Nick J. W. Donaldson ~ Bit Wrangler Extraordinaire ~ psyclops@psyclops.com   415.333.4664   http://www.psyclops.com/   San Francisco, CA 94112   SKILL SET Skills include but are not limited to the following: Operating Systems Programming Languages Applications Solaris 2.5-8 Linux FreeBSD HP-UX Win 3.x, 95, 98, ME Windows NT, 2k Mac OS MS-DOS Cisco IOS Perl, mod_perl, Perl modules, DBI HTML & DHTML XML Javascript PHP, JScript, ASP Java SQL, PL/SQL, Transact-SQL UNIX Shell Script Some C++, VBScript Apache, BIND, Qmail, Sendmail, ProFTPD Oracle 8 IIS SQL Server 7, 2000 RADIUS (SBR, Navis, Radiator) Sun Jumpstart MS Exchange Photoshop Dreamweaver Ultradev Macromedia Flash CorelDraw, Illustrator Adobe Acrobat Adobe Premiere MS Word/Excel/Powerpoint Cadkey, Pro/Engineer I have considerable expertise in Linux / UNIX / Windows administration, PC / Mac / Sun / Cisco hardware, networking, routing and troubleshooting just about anything to do with computers. I also have a great deal of experience in running, customizing and troubleshooting various RADIUS servers, particularly Steel-Belted RADIUS (SBR) and Radiator. VIRTUAL PORTFOLIO Here are a few examples of my work: The Googlator - surf the Google Cache; web cache translation utility Cookie driven Shopping Cart - written in Perl for Gloria Ferrer Javascript / DHTML file explorer 'Remote Control' site navigation tool- note the LED on button press The Hawking Forum- a custom chat forum with advanced threading Javascript Equation Editor- a tool from my Hawking Forum The Universal Translator- surf the web in a silly dialect BurnDir - a Burning Man radio directory service RGB Tool- Javascript RGB selection tool for web design CONSULTANT WORK HISTORY Dedicated Consulting, LLC.   3/2002 - Present   - www.dedicatedconsulting.com Dedicated Consulting is the high-technology consulting company run by myself and my wife Rebecca Donaldson. DC offers many services, some of which are listed here. Propel Software Corp.   3/2003 - ongoing   - www.propel.com Propel provides modem users with the Propel Accelerator service that can speed up download speeds up to 5x. I am helping Propel port their new server system over to RADIUS-based authentication. ~ Client Name Withheld ~   9/2002 - ongoing   This established prepaid ISP wishes to withhold their identity for security reasons. They had been having ongoing difficulty with their RADIUS accounting and called me in after finding me through Google to clean up their systems. Having isolated the problem in database connectivity and finding no known workarounds, I tried several different solutions until I was able to restore their billing to close to 100% accuracy using novel use of stored procedures. CS4.com   5/2002 - ongoing   - www.cs4.com CS4 came to me to fix their existing prepaid dialup system which had ground to a halt. I was able to get it back up and authenticating users in 4 hours, then I completely rewrote the entire authentication, decrement and accounting system in just 20 hours. It is still running smoothly and I have since worked on several other projects for CS4. Cliq Services Cooperative, Inc.   8/1996 - Present   - www.cliq.com CLIQ is a cooperative collective of highly skilled independent software and hardware specialists, of which I was cofounder and director. I have worked on many of the projects in the Portfolio section as a freelance consultant. Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves   3/2002 - 4/2002   - www.gloriaferrer.com I wrote a custom cookie-based shopping cart in Perl for the Gloria Ferrer online store. This shopping cart was particularly complex due to the discount scheme that was used for Cuvee Club members and for case discounts. I also modified the shopping cart code for use in Club signup and ticket ordering. Apothecom Associates, LLC   1/2002 - 2/2002   - www.apothecom.com Apothecom contracted me to convert a number of presentations for which they had powerpoint slides and audio tapes of researchers talking about the slides into flash for CD distribution. This job involved not only capturing the audio but extensive filtering work to cleanup the poor source. In addition, I created a seamless flash template which allowed for navigation in the presentation, syncing slides to audio timecodes, plus a slider bar for quick access. The flash template made extensive use of ActionScript, which I mastered in a few days. I then embedded the flash files into HTML pages and built an autorun CD for easy viewing. I have since worked on a second Flash project for Apothecom