Philosophy of Harv's Hamshack Hack CD

Reprinted here is the philosophy of Harv's (AI9NL) Hamshack Hack

There should be hundreds ... thousands ... of CD's like this one available in the Amateur Radio community. Each and every interest group ... homebrewers to DX'ers, Antenna modelers to EmComm ... should have there own collections of software and systems. We are quickly approaching the era when the greater part of our radios will be built at the keyboard. Solder splatters on the floor and the smell of burning rosin in the air are quickly fading into memories.

LINUX is soooo Ham! You can take it apart, rebuild it, add to it, or subtract from it. You can engineer, re-engineer, or reverse-engineer the entire system. No one will say stop, but many will lend a hand to your effort. The guys we used to call "Elmer's" are now known as "gurus". They are equally knowledgeable, resourceful, and obliging. The big problem for many older hams is that these "gurus" may be only 12 years old! LINUX provides an exceptionally wide range of tools to help you complete your project. At its very roots, Linux is a sharing, co-operative, community effort ... the very basis of things "Ham".

The future of our hobby, regardless the course and meanders it eventually follows, will be bound to our computers. Your next "transceiver" may very likely be a PCI plugin card. If we greet the need to learn how to manipulate new tools as an imposition, rather than a creative opportunity, then we deserve to loose our bands to BPL ... or whatever the next outrageous corporate exploitation proposes.