4 Welcome to my "new" personal home page.
6 After retiring at the end of August, 2012, from my long-held position as
7 [HP](http://hp.com) Open Source & Linux Chief Technologist... I worked
8 part-time for [Samsung](http://samsung.com) as Senior Adviser to the Open
9 Source Group that is part of Samsung Research America. In September of 2014,
10 I was recruited back to HPE and served for 25 months as an
11 [HPE Fellow](http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=c04839247)
12 in Martin Fink's Office of the CTO at what became
13 [Hewlett Packard Enterprise](http://hpe.com), driving open source
14 strategy and advocacy for the company. At the end of September 2016, I
15 returned to early retirement... and am now enjoying "Retirement v2.0".
17 I serve on the boards of the [Linux Foundation](http://linuxfoundation.org)
18 the [FreedomBox Foundation](http://freedomboxfoundation.org), and
19 [Aleph Objects](http://alephobjects.com).
21 I served for a decade as President of
22 [Software in the Public Interest](http://spi-inc.org), and as a member of
23 the board of directors for some time before that.
25 I remain actively involved in the [Debian](http://debian.org) project,
26 where I served for a year as the elected Debian Project Leader, and for nearly
27 a decade as Chairman of the Debian Technical Committee. I continue to maintain
28 various [packages](http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=bdale@gag.com)
31 My "spare nanoseconds" are mostly consumed playing with
32 [rockets](http://gag.com/rockets), which includes managing
33 [Altus Metrum, LLC](http://altusmetrum.org) with business partner
34 [Keith Packard](http://keithp.org).
36 I miss the early days of the web, when it was mostly informative text...
37 but if you're really curious, there are some pictures of me on my
38 [bio page](bio/), and associated with the
39 [Wikipedia page about me](http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Bdale_Garbee). If you're
40 a close friend or family member, email me for credentials to
41 enter our [gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)..
43 I'm most comfortable when there are lots of electrons flowing nearby, mostly
44 in high-end computer equipment. There are only a few carbohydrates I've met in
45 my life that I didn't like, I have very eclectic tastes in music, enjoy old
46 movies, and I have this "German metal habit"... Porsche flavored. My
47 current such toy is a 1984 Porsche 928S Euro, moss green metallic
48 with beige interior and a dog-leg 5-speed.
50 Over the years, I've spent a lot of my "spare time" on various facets of
51 [Amateur Radio](rf/). KB0G is my current callsign, previously I was N3EUA
52 and before that I was KA3ORU. I'm a life member of
53 [AMSAT](http://amsat.org/),
54 President of [CODE](http://gag.com/code/),
55 a former Vice-President of [TAPR](http://tapr.org/),
56 a past Chairman and member of the Technical Committee of
58 [Pikes Peak FM Association](http://www.ppfma.org), past board member
59 of the [Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association](http://ppraa.org),
61 [ARRL](http://www.arrl.org).
62 Perhaps my best-known early contribution to the hobby was the silly little
63 mail program I wrote for KA9Q's NOS networking software, called
64 [BM](ftp://ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/mailers),
65 though I suppose I'm more proud of my role as integrator and documentation
66 author for the package prior to April 1989. I helped instigate N6GN's work on
67 [10Ghz packet links](http://www.sonic.net/~n6gn/uwavelink/uwv.html),
68 and continue to have a strong interest in data transmission over RF
69 links. I was the project leader for the
70 [GPS receiver](http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/phase3d/gps)
72 on the AMSAT Phase-3D satellite, which launched in November 2000,
73 after which it was known as
74 [AO-40](href="http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/ao40.php).
75 I was also one of the developers of the RUDAK
76 digital communications processor. My primary focus on the RUDAK team was
77 communication with the other experiment modules that RUDAK talks to over the
78 CAN bus... SCOPE, MONITOR, CEDEX, and the thermistor SmartNode boards. More
79 recently, I led the design and delivery of the IHU design for the AMSAT-NA
80 [Fox](http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1113) cubesat program.
82 If you want to find me "on the air" for a QSO, about the only chance
83 right now is to catch us
84 [roving](http://gag.com/code/rover/) in a VHF/Microwave contest, or on the
85 flight-line at a rocket launch.
