[TriLUG] Hello from a newbie

[Mike Helms]

Thunder Bear writes:

>You may also find our dev at trilug.org mailing list valuable
>for discussing PHP.  http://trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/dev
>is the sign-up page for that.

Thanks for the recommendation.  I'll take a look.

>Oof.  No offense, but the 'canes are going to send some
>Canadians home in cheap pine boxes shortly.  ;-)

I suspect that the Leafs will enjoy a glorious triumph - mainly because I
was born and raised in the Toronto area and spent my youth rooting for the
blue and whites.  We shall see.  :-)

> How long have you been using Linux now?  And PHP?

My linux background is rather checkered.  I started with Linux around 1998
when I found myself with a spare box that wasn't quite up to snuff for
Windows NT 4.0 (my OS du jour at the time).  I downloaded Redhat 4 or 5
(can't remember now) and had quite a bit of fun with it.

The last few jobs I've had have been mostly with Microsoft shops, so I've
had to concentrate my efforts there.  I'll be honest here - I found setting
up any sort of database on Linux prohibitively difficult in the past, until
I stumbled across MySQL.  Thus began the love affair with Linux / Apache /
PHP / MySQL.

In my last job I did network support for the cable company in Western
Canada, and saw enough problems with the MS servers to make me want to
convert permanently.  I still keep a stable of MS systems in my home office
(alongside Caldera, Solaris and Lycoris), but I'm slowly leaning towards
getting a Sun box next, which will further motivate me to migrate.  Speaking
of which, anyone who has experience porting Microsoft Outlook .pst files
into StarOffice will be welcome into my home for lots of free food and
drink.

I have a fairly solid background in web design, and in my opinion the PHP
architecture is the one to go with right now.  The hardest thing is to break
old habits - and ASP is definitely the old habit.  However, I have boxes set
up running PHP and MySQL and Oracle, and I'm really keen to make all three
of these technologies work in harmony.

Cheers,

Michael Helms
Applications Support Analyst
Martin Marietta Materials
(919) 788-4301
mike.helms at martinmarietta.com