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 [Aleph Objects](http://alephobjects.com),
18 the [Software Freedom Conservancy](https://sfconservancy.org),
19 the [FreedomBox Foundation](http://freedomboxfoundation.org),
20 the [Linux Professional Institute](http://lpi.org),
21 and [Amateur Radio Digital Communications](http://ampr.org).
23 I served for a decade as President of
24 [Software in the Public Interest](http://spi-inc.org), and as a member of
25 the board of directors for some time before that.
27 I also served for several years on the board of the
28 [Linux Foundation](http://linuxfoundation.org).
30 I remain actively involved in the [Debian](http://debian.org) project,
31 where I served for a year as the elected Debian Project Leader, and for nearly
32 a decade as Chairman of the Debian Technical Committee. I continue to maintain
33 various [packages](http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=bdale@gag.com)
36 My "spare nanoseconds" are mostly consumed playing with
37 [rockets](http://gag.com/rockets), which includes managing
38 [Altus Metrum, LLC](http://altusmetrum.org) with business partner
39 [Keith Packard](http://keithp.org).
41 I miss the early days of the web, when it was mostly informative text...
42 but if you're really curious, there are some pictures of me on my
43 [bio page](bio/), and associated with the
44 [Wikipedia page about me](http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Bdale_Garbee). If you're
45 a close friend or family member, email me for credentials to
46 enter our [gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)..
48 I'm most comfortable when there are lots of electrons flowing nearby, mostly
49 in high-end computer equipment. There are only a few carbohydrates I've met in
50 my life that I didn't like, I have very eclectic tastes in music, enjoy old
51 movies, and I have this "German metal habit"... Porsche flavored. My
52 current such toy is a 1984 Porsche 928S Euro, moss green metallic
53 with beige interior and a dog-leg 5-speed.
55 Over the years, I've spent a lot of my "spare time" on various facets of
56 [Amateur Radio](rf/). KB0G is my current callsign, previously I was N3EUA
57 and before that I was KA3ORU. I'm a life member of
58 [AMSAT](http://amsat.org/),
59 President of [CODE](http://gag.com/code/),
60 a former Vice-President of [TAPR](http://tapr.org/),
61 a past Chairman and member of the Technical Committee of
63 [Pikes Peak FM Association](http://www.ppfma.org), past board member
64 of the [Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association](http://ppraa.org),
66 [ARRL](http://www.arrl.org).
67 Perhaps my best-known early contribution to the hobby was the silly little
68 mail program I wrote for KA9Q's NOS networking software, called
69 [BM](ftp://ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/mailers),
70 though I suppose I'm more proud of my role as integrator and documentation
71 author for the package prior to April 1989. I helped instigate N6GN's work on
72 [10Ghz packet links](http://www.sonic.net/~n6gn/uwavelink/uwv.html),
73 and continue to have a strong interest in data transmission over RF
74 links. I was the project leader for the
75 [GPS receiver](http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/phase3d/gps)
77 on the AMSAT Phase-3D satellite, which launched in November 2000,
78 after which it was known as
79 [AO-40](href="http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/ao40.php).
80 I was also one of the developers of the RUDAK
81 digital communications processor. My primary focus on the RUDAK team was
82 communication with the other experiment modules that RUDAK talks to over the
83 CAN bus... SCOPE, MONITOR, CEDEX, and the thermistor SmartNode boards. More
84 recently, I led the design and delivery of the IHU design for the AMSAT-NA
85 [Fox](http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1113) cubesat program.
87 If you want to find me "on the air" for a QSO, about the only chance
88 right now is to catch us
89 [roving](http://gag.com/code/rover/) in a VHF/Microwave contest, or on the
90 flight-line at a rocket launch.
92 While I was "born and raised" in the era of 4.1BSD, shared a Vax 11/750
93 with Eric Crane at CMU, and ran some flavor of BSD on at least one
94 machine up until the [fire in 2013](http://gag.com/blackforestfire.html)
95 (the Symmetric S/375, a uVax2, BSD/OS,
96 and NetBSD on a pc532), I have become a strong supporter of Linux
97 particularly the [Debian GNU/Linux](http://www.debian.org)
98 distribution, because of the emphasis on perpetual free availability of
99 all of the source code to the system. I've contributed a few packages to
100 the Debian effort, and now maintain a signficant number, including some that
101 are essential packages in the base distribution, and some that are "big
102 hairy monsters". At least it keeps me off the streets at night...
