Author: Russ Woodman

LHS Show Notes #024

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Richard and Russ are the Penn and Teller of Amateur Radio podcasting.

Contributors:

  • Doug, N6LMX, recently acquired an old Dell Inspiron 3500 notebook and decided to try Linux Mint on it. For some reason, probably processor and memory, it stalled before it got started. Same with Ubuntu 9.04. However, Xubuntu 9.04 works like a charm.
  • Joe, NE3R, sent an audio message about minicom. Thanks, Joe. Look for it in a future show.
  • Google alert about a LHS mention in John's Blog.
  • Paul in the chatroom asks about connecting a Linux machine to a shared Windows printer. Russ suggests browsing to https://localhost:631 to bring up the CUPS administration page and configuring the printer there.

Announcements:

  • New streaming audio on the web site. New URL: https://stream.lhsinfo.org:8008, or go to https://lhsinfo.org and look for the links on the right side of the page.
  • Look for Richard at the Belton HamEXPO on October 3rd. in Belton, TX. Russ will be at Ohio Linux Fest on September 25-27 in Columbus, OH.
  • Welcome Bill, KA9WKA, as the newest member of the Black Sparrow Media production team. Bill will be compiling the show notes for Resonant Frequency. (And, now, LHS too. Email comments, corrections, suggestions to ka9wka at blacksparrowmedia dot com. -Ed.)

Interview:

Topic:

  • Richard discusses programming radios using Linux
    • Richard tries programming his Vertex VX-150 using Wine under Linux. The programming software installed fine, but when he tried downloading the data from the radio to the computer, he received errors, probably due to a mismatch in the serial port speed. Next, he tried programming his Icom IC-91AD. The software installed and recognized his serial port, COM1, and he was able to program the radio.
    • Tim, KI6BGE, in the chatroom, says the IC2200H D-Star program works the same way.
    • KB3GTN in the chatroom says he's had good luck programming his Kenwood TS480 within Linux, using his own program.
    • Tim, KI6BGE, says the Icom ID800 and IC2200H use the same programming cable, but different software.
  • A Ustreamer asks which Linux distributions we're using. The summary is Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, SpearMint, CentOS, OpenSUSE, and Debian.

Music:

  • "Terra Firma" by Garrett Wall from the album "Sky Pointing"
  • "All of the Above" by Garrett Wall from the album "Sky Pointing"

LHS Show Notes #023

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Jeff has switched to Linux Mint. He asks about iPod syncing programs. He has tried Banshee and Amarok, and is not impressed. He'd like to use iTunes, perhaps under Wine. Russ suggests trying Songbird, if it supports your device. Check their wiki page to see if your device is supported.
  • Tweet from M0GLG regarding Echolink under Wine. He says it works with no real issues other than configuring the sound devices. He hasn't managed to get it to work with USB devices, yet.
  • Comment on the website about episode 20 from Matt, KC8BEW. He is looking forward to seeing Russ at Ohio Linux Fest.
  • Look for Richard at the upcoming Belton, TX hamfest.
  • LHS was mentioned on Jonathan Hardy's blog KIX-online in the August 30 post.
  • John, EI7IG, posted a message in the forums providing a link to information on compiling XASTIR from source, and mentions the Linux RMS Gateway software for accessing Winlink 2000 networks. He also says the Windows Winlink 2000 client, Airmail, works fine under Wine.
  • Clay, K6AEP, writes that he has an Eee PC 1000he and 702, and says you can use applications on the smaller screens. In eeebuntu 3.0, hold down the Alt key and you can move the screen around to see the rest of it. Crossover 8 has allowed him to avoid using Windows except for a couple of programs, such as Echolink. It seems to install fine, but mic audio doesn't work. He's tried SUSE 10 and 11, CentOS 4 and 5, Slackware 12.2, Ubuntu, Mint, Extreme Ubuntu, and Debian, and a variety of computers. He likes Ultimate Edition Linux 2.3, based on Ubuntu 9.04, even better than Mint 7.
  • Gary, M0TXD, comments that he has just installed Ubuntu on his hamshack computer with four serial ports, but can't get them to open. Russ suggests that it's a permissions problem on the devices.

Announcements:

  • Russ was invited by Klaatu of Linux Cranks to join their fourth roundtable discussion. The topic is the most common Linux applications on the desktop. Look for it on Hacker Public Radio (.mp3 file).
  • Linux in the Ham Shack has become an official sponsor of Linux Mint.
  • lhsinfo.org now has streaming audio links.
  • Check out Ohio Linux Fest. Russ will be there. Will you?
  • Question from the chatroom: How do I change from Ubuntu to Linux Mint? 1) Download the .iso and install it, but that will likely overwrite everything on your machine. 2) Get the sources.list file from a Mint installation (if you are on Ubuntu 9.04 already and want Mint 7) and update the repositories, then do an apt-get dist-upgrade. Russ tried that, and it worked pretty well, but there were a couple of package conflicts that had to be handled manually. The safest and easiest is to just install from the .iso, especially if you already have your /home directories in a separate partition. No matter how you do it, you should backup your system first.

