Introduction:

• Richard is looking forward to winter in Texas… all three days of it.

Announcements:

• Subscribers to LHS now have access to the Etherpad, or via the Etherpad link in the Content area of the LHS website.
• Black Sparrow Media now has a Twitter feed at BSM_Network.
• Richard rants: Ubuntu has added a nag screen to the download page requesting a donation.
• Linux Distributions for Ham Radio:
  • Has Shackbox died? There does not seem to be much activity since 2009.
  • Andy’s Ham Radio Linux CD by Andy, KB1OIQ, revisited. Version 11 was released in June, 2012, and is based on Ubuntu 11.10. Several of the tools have been updated to newer versions. Also at http://kb1oiq-andysham.sourceforge.net/
• Jeff Hodsdon published a list of influential ham radio operators, and neither Richard nor Russ are on that list! For shame!

Topics:

• Russ and Richard interview Scott, N8VSI, our LHS ambassador at the 2012 Ohio LinuxFest. He had demos of xastir, fldigi, yfktest, and others. Scott had two computers running and a Raspberry Pi. Sadly, the official LHS banner didn’t show up until two days after the event. Scott is a member of the West Chester Amateur Radio Club which operates from the Voice of America Bethany Relay Station.

Feedback:

• The Old Texas Engineer sent an audio response to Episode 88 about High Speed Multimedia and mesh networks. He gives us some history of HSMM in Texas and his experiences with the technology. He mentions the Open Mesh project and the South Texas Balloon Launch Team website.

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:

• “El Bubblino” by 20lb Sounds, from the album Bubblino. (That’s Dan Lynch’s band, one of the Linux Outlaws!)
• “Kitsch Me If You Can” by MMO, from the album Drunk Dial of the Year, courtesy of Jamendo.

Episode 50: A milestone!

Announcements:

• Russ talks about his California trip: attending the Large Installation Systems Administration conference (LISA).
• The 50th episode is a milestone – Richard explains why. See also The Internet Archive.
• Lord Drachenblut reminds us of the upcoming Indiana LinuxFest in Indianapolis, Indiana. If you’d like to register, use the promotional code LHSPODCAST50 (all capital letters) and you’ll get a $15.00 discount on the ticket.
• Music in this episode is from 20lb Sounds, fronted by Dan Lynch of Linux Outlaws fame.

Topics:

• Scott, AD7MI, posted an article on his blog about moving to an all-Linux ham shack. Richard and Russ discuss the article, including Shackbox Linux, Ham Radio Deluxe, CQRLog, and more. Ultimately, Fldigi and CQRLog resulted in “100% Linux Nirvana”.
• Scott also asks what we think would be the ideal Linux-based ham shack. Russ describes his shack, which he thinks IS ideal. Our hosts then discuss various soundcard interfaces:
  • RigBlaster
  • MicroHAM
  • Rascal
• Most sound cards work fine, and Russ recommends the SoundBlaster series over all, but suggests staying away from the SoundBlaster Audigy SE (model CA0106) sound cards as they don’t seem to work well (or at all) under Linux.
• Richard likes his Yaesu FT-897D. Most modern rigs allow a fixed-audio level connection to the computer sound card, as well as computer rig control. Russ has the Kenwood TS-570D, and it, too, is well-supported in the Linux ham libraries.
• Russ and Richard discuss the fact that most hams don’t log VHF/UHF contacts, other than in contests or toward an award.
• The FCC, created by the Communications Act of 1934, included the requirement to maintain a log book in the rules. Sometime between 1983 and 1986, this requirement was dropped as the FCC determined that the information was of little use to them. (If someone can point us to a reference that identifies when the exact rule change occurred, please let us know. I was unable to find the specific change online. -Ed.)

Feedback:

• Leif, KC8RWR, writes that Internet over EME (earth-moon-earth) isn’t likely to work due to the high latency involved. (This may be in reference to a comment in Episode 48.) NASA and DARPA are involved in a Deep-Space Internet project.
• Leif also asks “Isn’t Morse code dead?” and wasn’t it replaced by “Gerke Code”? Our hosts discuss.
• Craig, KB5UEJ, writes that he thinks Russ’ audio is louder and muddier than Richard’s in episodes 46 and 47. Russ agrees that the audio on a few of the recent episodes did suffer, but should be much improved now.
• Grant, KC9SJQ, comments that he doesn’t see a link to Russ’ screencast about SSL anywhere. Yes, it somehow disappeared, but Russ is working on it. He’ll either find the file or redo it.
• William, KB9TMP, sends his comments about Episode 48 where we discuss KE9V’s article that questioned the relevance of amateur radio.
• Craig, KB5UEJ, commenting about WSPR, says that you can run less than 5W on an FT-897 by reducing the audio drive from the computer to the radio. Richard points out that the reduction is often not uniform across the audio freqeuncies used, so some intelligibility may be lost. He had that problem with packet, but he’ll try it with WSPR.
• Matt wants to know the artist and title of a song in Episode 48. The song was “Endline (Choose Nothing)” by I Am Not Lefthanded from the album “Yes Means No”. Check out the show notes for Episode 48 for a link to the song.

