device to be instantly supported, which is not possible given our constraints of size and development. Usually, answers and solutions can be had within the resources of the community.What future plans do you have for DSL?--------------------------------------------------------Robert: I would like to see more modularization of DSL. Offer even more choices to the community. Our process is not formal. It is evolutionary based on our own interest and other expressed by this community of DSL users. And it must be fun and interesting for me and John too!
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