… an interactive library for Linux users

uptime is a new community-based online Linux publication. I hope you’ll take time to visit and participate. Details in a few …

uptime also serves as a segue to talk about the recent changes I’ve been only hinting at. For your benefit, I’ll quit couching the words and come straight out with it.

Penguin Shell, as you know it, has died a somewhat painful death. I was given the opportunity to continue writing it, without direct compensation for the work involved. If you’ve been a faithful reader, you should know why. In any case, it’s an interesting study in the dynamics of open source.

Let me first say that there are, from my end, no hard feelings in this split. Chris is a businessman who needs to take whatever action he feels appropriate to preserve his business interests. I’ve gotten a lot of exposure through Penguin Shell for the past 17 months. I’ve had much praise passed my way from Chris, from the others at Lockergnome, and in the form of hundreds of emails daily from readers. Chris has told me several times in the past week that it’s not about the content, only the money. I’m grateful for the exposure and for the opportunity to contribute in some way to the Linux community. Lockergnome and I have parted ways on sudden notice, though on good terms. I wish them all well.


In fact, the minimal dollars and cents expended by Lockergnome to keep 18,000 subscribers in tune with the Linux community have now become the demise of Penguin Shell. The story is an interesting case study in the collision of philosophies between open source and proprietary entities.

My position is simple. If Lockergnome were an open source entity, I’d gladly provide the content for free. I’ll remind all of the Eric Raymond definition of open source: “Free as in freedom, not as in beer.” Where the work of open source workers benefits a company financially, the workers should be compensated in some way. That’s consistent with the position I’ve taken throughout the life of Penguin Shell. And while I won’t talk dollars and cents, I’ll say that the compensation received to this point was, in fact, minimal. It was the bare minimum I could have negotiated at the time and still maintained the sense of professionalism I tried to carry into Penguin Shell. In other words, I was happy to take far, far less than the value of the newsletter to the Lockergnome properties. In the past week, I’ve been asked to work for free for a commercial entity, an entity that continues to generate revenue, and I’ve declined. While I’m a bit disappointed that Lockergnome continues to mix the freedom vs. free beer metaphor, I’m also free to move on, as I’ve chosen to do, with a grateful nod and a genuine thanks.

I’m told that another author will take over Penguin Shell. I wish that person well. I hope they’ll take care of the audience I’ve built over the last year and a half, but it’s out of my hands. I can only trust that they’ll recognize the responsibility of writing for such a smart, interesting and community-spirited group of subscribers.

I am, however, going to work for free in another arena – an arena whose sole focus is Linux and one over which I’ll have creative control. That would be uptime. The new publication is geared to a broad Linux audience, with sections of interest to users of all levels. These sections include:

  • cron – admin tools and tips
  • fsck – core features and functions
  • grep – parsing the news in the Linux world
  • man – command line tips and tricks
  • probe – hardware-related tips and reviews
  • read – Linux book, site and magazine reviews
  • slice – the politics of open source and computing
  • startx – XWindow tips and tweaks
  • talk – reader-submitted articles

I’ve been hammering away at the site all weekend and expect that I’ll be ready to roll, complete with some of the initial content, by Tuesday. These sections will rotate no less than weekly, with new content posted in specific sections daily. I’m also extending an open invitation to anyone with the inclination and interest to become a regular contributor to the site.

uptime uses Movable Type and, as such, provides full commenting, TrackBack, XML and RSS feeds, update pings, and much more. It’s a blogger’s approach that has me absolutely fired up all over again. The tools provide *real* interactivity, not only with the author but with others in the community. They’re portable, reasonably easy to implement and almost mindlessly easy to use. In truth, if you visit, there’s just no reason not to participate.

Look here on Tuesday for the uptime address.

If you’ve been a Penguin Shell reader, I hope you’ll visit and spread the word. Comment, email your fellow subscribers, TrackBack, whatever works. In its current format, uptime allows the room to stretch out and cover these topics in much more detail than the Penguin Shell format would allow.

More than anything else, I thank you for the continued readership and encouragement in Penguin Shell over the past 17 months. Financial issues aside, the readers have been the reason I’ve done what I’ve done, both with Penguin Shell and now with uptime.