A Lifetime in Code: Jon “maddog” Hall Reflects at LinuxFest Northwest

From vacuum tubes to free software, Jon “maddog” Hall’s 2025 LinuxFest Northwest talk captured the humor, grit, and decades of experience that shaped his open source journey. This was a tribute to the traits of curiosity, collaboration, and making things work.

« I started programming in 1969. »

With this simple line, maddog opened his 2025 talk at LinuxFest Northwest and began a journey through time, code, and community that only someone with his legacy could offer.

Titled « My Life with Linux (and Before), » the session was more than just a personal history. It was a reflection on what it means to build a life around technology: following instructions, breaking things, fixing them again, and learning as you go. Often, this was done without permission, sometimes without a plan, but always with purpose.

maddog’s stories traced his path from early electrical engineering studies at Drexel, through programming IBM mainframes, to his roles at Bell Labs and DEC. He recalled debugging compilers,soldering microcomputers together, and assisting in porting Linux to the Alpha architecture. These were tasks he undertook not because he was told to, but because they simply made sense.

He spoke with humor about being pragmatic (« I like to get the job done »), was honest about his late career humility, and zealous about performance: « Performance is everything. Whether your battery lasts 24 hours or 15 minutes, that’s not academic. »

The talk was full of human detail, from a neighbor’s basement of mechanical wonders to late night computer room sessions, state fair hog barns, and redemptive moments teaching students at Hartford State Technical College. The talk also touched on his role in enabling Richard Stallman to port the GNU tools to Ultrix-32 (one of DEC’s first Unix-like distributions), and the first moment he saw Linux running in 1994 on what he called a « weak, miserable, crappy Intel PC. »

What set this talk apart was not just technical depth, but a clear motivation. maddog reminded the audience that free and open source software is not just about code, it’s about people. “Everybody is interesting in their own way,” he said. “It’s easier to love than to hate. Easier to smile than to frown.”

For students, professionals, or anyone feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to learn, the talk offered a simple reminder: the most important skill is staying curious. The second is helping others do the same.

Watch the full talk on YouTube: https://youtu.be/758QuvXrttM?si=13OoKCROH5PBq8Oq

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