Computers

WebTech | Platforms | Tools

The first website I ever cobbled together in the early 2000s was done using Yahoo’s Sitebuilder. It was a very crude drag & drop interface. A few years later, I was tasked with creating my then company’s website during a slow period of work. Again, I resorted to the 1&1 web host’s built in sitebuilder tools.

As I began to get more requests from small businesses to create websites, I searched for a platform I could use to streamline the process. My choices eventually narrowed down to Joomla, WordPress, or Drupal. In the end, it was WordPress and its community that won me over.

In 2009, QuiteVisible Studio was born in Corpus Christi, TX and I delivered the first of many self-hosted WordPress sites to a client. My workflow and toolset haven’t changed a whole lot since then – although the WordPress CMS has.

Apple | iOS

I currently use an iPhone, iPad, and MacMini as primary machines on a daily basis. My first experience with an Apple product was a 1990s era Macintosh used for desktop publishing in an architectural firm.

Linux Debian: Ubuntu & Mint

• I recently converted my Dell XPS 13 laptop into a Linux box running Mint
• I also am running a dual OS install of Ubuntu/Windows on a Dell Inspiron laptop. The Windows OS rarely sees any usage on this machine.
• All the shared hosting web servers I have utilized are Linux/Apache based.

Windows

Although I have used Windows run computers since the early Win95 days all the way up until the current Windows 11 version, I have slowly moved away from it in daily usage due to poor quality & performance issues. Even with Windows running as the OS, I have favored Open Source Software (OSS) over native Windows apps/programs whenever possible.

Fire/Kindle

I have been an AmazonPrime member since 2004 and have used Kindle Fire based products since their inception. I was really excited and happy with their Fire Phone entry into the mobile space and was deeply saddened when the program was terminated so early.

I still have my beloved 1st generation Fire Phone (which still works!) and even brought it along with me to use on a trip to the Philippines in 2019.

Google Android

Some of my earlier smartphones and tablets ran on Google’s Android OS. The most common devices that I used Android with were ASUS, Samsung, and Dell.

Palm/Handspring

Before smartphones, there were PDAs, aka Personal Digital Assistants. The Palm Pilot reigned during this technological era and I had 2 of these devices complete with syncing cradle.

Somewhere along the line, Palm became Handspring, then Palm again. I used my Handspring PDA extensively before eventually graduating to a Palm Treo when my first venture into professional real estate required such powerful mobile computing and digital organization.

I still own the Handpsring and Palm Treo devices to this day.

DOS

Yes, I have been around computers since the mid 1980s. These were the early days of Commodore64s, DOS, and 4″ floppy diskettes. In fact, my first data storage unit was a special cassette tape recorder!

Software

These are apps & programs I have used on a regular basis over the past couple of decades. It is by no means an exhaustive list, as I have, and continue to, test drive many types of programs. I am a fan of Open Source.

Hardware

The list below represents computing hardware that I use on a regular basis, and have proficiency in setting up, configuring, and maintaining to some degree.