Discusses topics including kernel architecture, GNOME, routing, firewalls, filesystems support, XFree86 architecture, printing services, and KDE 2.1/2.2.
Bill Ball is the best-selling author of a dozen books about Linux, including several previous editions of Red Hat Linux Unleashed, Que's Using Linux, and Sams Publishing's SuSE Linux Unleashed. He is a technical writer, editor, and magazine journalist, and has been using computers for the past 26 years. He first edited books for Que in 1986, and wrote one of the first best-selling Linux books, Teach Yourself Linux in 24 Hours, in 1997. He has long been a fan of Linux and XFree86, and uses the software on Intel-based PCs, the Apple PowerMac, and MIPS platforms. He is an active member of the Northern Virginia Linux Users Group (NOVALUG), and lives in the Shirlington area of Arlington, Va. He can be contacted through http://www.tux.org/~bball.
Rich Blum has worked for the past 13 years as a network and systems administrator for the U.S. Department of Defense at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. There, he has been using UNIX operating systems as an FTP server, TFTP server, e-mail server, mail list server, and network monitoring device in a large networking environment. Rich currently serves on the board of directors for Traders Point Christian Schools, and is active on the computer support team at the school, helping support a Microsoft network in the classrooms and computer lab of a small K-8 school. Rich has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Master of Science degree in Management, specializing in Management Information Systems, both from Purdue University. When Rich isn't being a computer nerd, he is either playing electric bass for the church worship band, or spending time with his wife Barbara and two daughters, Katie Jane and Jessica.
Tige D. Chastain (tigechastain@home.com) received his Bachelor's of Science in Computer Technology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. He has contributed to the GNOME project, working on the Procman application that will be incorporated into the GNOME 2.0 Desktop. He has previously been published by Tech Republic (http://www.techrepublic.com) for an article on the Network+ Exam, a certification he also holds. Tige is currently working as an Oracle DBA for a small consulting firm in Indianapolis, where he is also a Network Administrator and instructor for Linux and Oracle classes. An avid Linux fan, Tige is constantly reconfiguring his seven servers to experiment with toys that he's not allowed to play with at work. He lives with his wife, Misty, and dog, Cheyenne, in Anderson, IN.
Hoyt Duff (www.maximumhoyt.com) plays cocktail piano on the weekends and tends to a family-owned sport fishing pier during the week. Currently writing the "Desktop" column for Linux Format magazine in the UK, he has enjoyed Linux for the past three years because he can "fix it until it breaks" again and again and again.
David B. Horvath, CCP is a Senior Consultant in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania area. He has been in the field for more than fifteen years and is also a part-time adjunct professor at local colleges, teaching topics that include C++ Programming, UNIX, and Database Techniques. He complete his Master's of Science degree in Organizational Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. He has provided seminars and workshops to professional societies and corporations on and international basis. David is the author of UNIX for the Mainframe (Prentice-Hall/PTR), coauthor of Sams Teach Yourself C++ for Linux in 21 Days, contributing author to UNIX Unleashed Second Edition (with cover credit), Red Hat Linux Unleashed (various editions), Using UNIX, Second Edition (Que), UNIX Unleashed Third Edition, Learn Shell Programming in 24 Hours, Linux Unleashed Fourth Edition, and has written numerous magazine articles.
When not at the keyboard working or writing, he can be found working in the garden or soaking in the hot tub. He has been married for more than fourteen years and has several dogs and cats (the number of which is always changing). David can be reached at rhlinux7@cobs.com. No Spam please!
John Kennedy started his computer career in the United States Air Force in early 1987. After nine years of working mostly in mainframe environments, he left the military to shift his career toward computer networking. Since then he has worked as a LAN technician, doing almost everything one can do to install a new computer network plus PC hardware repair. The last four years he has worked as a UNIX System Administrator. Most of this has been with Solaris and Linux, with a brief stint on HP-UX. He has a wife named Michele and two children, Denise, 11, and Kieran, 9 1/2 months old. He is currently serving as librarian for the Lehigh Valley Linux Users Group (http://thelinuxlink.net/lvlinux) in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Abhigit Menon-Sen occasionally writes for magazines and books to direct attention away from his more dubious activities, including the development of free crypto software, toxicology research, and the maintenance of Perl. he and his dog Bertie live in New Delhi, India.
Micael Urban has been working with various forms of UNIX for about seven years, including Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD. He is a biology student at the University of Minnesota, where he works with the Lion Research Center and does Web site design, Linux adminstration, database programming, and software development. His primary interest is African lions, and he can usually be found immersed in research material on them when he has free time available.