Interview:

Music:

  • "Give In Give Out" by Plunkett from the album "Plunkett"
  • "Dale" by Mutandina from the album "Mutandina"

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

LHS Show Notes #022

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Email exchange with Herve, of Shackbox Linux.  If you found it useful, please consider donating something to the project.
  • Voice comment from Rodney (aka R0dzilla) KJ4OHH: he asks for more information on Echolink and Echolinux. Our hosts respond with CQiNet and QTel.
  • Rod, KJ4OHH, postsin the forum:  If you install a 32-bit program under 64-bit Linux Mint 7, then install a 32-bit application, getlibs may not find the 32-bit libraries, so you have to get them from the Ubuntu repository: 
    $sudo getlibs --distro Ubuntu --release jaunty nameof32bitprogram

    And congratulations to Rodney on getting his license!

  • VK5HZ in IRC says Echolink does work in Wine, at least for him.
  • Joe, NE3R, runs packet and uses an old TNC with firmware from the 1980s.  He runs XASTIR with an MFJ TNC and minicom.
  • Ken, WA3FKG, posts in the forum:  Acer says if you replace windows with Linux on one of their machines, you've voided the warranty.
  • Tony Malloy re-Tweeted on identi.ca when Episode 019a came out.  Thanks, Tony.
  • Damon, NN7B, asks "Which packet program do you use for Linux?"  It's probably easier to use a TNC in KISS mode, rather than trying to do software packet.
  • David, KF5BCM, wants a noise gate on Richard. 🙂 He says hears Richard breathing loudly on Episode 15.  (Make a donation and maybe that will help fund the equipment.)
  • turtles7, in the forums, suggested a topic for a future show: mobile installation hints. He recently installed a mobile in a minivan, and still has high SWR.

Interview:

  • Interview with Beth Lynn Eicher of the Ohio Linux Fest.
  • Beth Lynn talks about the training opportunities at OLF, exhibitors, and the history of OLF.

From the chat room:

  • Why don't we do shows on Linux basics? We did. Check out the older episodes. If there's something we haven't covered, let us know.
  • What is a "Crank"? See Linux Cranks.  (ogg format, explicit)
  • How to play .ogg files in iTunes.
  • KJ4OHH just bought a 8GB Sansa Fuze for $39. Refurbished Sansa Clips are often available at buy.com and newegg.com for good prices, too. They play OGG files natively.
  • Check out Shackbox Linux, too.

Music:

  • "Out of It" by Brad Sucks from the album "Out of It".
  • "Fallen from Grace" by Shawn Harris from the album "Temptation".

LHS Show Notes #021

Posted on by Russ Woodman

OSCON 2009 Update #2 by Russ, K5TUX

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

  • "The Art of Klingon Programming" presented by Paul Fenwick (Perl Training Australia)
    • A hysterical talk about programming Perl in the Klingon language. (Unfortunately, we cannot find a link to the slides. -Ed.)
  • Walking tour of The Tech Museum of Innovation.
    • A behind the scenes look at the development of the museum exhibits. All of the technology used for the exhibits was developed with open source tools.

LHS Show Notes #020

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Adrian, M0GLJ/VK2BAC reinstalled Ubuntu on his Asus Eee PC 701SD, and wondered if there was a logging program that worked well on the small screen.
  • Paul, no callsign given, asks for a link to Shackbox Linux.
  • Bill, KA9WKA, offered a review of Linux Mint 7.
  • Paul Shirey writes to ask about the upcoming Windows 7.
  • Ray, KO4RB, submits his comments praising Linux Mint and the podcast.

Announcements:

  • Resonant Frequency now has a page at Facebook. Look for Resonant Frequency Podcast
  • More about spam.

Discussion:

  • Linux Mint 7 with guest Bill, KA9WKA.   We talk about Linux Mint 7, CentOS, various other distributions, why we like, or dislike, Linux Mint, and a few of the problems encountered.
  • Russ talks about trying Linux Mint on his 10" Eee PC.  He installed it via Pendrivelinux.  He had a problem with the wireless driver, but a kernel upgrade and a minor configuration change fixed that. The wired Ethernet interface did not work.  Compiz works, but you probably wouldn't want to run it all the time on a netbook.  Some of the power-saving features don't work.
  • Richard describes his experience with a wireless network intrusion.  Once recovered, he tried to install Mint on one of his machines, but although the live CD ran fine, and the install went well, the machine would hang while loading the desktop.  He suspects it's a problem with the hardware.  Otherwise, he likes Linux Mint.  Our recommendation for first-time Linux users: try Linux Mint.
  • Overall, Russ likes it too, but has issues with his web camera, primarily due to changes to the kernel and Video for Linux, v.2.  To fix it, he had to install Linux Mint 5, instead of 7.    For some cameras, you can pipe a V4L2 camera through V4L virtual video device.  Your camera has to provide pixel format YUV420P.  If that's the case, the Flashcam project might help. YMMV
  • Mojito

Music: