By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

Linux Leaning Hams

Those of you who lean towards Linux should check out the January 2010 issue of Linux Journal. It features ham radio with three feature articles on the subject: "An Amateur Radio Survival Guide for Linux Users," "Xastir -- Open-Source Client for the Automatic Packet Reporting System" and "Rolling Your Own with Digital Amateur Radio."

TAPR's Online Libraries

One of the many hats I wear is the editor's chapeau at TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio), where I copy, cut and paste together TAPR's quarterly newsletter, Packet Status Register (PSR).

Recently, I was researching something or other concerning TAPR and I thought, "Wouldn't it be a better world if all the back issues of PSR were online?" I made some inquiries and discovered that Phil Karn, KA9Q, already had a bunch of the early issues online. Phil graciously granted permission for us to copy what he had and then we -- John Ackermann, N8UR; John Koster, W9DDD; Darryl Smith, VK2TDS, and I -- began back-filling the missing issues. In short order, we assembled a complete library of back issues that you can access at TAPR's PSR Web page.

Meanwhile, Ken Konechy, W6HHC, assisted by W9DDD, uploaded the five most recent years of abstracts from the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communication Conferences (DCC) papers on the TAPR Web site. Years 2005 through 2009 are now searchable on the Internet and you can download PDFs, too. Visit TAPR's DCC Proceeding Web page to check out these valuable technical documents.

Happy New Year and until next time, keep on surfin'!

Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, is working on the 58th installment of his New Year's resolutions. To contact Stan, send him e-mail or add comments to his blog.