Bdale Garbee
Encyclopedia
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
. He is currently the GNU/Linux CTO
Chief technical officer
A chief technology officer is an executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupant is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization....
at Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
and the current President of Software in the Public Interest
Software in the Public Interest
Software in the Public Interest, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed to help other organizations create and distribute free/open-source software and open-source hardware...
.
Bdale has been a Debian developer since the earliest days of the project in the mid-1990s. He set up the original developer machine named master.debian.org in 1995. He served as a Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
Project Leader (DPL) for one year (2002-2003). He was the first DPL to not succeed himself while still being a candidate in the election after his first term. He has served on the board of directors of Software in the Public Interest, the non-profit organization that collects donations for Debian, since July 29, 2004, and was elected president on August 1, 2006.
In September 2008, he received a "Lutèce d'Or" during the French event Paris Capitale du Libre as the FLOSS
Floss
Floss may refer to:* Dental floss, used to clean teeth* Embroidery thread, machine or hand-spun yarn for embroidery* Fairy floss or candyfloss, alternative names for cotton candy* Rousong, i.e. meat floss-Computing:...
personality of the year.
He is also an amateur radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
hobbyist, a member of AMSAT
AMSAT
AMSAT is a name for amateur radio satellite organizations worldwide, but in particular the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation with headquarters at Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington DC. AMSAT organizations design, build, arrange launches for, and then operate satellites carrying amateur...
, Tucson Amateur Packet Radio
Tucson Amateur Packet Radio
TAPR is an international amateur radio organization. It was founded in Tucson, Arizona, in 1981 by a group of amateurs interested in developing a terminal node controller for amateur use. Thus, the group was named Tucson Amateur Packet Radio, Inc. After developing one of the first widely...
(former vice-president) and the American Radio Relay League
American Radio Relay League
The American Radio Relay League is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the USA. ARRL is a non-profit organization, and was founded in May 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim of Hartford, Connecticut...
.
The name "Bdale" is an abbreviation of "Barksdale", given in honor of his maternal grandfather, Alfred D. Barksdale
Alfred D. Barksdale
Alfred Dickinson Barksdale was a soldier, Virginia lawyer and legislator, state court judge, and United States federal judge.-Military career:...
.
At linux.conf.au
Linux.conf.au
linux.conf.au is Australasia's regional Linux and Open Source conference. It is a roaming conference, held in a different city every year, coordinated by Linux Australia and organised by local volunteers....
2009, Bdale's 27-year-old beard was removed by Linus Torvalds
Linus Torvalds
Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish software engineer and hacker, best known for having initiated the development of the open source Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator...
to raise funds for Tasmanian Devil facial tumour disease
Devil facial tumour disease
Devil facial tumour disease is an aggressive non-viral transmissible parasitic cancer—which likely originated in Schwann cells—that affects Tasmanian devils. The first "official case" was described in 1996, in Australia...
research. They raised between AUD $35,000 and $40,000.
In March 2011, Bdale Garbee has agreed to join the FreedomBox
FreedomBox
FreedomBox is a community project to develop, design and promote personal servers running free software for distributed social networking, email and audio/video communications...
Foundation's board of directors and chair its technical advisory committee.
External links
- Bdale Garbee's homepage
- Beyond Doing Business, podcast of Bdale's keynote at OSCONO'Reilly Open Source ConventionThe O'Reilly Open Source Convention is an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software. It is organized by the publisher O'Reilly Media and is held each summer in the United States.-Notable events:...
, 2004. - A conversation with Bdale Garbee