pool during the can’t-fail dot-com boom? Like, it’s all about the fundamental vibrations of your creative energy, man... Well, um, yes. But if this level of design is indeed a lifestyle, then the closest we can get to “formal tools” is a body of behaviors and attitudes. Let’s put on an engineering hat and attempt to consider the problem in that light. Next up: formal tools, engineering, a sense of urgency, and economics. About the Author Steven Roberts was the original “technomad,” covering 17,000 miles around the US on a computerized recumbent bicycle from 1983-1991 while publishing tales via CompuServe and GEnie, then extending the same design objectives to water with an amphibian pedal/solar/sail micro-trimaran that consumed all available resources until 2002. As is typical of homebuilt boat projects, however, by the time it was finished he didn’t really want to do that anymore... so he has since made the transition to a full-time life aboard a 44-foot steel pilothouse sailboat, and is now based in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle. The ship is extensively networked with embedded data collection and control systems, streaming telemetry, and a user-interface layer reminiscent of the Enterprise... with a wrap-around console that includes communications, R&D lab, audio production studio, and a piano. Roberts has published 6 books ranging from travel and adventure to microprocessor design, and prior to becoming a technomad spent a decade developing custom industrial control systems, early home computers, and other paleo-geekery. More on his technomadic projects can be found at microship.com [U1] (with the new boat at nomadness.com [U2]). He is publishing the ongoing technical narrative of the new project as a monthly PDF “Nomadness Report,” as well as a series of Boat Hacking design packages detailing the subsystems. Send the author your feedback [U3] or discuss the article in the magazine forum [U4]. External resources referenced in this article: [U1] http://microship.com [U2] http://nomadness.com [U3] mailto:wordy@microship.com?subject=PragPub article [U4] http://forums.pragprog.com/forums/134 PragPub January 2013 32