Linux in the Ham Shack

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Linux in the Ham Shack episodes

June 09, 2009 LHS Episode #015
Linux in the HAM Shack #015 is here! I still believe that I can get these out on a regular basis but lately I find that life is very, very busy. However, I think Episode #015 is worth the little extra wait. We've got lots of feedback from listeners, our first donation (!) and two [...]
1 hr 12 min
May 20, 2009LHS Episode #014
Contributors:
Tim KI6BGE tells us he is finally up and running with Ubuntu on his laptop
Jerry KD0BIK thanks us for mentioning Practical Amateur Radio Podcast
Blog post from Tim VK5FNET at the Homebrew Blog Talking about Linux in the Ham Shack and Solder Smoke
XE1GXGÂ in Jalisco Mexico tells us by way of 73’s.org that he enjoys the show and there is no swine flu in Jalisco
Thanks to the Japanese Blog Atworld.jp/radioshack for the mention
A New five star review at Itunes for the show
KI6FEN Would like to know why Linux is better than the alternatives because everybody tells him to use something different
Myron KC5OHG Downloaded Ubuntu and wants to know how to install it.
Alex OZ9AEC with corrections to Episode 12 concerning Grig. An icon for Grig can be found at “/usr/share/pixmaps/grig/ic910.png” ( I am Russ, I am! )
Jeff KB5WCK tells us he put a link on his website for us at kb5wck.com and ask what software we use to record the podcast
KI4YMD uses xlog for logging and a signallink usb with FLdigi but needs help with SSTV
Announcements:
Resonant Frequency is now running on Drupal check it out www.rfpodcast.info Russ even likes it and does a mini review
We did not mention South East Linux Fest
Links and Notes:
You can get Linux for free
Most of the more common software is open source and there is a Linux version
You don’t have to go to best buy to get Linux. You can download it from Home
Windows and Apple application are closed source. In Linux you get the source code and are free to modify it to fit your needs
Richard runs a couple of windows machines and has to reboot them very often. He also runs Linux machines he doesn’t have to reboot for months
The myth of support is that Windows online support is helpful and you can’t get support for Linux. The truth is Windows support people are inept and Linux support can be found in community forums, online tutorials, Howto’s, and some distro’s allow you to sign up for online tech support at a cost that is much lower than the cost of a copy of Windows or OSX. Yes if it is pre-installed you are still paying for the operating system.
Issues with QSSTV
Problems finding usb0
lspci and lsusb commands
An alternative to QSSTV for Slow Scan TV
The current version of QSSTV seems to be a little deaf
Use a piece of software written for Windows
Enter WINE
Add WINE from the Repo’s or from Winehq.org
At WINEHQ you can find an application database of programs that are known to run under WINE. If it is not in the database that doesn’t mean it doesn’t run under WINE.
When WINEis installed then download MMSSTV from
at the command prompt in a terminal type “wine program-name” Probably mmsstv.exe
Don’t be afraid of the wine configuration area
Change your station information in MMSSTV
Set your audio levels
You will need a copy of MS paint to install in wine to edit pictures for MMSSTV but we would never tell you to do so 🙂
If you choose to use Windows. Please use a legal copy.
Russ does a shout out to Code Weavers at codeweavers.com
Richard sends a shout to Fresh Ubuntu Podcast
Richard shamelessly plugs Resonant Frequency at rfpodcast.info
Music:
Gamma Leonis â€“ Bacon, Linux and Tomato (Part I & II)
Sean Smith - Satellite
The Black Seeds - One By One
1 hr 7 min
May 20, 2009 LHS Episode #014
Greetings to all of our listeners! Episode #014 is here. Thanks to our fans, the feedback segment has turned into a couple of questions we spend the rest of the episode answering. It's so nice when the topics present themselves with no help from us. Richard and I discuss why a ham radio operator, or anyone for that matter, might want to choose Linux as their preferred operating system. Then we discuss WINE and how it can be used to install and run Windows appliactions under Linux. And then we close with Slow-Scan TV using qsstv, a Linux client, and mmsstv, a Windows client under WINE. Finally we get the word out about our fellow great podcasters and their podcasts.
Thanks as always to everyone for downloading the podcast. Please tell everyone you know about us, and if you have a couple of bucks burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to donate to LHS so we can improve the program. In the next couple of episodes we'll have our first formal interview segment so stay tuned for that.
