LHS Episode #162: Mumbo Gumbo

gumboHello there and welcome to the latest installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. For your listening pleasure this fortnight, we have information on politics in the ARRL, opportunities for kids to participate in ham radio and FEMA, adventures in WSPR, a lost Atari 2600 ham radio app, a quick review of SolusOS and much more. Please enjoy.

73 de The LHS Crew

LHS Show Notes #066

Introduction:

  • Richard is still in the process of moving, but did get his WinLink rms gateway running as described in a previous episode.

Announcements:

  • Jay Forrest has lauched The Linux News Podcast. The podcast will focus on topics such as software freedom, Linux development, Open Source software, Android and mobile devises, security issues, and Linux distribution releases. Our hosts offer their opinions.
  • Ohio LinuxFest will be held in Columbus, Ohio on September 9-11, 2011. (Note: Russ will not be there, but maybe YOU can represent LHS. Visit the web site and look at the Ambassadors page to learn how.)
  • Texoma Hamarama will be October 21-22, 2011 in Ardmore, OK. Richard might be there, so if you're in the area, look for him!

Topics:

  • Our hosts discuss the ARRL statement regarding HR 607, "Broadband for First Responders Act of 2011". This bill provides for the re-allocation of the 420-440 MHz band, calling it part of the "Public Safety" spectrum. This is not the case, and we should contact our representatives and voice our opposition to this bill. The ARRL offers sample letters you can send to your representatives.
  • Richard and Russ talk about various amateur radio programsfor Linux offered by Ted, WA0EIR.Russ built them all from the available source code on his Linux Mint Debian Edition 10 computer. In order to do so, he installed a number of development libraries:
    • libmotif-dev
    • libxmu-dev
    • libxpm-dev
    • libxbae-dev

    These are header files necessary for the compiler to properly build the programs.

  • Each program requires the following commands to compile and install. Change to the directory containing the program and type:
      ./configure
      ./make
      ./make-install

    (You may wish to be root to perform the make-install command.)

  • TWLOG - A basic QSO logging program. Useful for day-to-day logging, but not recommended for contest logs. It will export to ADIF. It requires the Xbae Matrix Widget.
  • TWPSK - A simple bpsk/qpsk program. Co-written with Hansi, DL9RDZ
  • TWCW - A Morse Code trainer that also allows keyboard CW operation.
  • TWCLOCK - A world clock application that will also automatically send a CW identifier every 10 minutes.
  • Check the /etc/X11/app-defaults directory for the "X resource" files to change the configuration options for these programs. For example, in that directory is a file called twclock that contains the callsign transmitted by TWClock.
  • PSK31LX - A curses-based PSK31 program, so it runs in a terminal window or directly in a terminal session. For help, a man page is included. (Type "man psk31lx".) It makes use of the arrow, control, and function keys. You can choose the audio and serial devices with command line parameters at start. Configuration parameters are stored in your home directory in the file .psk31lx.ini.

Feedback:

  • Don, WS4E, asks for Internet resources for handicapped amateur radio operators. He's familiar with the Handiham  organization, but wonders if there are others.There are many newsgroups and mailing lists dedicated to hams with disabilities. A Google search should return several. The Canadian National Amateur Radio Society site Amateur Radio for the Disabled, has several useful links. Richard mentions Lighthouse for the Blind. The ARRL has a page listing several articles. There's also a Facebook group, Blind Amateur Radio Operators.
  • Petr, OK2CQR, the author of CQRLOG, responds to Torsten's (K5TOR) problems installing CQRLOG on a 64-bit machine: CQRLOG already has native 64-bit version. There is no need to install the 32-bit version. You can use the ppa at launchpad.net with packages for Lucid, Maverick, Natty and Oneirc. Version 1.2.1 will be part of the Oneiric release as well. More information is here.
  • Donation from Paul G. Thank you! If you'd like to donate, please visit the website and click on the Donate link.

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:

  • "Rise" by Rob Warren from the album "Rise," courtesy of Jamendo.
  • "Mechanical Butterfly" by Mechanical Butterfly from the album "Mechanical Butterfly," courtesy of Jamendo.

LHS Show Notes #063

Promo:

  • Ohio LinuxFest will be held September 9-11, 2011 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH.
  • Linux in the Ham Shack promo from the Low SWR guys. Thanks!

Announcements:

  • Our best wishes for a speedy recovery to MadamMoo!
  • Our regular hosts are joined by Torsten, XE2/K5TOR.

Topics:

  • Firefox 4 has been out a while, and version 5 beta is available at the time of recording. Our hosts discuss. The first thing Russ noted, was the increase in speed! Look for versions 6 and 7 before the end of the year. (As I write this, version 6 has been released. -Ed.)
  • Kudos to The Linux Link Tech Show (TLLTS) and their interest in amateur radio. One of the hosts, Joel, aka "gorkon", W3RAZ, has recorded a couple podcasts for Hacker Public Radio: Episode #738 is an introduction to amateur radio, and Episode #756 explains the basics of radio. Another TLLTS host, Allan, is N3MAW.
  • Leo LaPorte of This Week in Tech has started a podcast about amateur radio. (It's Ham Nation with Bob Heil, K9EID, and Gordon West, WB6NOA, under the TWiT banner and with Leo's support and occasional participation. By the time you read this, Leo has his license and is now W6TWT. -Ed.)
  • Russ describes the Linux from Scratch project that provides instructions for building your own custom Linux system, entirely from source code. Russ plans on providing more details of his experience with Linux from Scratch on a future episode of the QSK Netcast.
  • Our hosts tried Ubuntu 11.04, Natty Narwhal, and discuss it, good and bad.
  • Russ also tried Fedora 15, and liked the default desktop environment.
  • Richard likes PCLinuxOS, and SUSE Linux.
  • Linux Mint gets a mention, too.
  • In future LHS episodes, look for information about svxlink, an EchoLink client for Linux, and codec2, an Open Source and patent-free audio codec.
  • Torsten has had problems installing CQRLog on a 64-bit machine. Russ recommends installing the ia32-libs package to provide the needed 32-bit libraries. In Debian-based distributions, you can install that package with the command "apt-get install ia32-libs". More information about running 32-bit programs on a 64-bit machine with Debian-based Linux is here.

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:

  • "Vacancy" by Assembly Line Gods, from their album Control (Volume 1).
  • The music in Episode #063 is provided with kind permission by Assembly Line Gods from their recent EP release, Control (Volume 1). The track is called "Vacancy." Follow ALG on Twitter and Facebook and buy their new tracks at iTunes. Thanks, guys!