David Kluskiewicz

Experimenting with Ubuntu has definitely expanded my technology mind. I’m no programmer, but with a few hours of reading and experimentation, I was able to turn a beat up old IBM T40 ThinkPad into the start of a home server. (I couldn’t help but follow the lead of my intern who, in an afternoon, turned a slugging Dell into a custom built web server.) I can store files on it, access it from anywhere there’s an internet connection, and print wirelessly from anywhere in my house. Without purchasing a single piece of hardware or software.

Thanks to Matthias Kretschmann for publishing a nice tutorial for configuring a file server. And thanks to the Ubuntu community for sharing tips in the forums.

Sure this may seem like tinkering, but it represents an attitude that I want my kids to embrace as they grow up – one that I need to practice again. I want them to look beyond brands and see the physical materials that they can turn into anything. A 1.5MHz chip, a 32GB hard drive and 500Mb of RAM, all objects that might have been considered “so 2001″, were resurrected into a stellar utility for the home. It’s tough for a brand to do that. And, it’s nowhere near as satisfying as crafting something with your own hands.