1 hr 7 min
April 29, 2009LHS Episode #013
Contributors:
KE7BAF about WUBI. Checkout WUBI at www.wubi-installer.org
Timis Via Twitter told us we are #1
Tom the Trucker left a wonderful review over at Itunes for us
N8XJA Tony found us through Itunes and is re-inspired by the show to pursue his Linux Dream
Rochester NY Amateur Radio Association added us to their website as a valuable Resource. Check it out. https://rochesterhamfest.org/
Mentioning the Dane Alex OZ9AEC and his Amateur radio software for Linux some of those are Gpredict Sat Tracker https://gpredict.oz9aec.net and Grig https://groundstation.sourceforge.net/grig
A Comment from Petr OK2CQR. Developer of CQRlog which we highlighted on an earlier episode. CQRLog can be found at https://www.cqrlog.com/
Myron says The Live show is pretty neat. Don’t forget the Live recording session every other week check out the main page for more details. www.lhsinfo.org
Bob WD4BOB Has added some info to his page about the show go check out his blog at https://wd4bob.com/wd4bob/home/home.htmlThanks Bob
KC7DEZ Barry Wants to get on packet and we are researching ways to get that happening. If you are good with packet and Linux get in touch with us.
WA3FKG Ken Posted about us in his Blog https://www.wa3fkg.com/
Josh Looking looking for basic info on Ham radio.
Notes:
Richard is a tester so this is the way he does it. If you are sure that rig control is going to run the way it supposed to then skip the Grig stuff.
Make sure you have hamlibham2 installed. Use Grig from the repositories to help make sure your rig control is working. Use â€œgrig -hâ€ at the command line for help.
Russ talks about creating a launcher for Grig in the menu.
Get you rig ID number by typing â€œgrig - -listâ€ for a list.
Make sure your rig is in VFO mode. Rig control will not work in memory mode. Once you have it working move on over to FLDIGI.
You can control a radio with libhamlib2, rig cat, mem map. We assume that you already have FLDigi installed and running. Go to the rig control tab. Under rig control go to the hamlib tab. Check the box that says â€œUse hamlibâ€. The next box says â€œuse hamlib PTTâ€ leave this unchecked. I did not try this you can experiment with it later. Find your Radio in the drop down list. Port will be the port your cat cable is on with the same settings you use in Grig. Initialize! There you go explore and have fun.
Links:
grig
fldigi
Music:
Gamma Leonis - Bacon, Linux & Tomato (Part I & II)
Brad Sucks - Overreacting
Valleum - CB Radio
1 hr 6 min
April 29, 2009 LHS Episode #013
We come to Episode #013 of Linux in the HAM Shack. This one is not for the faint of heart or the triskadecaphobic. Our last couple of episodes have generated a lot of feedback so we spend the first and last segments of the show talking about everyone who sent us comments and answering questions wherever possible. In the middle, we manage to squeeze in some information ham radio and Linux information about getting your radios connecting to your computer for rig control, testing with grig and integrating logging and rig access with fldigi.
We'd like to thank the multitudes we had in the chat room for the live broadcast of Episode #013. It was our best turnout yet with more than 25 participants from all over the world. We'd like to encourage everyone to jump in on the next broadcast, which will be on May 13th at 0100Z. The LHS release schedule is being pushed back a week because I will be out of town at a conference during the first week of May. Thanks again to all our downloaders and everyone who takes the time to send us feedback and questions. There would be no podcast without you.
Note: We had several audio problems attempting to record this episode due to erratic network connectivity. Everything is cleaned up and organized nicely except for one brief audio dropout that could not be recovered. You'll know it when you hear it.