87 While I was "born and raised" in the era of 4.1BSD, shared a Vax 11/750
88 with Eric Crane at CMU, and ran some flavor of BSD on at least one
89 machine up until the [fire in 2013](http://gag.com/blackforestfire.html)
90 (the Symmetric S/375, a uVax2, BSD/OS,
91 and NetBSD on a pc532), I have become a strong supporter of Linux
92 particularly the [Debian GNU/Linux](http://www.debian.org)
93 distribution, because of the emphasis on perpetual free availability of
94 all of the source code to the system. I've contributed a few packages to
95 the Debian effort, and now maintain a signficant number, including some that
96 are essential packages in the base distribution, and some that are "big
97 hairy monsters". At least it keeps me off the streets at night...
99 Not sure how to pronounce "Linux"? Why not let Linus himself
100 [tell you](ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds/english.au)...
102 In recent years, my son and I have become very active building and flying
103 small and large model [rockets](http://gag.com/rockets). I hold a
104 "Level 3 certification", and am a federally-licensed user of
105 low explosives, which means I'm authorized to buy, store, and fly the largest
106 motors currently available in the rocket hobby. My personal confirmed
107 flight altitude record is 21,654 feet above ground, my highest recorded
108 acceleration is 86 g, and I've flown a rocket to beyond Mach 2.2. I served
109 on the committee that defined the [Tripoli Mentoring Program](http://www.tripoli.org/Certifications/TripoliMentoringProgram/tabid/322/Default.aspx), and am
110 proud that my son aced the test to become one of the earliest TMP
111 participants. My current focus combines rocketry with my electronics
112 background and strong interest in radio, see the
113 [Altus Metrum](http://altusmetrum.org)
114 community web site for more details...
116 * [Bdale's blog](blog)
117 * [Bdale's biographical information](bio)
118 * [Garbee Gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)
119 * [Quotations](quotes.html)
120 * [Talks Bdale has Given](talks/)
122 Cool Stuff on the Web
123 ---------------------
125 * [Cabell Garbee](http://www.garbee.net/~cabell), Bdale's brother, restores
126 neat old vehicles as a hobby.
127 * [Allen B. Loyd](href="http://sites.google.com/site/allenloyd/Home),
128 one of Bdale's first cousins, has a site documenting his theatrical set
129 designs, paintings, and other fun stuff.
130 * [Space Machine & Engineering Corp](http://space-machine.com),
131 operated by another of Bdale's first cousins. It's kind of cool
132 having a waveguide company in the family!
133 * [Graves Mountain Lodge](http://www.gravesmountain.com),
134 owned and operated by "my extended family" in Virginia. We used to
135 visit often... and still get back once in a while!
136 * Visit the [Radio Farm](http://www.rf.org/)... a most unusual place!
137 * [Colorado Satellite Services](http://www.coloradosatellite.com)
138 Jim and I worked closely together on AO-40 RUDAK, and he's definitely
139 "one of the good guys". The EyasSAT educational satellite system
140 linked to from his page is neat stuff.
143 [maternal grandfather](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale),
144 who was a prominent individual in his time. While my father is the serious
145 genealogist in our family, every once in a while I go do a web search on
146 various family names. These are some references to Granddaddy that I have
150 [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale)!
151 * A [photo](http://digitalcollections.vmi.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15821coll7/id/2862/rec/1) of him
152 from 1919, in uniform.
153 * He was a [Judge of the United States Court](http://air.fjc.gov/servlet/uGetInfo?jid=97)
154 * Many of his papers were gifted to the
155 [University of Virginia Library](http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/uva-sc/vivadoc.pl?file=viu00129.xml)
156 * There are scholarships in his name at
157 [VMI](http://www.vmi.edu/media/content-assets/documents/human-resources/Faculty-Handbook.pdf) and
158 [Hollins](http://www.hollins.edu).
161 I've been asked from time to time if I'm any relation to the Barksdale for whom
162 [Barksdale Air Force Base](http://www.barksdale.af.mil) was named. My parents
164 [Eugene Hoy Barksdale](http://www.barksdale.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4409)
165 was my third cousin twice removed. I had the chance to visit the base museum
166 in the fall of 2016, and I must say I'm proud of his accomplishments!
168 Encrypting email is good. My currently preferred public key is
170 pub 4096R/C095D941 2009-07-26
171 Key fingerprint = 8470 F20B 0625 9218 7CBA 7BB3 3A93 6196 C095 D941
172 uid Bdale Garbee <bdale@gag.com>
173 uid Bdale Garbee <bdale@hp.com>
174 uid Bdale Garbee <bdale@debian.org>
175 sub 4096R/166755FB 2009-07-26
177 You should be able to fetch that key from any of the major keyservers.