R.I.P. mrdocs (1963--2019)
The Scribus Team is deeply saddened to announce the loss of our friend and colleague Peter Linnell who in the end lost his long battle against cancer.
It is no understatement to say that without Peter Scribus wouldn't be what it is today. It was Peter who spotted the potential of Franz Schmid's initially humble Python program and, as a pre-press consultant at the time, contacted Franz to make him aware of the necessities of PostScript and PDF support, among other things. Peter also wrote the first version of the Scribus online documentation, which resulted in his nickname "mrdocs" in IRC and elsewhere. Until recently, and despite his detoriating health, Peter continued to be involved in building and releasing new Scribus versions.
Scribus was the project he helped to set on track and which marked the beginning of his journey into the world of Free Software development. While it remained at the heart of his commitments to Open Source in general and Libre Graphics software in particular, Peter contributed to Free Software in many other ways as well. For example via contributions to projects related to freedesktop.org, as a package builder of many Free programs for several Linux distributions on the openSUSE Build Service, and later as an openSUSE board member. Peter was also crucial in bringing the Libre Graphics community together by way of sharing his expertise with other graphics-oriented projects and his assistance in organzing the first Libre Graphics Meetings. In the sometimes ego-driven and often emotional world of Open Source development, Peter managed to get along very well with almost everybody and never lost his sense of humour.
We will remember Peter "mrdocs" Linnell for what he was: an optimist, an incredible team player, an honest man and, above all, a friend.
Our thoughts are with his family.
March 2019, The Scribus Team
Hi,
On Fri, 22 Mar 2019 00:20:49 +0100 "Christoph Schäfer" <christoph-schaefer@...173...> wrote:
The Scribus Team is deeply saddened to announce the loss of our friend and colleague Peter Linnell who in the end lost his long battle against cancer.
sorry to hear that.
It is no understatement to say that without Peter Scribus wouldn't be what it is today. It was Peter who spotted the potential of Franz Schmid's initially humble Python program and, as a pre-press consultant at the time, contacted Franz to make him aware of the necessities of PostScript and PDF support, among other things. Peter also wrote the first version of the Scribus online documentation, which resulted in his nickname "mrdocs" in IRC and elsewhere. Until recently, and despite his detoriating health, Peter continued to be involved in building and releasing new Scribus versions.
Scribus was the project he helped to set on track and which marked the beginning of his journey into the world of Free Software development. While it remained at the heart of his commitments to Open Source in general and Libre Graphics software in particular, Peter contributed to Free Software in many other ways as well. For example via contributions to projects related to freedesktop.org, as a package builder of many Free programs for several Linux distributions on the openSUSE Build Service, and later as an openSUSE board member. Peter was also crucial in bringing the Libre Graphics community together by way of sharing his expertise with other graphics-oriented projects and his assistance in organzing the first Libre Graphics Meetings. In the sometimes ego-driven and often emotional world of Open Source development, Peter managed to get along very well with almost everybody and never lost his sense of humour.
We will remember Peter "mrdocs" Linnell for what he was: an optimist, an incredible team player, an honest man and, above all, a friend.
Our thoughts are with his family.
March 2019, The Scribus Team
Inkscape-devel mailing list Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-devel
I was very stunned and saddened to hear about mrdocs' passing today. My sympathies go to his family, and to the extended graphics community that he did so much to help build. I lost my own mother to cancer in December, so this hits home.
Peter played an instrumental role in Inkscape's early days to connect us with Scribus and other projects. In those days, Qt and Gtk seemed polar opposites but he demonstrated that the things we had in common - a love of graphics, a belief in Open Source, and the camaraderie of collaboration - was far stronger.
I think I speak for the Inkscape team to say thank you, Peter, you will be missed but we share your passion for our extended FOSS graphics community, and will strive to bring welcome to our sister projects as you brought welcome to us.
Bryce
On Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 12:20:49AM +0100, "Christoph Schäfer" wrote:
The Scribus Team is deeply saddened to announce the loss of our friend and colleague Peter Linnell who in the end lost his long battle against cancer.
