LHS Show Notes #072

Introduction:

  • Happy New Year! Sorry for the delay in releasing the last several episodes.

Announcements:

  • Would you be interested in the return of Resonant Frequency, the Amateur Radio Podcast, if it cost a dollar an episode? Send your thoughts to Richard via email at kb5jbv@gmail.com.
  • Black Sparrow Media now provides an aggregate RSS feed of Linux in the Ham Shack, QSK Netcast, and Resonant Frequency. One feed, three shows! Quite a bargain.
  • There is now a (free) Black Sparrow Media mobile app for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android! See blacksparrowmedia.net for details, and send us your feedback.
  • Andrew, AC8JO, has a blog that discusses Linux, amateur radio, and other topics. Naturally, he mentions our podcast. Thanks, Andrew!
  • Leif, KC8RWR, responded to our comments in episode 67 that Apple created CUPS. According to Wikipedia, CUPS, the Common UNIX Printing System, was developed by a Michael Sweet beginning in 1997, and was later adopted by Apple for OS X. In 2007, Apple hired Michael Sweet and purchased his source code. The Apple website provides a somewhat different version.

    Thanks for the information, Leif. Our advice is to pick the story you like and stick with it! 🙂

Topics:

  • Channel Bonding for Linux
    • Channel bonding combines two or more network interfaces on a host computer for redundancy or greater bandwidth.
    • By bonding two or more Ethernet links to your computer, you get several benefits, including redundancy, so if one network port fails, the other still works, and greater bandwidth when both (or more) links are running.
    • Based on the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), though called different things depending on vendor, such as EtherChannel or PortChannel.
    • It's relatively easy to set up. Briefly:
      • You'll need an Ethernet port for each link, set up and configured in the normal manner. These ports will likely be called eth0, eth1, etc.
      • Install the ifenslave package, which allows you to create a "bond" interface, say bond0.
      • Create modules.conf file to alias the various ethx devices as bonding interfaces.
      • Modify your /etc/sysconfig or /etc/network/interfaces file (depending on your version of Linux) to include an entry that references the bond0 interface.
      • ifup the bond0 interface, and all the component interfaces should come up.
      • Other configuration settings will set up the failover time.
    • Resources:
    • Our hosts then discuss the utility of load balancing between multiple network interfaces.
  • More about the apt-cache utility
    • Russ provides more information about the apt-cache utility for Debian-based systems, previously discussed in Episode 69.
    • The basic syntax of the utility is apt-cache [command] [package(s)]. There are many commands you can use, including:
      • policy [package] shows which repository provided, or would provide, a specified package.
      • depends [package] shows all packages in the repositories that depend on the named package, and which other packages would be installed or suggested.
      • showpkg [package] shows reversed dependencies; that is, which packages depend on the named package, and the MD5 checksum of the package.
      • stats  shows some aggregate sums about all the packages in the repositories included on your system. For example, on Russ' system:
            Total package names: 42814 (856 k)
            Total package structures: 42814 (2,398 k)
            Normal packages: 32874
            Pure virtual packages: 374
            Single virtual packages: 3670
            Mixed virtual packages: 465
            Missing: 5431
            Total distinct versions: 33706 (2,427 k)
            Total distinct descriptions: 33706 (809 k)
            Total dependencies: 200360 (5,610 k)
            Total ver/file relations: 35248 (846 k)
            Total Desc/File relations: 33706 (809 k)
            Total Provides mappings: 6402 (128 k)
            Total globbed strings: 197 (2,192 )
            Total dependency version space: 789 k
            Total slack space: 65.4 k
            Total space accounted for: 11.5 M
      • unmet shows packages in the repositories with unmet dependencies in the tree, that is, if you attempted to install, would fail.
      • show [package] shows meta information about the package. For example, "apt-cache show adduser" returns:
           Package: adduser
              Version: 3.113
              Installed-Size: 1100
              Maintainer: Debian Adduser Developers
              Architecture: all
              Replaces: manpages-it (<< 0.3.4-2), manpages-pl (= 5.6.0)
              Suggests: liblocale-gettext-perl, perl-modules
              Description: add and remove users and groups
              This package includes the 'adduser' and 'deluser' commands for creating
              and removing users.
              - 'adduser' creates new users and groups and adds existing users to
                existing groups;
              - 'deluser' removes users and groups and removes users from a given
                group.
              Adding users with 'adduser' is much easier than adding them manually.
              Adduser will choose appropriate UID and GID values, create a home
              directory, copy skeletal user configuration, and automate setting
              initial values for the user's password, real name and so on.
              Deluser can back up and remove users' home directories
              and mail spool or all the files they own on the system.
              A custom script can be executed after each of the commands.
              Development mailing list:
              https://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/adduser-devel/
              Homepage: https://alioth.debian.org/projects/adduser/
              Tag: admin::user-management, implemented-in::perl, interface::
              Section: admin
              Priority: important
              Filename: pool/main/a/adduser/adduser_3.113_all.deb
              Size: 217556
              MD5sum: 74c114db96f321f4d097b04ae305600a
              SHA1: 567b8e42dc9b4777ab694f15ca71b7fa159749ef
              SHA256: 3bfea7f2ffcb363e2cc2b701a6e6d2079f7554b4d76194a118916afd2400f5c4
    • Tim Allen's character in his latest TV show, "Last Man Standing" is a Ham Radio Operator, KA0XTT.

