People:

People at mambaSoft

mambaSoft would like to involve into its projects everybody wants to collaborate in order to create a network of people who have skills in different fields of knowledge.
The aim of mambaSoft is to put together modern technologies with end-user usability, comfortness and style.
If you are one of these:

a computer engineer with a special passion and knowledge for Open Source software and GNU/Linux systems
a scientist interested in innovation and/or with one or more ideas to put in practice
an artist believing that modern technologies including computers and the Web can be the vehicle for new forms of expression

...tell us your experience and what you would like to do and we'll think of how we can proficiently collaborate.

Silvan Calarco

Role in mambaSoft:
founder and current holder

Biography:

Silvan Calarco (born on January 15, 1974) is an Electronics Engineer who lives in Torino, in the north west of Italy.
Between 2003 and 2006 he has an experience as the QiLinux distribution team leader at QiNet s.r.l. which involves him into many different activities ranging from the conception and creation from sources of the whole Linux distribution to the development of marketing strategies to make profit from paid Open Source software development.
He leaves QiNet on early 2006 and soon after he founds mambaSoft, an individual firm created with the purpose of indipendently grow a business reality based on the acquired experience in the field of both computer technologies and business strategies.
A relevant passion of Silvan Calarco is music and he performs as a guitarist in some non professional bands in Torino.

History:

1974: born in Torino on January, 15th
1984: first approach to computer programming in Basic language on a Commodore VIC-20 with 32 KB expansion card
1985: experience on a Olivetti M24 and M240 8086 based PC with MS-DOS 2.11
1986: Borland Turbo Pascal programming
1987: interest in Graphical Desktop Environments. After trying Microsoft Windows 2.0 the interest moves to Digital Research's GEM
1988: approach to the remote computing world of Bulletin Board Systems
1991: idea and development of WMail, a mailer software to interface with FidoNet network.
1993:
- certificate of Education in Scientific Studies at Liceo M.Curie of Grugliasco, near Torino
- the interest in non mainstream GUI based Operating Systems moves him from using the Microsoft Windows 3.x application to the IBM OS/2 2.0 operating system.
1997-2000: guitar jazz studies at Centro di Formazione Musicale of Torino
1998-2000: experience as webmaster and system administrator of the student's site of the Politecnico di Torino; first serious approach to Linux after several minor experiences
2000: master in Electronics Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino
2000-2002: guitar jazz studies at Centro Jazz Torino
2001: development of an e-commerce platform written using JSP technology
2002-2003: experience as network delivery manager for the Atlanet Internet Service Provider; experience in the implementation and troubleshooting of WAN links using most existing routing protocols.
2003-2006:
- Development team leader at QiNet s.r.l.
- Idea and development of the QiLinux Linux distribution
- develoment of distromatic, autodist and makedist, tools for Linux distributions
March 2006: mambaSoft foundation
January 2007: creation of the openmamba GNU/Linux distribution

Publications:

Thesis: Project of Modular Structures aimed to the Synthesis of Iterative Decoders of Block Codes (a complete behavioral description of an iterative Turbo Product Decoder based on BCH codes, in C and VHDL programming languages)
QiLinux: un pinguino tutto italiano (Linux Magazine, september 2004) [italian]
QiLinux 1.2 (Linux Magazine, july/august 2005) [italian]

Resources:

An interview to Silvan Calarco as QiLinux team leader [italian]
A biography page related to QiLinux history at the linuxpedia [italian]

Other interests:

Interest in many music genres: Jazz, Funky, Reggae, Ska, Rock, Classical
1997-2000: guitar jazz studies at Centro di Formazione Musicale of Torino
2000-2002: guitar jazz studies at Centro Jazz Torino
On stage band experiences as guitarist: Mutley Jazz Quintet, Francofanchi, Alby T-Bone Ska Jazz Ensemble
Readings on contemporary sciences and emerging technologies
Travels to France, England, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain.

Suggested resources

Letture:

The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S.Raymond
Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond.

Video:

Revolution OS : "REVOLUTION OS tells the inside story of the hackers who rebelled against the proprietary software model and Microsoft to create GNU/Linux and the Open Source movement."
Pirates of Silicon Valley : "the trials and tribulations of childhood friends Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who would eventually form Apple Computer, and Harvard students Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Gates' high school friend Paul Allen, who would eventually form Microsoft."

Acknowledgements

The mambaSoft logo was made by Alessandro Loi, a brilliant and experienced graphic designer.
Linux is a registered Trademark of Linus Torvalds.