It is no understatement to say that without Peter Scribus wouldn't be what it is today. It was Peter who spotted the potential of Franz Schmid's initially humble Python program and, as a pre-press consultant at the time, contacted Franz to make him aware of the necessities of PostScript and PDF support, among other things. Peter also wrote the first version of the Scribus online documentation, which resulted in his nickname "mrdocs" in IRC and elsewhere. Until recently, and despite his detoriating health, Peter continued to be involved in building and releasing new Scribus versions.
Scribus was the project he helped to set on track and which marked the beginning of his journey into the world of Free Software development. While it remained at the heart of his commitments to Open Source in general and Libre Graphics software in particular, Peter contributed to Free Software in many other ways as well. For example via contributions to projects related to freedesktop.org, as a package builder of many Free programs for several Linux distributions on the openSUSE Build Service, and later as an openSUSE board member. Peter was also crucial in bringing the Libre Graphics community together by way of sharing his expertise with other graphics-oriented projects and his assistance in organzing the first Libre Graphics Meetings. In the sometimes ego-driven and often emotional world of Open Source development, Peter managed to get along very well with almost everybody and never lost his sense of humour.
We will remember Peter "mrdocs" Linnell for what he was: an optimist, an incredible team player, an honest man and, above all, a friend.
Our thoughts are with his family.
March 2019, The Scribus Team
Inkscape-devel mailing list Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-devel
Would we like to put together a memorial video? I didn't know him personally, but clearly I, like so many others, have benefited from his work for many years. All we need are some good pictures, and possibly some folks who worked with him answering some questions, and/or sharing stories (video or audio is fine). A list of the projects he worked with would be great too.
Much respect, and deep sympathies, -C
On Sat, 23 Mar 2019, 04:24 Bryce Harrington, <bryce@...961...> wrote:
I was very stunned and saddened to hear about mrdocs' passing today. My sympathies go to his family, and to the extended graphics community that he did so much to help build. I lost my own mother to cancer in December, so this hits home.
Peter played an instrumental role in Inkscape's early days to connect us with Scribus and other projects. In those days, Qt and Gtk seemed polar opposites but he demonstrated that the things we had in common - a love of graphics, a belief in Open Source, and the camaraderie of collaboration - was far stronger.
I think I speak for the Inkscape team to say thank you, Peter, you will be missed but we share your passion for our extended FOSS graphics community, and will strive to bring welcome to our sister projects as you brought welcome to us.
Bryce
On Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 12:20:49AM +0100, "Christoph Schäfer" wrote:
The Scribus Team is deeply saddened to announce the loss of our friend
and colleague Peter Linnell who in the end lost his long battle against cancer.
It is no understatement to say that without Peter Scribus wouldn't be
what it is today. It was Peter who spotted the potential of Franz Schmid's initially humble Python program and, as a pre-press consultant at the time, contacted Franz to make him aware of the necessities of PostScript and PDF support, among other things. Peter also wrote the first version of the Scribus online documentation, which resulted in his nickname "mrdocs" in IRC and elsewhere. Until recently, and despite his detoriating health, Peter continued to be involved in building and releasing new Scribus versions.
Scribus was the project he helped to set on track and which marked the
beginning of his journey into the world of Free Software development. While it remained at the heart of his commitments to Open Source in general and Libre Graphics software in particular, Peter contributed to Free Software in many other ways as well. For example via contributions to projects related to freedesktop.org, as a package builder of many Free programs for several Linux distributions on the openSUSE Build Service, and later as an openSUSE board member. Peter was also crucial in bringing the Libre Graphics community together by way of sharing his expertise with other graphics-oriented projects and his assistance in organzing the first Libre Graphics Meetings. In the sometimes ego-driven and often emotional world of Open Source development, Peter managed to get along very well with almost everybody and never lost his sense of humour.
We will remember Peter "mrdocs" Linnell for what he was: an optimist, an
incredible team player, an honest man and, above all, a friend.
Our thoughts are with his family.
March 2019, The Scribus Team
Inkscape-devel mailing list Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-devel
Inkscape-devel mailing list Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-devel
participants (4)
-
"Christoph Schäfer" -
Bryce Harrington -
C R -
Shlomi Fish