My name is Paayl, the Manx Gaelic equivalent to Paul in English. I live on Ellan Vannin, also known as Mannin, or the Isle of Man in English. Manx Gaelic is the heritage language of the Manx people.

I'm in my early fifties, and have Usher Syndrome. This is a genic condition that has affected my hearing, and sight since birth. I was born profoundly deaf with no speech recognition. At the end of 2024 I had a bilateral cochlear implant, which has given me the ability to hear speech for the first time in my life, including the speech output of my screen reader. In my adolescence I began to go blind. Today I can only see light and dark, there is no useable sight.

As an accessibility-conscious Unix and Linux Geek, I use an assistive technology stack that consists of a mechanical keyboard, screen reader(s) with speech and braille output, and a refreshable braille display, that lets me control and navigate in my systems.

I am a passionate open source and free culture advocate. I have a strong adherence to the Unix principles of software design, usability, performance, security, privacy, and anonymity of the internet.

I enjoy solving problems for myself, and others. I am always up for a challenge and enjoy learning new technologies. I do what I do because I love it.

Aside from my fascination with all things systems, I'm also a field recordist, enjoy birding by ear, learning Manx Gaelg, as well as being a big fan of red wine, brandy, and the game of chess.

Baarool Lab

The name of the lab, Baarool (English: Barrule), is Manx Gaelic, and is derived from two peaks in the Isle of Man: Baarool Twoaie (English: North Barrule), which is the second highest peak on the island at 565 m (1,854 ft), and Baarool Jiass (English: South Barrule), the highest hill in the south of the island.

Baarool Lab consists of my computer lab, a 12 m² (130 ft²) room in the back of my home – where I spend most of my time tinkering – and the server room, an 4 m² (43 ft²) room adjecent to the computer lab. I'm planning to add an off-site server rack – for production and backup servers – in a cubbyhole of a cottage in the next village, but that is something I'm still researching / negotiating.