Tag: echolink

LHS Episode #078: Kubuntu is Bloodthirsty

Posted on by Russ Woodman

In this episode of Linux in the Ham Shack, our intrepid hosts put aside idle banter, childish meandering and silly stories in favor of true content, both ham radio and Linux related. All right, that doesn't happen even a little bit. Instead, Richard has a lot of fun telling you all the trouble he has with Linux Mint Debian Edition, all the while mentioning a bunch of other operating systems he's tried recently including Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Crunchbang among others--letting you know what's wrong with all of them.

Then there's some discussion of svxlink, an Echolink client and server application for native Linux environments, Allstar Link, Open Media Vault, contest loggers and a whole bunch of other stuff besides. Ahh, perhaps there is some content here after all. Hope everyone enjoys this episode and can perhaps contribute a dollar or two towards the Hamvention fund. It's coming up soon and we hope to see you all there.

73 de The LHS Guys

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Show Notes #076

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Introduction:

Announcements:

  • The Black Sparrow Media application for iPad, iPhone and iPod has been submitted to the iTunes store. It is just awaiting validation from Apple, which may take up to two weeks. We'll let everyone know when it's available.
  • Special Event Station W0S (Whiskey Zero Sierra) will be operating from the Titanic Branson Museum from April 13-15, 2012, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. Russ, K5TUX, will be operating the station at some point.

Feedback:

  • Scott, AD7MI, asks for help linking APRS and his his Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station with Xastir. Our hosts suggest trying one or both of these:
      • Meteo - Davis weather station platform software for Linux. You can subscribe to the Meteo mailing list by sending a subscription request to meteo-request@lists.othello.ch. It has been several years since Meteo was updated, and is still not at version 1.0. You must download the .tar file from the web site as it does not appear in the distribution repositories.
      • wview- Cross-platform weather station software. It does need an internet connection if you are going to contribute information to various weather sites, such as:

        This program is under active development. Even if it requires a work-around to perform as you wish, it may be worth the trouble. If you've ever configured a Linksys router, the web interface of wview looks a lot like that. wview has a support site via Google Groups at https://groups.google.com/group/wview.

    Let us know how you get on, Scott!

  • Paul, M0PGX, replied to our recent discussion of D-STAR and suggests trying the AllStar Link Network. Like EchoLink, it allows you to talk to other ham radio operators using just your computer and a microphone, including those operators running D-STAR.

    Russ signed up for the AllStarLink network; it's very similar to joining EchoLink. AllStar uses the Asterisk VOIP system, and Jim, WB6NIL, is the author of the repeater link software. Russ had success using a Mac computer, but not with a Linux machine.

    Richard sees the biggest problem with EchoLink is that it only allows one connection per IP address, so you can't have both a server and client at home. The EchoLink site only sees your IP address assigned by your ISP, which limits you to one connect from home. In this respect, AllStarLink appears to better in that it seems to allow multiple connections.

    AllStarLink is available in several combinations of Linux and Asterisk:

    • ACID - based on CentOS
    • Limey Linux - based on embedded Linux and bootable from a flash drive, and runs ONLY on several specific Mini-ITX motherboards.
    • Pickle - a specialized embedded Linux distro designed to operate on a BeagleBoard-xM (and DMK Engineering LOX board).

    Russ then provides an overview of setting up an AllStar Link client.

  • Back to Paul's email, he suggests we use the term "digital mode" when we should say "protocol", which brings us to...
  • Leif, KC8RWR, responded to Paul's comment that D-STAR specifies a protocol, modulation mode, voice codec, etc. The modulation mode used is GMSK.

    Richard defends the use of "mode" as appropriate as the definition allows it to mean "a method or means of doing something". For example, CW vs DFCW (dual-frequency CW), where DFCW uses frequency shifts to distinguish dots and dashes, rather than two different lengths of the same frequency, and spaces. Both are CW.

