Packetfury.net

I have to concentrate. I've searched through my backups to find all of my old work, and I'm going through everything. I have to get this right.

Tomorrow, I have 3 job interviews, and two of them are for embedded systems, something I would love to go back to. I've done quite a bit over the last few years, but it wasn't my primary task, unfortunately. At BlueKanGo, I've done some semi-embedded systems (read: Ultra light-weight Linux systems), and some embedded (Linux on a PDA), but it wasn't my primary task. At Odixion, I did some robotics systems, as well as embedded CD/DVD burning/duplication systems. All of that was extremely fun, and I love embedded systems, for their simplicity (relatively speaking, when compared to PCs), and their robustness. I also love the challenge of doing everything in a tight footprint, and getting it right the first time round.

So, what processors have I used? Well, there is the good old 68k, my first love. It was the processor that powered the Amiga 500, my first "real" computer, It's the processor I learnt assembly on. Years later, in a French school, we fiddled about with a 6502 just to learn about digital processors, memory management and a little bit of assembly. I had great fun with that, believe me!

Years later, again, same fun, but a much more advanced architecture. This wasn't about flashing lights or playing Tic Tac Toe, this was about controling a robotic arm, picking up CDs, putting them on a tray, moving the tray to the right position and handing over the control to a printer, then taking over again, putting it in the right place, picking it up again and putting it in the output bin. Add a little bit of advanced coding in there, to calculate the weight of the CD, the correct acceleration to use, and even the time it takes to get from one point to another, all that to calculate if the robotics are working well, of if maintenance is needed. That was fun!

Again, years later, embedded systems at BlueKanGo. The new version of their Netbooks was, at one point, ultra light, the entire OS residing in an 8Mb image, containing a minimal X, web browser, and that's about it. It was proof-of-concept, and it didn't stand up to today's requirements (sound, video and Flash), but it was a good starting point. The stage 1 and stage 2 were compiled for LPIA in mind (Low Power Intel Architecture) and it was fast, even on an Atom.

During the last few years, I've also been having great fun with an hx4700 (more detailed pages available on my blog), creating at first a Linux-based agenda, then more specialized systems (webserver, MySQL server, even a NAS at one point, "juste because I could"). It is a great platform, and it has been a joy to play about with. It is still next to me, and I still play about with it. It is one of the best machines I've owned!

The time has come to finish my work, write pages and pages of data, and to give it to someone else. Between my netbook projects, different clients that have specific requests, some development here and there, and also network security and continuity, I'm going to have a rough time writing all this down, and I have very little time to do it. Still, it has to be done! I refuse to leave my projects in a state that isn't 100% clean and ready.

Once all that is over, there is also another aspect - a job! I'm in contact with a few people, and my resumé is already waiting in a few email boxes. I've got a few possibilites lined up, nothing definite yet, but at least I'm not left out completely in the cold. Now I'd love to find something in Nantes, but there are some very interesting projects in the neigbouring cities too. Time will tell... I'm waiting for my lunch meeting on wednesday for more information. Cross your fingers for me! I'll let you know.

Oh, and no, I do not want anything to do with Java. 

Ok, here we go again. This isn't funny any more.

After 6 months with BlueKanGo, the time has come for me to move on. The reasons are simple enough, and perfectly understandable. After a shift in strategy, all of the long-term R&D projects have been put in stand-by mode, and that means that there just isn't room for me. So here we go,

The actual meeting itself went pretty well, both parties understanding perfectly the other side. My work was applauded, but that just doesn't make up for the financial crisis, where everyone needs to be careful, and to adapt.

So here we go, yet another Linux engineer looking for work. My resumé is on the "About me" page if anyone is interested...

I officially stop on the 21st September, and that means no more 5 hour trips to work and back. That is something that I won't miss...

After 3 months with Expectra, my mission is coming to an end. My goal was to create a version 2.0 of their new notebook OS, and unfortunately, there are still a few things to do. There are always things to do! While I might not have been able to do everything I wanted to do, BlueKanGo are still happy with what I've done, and are eager to let me carry on what I've been doing. This time, no more missions, no more temporary work, we've been talking about a contract and we've reached an agreement.

BlueKanGo needs a Linux expert, since most of their machines will be pre-installed with Linux, and this is where I fit in. BlueKanGo also wants to be closer to the Open Source community, and I'm confident that I'll be able to help them. I'm already preparing a few ideas that I'll present to management soon.

Here I am, with my Waterman, waiting for a few bits of paper to sign. They had better come soon, the R&D team have already emptied the celebratory sweets!

The holidays are over! After 2 weeks of "holidays" (read: end of contract), I'm back to work. The only thing is... I don't yet know where. I have 5 offers, and I still have to think where to go. I've eliminated 3 of the offers, either because they are too far away (Grenoble?!), or just not interesting. As for Paris, well... Paris. No comment.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Rennes, for what looks like an extremely interesting job. I had a 3 hour job interview which went very well (since they made an on-the-spot offer), and tomorrow I need to finish the final details. There are still a few questions I need to ask, a few things that I need to sort out, but the job description sounds ideal, and the project is like a dream come true. More on that tomorrow...

End of the holidays. My train leaves at 7:25 tomorrow, and I'll "start" at 9... I just hope I got everything right... 

The world economy isn't at it's best right now, and it's safe to say that we are going through... "interesting" times. Whilst our parents and grand parents might have spent an entire lifetime for a single company, that just isn't true any more. So here I am, once again, on the job market. Maybe one of these days I'll find something stable, and somehow be able to make bigger plans (Lolo is screaming for kids, for example), Never say never.

So, what's next? Well, I moved to Nantes for this job, and I actually like where I live, for once, so I'll do everything I can to stay here, even if the offers are a little bit far for the time being. I have possibilities in Grenoble, Lyon, Dinan and Paris. The paris job sounds interesting, and I'm looking forward to the job interview on Friday. Friday the 13th... Good news or bad news? Time will tell.