Simon Avery = digdilem = dartymoor = Flash

“Just another middle-aged geek.”

The name “Digital Dilemma” was born in the early 1990s when I started running my first dialup BBS. This evolved into becoming the primary Fidonet mail hub for the UK (R:2:25/) I’ve kind of stuck with it, even though the BBS has been gone since around 2005

About me:

  • Computers: Sinclair ZX81 in 1981. Wrote my first BASIC program shortly after aged ten. Then Dragon 32, Amstrad CPC (I wrote and released many Text Adventures in the 80s and 90s. Progressed onto PCs with a 4.77mhz XT in 1990, shortly followed by an Elonex 386-sx25. Missed Amiga/Atari/Spectrum progression of many other geeks. I’m a believer in Free/Open Source software and use Linux for servers.
  • Programming: BASIC, Quill, Adlan, TADS three psuedo-langauges for Adventure writing), Turbo-C, Perl, Bash, PHP and recently Bootstrap. I enjoy the problem solving and logical procedural aspects of coding and since the late 90s have written, improved and maintained a large Perl/MySql Equine management web application for a charity.
  • Fidonet: I ran 2:255/90 for many years – a Fidonet bulletin board, eventually progressing to being RC25 and organising the UK’s Fidonet distribution and international links over modem and later ISDN links, eventually giving up around 2002 as the Internet provided better alternatives. (My Fidonet Software)
  • Hobbies: Motorcycling, Walking, Geocaching, Cycling (Common theme: Exploring, learning) Geocaching
  • Employment: Labouring then forestry to start with. Then IT Support for a local internet company. Then worked for an Equine charity. Since 2019 I work for an Exeter company being a Linux Sysadmin and DataBase Administrator specialising in MariaDb.