73 de Russ (K5TUX)
1 hr 6 min
April 15, 2009LHS Episode #012
Contributors:
Cheryl Jones, XYL - Mount Vernon, Missouri, USA
Tony Bonante, KB3CDA - West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, USA
Lee Levine, KD7ETH - Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Bob Mulroy, WD4BOB - Tampa, Florida, USA
Alex Csete, OZ9AEC - Ribe, Denmark
Al Bedelph, VK7AX - Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia
Ronny Julian, K4RJJ - Dallas, Georgia, USA
Links:
Xastir - APRS packet receiver and location plotter
CrunchBang Linux - Dark-themed, minimalist and popular Linux distribution
OpenBox - Lightweight window manager
Acer EeePC - Widely used netbook computer
YFKlog - QSO logging software by DJ1YFK
CQRlog - QSO logging software
TLF Logging - QSO logging software
YFKlog Perl Dependency Packages:
libcurses-perl
libdbd-mysql-perl
libdbd-sqlite2-perl
Possibly others depending on previously installed packages
Music:
Gamma Leonis - Bacon, Linux and Tomato (Parts I & II)
Joe Peters - Burning Building
Five Star Fall - What Planet Are We On?
1 hr 12 min
April 15, 2009 LHS Episode #012
Logging applications are finally on tap for Episode #012. We take a look at a three interesting QSO logging applications, one graphical and the other two console based. And while we know that could have been a show all on its own, we packed in three different perspectives on CrunchBang Linux. Yes, that's right, three perspectives. We've invited a special guest to give us his impressions of CrunchBang Linux on the Acer Eee PC netbook platform. Richard explores CrunchBang on a standard PC using the Live CD image, and I talk about running the Live CD and installing CrunchBang in a virtual machine.
And that's not all. We address listener comments, feedback, questions and talk with the live guests in our chatroom. It's the longest and most action-packed Linux in the HAM Shack yet, and we're just getting started. Thanks for listening, and don't forget to keep the feedback coming.
73 de K5TUX
1 hr 12 min
April 01, 2009LHS Episode #011
Contributors:
M0TZO - Paul in London, England, UK
M3PHP - Pete in Oxford, England, UK
WD4BOB - Bob in Tampa, Florida, USA
KB3CDA - Tony in White Oak, Pennsylvania, USA
KD0BIK - Jerry in Denver, Colorado, USA
WA0EIR - Ted in Clinton, Iowa, USA
KC5VQD - Graham in Blue Ridge, Texas, USA
Links:
Ham Radio Deluxe
SQLServer Express
PuTTY
sshfs
The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast
CQ Magazine
DX Anywhere
Pretty Good Projects
hamtests.net
Psk31lx
International Beacon Project
HamCon Colorado
HamCom
NTP (Network Time Protocol)
yfklog
TLF
Music:
Gamma Leonis - Bacon, Linux and Tomato (Part I & II)
Charles David Sharp - The Sage
Wiser Time - Free
1 hr 5 min
April 01, 2009 LHS Episode #011
Today we present Linux in the HAM Shack for the eleventh time. Because of a topic snafu we switched to a completely untested and radically different format for the program. However, in the words of esteemed author Douglas Adams: "Don't panic." We simply rolled the live feed into something resembling a roundtable discussion of Linux and ham radio related topics that we think listeners will find rather interesting and engaging.
That being said, because of the unusual format of the program some of the dialogue may seem a little strange. In most cases it can be explained as one of the hosts reading questions or reciting information provided by the live participants in the chat room at the time of recording. We also managed to wrangle a special third co-host for the middle portion of the program.
All in all it's a wild and crazy ride. Thank you as always for downloading the podcast, and special thanks to those who helped us out by joining us for the live recording of the program. Please check the web site for the next time you can hear us record live and participate in the program yourself.
Enjoy this special edition of Linux in the HAM Shack and we'll be back in a couple of weeks with a program on logging software, a review or two of CrunchBang Linux and much, much more.
73 de K5TUX and KB5JBV
1 hr 5 min
March 26, 2009LHS Episode #010
Contributors:
KG4SBY - Jim in Spring Hill, Florida, USA
KI6BGE - Tim in Torrance, California, USA
VE2GZI - Bruce in Saint-Lazare, Quebec, Canada
K7JM - John in Jefferson City, Montana, USA
K5LXP - Mark in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
W5AGW - Andy in Kingwood, Texas, USA
VK2BAC - Adrian in Gorokan, New South Wales, Australia
WD8LQB - Stephen in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Links:
Creative Commons
McDougall’s Home
Mandriva
Midnight Commander
alien
ShackStick
The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast
WD8LQB Morse Code Practice Podcast
Crunchbang Linux
Music:
Gamma Leonis - Bacon, Linux and Tomato (Part I & II)
Matt Commerce - Back in the Game
Albert Forssell - Life on a Beach
1 hr 3 min