AmateurRadio.com

This is a short introduction to Linux for Amateur Radio Operators showing a few things that are available for Amateur Radio.

This video is a short beginning tutorial for XDX and Dx Clusters we even try a little Telnet.

Episode #044 of Linux in the Ham Shack makes its debut, and even on time. We’re still trying to catch up on a little bit of a backlog so this episode is mostly feedback from listeners. We touch on a variety of topics including packet radio, the AX.25 kernel driver for TNCs, the importance of Linux and Open Source, Android and emerging Linux markets, and much, much more.

Thanks for taking the time to download us and being an ever-faithful listener. We would be nothing without you and we want to let you know that we appreciate each and every pair of ears that hears us every fortnight. Don’t forget to send us your feedback, whether it be as a comment on the Web site, a voice mail submitted via our toll-free hot-line or an e-mail to one or both of us. Also, please don’t forget about making donations or buying some of our LHS merchandise if you have the wherewithal to do so. Enjoy our current offering and we’ll be back live in a week for more rowdy fun.

73 de The LHS Guys

Episode #043 of Linux in the Ham Shack almost didn’t exist. In the process of trying to edit the audio for the program, I managed to delete everything that I had recorded. By some miracle of coincidence, I actually remembered to record the entire episode at Ustream.TV. I almost never remember to do that but it happened this time. The audio was recovered from the live video stream and I put it back together. There are a couple of minor flaws and the quality might not be as good as normal but at least it exists. Since the edited version came out to over 100 minutes, I’d sure have hated to try and record this all over again. And that’s why this episode almost didn’t exist: Because if the audio had truly gone away, I would have thrown up my hands and said forget it. We’ll try again in two weeks.

But since we got lucky, you can now listen to us talk about our newest features and endeavors, our problems with the ARRL, the status of Logbook of the World, listener feedback, live chat room discussion, installing Linux Mint on an ancient laptop, ham radio software for [that other OS] and much, much more. And hey: Go buy a shirt. Please?

73 de The LHS Guys

If life would stop conspiring to halt production of Linux in the Ham Shack, everything would be just fine. Instead, because of problems in both our lives, the Dayton Hamvention and the Southeast Linux Fest, everything has been pushed back so far we feel like we’re going back in time.

Richard was unable to record for Episode #039, but luckily I was able to find a worthy surrogate for this particular show. Chris and Bryan over at The Linux Action Show had prior obligations and didn’t respond quick enough, respectively, but we hope to have them on a future episode. However, ClaudioM decided he didn’t have anything better to do and was able to swing by and offer his thoughts on a couple of intriquing concepts suggested by visitors to the Dayton Hamvention: 1) How do we promote Linux and Open Source and should it be promoted, and 2) Why does the perception that Linux is harder to use than Windows persist?

I found this to be a rather insightful episode and I hope you do as well. Thank you to everyone who visited Linux in the Ham Shack in Dayton and in Spartanburg, and please enjoy this latest installment of the program.

73 de The LHS Guys (and ClaudioM)

Linux users now have an alternative APRS client to Xastir. It’s called APRSIS32 for Win32. I have discovered that Lynn KD4ERJ’s Windows APRS client runs almost perfectly under the Linux OS using wine, the Windows compatibility layer.

It’s pretty easy to get APRSIS32 going. Just download the Win32 version from the APRSISCE Yahoo group, save it into a folder somewhere under .wine/drive_C and run it. The program will start downloading maps so you can zoom in and set your home location. The only problem is, you can’t see them. By default the maps are displayed semi-transparent and it appears that wine doesn’t support transparency. So you will need to keep hitting the right arrow key which increases the opacity until the maps are 100% opaque, when they should appear. Check the APRSISCE/32 documentation wiki for more information.

There are a few screen redraw issues and the automatic updater always seems to fail, but these are minor issues. APRSIS32 uses code common with the APRSISCE version that runs on Windows CE mobile phones. These use a pretty small subset of the features available to current Windows software so by happy accident the program avoids doing things that wine doesn’t support which prevent more complex programs like Ham Radio Deluxe from working.

I haven’t tried the program with a GPS or a TNC as I don’t have them, but since these are just standard serial connections which are certainly possible under wine that is unlikely to be a problem. Lynn seems pretty keen to tackle the problems that I have discovered. In the meantime, the program still seems to work pretty well, so if you use Linux and are interested in APRS why not give APRSIS32 a try?

Lately it seems like if there were an extra day in the week it still wouldn’t be enough to get everything done. That being said, Episode #037 is here and it’s even released on time. We’d like to especially thank Dan and Gary for leaving us audio comments via our call-in numbers. If you’d like to participate by leaving us audio feedback, the number to call can be found at the top of the left column of this site. We really do like to “hear” from our listeners.

This has also already been announced, but I’d like to promote our merchandise shops once again. If you’d like T-shirts, tote bags and lots of drinkware items with the cool new Linux in the Ham Shack logo on them, take a trip over to http://www.printfection.com/lhs and pick up an item or two. You’ll be helping us out with a small donation and advertising the show to your friends, family and colleagues. If caps or wall clocks are your thing, http://www.cafepress.com/lhspodcast has exactly what you need. They make great gifts, too. And every purchase helps Linux in the Ham Shack out with our hosting expenses.

Hopefully we’ll see a lot of our listeners at the Dayton Hamvention this month, and hopefully we’ll have many more faithful followers by the end of the event. Thanks as always for downloading the show, and make sure to leave us a comment. Don’t be a stranger.

73 de The LHS Guys