combining medical scans and audio voiceover using Actionscript into a fully navigable presentation. Ghost Technologies LLC   11/2000 - 7/2001   - www.ghosttechnologies.com As Chief Technology Officer I architected and managed development of a directed dialup access system for controlled logon to premium websites. I installed and administered several Solaris machines running Apache, Perl, Oracle and the Radiator RADIUS server. I Designed and wrote a user validation / routing and tracking system, configuring a Cisco router to talk to RADIUS with a dialup configuration to allow/restrict/disallow connects based on user parameters. I built an interface to the Oracle database using Perl/DBI and PL/SQL stored procedures, and designed a 'quick install' plan for easy system replication using Sun's Jumpstart. Unfortunately, the company was unable to deploy the system due to lack of funding. I also administered the company's DNS, website and email services. Again, the web site was developed by my wife Rebecca Donaldson. Slingshot Prepaid Dialup   2/2000 - 10/2000   - www.slingshot.com Designed and built a prepaid virtual ISP dialup and user tracking system, built on Solaris and ported to Windows 2000. I was responsible for architecting and implementing all server-side aspects of the system, including install & configuration of Solaris 2.7/Apache/mod_perl/Steel Belted Radius/Oracle on Solaris, and Win 2k Advanced Server/IIS/Velocigen/Steel Belted Radius/SQL Server on Windows 2000. This gave me a unique insight into the similarities and differences in installing and administering Solaris versus Windows, and I became expert on Steel-Belted RADIUS (SBR) on both platforms. I wrote a suite of custom applications including a proprietary registration API talking XML over an HTTP link to Apache/IIS, a set of SQL Stored Procedures managing prepaid minute tracking in the database, and dual HTTP/XML and web-based Customer Service tools. The result is a fully automated registration and minutes tracking system providing the enduser with a very easy online experience. See the CNET review here, including a screenshot of the intelligent phone number lookup system that I also coded. The web site itself was developed by my lovely wife Rebecca Donaldson. Juston Files   3/1999 - 9/1999   www.juston.com (no longer available) Designed a virtual filesystem running on Solaris, implementing an Apache / Perl interface between DHTML/Javascript front end and an Oracle 8 back end. Configured and administered the Solaris servers and NFS filesystems used to store the physical files. I created a complex proprietary data format for storing virtual directories in a simplified manner in a relational database. I also learned a lot about the pains of writing cross-browser DHTML and Javascript! You can see the interface in action on my development server here. ACN Internet   9/1998 - 3/1999   online.acninc.net (no longer available) Created an automated ISP registration process utilizing redundant HP-UX and Sun Solaris servers built from the ground up, running custom registration software and Sun's SIMS mail server. After completing a series of HTML/Javascript forms and real-time credit card verification, email and RADIUS accounts are created for instant access. I also administered the servers and user accounts for several months. This registration service is no longer online. Network Computer, Inc. (Liberate Technologies)   1/1998 - 8/1998   - www.nc.com Worked with the Quality Assurance team to security audit existing software and develop new testing suites. Became expert on NC technologies running on NT, Solaris and Netscape Enterprise Server. Became proficient in repeatedly installing and configuring Solaris (using Jumpstart) and NT. Worked closely with the developers in finding and fixing bugs. American President Lines   5/1996 - 1/1998   - www.apl.com Created booking, tracking, and information distribution programs, including security features and interaction with a back-end database. This site is 95% on-the-fly HTML generated by cgi's written in Perl. I also wrote several logfile analysis programs (unfortunately hidden by a firewall). The website has since been updated. The Hawking Forum   - www.psyclops.com/hawking/forum Part of my personal web site. I have written a discussion forum in Perl for web denizens to discuss cosmological interests. Part of The Stephen Hawking Pages. I am particularly proud of the Javascript Equation Editor, a tool for creating complex scientific equations in HTML. MerryGeek Net   - www.merrygeek.net My personal network. I have been running a Linux / Solaris / Windows NT/2k network for about 5 years, and I am now serving 52 domains for various non-profit organizations and friends. I provide DNS service, web, and email using Bind 9, Apache, and Qmail, and I am responsible for all administrative and networking tasks. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION Solaris (2.5.1 - 8) I have built, installed, configured and administered numerous Solaris systems over the past 5 years. I like Solaris for its stability and reliability, I know my way around it well, and I recommend it for clients. I have installed and administered Apache, Oracle, BIND, Perl and various other packages on many Solaris systems, and I have created boot/profile servers and used Sun's Jumpstart to replicate servers. I have extensive experience in keeping Solaris running day to day, security patching, user administration, NFS and and many other aspects of Solaris. Linux (Redhat 4.0 - 7.3) I have been running and administering my own Linux servers for five years, and I am now serving 43 domains and supporting many users. I provide full virtual domain services including DNS, web, FTP and email (with webmail) with online backup. Windows (NT4, Win2K) While my preference is for UNIX, but I have installed and built a couple of systems on top of NT / Win2k and I know my way around these servers very well too. Oracle (7 - 9 on Solaris, Win2K) I have installed and managed numerous Oracle systems (mostly custom servers for specific clients' needs), and I have a great deal of experience in managing Oracle databases and writing PL/SQL stored procedures. SQL Server (7, 2000) I ported a system from Oracle/Solaris to MS SQL Server/Win2k so I also know my way around SQL Server and understand the similarities/differences between the two. I have also administered, developed for and troubtleshot both SQL Server 7 and 2000. Other RDBMS (MySQL, PostgreSQL) I have also worked with other Open Source databases... SQL is pretty much SQL wherever it is found, but I do understand the differences and limitations of the various open source RDBMS. RADIUS (Navis, Steel Belted Radius [Solaris,Win2k], Radiator) I have installed, configured and administered a variety of RADIUS servers. SBR I know particularly well as I used it to build the Slingshot prepaid dialup service. Cisco (IOS 12) I built a mini-ISP in my house using a Cisco 2621 running IOS 12 with 5 modems; an interesting learning experience, but I had it working great when I was finished. Ascend (Lucent) I have experience in configuring, managing and using Ascend routers. PRE-CONSULTANT EMPLOYMENT HISTORY Aerometrics Inc. Engineer January, 1992 to July, 1996 Opto-mechanical CAD design of laser-based analysis probes Provided advice and guidance on use of networking and the internet Hardware troubleshooting and repair Interfaced with customers in person and provided telephone support Management of multiple projects and employees Created company web site. British Aerospace PLC Systems Engineer July, 1991 to December, 1991 Responsible for developing and testing missile guidance algorithms Experience with VMS mainframe system Developed expert system for missile guidance EDUCATION University of Bath, UK BSc Honours Degree in Systems Engineering. Special prize for 3D CAD Design on Laser Velocimeter Design Project OTHER SKILLS Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal Team leadership / management experience Public speaking ability, teaching experience French spoken REFERENCES Daniel Gregory, Head of Engineering, Slingshot Communications, Inc.       djgmisc@earthlink.net Daniel was in charge of hardware and deployment at Slingshot, for whom I designed and wrote a custom prepaid dialup internet access system. Slingshot has now ceased operating but you can contact Daniel at his personal email address above.   Ari Newman, Director of Customer Service, CreekPath Systems.       anewman@creekpath.com I worked with Ari during the initial software design phase of Juston.com, subsequently acquired by Novell, Inc. and spun off as Volera, Inc. He has since moved to CreekPath Systems. MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTS Robotics: I have recently built my first real (non-Lego) robot, Ziggy, a six-legged walker involving a lot of mechanical design, electronics and programmed in Java. You can see pictures and video of Ziggy at the following URL: http://www.gotrobots.com/ I am currently working on a Battlebot... Last updated April 12thth, 2003