LHS Episode #081: Chicken Licker Bumpy Bumpy

by Black Sparrow Media Episode #81 Duration: 01:38:17
LHS Episode #081: Chicken Licker Bumpy Bumpy

Welcome to the latest installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. It's almost time for Hamvention 2012! We hope that we'll be able to see our listeners and friends at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio from May 18th through the 20th. With your donations, the thermometer at left has almost exploded. If you can spare a dollar or two, we'll be at our goal in no time. In this episode, our trusty [sic] hosts talk with an Ambassdor. Richard's interview with Ronny is so good it would make Anderson Cooper--well, throw up probably. They also discuss Linux topics like Mint-based distributions and irssi, an IRC chat client, as well as ham radio topics from HSMM to Winlink to contest loggers. The guys respond to a bunch of listener feedback and talk about some new features of the show. A quick heads up: The interview audio is a little rough with some weird background anomaly. It won't drive you mad, just make you wonder what was going on on Ronny's side of the line. We suspect dinner and a seance.

Download MP3 (45MB)

Introduction:

  • Loctite… not just for noisy children any more.

Announcements:

  • The Fourth Annual Southeast Linuxfest is scheduled for June 8-10, 2012 in Charlotte, NC.

  • Please sign up for the LHS mailing list.

  • Please join our new Subreddit and contribute news stories, discussion topics, and any other items that may be of interest to our listeners.

  • Scott, N8VSI, has tentatively agreed to be our ambassador at the Ohio Linux Fest in Columbus, Ohio in September, 2012.

  • It looks like LHS will be at the Dayton Hamvention, May 18-20, 2012 in Dayton, OH. If you’d like to help make that happen, please donate!

  • LHS is syndicated by the Kamiak Butte Amateur Radio Association, KB7ARA. The linked repeater sites cover almost all of Washington State, some of Oregon, and a bit of Canada as well. They are IRLP and Echolink connected.

  • Ronny, K4RJJ, will be our ambassador at the Knoxville Hamfest on June 8th, 2012. Ronny calls in to discuss the upcoming Knoxville Hamfest, and his previous experiences as LHS ambassador.

Feedback:

  • David, KE0AZ, writes to ask if LHS will be at Ham-Com, June 8-9, 2012, in Plano, TX.

  • LinuxCanuck writes to defend Kubuntu against Richard’s recent tirades.

Topics:

  • IRSSI Tips and Tricks

  • Irssi is a terminal based IRC client for UNIX systems. It also supports SILC and ICB protocols via plugins. Russ offers some tips on making Irssi a bit friendlier.

  • The functionality and ease of use of Irssi can be extended by installing and using third-party scripts. These scripts are written in Perl and available at scripts.irssi.org.

  • Once you download the script file, which we’ll call “dlfile” in the example below, you can install it and have it automatically run with Irssi by performing the following steps:

Create the scripts and autorun directories:

linux> mkdir -p ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun

Move the downloaded script file to the scripts directory:

linux> mv ~/.irssi/scripts

Change to the autorun directory:

linux> cd ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun

Create a link to the downloaded script:

linux> ln -s ../ .

More Feedback:

  • Stefano, IZ3NVR and KD2BGM, asks for help finding a good Linux contest logging program that supports SO2R (single operator, two radios) and CW keying. We don’t know of any, but perhaps one of our listeners can offer a suggestion.

  • John, KD7AAT, offered a bit of criticism about the political content of episode 79 with Fab.

  • Mike writes to extol the virtues of Linux Mint Debian Edition with the XFCE desktop, and hopes Richard will find it a suitable alternative to Linux Mint or Kubuntu. He also suggests Crunchbang Linux. Richard and Russ respond.

Donations:

  • Don sent a nice donation for the Hamvention fund. Thanks, Don! We also received donations from Bob K., Charles H., Scott P., Craig B., and Harrison K. Thank you, everyone!

Contact Info:

Music:

  • “Gold and Steel” by Isaac Graham from the album Empty Vessels.

  • “Charly” by Higgins from the album Zs.