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Daniel F. Dickinson
Realizing a passion for life and tech for the common good
Daniel F. Dickinson1 (he/them) has been using and exploring computer and electronic technologies for over four decades2 while continuing to learn and update his skills. ( see Daniel F. Dickinson’s resume). This has included recently obtaining his CompTIA A+ • ce Certification, cross-skilling on Microsoft’s Power Platform, re-learning Yocto (Linux), maintaining websites built using Hugo, getting up to speed with current OpenWrt, and working as the IT Manager / Integration Analyst at Ambient Activity. Daniel also maintained the Node.js package perfectionist-dfd on NPM and ensured his proficiency with modern Windows as well as various flavours of Linux (for desktop, server, and embedded systems).
This is all layered on top of Daniel’s Bachelor of Computing from the University of Guelph.
Computer code Daniel has written and other technical work is present in various open source and proprietary3 projects. He has also has many of his own repositories on GitHub under the username danielfdickinson as well as on Gitlab, also with the username danielfdickinson.
Daniel also enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. This included being a critical member of a team of volunteers that created and implemented a successful robotics programme for kids 8-12 (eight to twelve) called Bots and Bytes (offsite PDF) at the Midland Public Library. In the same vein, Daniel volunteers with the Gateway Centre for Learning in Midland, Ontario. Daniel has also been serving as a board member for the Midland Public Library since appointed for this term of (Town of Midland) council.
On a completely different note, Daniel occasionally volunteers at the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre for special events where he greets and processes admissions for guests. He hopes to be a Trail Ambassador at the Wye Marsh, but so has had too many other commitments to do so, to date. He believes it would be good for him, enjoyable, and be a service to the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre and its guests.
Daniel uses his middle initial online because there are a surprising number of people named Daniel Dickinson to be found in online searches, including a historical figure and a character in a TV series. ↩︎
Daniel’s interest in tech began in grade school with the Commodore 64 (for which he wrote a hidden TSR4 early in his high school career, not realizing the implications of what he was doing). This interest carried onto PC’s with DOS, then Windows 3.1, and continues with the current generation of desktop, mobile, and embedded (smart) devices and covers multiple operating systems. ↩︎
Since the proprietary projects are not owned by Daniel, he can’t show them to you. ↩︎
People will tell you that this is technically impossible. If you have the right documentation (Daniel had the Jim Butterfield books), use the chainable hook (wedge) for the keyboard, and (prevented on modern operating systems and hardware) use self-modifying and self-relocating code (and you don’t know or believe that it’s impossible) you can make magic happen. Of course the technique ends up meaning you have to use special tricks if you cannot avoid using the kernel routines (because part of the secret was that Daniel had to swap out the kernel ROM to access the RAM underneath). Daniel thinks there is even a printout of the code in a relative’s stack of boxes in the house where Daniel lives. ↩︎
Finished Second Week New Job
I finished the second week of my new job! Though I did contract work for the same company a week before the holidays, at a very needed moment. So, I will have worked with them for three weeks, now.
January 13, 2024 by Daniel F Dickinson1 minute
Successful reset, full steam ahead
My personal reset has been a success. I'm back on track with my training, my contract is going well, and my web presence refresh is making good progress.
December 2, 2023 by Daniel F Dickinson2 minutes
Bing chat fails logic, hallucinates, outright lies
Bing chat fails to reason about who writes Princes and Madmen blog (me) and outright lies and claims that "Princes and Madmen" is a book written by Matthew Weiner.
September 24, 2023 by Daniel F Dickinson4 minutes
O'Reilly scholarship and nearing a moment of truth
Since I forgot to mention it before: I am a recipient of a 2023 O'Reilly DEIJ scholarship. I am also very close to official tests of my knowledge. And no, technology really doesn't change that much.
August 19, 2023 by Daniel F Dickinson3 minutes
It's actually happening: Cross-skilling & contract
Some updates on my training and paid work opportunities. (They've come through!). Maybe even a little bit too much at once.
May 26, 2023 by Daniel F Dickinson2 minutes
Relaxation at the Midland Copy Shoppe
One of the lessons I've learned over the last few years is to relax and let others do what they do better than I
August 7, 2021 by Daniel F Dickinson2 minutes
Archives: Rent or own?
… that got me interested in the question, "How long before one reaches the break even point on the purchase of a residence compared to a lease?"
February 23, 2021 by Daniel F Dickinson2 minutes
The problem with thin (pools & volumes)
Linux LVM thin pools and volumes initially seem to be a great way maximize the use of hard drive space by using only the space that is actually allocated to files. There is a major fly in the ointment though. Thin pools cannot be reduced in size.
February 21, 2021 by Daniel F Dickinson2 minutes
Dating with accelerators
Uses the basic principles of radioactive dating and combines them with advanced isotope measurements to obtain very precise results from small samples.
October 29, 1992 by Daniel F Dickinson6 minutes
Facebook "meltdown"
If my feed was showing me what 'engaged' me why did I get fed up and leave? There are several parts to the answer, but an important piece is that Facebook's algorithm is largely an uncontrolled 'positive feedback loop'.
February 10, 2021 by Daniel F Dickinson3 minutes