4 After retiring at the end of August, 2012, from my long-held position as
5 [HP](http://hp.com) Open Source & Linux Chief Technologist... I worked
6 part-time for [Samsung](http://samsung.com) as Senior Adviser to the Open
7 Source Group that is part of Samsung Research America. In September of 2014,
8 I was recruited back to HPE and served for 25 months as an
9 [HPE Fellow](http://www.hp.com/united-states/Bdale-Garbee-External-Bio-V2.pdf)
10 in Martin Fink's Office of the CTO at what became
11 [Hewlett Packard Enterprise](http://hpe.com), driving open source
12 strategy and advocacy for the company. At the end of September 2016, I
13 returned to early retirement... and am now enjoying "Retirement v2.0".
15 I currently serve on the boards of
16 the [Software Freedom Conservancy](https://sfconservancy.org),
17 the [FreedomBox Foundation](http://freedomboxfoundation.org),
18 and [Amateur Radio Digital Communications](http://ampr.org), where I am
19 also the Treasurer / CFO.
21 I served for a while on the board of the
22 [Linux Professional Institute](http://lpi.org) helping it recover from
23 some organizational trauma and transform to a membership-based entity.
25 I served for a decade as President of
26 [Software in the Public Interest](http://spi-inc.org), and as a member of
27 the board of directors for some time before that.
29 I also served for several years on the board of the
30 [Linux Foundation](http://linuxfoundation.org)
31 representing the interests of developers and individuals.
33 I remain actively involved in the [Debian](http://debian.org) project,
34 where I served for a year as the elected Debian Project Leader, and for nearly
35 a decade as Chairman of the Debian Technical Committee. I continue to maintain
36 various [packages](http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=bdale@gag.com)
39 My "spare nanoseconds" are mostly consumed playing with
40 [rockets](http://gag.com/rockets), which includes managing
41 [Altus Metrum, LLC](http://altusmetrum.org) with business partner
42 [Keith Packard](http://keithp.org). I hold a "Level 3 certification" and am
43 a member of both the [National Association of Rocketry](http://nar.org)
44 and the [Tripoli Rocketry Association](http://tripoli.org). My personal
45 confirmed flight altitude record is 32,635 feet above ground, my highest
46 recorded acceleration is 86 g, the heaviest project I ever built weighed 168
47 pounds on the launch rail, and I've flown a rocket I designed and built
48 that reached Mach 3.21. I served on the committee that defined the
49 [Tripoli Mentoring Program](http://www.tripoli.org/TMP), and am
50 immensely proud that my son aced the test to become one of the earliest TMP
53 I miss the early days of the web, when it was mostly informative text...
54 but if you're really curious, there are some pictures of me on my
55 [bio page](bio/), and associated with the
56 [Wikipedia page about me](http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Bdale_Garbee). If you're
57 a close friend or family member, email me for credentials to
58 enter our [gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)..
60 I'm most comfortable when there are lots of electrons flowing nearby, mostly
61 in high-end computer equipment. There are only a few carbohydrates I've met in
62 my life that I didn't like, I have very eclectic tastes in music, enjoy old
63 movies, and I have this "German metal habit"... Porsche flavored. My
64 current such toy is a 1984 Porsche 928S Euro, moss green metallic
65 with beige interior and a dog-leg 5-speed.
67 Over the years, I've spent a lot of my "spare time" on various facets of
68 [Amateur Radio](rf/). KB0G is my current callsign, previously I was N3EUA
69 and before that I was KA3ORU. I'm a life member of
70 [AMSAT](http://amsat.org/),
71 President of [CODE](http://gag.com/code/),
72 a former Vice-President of [TAPR](http://tapr.org/),
73 a past Chairman and member of the Technical Committee of
75 [Pikes Peak FM Association](http://www.ppfma.org), past board member
76 of the [Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association](http://ppraa.org),
78 [ARRL](http://www.arrl.org) and [QCWA](https://qcwa.org).
79 Perhaps my best-known early contribution to the hobby was the silly little
80 mail program I wrote for KA9Q's NOS networking software, called
81 [BM](ftp://ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/mailers),
82 though I suppose I'm more proud of my role as integrator and documentation
83 author for the package prior to April 1989. I helped instigate N6GN's work on
84 [10Ghz packet links](http://www.sonic.net/~n6gn/uwavelink/uwv.html),
85 and continue to have a strong interest in data transmission over RF
86 links. I was the project leader for the
87 [GPS receiver](http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/phase3d/gps)
89 on the AMSAT Phase-3D satellite, which launched in November 2000,
90 after which it was known as
91 [AO-40](href="http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/ao40.php).
92 I was also one of the developers of the RUDAK
93 digital communications processor. My primary focus on the RUDAK team was
94 communication with the other experiment modules that RUDAK talks to over the
95 CAN bus... SCOPE, MONITOR, CEDEX, and the thermistor SmartNode boards. More
96 recently, I led the design and delivery of the IHU design for the AMSAT-NA
97 [Fox](http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1113) cubesat program, and one of my
98 boards has been "in the stack" on every recent AMSAT-NA satellite.
100 If you want to find me "on the air" for a QSO, about the only chance
101 right now is to catch us
102 [roving](http://gag.com/code/rover/) in a VHF/Microwave contest, or on the
103 flight-line at a rocket launch.
105 While I was "born and raised" in the era of 4.1BSD, shared a Vax 11/750
106 with Eric Crane at CMU, and ran some flavor of BSD on at least one
107 machine up until the [fire in 2013](http://gag.com/blackforestfire.html)
108 (the Symmetric S/375, a uVax2, BSD/OS,
109 and NetBSD on a pc532), I have become a strong supporter of Linux
110 particularly the [Debian GNU/Linux](http://www.debian.org)
111 distribution, because of the emphasis on perpetual free availability of
112 all of the source code to the system. I've contributed a few packages to
113 the Debian effort, and now maintain a signficant number, including some that
114 are essential packages in the base distribution, and some that are "big
115 hairy monsters". At least it keeps me off the streets at night...
117 Not sure how to pronounce "Linux"? Why not let Linus himself
118 [tell you](ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds/english.au)...
120 In recent years, my son and I have become very active building and flying
121 small and large model [rockets](http://gag.com/rockets). I hold a
122 "Level 3 certification", and my personal confirmed
123 flight altitude record is 32,635 feet above ground, my highest recorded
124 acceleration is 86 g, and I've flown a rocket that reached Mach 3.21. I served
125 on the committee that defined the
126 [Tripoli Mentoring Program](http://www.tripoli.org/TMP), and am
127 proud that my son aced the test to become one of the earliest TMP
128 participants. My current focus combines rocketry with my electronics
129 background and strong interest in radio, see the
130 [Altus Metrum](http://altusmetrum.org)
131 community web site for more details...
133 * [Bdale's blog](blog)
134 * [Bdale's biographical information](bio)
135 * [Garbee Gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)
136 * [Quotations](quotes.html)
137 * [Talks Bdale has Given](talks/)
139 Cool Stuff on the Web
140 ---------------------
142 * [Cabell Garbee](http://www.garbee.net/~cabell), Bdale's brother, restores
143 neat old vehicles as a hobby.
144 * [Allen B. Loyd](http://sites.google.com/site/allenloyd/Home),
145 one of Bdale's first cousins, has a site documenting his theatrical set
146 designs, paintings, and other fun stuff.
147 * [Space Machine & Engineering Corp](http://space-machine.com),
148 operated by another of Bdale's first cousins. It's kind of cool
149 having a waveguide company in the family!
150 * [Graves Mountain Lodge](http://www.gravesmountain.com),
151 owned and operated by "my extended family" in Virginia. We used to
152 visit often... and still get back once in a while!
153 * Visit the [Radio Farm](http://www.rf.org/)... a most unusual place!
154 * [Colorado Satellite Services](http://www.coloradosatellite.com)
155 Jim and I worked closely together on AO-40 RUDAK, and he's definitely
156 "one of the good guys". The EyasSAT educational satellite system
157 linked to from his page is neat stuff.
160 [maternal grandfather](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale),
161 who was a prominent individual in his time. While my father is the serious
162 genealogist in our family, every once in a while I go do a web search on
163 various family names. These are some references to Granddaddy that I have
167 [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale)!
168 * A [photo](http://digitalcollections.vmi.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15821coll7/id/2862/rec/1) of him
169 from 1919, in uniform.
170 * He was a [Judge of the United States Court](http://air.fjc.gov/servlet/uGetInfo?jid=97)
171 * Many of his papers were gifted to the
172 [University of Virginia Library](http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/uva-sc/vivadoc.pl?file=viu00129.xml)
173 * There are scholarships in his name at
174 [VMI](http://www.vmi.edu/media/content-assets/documents/human-resources/Faculty-Handbook.pdf) and
175 [Hollins](http://www.hollins.edu).
178 I've been asked from time to time if I'm any relation to the Barksdale for whom
179 [Barksdale Air Force Base](http://www.barksdale.af.mil) was named. My parents
181 [Eugene Hoy Barksdale](http://www.barksdale.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4409)
182 was my third cousin twice removed. I had the chance to visit the base museum
183 in the fall of 2016, and I must say I'm proud of his accomplishments!
185 Encrypting email is good. My currently preferred public key is
187 pub rsa4096 2019-10-21 [SC]
188 1E0B AAD8 5C22 32A1 B3CE 92EB B704 7105 830B 9FA1
189 uid [ unknown] Bdale Garbee <bdale@debian.org>
190 uid [ unknown] Bdale Garbee <bdale@gag.com>
191 sub rsa4096 2019-10-21 [E]
193 You should be able to fetch that key from any of the major keyservers.