Tag: lmde

Show Notes #081

Posted on by Russ Woodman

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 ../ .
    • Some interesting scripts Russ is using:
  • Our hosts discuss the new release of Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) with the MATE and Cinnamon desktops.

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:

  • 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:

  • "Gold and Steel" by Isaac Graham from the album Empty Vessels.
  • "Charly" by Higgins from the album Zs.

Show Notes #080

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Introduction:

  • Tornado season has begun in Texas! Check out the videos at kcares.info

Announcements:

  • The donations for the LHS to Dayton Hamvention fund have stalled. If you'd like to see LHS return to the Hamvention this year, please make a donation in the next week or two. All donations will go toward the cost of the booth in the vendor exhibition hall. If we fail to raise enough to attend, then the funds will go toward the expenses of producing LHS.

Topics:

  • Richard's Linux Adventures
    • Thank You Kubuntu, for once again obliterating Richard's boot sectors.
    • Russ suggests using dd to perform what is essentially a low-level format of the drive. For example, 
      dd bs=1m if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda

      NOTE: This will totally erase your hard drive! Use caution!

    • Matthew, KC8BEW, in the chat room, suggests using Spinrite to repair a hard drive.
    • Richard declares that Debian is the Jesus Christ of Linux distributions, as it raised his hard drive from the dead, at least temporarily. It was the only distro he found that managed to install grub on the drive.
    • Richard also declares that Linux Mint sucks... at least for him. Audacity caused 100% CPU usage, spell check didn't work, and it crashes.
    • Also discussed: CentOS, Scientific Linux, Fedora, PCLinuxOS, Xubuntu, lubuntu.
  • Richard is writing an ebook on the National Traffic System.
  • Russ again suggests Richard try Debian, but Richard says it won't let him install Firefox. Maybe there's a hardware issue? (Perhaps memtest might find a memory error? -Ed.)

Donations:

  • We received several donations from visitors to the Dalton Hamfest and the KARC Hamfest. Thank you to our ambassador Ronny (K4RJJ) and to everyone who stopped by our booth at those events.
  • Russ hoped to interview Roy, KK4ATD, our ambassador to the RARSfest last week. Apparently, the LHS booth was a great success.
  • If you'd like to be an ambassador for LHS at an event, email us at ambassadors@lhspodcast.info and visit the Ambassadors link on the web site.

Feedback:

  • Fab, co-host of Linux Outlaws, left a couple comments on the website expressing his gratitude for being on the show.
  • Bob (W9YA) offers Russ some suggestions for entering the contact exchange information in YFKtest.
  • LinuxCanuck left a comment saying he enjoyed the episode with Fab, asks for help getting the feed links on the web site to work, and offers some thoughts about Kubuntu.
  • Roy, KK4ATD, the LHS ambassador to RARSFest, calls in to the show and describes the event. He's also building a repository of ham radio packages for CentOS, called Hamux.

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.

LHS Episode #080: Fitch Best

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Ever had something you wanted to get off your chest? Richard did on this episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. Somewhere along the line, Russ got sucked in as well and suddenly it was all about stuff the hosts didn't like. There's plenty of comic relief in the middle, though, and there is a happy ending when one of the show's ambassadors calls in to talk about his adventure at a recent hamfest. All in all, a fun ride down Birch Street--uh, you know what we mean.

73 de The LHS Guys

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LHS Show Notes #075

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Introduction:

  • We're a little light on content, but we'll make up for it with enthusiasm!

Announcements:

Topics:

  • Linux Mint 12 Review
    • Richard has been using Ubuntu for some time, but he's been unhappy with the latest version. He's rediscovered Linux Mint! Version 12 is out, with Gnome 3, Gnome 2, MATE, and Cinnamon, and he gives a brief review.
    • His primary needs: browser, email, Audacity, XChat, and a few others.
    • Using the Gnome 3 desktop, as a desktop fills with icons, a new desktop is automatically created.
    • By moving the mouse to a hot corner, you'll see a high-level view of all your open applications.
    • Russ has been using Linux Mint Debian Edition, so he's missing out on the Gnome 3 goodies, at least for now.
    • Our hosts then drift into a discussion of various desktop managers and visual effects.
  • WINE: Wine Is Not an Emulator
    • WINE is a collection of libraries for Linux that support Windows library calls from a Windows application.
    • EchoLink, for example, is a Windows application works quite well under WINE on Linux.
    • If you can't find a native Linux application that does what you want, you may find that WINE will allow you to run the Windows program.
    • There are a couple of different versions of WINE, all based on the core version of WINE.
    • Cedega: a version of WINE that supports a variety of Windows games.
    • CrossOver: a version of WINE that originally focused on supporting business applications such as Internet Explorer and MS Office, but has also expanded to include some games and running Windows applications on a Mac.
    • Richard browses the list of ham radio applications in the WINE application database.
    • Russ talks about installation and configuration:
      • Red Hat/Fedora: yum install wine
      • Debian-based: apt-get install wine
      • Some repositories may not have the most recent version of WINE (1.4 at the time of recording).
      • Under System Tools (in Linux Mint, or Debian) there is a WINE Configuration tool.
      • To install a Windows program under WINE, download the Windows installer application. At the command line, type "wine [name of installer executable]", and the setup program should proceed just as with Windows. A program icon should appear under the WINE program folder, and the program will, hopefully, run just like in Windows.
      • Some Windows programs will run just fine under WINE; others won't. Give your favorite a try and see!
    • One of the most-wanted ham radio applications, Ham Radio Deluxe v. 5.0, does not run at all under WINE. If you can find a copy of HRD v. 4, it should work under WINE. Remember, too, the native Linux application fldigi does much of what HRD would do.
    • Russ has also tried the N1MM Logger under WINE, and it worked fine.
    • The Winetricks tool might help get a Windows application running under WINE.
    • The WineHQ forum is a good resource for help.

Feedback:

  • We had a donation from William A. Thank you!
  • Leif, KC8RWR, continues a comment dialog about the origin of CUPS in Episode 67.
  • G8FXM, mentioned LHS in his blog. Thanks, David.
  • The Hoosier Hills Ham Club linked to the LHS site and we linked back. Thanks to W.W., KB9TMP.

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 #075: Cinnamon Kool-Aid & WINE

Posted on by Russ Woodman

This episode we left up to the listeners because we hadn't had enough time to prepare some content for ourselves. While waiting for some input, Richard decided to give an impromptu review of the improvements in Gnome 3 and his assessment of the technology, and where he thinks it's going from here. You might be surprised by his analysis.

After that, we had a request to discuss WINE in a little more depth than perhaps we had touched on in previous episodes. So we take a fairly broad view of the WINE project, how to use it for your applications, what its can and can't do, and how it can benefit you.

As a quick reminder, Hamvention in Dayton is coming up quickly, from May 18-20. As always, if you can spare a few bucks, quid, euros, drachmas, or whatever currency you currently use to help send LHS out to Ohio for the weekend, we'd love to see everyone there. Any little bit will help.

Thank you to all of our listeners, as always. We couldn't and wouldn't do it without you!

73 de The LHS Guys

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