Donations:

• Scott, AD7MI, sent a donation just before we recorded! Thanks, Scott.
• If you’d like to help the podcast, please consider making a donation. It’s easy! Just a click on the Donate button on the web site.

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 888-455-0305 or 417-200-4811, or record an introduction to the podcast.
• Sign up for the LHS mailing list.
• Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.
• Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music:

• Redemption Song performed by 20lb Sounds.
• Jimmy Carter, also by 20lb Sounds.

Announcements:

• Texas LinuxFest is Saturday, April 10, 2010 at the Marchesa Event Center in Austin, Texas.
• OGGCamp will take place at The Black-E in Liverpool on the 1st and 2nd of May.
• The 2010 Southeast LinuxFest is set for June 12-13 at the Marriott at Renaissance Park hotel in Spartanburg, SC.
• Due to problems with the existing service provider, the LHS website has moved to lhspodcast.info.
• iTunes will be okay, but all other RSS feeds will need to update as the content is moved.
• The new email address is info@lhspodcast.info. Messages will go to both Russ and Richard.
• The last four episodes are in the RSS feed, but older episodes are unavailable at the moment. They will be there eventually.
• Russ is working on making all the episodes available via BitTorrent.
• Look for Richard at Texas Linux Fest on Saturday, April 10, 2010 at the Marchesa Event Center in Austin, Texas.
• Russ and Richard will be at the 2010 Dayton Hamvention, May 14-16, in booth 265 in the North Hall (NH0265). We hope to see you there!
• Russ will also be at the SouthEast LinuxFest, June 12-13, 2010, at the Marriott at Renaissance Park hotel in Spartanburg, SC. Richard may be there, too!
• Peter and Paul, who run hamtests.org, hamtests.net, and hamtests.co.uk are consolidating the websites. Please use hamtests.co.uk for everything. Tell them you heard it here, first.
• Wayne, aka Azimuth, KB7CFD, reminds us of the Idaho State Convention 2010, April 23rd through 25th, 2010 at the Holiday Inn at Boise Airport, 3300 S. Vista Avenue, Boise, ID.
• Resonant Frequency is on hiatus.

Feature:

• Our guest tonight is Stormy Peters, executive director of the GNOME Foundation.
• By the way, GNOME is pronounced “guh-nome”.
• Stormy discusses the purpose of the foundation, her role in it, and the GNOME project.
• The Ubuntu 10.04 release will change the default location of the window controls in the “Light” theme.
• GNOME 3 is expected in September, 2010. New features include the GNOME Shell and the Activity Journal using the Zeitgeist engine. It should be available as a beta test option in Ubuntu 10.04.
• Stormy and our hosts discuss some of the new features in GNOME 3, scheduled for release in September, 2010.
• Check out Episode 011 of the Today in Tech Radio podcast for GNOME 3 installation tips.
• There will be, in GNOME 3, a “dock-like” area on the desktop to receive notifications without changing the focus of your active application.
• To become involved in the GNOME Project, visit the GNOME Project website. GNOME will also have a presence at the Texas LinuxFest.

Feedback:

• John, EI7IG, writes about the music in the show, and likes it. He also thinks the show has become too long. Russ responds.
• We received a donation from Carlie toward the noise gate for Richard. Thanks, Carlie.
• Gary, KE2YK, gives a glowing review of LHS in his blog KE2YK’s Random Oscillations. Thanks, Gary!
• Gary also writes about CrunchBang Linux and S******x Air.
• Dave, M0DCM, writes he is a new Ubuntu user. He runs xastir, too. He recently found the podcast and has nearly caught up on all the episodes. He’s introduced Linux and LHS to his father and his local radio club, Charlie Delta Amateur Radio Club. Thanks, Dave!
• Mark, KC4GIA, is a long-time Linux user and expresses his appreciation for the podcast. He recently found WebSDR.org, which is a Software-Defined Radio receiver connected to the Internet, allowing many listeners to listen and tune it simultaneously. He wants to know if there are any Linux programs to allow him to use his Zune. (Look for more on these subjects in the next episode.)
• MonsterB mentions LHS on monsterb.org. Thanks!
• Audio feedback from Travis, KD5UND. He’s recently switched to S******x Linux. He’s also promoted the LHS podcast on his local net, too. Thanks, Travis!

Contests:

• $100 for the winning Linux in the Ham Shack logo submission.
• $25 to a random audio introduction to the podcast recorded on one of the phone lines.
• See the website for more details.

Music:

• “When We’re Old” by Beautifully Mad from “Moonlight Cactus”
• “In the Storm” by Big Softy from “Big Softy”