I’m considered to be a server guy. I had access to some really awesome server machines. Still, when computers come up in discussions, we are almost exclusively talk about workstations. Even if servers are an important part of my life, that’s “just” work. I loved the SGI workstations I had access to during my university years. Many of my friends still occasionally boot their 30 years old Amiga boxes. The cult of Amiga One would say that the Amiga was popular in the eighties and early nineties.

My favorite and most used service for developers is the openSUSE Build Service (OBS). This is where I build syslog-ng packages first, before anywhere else. OBS is open source, highly flexible software to build software packages, and the instance at https://build.opensuse.org/ is free to use for anyone to build open source software. Best of all, it supports multiple architectures, including POWER. Open Build Service Actually the OBS acronym stands for two things.

Quite a few people asked me recently how I deal with anxiety. I seem to be less anxious than people around me. First of all: I also have anxiety, just like anybody else. The recent company acquisition & reorganization, the COVID-19 pandemic, the upcoming general elections, or the Russian attack all make sure that once a problem is over, there is a new problem already to worry about. However, sport, music and spending less time reading the news all help to keep my anxiety at bay.

I’m happy to announce that I became an IBM Power Champion for the year 2022. This blog is long overdue, however with the conflict raging in our neighbor country, Ukraine, I just did not feel the strength to write about anything. In this blog I try to introduce myself and share my plans for this year. But before doing so, let me share my new badge with you: IBM Champion 2022 badge My background My title at work is “Open Source Evangelist” and Power does not appear anywhere in my job description.

Those who follow me on LinkedIn might have seen an automatic post about my work anniversary. Well, almost nothing of that post is true, but I still consider it to be my real starting date. However, the official date is also impressive: 11.5 years, almost three times the industry average spent at the same workplace. So, why do I say that the LinkedIn post is not true? Well, because all its major facts are wrong.

I spent my last weekend in Brussels at FOSDEM. Well, not really: while I had a couple of Belgian beers, the conference itself was a virtual event and I was at home in Budapest. It’s the second year that FOSDEM is virtual, and yet again I can state that it’s the best virtual event of the year. I had two talks this year. After my second talk, I got some questions during the Q & A session which I could not answer, so I will try to answer them.

I’m not a POWER (or recently: Power) expert, only an enthusiastic user and advocate. Still, in the past couple of weeks a number of people from around the world asked my opinion how the POWER architecture could be kept relevant. This blog is really just an opinion, as I do not have the financial means to go ahead. It is full of compromises some people are not willing to make. However, I think this is the safest and fastest way forward.

Recently, I have posted blogs and articles about three operating systems (or rather OS families) I use, and now people ask which one is my “true” love. It’s not easy, but I guess, the best way to describe it is that both FreeBSD and openSUSE are true ones, and Fedora & Co. is a workplace affair :-) This is why I’m writing that it is a polyamorous relationship. Let me explain!

For the past few days, the IT news has been abuzz with announcements from CES. As usual, I’m following them on Engadget. I must admit, that there were just a very few announcements which really caught my attention. And my favorite announcement is the most boring of them all :-) Foldable tablet by ASUS: I still use my Google Pixel C tablet almost every day. It’s almost six years old and waiting for replacement.

If you are a longtime FreeBSD user, you probably know everything I have to say, and, what’s more, you can probably add a few more points. But hopefully, there will be some Linux or even Windows users among readers who might learn something new! FreeBSD is not just a kernel but a complete operating system. It has everything to boot and use the system: networking utilities, text editors, development tools and more.