Linux Outlaws Black Long Sleeve - 2020/01/02 - Matteo's T-shirt A Day
This is an oldie, but a good one: my Linux Outlaws long sleeve t-shirt. Linux Outlaws was a podcast I listened to from not long after it started in 2007 until its cancellation in 2014. Hosted by Fabian Scherschel and Dan Lynch, the show mainly focused on Linux and free and open source software.
Linux Outlaws black long sleeve t-shirt with western outlaw tux penguin. Circa 2009. “Linux Outlaws LINUXOUTLAWS.COM we aim to misbehave”
2007 was a fun year both from a travel and tech perspective for me. In September that year I visited my parents in Los Angeles, California and while there purchased the just released Apple iPod Nano (3rd generation, the chunky one). Being on an iPod and using iTunes, that is where I discovered the Linux Outlaws podcast. Don’t worry, the irony of discovering a podcast on free and open source software and consuming it on a locked down service and device was and is not lost on me.
What made the Linux Outlaws a special podcast for me was the fact that the hosts, Fab and Dan, fostered a healthy and geeky community around the podcast. I wrote in with questions or to make a point a few times and my answers were picked up and sparked conversation on the podcast. Most memorable for me was episode 19 (I think) where I asked Dan & Fab about this new Open Handset Alliance (Google’s Android) and how “open” it was going to be. I seem to remember them doubting it would be “open” and that my best bet was to go with something more like the OpenMoko. History was harsh and OpenMoko didn’t really go far as a project. Meanwhile Android ended up being the dominant mobile operating system globally. Even more ironically, the OpenMoko project then pivoted the OS for the reference device to Android.
The Linux Outlaws podcast and community played a vital role in my geeky evolution, and drove a lot of Linux distribution discovery for me. Distro-hopping, fixing stuff and learning through tinkering with technology are what then drove my life and career in the years to follow
Consider this just a taster of geeky t-shirts to come to the Tech Travel Geeks site in 2020. Almost all of them have an interesting backstory and the context the t-shirt came from contributed to my geeky self in one way or another.