Feedback:

  • Kevin, KC9VAN, writes that he's enjoying the show and just recently received his ham radio license. He also notes that he's had the most luck with Hewlett-Packard printers under Linux. Thanks, Kevin. Russ has had good luck with Dell printers and generic PCL drivers.
  • Leif, KC8RWR, posted several comments about episode 67. He suggests avoiding "all-in-one" printers, and instead, using separate printers and scanners. (I agree! -Ed.) Often, used scanners can be had for very little money. Leif also suggests buying printers with separate cartridges for each color. That way, you're not throwing away all the colors when just one is empty. He seconds Russ' suggestion to use a laser printer over inkjet, as the cost per page is less.
  • Russ likes the Epson Artisan 835, especially for printing on CDs and DVDs, and it works well with Linux.

Contact Info:

  • Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
  • Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.
  • Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.
  • Sign up for the LHS mailing list.
  • Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.
  • LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!
  • Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music:

  • To be added.

LHS Show Notes #071

Announcements:

  • The Black Sparrow Media web site has been updated. If you use the aggregate feed from there, you'll receive Linux in the Ham Shack, QSK Netcast, and Resonant Frequency (or Richard's Radio Adventures) podcasts.

Topics:

  • D-RATS
    • Bruce, VE2GZI, asks for help installing D-RATS on his Linux Mint computer. He tried adding the repository per the instructions on the D-RATS website, but received errors.
    • Richard has several suggestions: Make sure the whole line "deb https://d-rats.com/apt karmic release" gets entered into your sources.list file and that you are using the right repo for your distribution. Linux Mint normally falls a version behind Ubuntu. You might also try the tar file labeled "source" from the website, and use the archive manager to install it. Since D-RATS is written completely in Python, and Dan normally tries to stay with the most current version, check to see if you have the most recent version of Python installed. Finally, you could subscribe to the D-RATS mailing list from the website for more help.
    • Russ adds: If you wish to add the repository via the command line, there are a couple of ways to do it: (a) Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the "deb https://d-rats.com/apt karmic release" line, OR (b) Create a file in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d directory called, say, d-rats-repo.list, and add the "deb https://d-rats.com/apt karmic release" line to it. However, back in April, 2011, Steve Conklin, AI4QR, said his packaging of D-RATS had been accepted into both Debian Testing and Unstable branches. So, if you're running Debian or Linux Mint Debian Edition, it's already in the repository. Just issue the command "apt-get install d-rats". For Ubuntu, there's a PPA at https://launchpad.net/~sconklin/+archive/hampackages. That should work with Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat), and 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). (It may not work with Ubuntu 11.10, Oneric Ocelot, but then again, it might).
    • Ed. Note: After this episode was recorded, the D-RATS website was updated to say:Ubuntu users should use the ubuntu-hams PPA in order to get packages for D-RATS. To install the PPA, go to a terminal and type:
      sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-hams-updates/ppa
      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get install d-rats

      The package manager will do the rest!

  • Chirp
    • Chirp was written by Dan Smith, KK7DS, who is also the author of D-RATS.
    • From the Chirp wiki: CHIRP is a FREE cross-platform, cross-radio programming tool. It works on Windows and Linux (and Mac OSX, with a little work). It supports a growing list of radios across several manufacturers and allows transferring of memory contents between them.
    • Chirp currently supports 41 different model radios from Alinco, Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, and others.
    • Richard tested it with his Icom IC-91 and IC-2200.
    • Chirp has a bare-bones interface, using a basic spreadsheet style, and is primarily for entering memory channel information. It will allow entry of call signs for D-STAR operation.
    • There are packages for Fedora and Ubuntu, and a source package for all other distributions of Linux. Chirp is written in Python, so be sure to have the latest version of Python installed.
    • There is also a self-extracting .exe file for Windows, and an app package for Mac OS-X. You must install the Python runtime package, available on the Chirp website, for the Mac version.
    • There is a Chirp mailing list, among others, at https://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/.
    • Russ and Richard then discuss the cost of various D-STAR radios.
  • Linux Tip: apt-cache policy
    • Russ offers a tip on how to determine which Debian repository is providing a given package.
    • Use the command apt-cache policy <package name>
    • For example: apt-cache policy libpulse0
    • The results of that command will show you which version is installed, if any, which version would be installed, and all other versions available.

Feedback:

  • Dan, K4FD, thanks us for the podcast. It has inspired him to return to the hobby after a 10 year hiatus. Thanks, Dan, and welcome back to the hobby!
  • We received a donation from Jim G. Thank you, Jim!

Contact Info:

  • Contact Richard at kb5jbv@gmail.com, Russ at k5tux@lhspodcast.info, or both at the same time at info@lhspodcast.info.
  • Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.
  • Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.
  • Sign up for the LHS mailing list.
  • Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.
  • LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!
  • Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music:

  • To be added.