104 Not sure how to pronounce "Linux"? Why not let Linus himself
105 [tell you](ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds/english.au)...
107 In recent years, my son and I have become very active building and flying
108 small and large model [rockets](http://gag.com/rockets). I hold a
109 "Level 3 certification", and am a federally-licensed user of
110 low explosives, which means I'm authorized to buy, store, and fly the largest
111 motors currently available in the rocket hobby. My personal confirmed
112 flight altitude record is 21,654 feet above ground, my highest recorded
113 acceleration is 86 g, and I've flown a rocket to beyond Mach 2.2. I served
114 on the committee that defined the [Tripoli Mentoring Program](http://www.tripoli.org/Certifications/TripoliMentoringProgram/tabid/322/Default.aspx), and am
115 proud that my son aced the test to become one of the earliest TMP
116 participants. My current focus combines rocketry with my electronics
117 background and strong interest in radio, see the
118 [Altus Metrum](http://altusmetrum.org)
119 community web site for more details...
121 * [Bdale's blog](blog)
122 * [Bdale's biographical information](bio)
123 * [Garbee Gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)
124 * [Quotations](quotes.html)
125 * [Talks Bdale has Given](talks/)
127 Cool Stuff on the Web
128 ---------------------
130 * [Cabell Garbee](http://www.garbee.net/~cabell), Bdale's brother, restores
131 neat old vehicles as a hobby.
132 * [Allen B. Loyd](href="http://sites.google.com/site/allenloyd/Home),
133 one of Bdale's first cousins, has a site documenting his theatrical set
134 designs, paintings, and other fun stuff.
135 * [Space Machine & Engineering Corp](http://space-machine.com),
136 operated by another of Bdale's first cousins. It's kind of cool
137 having a waveguide company in the family!
138 * [Graves Mountain Lodge](http://www.gravesmountain.com),
139 owned and operated by "my extended family" in Virginia. We used to
140 visit often... and still get back once in a while!
141 * Visit the [Radio Farm](http://www.rf.org/)... a most unusual place!
142 * [Colorado Satellite Services](http://www.coloradosatellite.com)
143 Jim and I worked closely together on AO-40 RUDAK, and he's definitely
144 "one of the good guys". The EyasSAT educational satellite system
145 linked to from his page is neat stuff.
148 [maternal grandfather](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale),
149 who was a prominent individual in his time. While my father is the serious
150 genealogist in our family, every once in a while I go do a web search on
151 various family names. These are some references to Granddaddy that I have
155 [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale)!
156 * A [photo](http://digitalcollections.vmi.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15821coll7/id/2862/rec/1) of him
157 from 1919, in uniform.
158 * He was a [Judge of the United States Court](http://air.fjc.gov/servlet/uGetInfo?jid=97)
159 * Many of his papers were gifted to the
160 [University of Virginia Library](http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/uva-sc/vivadoc.pl?file=viu00129.xml)
161 * There are scholarships in his name at
162 [VMI](http://www.vmi.edu/media/content-assets/documents/human-resources/Faculty-Handbook.pdf) and
163 [Hollins](http://www.hollins.edu).
166 I've been asked from time to time if I'm any relation to the Barksdale for whom
167 [Barksdale Air Force Base](http://www.barksdale.af.mil) was named. My parents
169 [Eugene Hoy Barksdale](http://www.barksdale.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4409)
170 was my third cousin twice removed. I had the chance to visit the base museum
171 in the fall of 2016, and I must say I'm proud of his accomplishments!
173 Encrypting email is good. My currently preferred public key is
175 pub rsa4096 2019-10-21 [SC]
176 1E0B AAD8 5C22 32A1 B3CE 92EB B704 7105 830B 9FA1
177 uid [ unknown] Bdale Garbee <bdale@debian.org>
178 uid [ unknown] Bdale Garbee <bdale@gag.com>
179 sub rsa4096 2019-10-21 [E]
181 You should be able to fetch that key from any of the major keyservers.