My name is Brian Hoskins. I was born at 23:23 on 23rd October (which I always think is pretty cool, but frightening if you've ever seen the film "The Number 23"), 1979. I grew up in a small town called Bridgend, South Wales, United Kingdom and have lived here all my life. I currently live in an even smaller town called Pencoed, which comes underneath the Bridgend umbrella.
I have a passion for Electronics Design, and have done ever since childhood. I was one of the lucky few who always knew what he wanted to do for a living, and my entire school life was dedicated to that end. Today I have achieved that goal, having worked in the Electronics trade for just over 10 years now!
I left school at A-Level and started an Electronics apprenticeship with a local company. My parents dissuaded me from University, and although my apprenticeship was extremely useful (and has in fact brought me to where I am today) I still think that my decision not to go to University after school was a mistake. I have since attended college in my spare time, and in fact during the 11 years since I left school I've only been out of education for a period of 2 years! I have obtained many Electronics related qualifications since my A-Levels, and at the moment I am back in part time education, studying for my degree in Electronics at Cardiff University. I work full time as an Electronics Engineer, so I have to juggle the University studies around a full time job. I'm in my 3rd year, so am looking forward to graduation!
Aside from my passion for Electronics Design, I also enjoy home computing. I use a Windows based PC as my main machine, mainly because all my Electronics related applications (development environments, CAD programs, simulators etc) are only available for the WindowsOS. But my favourite OS to use is undoubtedly AmigaOS, of which I've been a major fan since childhood. If you know anything about computing history, you're probably thinking to yourself that the Amiga has been dead since the demise of Commodore in 1994. You're wrong. The Amiga has endured, even to this day, as a formidable machine. The Amiga user-group has dragged its favourite computer, and the Operating System with it, into modern times. Development continues as we speak. See my Amiga page!
Other than that, I have a huge admiration for Land Rover vehicles which, again, is a passion I've been growing since childhood. I love the adventurous nature and ideals of the brand, I adore the feeling of community you get from owning a Land Rover vehicle, and I'll also admit to some patriotism toward the brand as well! Today I own an old Land Rover Discovery, which I am slowly upgrading and modifying. My Land Rover ownership thus far has been a bit of a tough (but at the same time bonding) ride, to the point where I don't feel I could ever give up this particular vehicle. I've worked too long and too hard on her! Check out my Land Rover page for more information about that.
And that's me, in a nutshell! For more detailed information on my various hobbies please visit the relevant pages. If you are an Electronics enthusiast (like I am) then a visit to my Electronics Design page will be particularly interesting and fruitful. I am going to put together some information pages on my various projects, as I manage to complete them, and upload them to the site (usually including schematics, gerbers and source code where relevant). Please feel free to browse/download!
Brian J Hoskins, September 2009.
