It isn’t a secret that there are some Ham radio operators that spend thousands of dollars on radio gear, and many think you need to be wealthy to join the hobby, but that is far from the truth. Most of us are retired, on fixed incomes, are young and don’t make a lot of money, or some who are (unlike myself) still working have a budget to rival that of NASA at times.
In any case, one important aspect of Amateur Radio is that almost all of us use computers. And Linux is a FREE distro. Free and Open Source Software is where’s it at. Sure, there are programs you can buy. But, linux has a multitude of software packages for Hams.
More importantly, there are several distribution packages for the Linux Operating System (all free) that are either dedicated to Hams or can be turned into a Radio-related OS.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) actually recommends Ubuntu. (Ubuntu Linux for Hams)
If you do a search on the Internet, you will find quite a few smaller distros that are Ham related, and you could put on a dedicated laptop for your shack, or alternatively, you might place the distros on a thumbdrive or three and boot them when you want the special distro up and running.
Included in some of the distros are Logging software (for logging contacts) and various programs for different operating modes even doing Morse Code for you, radio teletype, FT8, JS8 BPK and many other modes hams will recognize
Here’s a link to help you locate various distros: Ham Radio Linux Distributions : Amateur Radio Linux Distribution
Good Luck and 73!