  • Leif, KC8RWR, also comments on the possibility that he's been nitpicking, as well as the use of Q-signals in voice conversations.
  • Bill, KE5WMA, suggests that hobos migrate to New Orleans from Dallas this time of year because Dallas doesn't have Mardi Gras!
  • We received a donation from Bill H. Thanks, Big Poppa! 🙂

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 Episode #076: BIG PAPA

Posted on by Russ Woodman

After our quick renumbering, we come now to Episode #076. It didn't start out as an all-feedback episode, but that's how it wound up. The best part is, we had such good feedback from our listeners it made an entire show. As it also happens, most of our discussion revolves around digital mode communication for amateur radio using Linux. We touch on D-Star, Echolink, IRLP, Allstar Link and more. If you're interested in using computers to connect to your radios and talk around the world using a multitude of digital technologies, including VoIP, this is the episode for you.

Please keep those donations coming in for our Hamvention Fund, if you're able. We want to be a part of Hamvention and we hope you will be, too. Thank you for all you do.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

LHS Show Notes #068

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Introduction:

  • Who has a drawl?

Announcements:

  • Richard has been reading about Ubuntu 11.10, "Oneiric Ocelot", due to be released on October 13th. Our hosts hope to have some sort of review in the near future. Richard is also considering trying KDE. (The version of Ubuntu with KDE as default is Kubuntu.)
  • Look for another episode of Richard's Radio Adventures in the near future. It's recorded mobile, and Richard wonders how to reduce the road noise with Audacity. Russ offers some advice on training the noise removal plug-in for Audacity.
  • Richard did not make it to the Belton hamfest this year, but maybe next spring. He's looking forward to attending the Texoma Hamarama, October 21 - 22, 2011 at the Ardmore Convention Center, 2401 North Rockford Road, Ardmore, OK.
  • Richard is recruiting hams for the Kaufman County (TX) ARES group. Please visit the KCARES website for more information.
  • Richard re-tells the infamous badger story. Speaking of badgers, you can find the Kiss My Badger tee-shirt, and a lot of other good stuff, at the LHS store.

Feedback:

  • Danny inquires about an easy-to-use distribution for a senior and computer novice, perhaps Linux Mint. Our hosts suggest Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS. Note that the Mint live CD does not include the codecs, but the DVD does. If you install from the CD, you can install the codecs later.
  • Danny also asks if there is a way to ask the Mumble developers to support screen-reading software. Since Mumble isn't a GTK-based application, it's probably not well supported under Orca. You may wish to raise your concerns on the Mumble forum, or on IRC at irc.freenode.net, #mumble, or click the Live Chat Now button on the www.mumble.com website.
  • Burt, K1OIK, left a comment regarding Episode 61 entitled "South of the Border": "I'd like to go south of your borders!" We're a little worried about you, Burt.
  • Michael, KD8GIJ, asks for instructions on removing a dual-boot installation of Linux Mint if he decides he doesn't like it. You can, of course, just wipe the whole drive and reinstall Windows. You may be able to boot the Windows install media and let it "repair" your installation. However, you don't really need to remove grub; just make Windows the default and remove Linux from the grub menu. If that's not acceptable, you'll likely have to wipe and reinstall Windows to return it to the pre-Linux state.Other suggestions include:
    • install Mint as a virtual machine with Virtual Box.
    • use the Windows Ubuntu Installer (wubi) which will also allow you to uninstall Linux after testing.
    • install Linux to a flash drive and boot and run from that to try it out
    • make an image of the Windows drive before installing Linux, perhaps with PartImage or Clonezilla, and you'll have an easy means of returning to the pre-Linux-install state.
  • John "The Nice Guy" Spriggs, G7VRI, asks about a live Linux distribution reviewed in Episode 62 that contained software to run EchoLink. (I think he's referring to Andy's Ham Radio Linux CD). svxlink is the Linux-native EchoLink client, but it is CLI-driven. The Windows client does run well under Wine. You may want to look at qtel, another Echolink client. It's an older application. In fact, svxlink is based on Qtel.
  • John also wonders if the music played on the show is Creative Commons licensed. While most of the music is Creative Commons or podsafe, the music in Episode 62 is not CC or podsafe, but Russ did have permission from the artists to play them.
  • John pointed out that the description tags in the podcast audio files were empty. Thanks, John, and rest assured that Russ will be adding descriptions as time permits.
  • By the way John, please contact Richard at the email address below as you may be able to help him with some music for another project.

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: