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 [Tripoli Colorado](http://tripolicolorado.org),
18 and [Amateur Radio Digital Communications](http://ampr.org), where I am
21 I served for a while on the board of the
22 [Freedombox Foundation](http://freedomboxfoundation.org)
23 and made significant technical contributions early in the project history.
25 I served for a while on the board of the
26 [Linux Professional Institute](http://lpi.org) helping it recover from
27 some organizational trauma and transform to a membership-based entity.
29 I served for a decade as President of
30 [Software in the Public Interest](http://spi-inc.org), and as a member of
31 the board of directors for some time before that.
33 I also served for several years on the board of the
34 [Linux Foundation](http://linuxfoundation.org)
35 representing the interests of developers and individuals.
37 I remain actively involved in the [Debian](http://debian.org) project,
38 where I served for a year as the elected Debian Project Leader, and for nearly
39 a decade as Chairman of the Debian Technical Committee. I continue to maintain
40 various [packages](http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=bdale@gag.com)
43 My "spare nanoseconds" are mostly consumed playing with
44 [rockets](http://gag.com/rockets), which includes managing
45 [Altus Metrum, LLC](http://altusmetrum.org) with business partner
46 [Keith Packard](http://keithp.org). I hold a "Level 3 certification" and am
47 a member of both the [National Association of Rocketry](http://nar.org)
48 and the [Tripoli Rocketry Association](http://tripoli.org). My personal
49 confirmed flight altitude record is 36,555 feet above ground, my highest
50 recorded acceleration is 86 g, the heaviest project I ever built weighed 168
51 pounds on the launch rail, and I've flown a rocket I designed and built
52 that reached Mach 3.21. I served on the committee that defined the
53 [Tripoli Mentoring Program](http://www.tripoli.org/TMP), and am
54 immensely proud that my son aced the test to become one of the earliest TMP
57 I miss the early days of the web, when it was mostly informative text...
58 but if you're really curious, there are some pictures of me on my
59 [bio page](bio/), and associated with the
60 [Wikipedia page about me](http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Bdale_Garbee). If you're
61 a close friend or family member, email me for credentials to
62 enter our [gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)..
64 I'm most comfortable when there are lots of electrons flowing nearby, mostly
65 in high-end computer equipment. There are only a few carbohydrates I've met in
66 my life that I didn't like, I have very eclectic tastes in music, enjoy old
67 movies, and I have this "German metal habit"... Porsche flavored. My
68 current such toys include a 1984 Porsche 928S Euro, moss green metallic
69 with beige interior, a dog-leg 5-speed, and a fairly loud custom exhaust
70 system based on [Magnaflow](https://www.magnaflow.com) components. I also
71 have a base-model 1987 Porsche 944 with the hard-to find "sunroof delete"
72 option like the 928. And my current track-day car is a bit of a mongrel...
73 it started life as a 1987 Porsche 944 Turbo, but now has a Chevy LS V8
74 engine, a manual steering rack, an un-boosted balance-beam brake master
75 cylinder setup, a transaxle from a 1989 944 Turbo S, and *many* suspension
76 upgrades. Looks like a Porsche, sounds like something completely different,
77 and is a hoot to drive on track!
79 Over the years, I've spent a lot of my "spare time" on various facets of
80 [Amateur Radio](rf/). KB0G is my current callsign, previously I was N3EUA
81 and before that I was KA3ORU. I'm a life member of
82 [AMSAT](http://amsat.org/) and of the [ARRL](http://www.arrl.org),
83 President of [CODE](http://gag.com/code/),
84 a former Vice-President of [TAPR](http://tapr.org/),
85 a past Chairman and member of the Technical Committee of
87 [Pikes Peak FM Association](http://www.ppfma.org), past board member
88 of the [Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association](http://ppraa.org),
89 and a member of the [QCWA](https://qcwa.org).
90 Perhaps my best-known early contribution to the hobby was the silly little
91 mail program I wrote for KA9Q's NOS networking software, called
92 [BM](ftp://ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/mailers),
93 though I suppose I'm more proud of my role as integrator and documentation
94 author for the package prior to April 1989. I helped instigate N6GN's work on
95 [10Ghz packet links](http://www.sonic.net/~n6gn/uwavelink/uwv.html),
96 and continue to have a strong interest in data transmission over RF
97 links. I was the project leader for the
98 [GPS receiver](http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/phase3d/gps)
100 on the AMSAT Phase-3D satellite, which launched in November 2000,
101 after which it was known as
102 [AO-40](href="http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/ao40.php).
103 I was also one of the developers of the RUDAK
104 digital communications processor. My primary focus on the RUDAK team was
105 communication with the other experiment modules that RUDAK talks to over the
106 CAN bus... SCOPE, MONITOR, CEDEX, and the thermistor SmartNode boards. More
107 recently, I led the design and delivery of the IHU design for the AMSAT-NA
108 [Fox](http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1113) cubesat program, and one of my
109 boards has been "in the stack" on every recent AMSAT-NA satellite.
111 If you want to find me "on the air" for a QSO, about the only chance
112 right now is to catch us
113 [roving](http://gag.com/code/rover/) in a VHF/Microwave contest, or on the
114 flight-line at a rocket launch.
116 While I was "born and raised" in the era of 4.1BSD, shared a Vax 11/750
117 with Eric Crane at CMU, and ran some flavor of BSD on at least one
118 machine up until the [fire in 2013](http://gag.com/blackforestfire.html)
119 (the Symmetric S/375, a uVax2, BSD/OS,
120 and NetBSD on a pc532), I have become a strong supporter of Linux
121 particularly the [Debian GNU/Linux](http://www.debian.org)
122 distribution, because of the emphasis on perpetual free availability of
123 all of the source code to the system. I've contributed a few packages to
124 the Debian effort, and now maintain a signficant number, including some that
125 are essential packages in the base distribution, and some that are "big
126 hairy monsters". At least it keeps me off the streets at night...
128 Not sure how to pronounce "Linux"? Why not let Linus himself
129 [tell you](ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds/english.au)...
131 * [Bdale's blog](blog)
132 * [Bdale's biographical information](bio)
133 * [Garbee Gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)
134 * [Quotations](quotes.html)
135 * [Talks Bdale has Given](talks/)
137 Cool Stuff on the Web
138 ---------------------
140 * [Cabell Garbee](http://www.garbee.net/~cabell), Bdale's brother, restores
141 neat old vehicles as a hobby.
142 * [Graves Mountain Lodge](http://www.gravesmountain.com),
143 owned and operated by "my extended family" in Virginia. We used to
144 visit often... and still get back once in a while!
145 * Visit the [Radio Farm](http://www.rf.org/)... a most unusual place!
146 * [Colorado Satellite Services](http://www.coloradosatellite.com)
147 Jim and I worked closely together on AO-40 RUDAK, and he's definitely
148 "one of the good guys". The EyasSAT educational satellite system
149 linked to from his page is neat stuff.
152 [maternal grandfather](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale),
153 who was a prominent individual in his time. While my father is the serious
154 genealogist in our family, every once in a while I go do a web search on
155 various family names. These are some references to Granddaddy that I have
159 [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale)!
160 * A [photo](http://digitalcollections.vmi.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15821coll7/id/2862/rec/1) of him
161 from 1919, in uniform.
162 * Many of his papers were gifted to the
163 [University of Virginia Library](http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/uva-sc/vivadoc.pl?file=viu00129.xml)
164 * There are scholarships in his name at
165 [VMI](http://www.vmi.edu) and
166 [Hollins](http://www.hollins.edu).
169 I've been asked from time to time if I'm any relation to the Barksdale for whom
170 [Barksdale Air Force Base](http://www.barksdale.af.mil) was named. My parents
172 [Eugene Hoy Barksdale](http://www.barksdale.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4409)
173 was my third cousin twice removed. I had the chance to visit the base museum
174 in the fall of 2016, and I must say I'm proud of his accomplishments!
176 Encrypting email is good. My currently preferred public key is
178 pub rsa4096 2019-10-21 [SC]
179 1E0B AAD8 5C22 32A1 B3CE 92EB B704 7105 830B 9FA1
180 uid [ unknown] Bdale Garbee <bdale@debian.org>
181 uid [ unknown] Bdale Garbee <bdale@gag.com>
182 sub rsa4096 2019-10-21 [E]
184 You should be able to fetch that key from any of the major keyservers.