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Who is behind it

One point of contact, who answers in person and coordinates collaborators when a project calls for it. This is his story, in his own words.

Arturo Bianchi, wearing a Slackware 14.0 T-shirt
Arturo Bianchi, owner of RINUX.

My name is Arturo Bianchi, and my profile says "IP network exorcist". It is a joke, but only up to a point.

Every day I get my hands on Linux, Apache, BIND, Dovecot, Sendmail, RADIUS and TACACS, but also Cisco IOS, MikroTik RouterOS and plenty of other software and hardware devilry. More or less all of it seasoned with the same sauce: the IP protocol.

I work for public bodies, (W)ISPs and businesses. On larger projects I coordinate trusted collaborators, but I remain the point of contact: whoever gives us a job always knows who to talk to.

I follow the meetings of the network operator community, ITNOG and RIPE among others: that is where you see where the Internet is heading, before it reaches customers' projects.

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Forty years, in short

  1. Late 1970s

    A Z80 and 62 KB of RAM

    I built my first computer myself, around a Z80 CPU, with 62 KB of RAM: 62, not 64, to leave a hole for the EPROMs. After testing it with its original operating system, I rewrote the bootstrap and I/O code, the BIOS, to make it CP/M compatible. I used it from a serial console, through a UART brutally wired to the parallel port of a board designed for printers.

  2. 1980s

    From hex keypad to compilers

    My first steps were in machine language, keying hex opcodes into a keypad. Then assemblers and compilers, on many architectures: Z80, 6502, 8052, 8080, 80x86, KA630, PIC16 and PIC17. After CP/M came OS/2, UNIX, VMS and Linux.

  3. 1989 – 1992

    Line Bank BBS, FidoNet node 2:335/10

    In Cassino I was the SysOp of the Line Bank BBS, node 2:335/10 of the worldwide FidoNet network. Networking before the Internet: modems, dial-up lines and mail hopping from node to node. My first lesson in how much a link that holds really matters.

  4. 1990 – 1992

    µVAX system administrator at Fiat Auto

    At the Piedimonte San Germano plant I worked as µVAX system administrator and C programmer in the assembly department, where the line does not stop to wait for the software.

  5. February 2000

    RINUX is born

    I start my own business: local and wide area networks, Linux servers, Cisco and MikroTik equipment, support for Passepartout business software. Then come video surveillance, voice over IP and operator networks.

  6. Today

    From cable to code

    I splice fiber, qualify copper, configure routers and servers and write firmware for the ESP32. The Z80 has retired; the pleasure of getting two machines to talk to each other has not.

CONNECT

  L I N E   B A N K   B B S
  Cassino (FR)

FidoNet ....... 2:335/10
SysOp ......... Arturo Bianchi
Online ........ 1989-1992

> What is your name? _

The screen is a reconstruction: the original is still on a 5¼" floppy somewhere.

How I work

Four habits that do not change from one client to the next.

One point of contact

Whoever designs the job also answers for installation and support. Collaborators work under the same direction, and no information gets lost along the way.

Every request has a number

Requests go through the support system: each one gets a number, a priority and a history. Nothing gets lost between phone calls, e-mails and messages.

Free software, by choice

Wherever possible I use free software: no licenses expiring by surprise, no black boxes, data that stays yours.

Italian, French, English

Native Italian and French, working English: useful if your business also operates across borders.