This week, visit a Web site that asks, "Do you Linux?" and if not, why not?

Throughout Amateur Radio history, ham radio operators have had a reputation as tinkerers. When my mother-in-law's toaster poops out, guess who she calls? Not her son the insurance salesman, but her son-in-law the ham radio operator. I don't know diddly about toasters, but when I am called in to rescue an appliance, I usually find a frayed ac cord or incorrectly programmed software--something simple that I can fix and for which I earn brownie points. And my successful service call prolongs the notion that hams are tinkerers.

N0NB's Linux Introduction for Hams Web site explains the whys and hows of using Linux in Amateur Radio.

Today, computers are an integral part of Amateur Radio and, as a result, hams now tinker with computer hardware and software along with ham radio equipment. If you are a ham who tinkers with software, you might consider tinkering with Linux, a clone of the UNIX operating system. Linux lends itself to tinkering and oodles of free and almost free software exist for it including ham radio applications.

Nate Bargmann, N0NB, (n0nb@arrl.net) likes Linux and built a Web site for introducing hams to the operating system. N0NB's Linux Introduction for Hams Web site breaks down into three basic parts. The first part provides a general description of Linux. The second part is a sales pitch for using Linux for Amateur Radio, and the third part describes how to install Linux after you have been sold by the second part.

Nate's Web page is a great launch pad for getting up, running, and hamming with Linux. Check it out and decide for yourself if Linux is for you.

Until next time, keep on surfin'.

Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, of downtown Wolcott, Connecticut, is an ARRL Life Member and an incessant contributor to QST and QEX (584 pieces in 25 years), not to mention the author of five ARRL books, contributor to a bevy of other ARRL titles, and the new editor of Packet Status Register, the quarterly newsletter of Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR). First licensed in 1969 as WN1LOU, he upgraded to WA1LOU in 1971. Stan began using computers with Amateur Radio in 1978 when he bought a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I computer and wrote BASIC programs to dupe contests and calculate antenna bearings. A virtual beach boy, Stan has been surfing the radio dials as long as he can remember. Instead of surfing all over Manhattan and down Doheny way, however, he now surfs the Internet searching for that perfect page. To contact Stan, send e-mail to wa1lou@arrl.net.

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