LHS Episode #137: Bacon Wins

bacon-winsGreetings, salutations and happy holidays! Today your weary hosts (minus one) bring you some great information about great topics, like: Why you should avoid qrznow.com, why you should upgrade your WordPress installation, why you should try ElementaryOS, why the government is like a turtle, and why bacon renders your argument invalid. Be well, listen often, and stay safe.

73 de The LHS Guys

LHS Show Notes #045

Announcements:

  • The drawing for the Southeast Linuxfest prizes will be next episode.
  • Problems with GoDaddy prevented the download of the last episode for a time. It seems to be fixed now, but we may be moving to another hosting company.
  • Visit https://wiki.edubuntu.org/UbuntuHamsNets for a list and schedule of ham radio nets for Ubuntu users. Everyone is welcome!
  • Some listeners reported problems playing the OGG file of the show with VLC. All episodes through #35 worked, but #36 and later did not play in VLC.  The problem was that the cover art image was too large for the OGG file metadata specification (64KB), which caused VLC to choke. The Totem player was not respecting the specification and would play the file anyway. The cover art image was reduced to less than 64KB, and the OGG version of episodes 36 onward have been repaired and should now play properly in VLC.
  • Would you object if LHS was only available in OGG format? Let us know!
  • LHS has an online assistance feature! There's a Live Support button on the right-hand side of the LHS web page that will initiate an interactive chat session with the hosts of the show, if they're online.
  • The "Thesis" WordPress theme has caused controversy as it's not GPL, but because WordPress is open source, and the theme is a derivative of the WordPress program, then Thesis should be GPL, too. See the articles on Geckotribe and Mixergy for more on this topic.

Donations:

  • We received donations from Jonas and Ross, both in the chat room tonight. Thank you!

Feature:

  • Richard and Russ discuss Logbook of the World, TQSL, and support for Linux.
  • Dave, KG4GIY, sent along some information about TQSL support for Linux being dropped by ARRL, which would cause problems for applications such as CQRLOG.
  • There is a SourceForge project that provides software to build the TQSL libraries under Linux. Russ came up with the following procedure to build the software under Ubuntu, or you could just try executing:
sudo apt-get install trustedqsl
  • Building TrustedQSL under Ubuntu

    1. Install the required libraries:
      sudo apt-get install libssl-dev libexpat1-dev zlib1g-dev g++ build-essential
    2. Download and extract the tqsllib and TrustedQSL software from SourceForge
    3. A minor change is required in the openssl_cert.cpp file from the tqsllib package to add an if statement allowing it build on recent versions of Linux with openssl 0.9.8. In patch format, the code for this update is at the bottom of this section.
    4. Execute the following commands to build the library:
              # ./configure
              # make
              # make install
  • Again, if you're using Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or similar Debian-based Linux, you can simply type
    sudo apt-get install trustedqsl

    and not bother building the library yourself. In the end, your Accessories menu will contain tqslcert, used to get the certificate from ARRL, and TrustedQSL, used to encrypt your ADIF log data and submit it to LoTW.

  • Applications like CQRLOG will then work with LoTW.
  • Russ describes the process for obtaining a certificate from the ARRL.
  • The ARRL also seems to contradict itself in its support of Linux. On the Resources page, under the entry for CQRLOG for Linux, it says "Please note that ARRL does not support Trusted QSL for Linux." However, the FAQ page says "At present one needs to use a computer with Windows or Linux operating systems to use TQSL and TQSL Cert."
  • Richard suggests we all should send a letter to the ARRL demanding Linux support in LoTW.
  • Paul, KE5WMA, in the chat room points us to the Ubuntu Linux for Hams article posted July 26, 2010 at ARRL.
        --- openssl_cert.cpp.orig    2010-08-05 12:14:50.382465127 -0500
        +++ openssl_cert.cpp    2010-07-27 19:18:45.728049007 -0500
        @@ -1290,6 +1290,8 @@
                                     attrib->set = 1;
         #elif (OPENSSL_VERSION_NUMBER & 0xfffff000) == 0x00907000
                                     attrib->single = 0;
        +#elif (OPENSSL_VERSION_NUMBER & 0xfffff000) == 0x00908000
        +                            attrib->single = 0;
         #else
         #error "Unexpected OpenSSL version; check X509_ATTRIBUTE struct compatibility"
         #endif

Feedback:

  • Scott, N9LJX commented on the web site about his desire for a decent logging program for Linux that interfaces with LoTW. CQLog is close, he says, but lacks in the award tracking area. So, unless we can offer an alternative, he's staying with Windows and the DXLab suite. Russ and Richard discuss CQLog (a Windows program) and CQRLOG (a Linux program). Perhaps, at the moment, Windows and the DXLab suite is the best solution for you, or you might try running Windows in a VirtualBox session under Linux.
  • Jason, KB9LAF, asks if we know of any Linux software that will run his Icom ICPCR-1000 receiver. Russ found this article in the Ubuntu forums. (Ed. note: Here are a couple possibilities: A Python application that will run under Windows or Linux, and IcomLib.)
    He also mentions Pendrive Linux as a means of running Linux from a USB drive.
    Thanks, Jason. We talked about that in Episode 19.
  • Kallie asks if the New Logo contest would reopen and asks why it was cancelled. There were no entries, so Russ paid for a new logo. But feel free to submit your art, if you wish.
  • Tim, KI6BGE, writes about his trouble with PCMCIA wired and wireless network cards under Linux Mint 9 LXDE on his IBM T21 laptop. They used to work with SUSE. Any suggestions? Russ and Richard discuss. They suggest running lsmod under Ubuntu to determine which drivers are loaded when the network cards work, then check what lsmod shows under Linux Mint, determine what's missing, and modprobe the missing drivers.

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 888-455-0305 or 417-200-4811, or record an introduction to the podcast.
  • Sign up for the LHS mailing list.
  • Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music and promo.

Music:

LHS Episode #045: Logbook of the World

Episode #043 of Linux in the Ham Shack almost didn't exist. In the process of trying to edit the audio for the program, I managed to delete everything that I had recorded. By some miracle of coincidence, I actually remembered to record the entire episode at Ustream.TV. I almost never remember to do that but it happened this time. The audio was recovered from the live video stream and I put it back together. There are a couple of minor flaws and the quality might not be as good as normal but at least it exists. Since the edited version came out to over 100 minutes, I'd sure have hated to try and record this all over again. And that's why this episode almost didn't exist: Because if the audio had truly gone away, I would have thrown up my hands and said forget it. We'll try again in two weeks.

But since we got lucky, you can now listen to us talk about our newest features and endeavors, our problems with the ARRL, the status of Logbook of the World, listener feedback, live chat room discussion, installing Linux Mint on an ancient laptop, ham radio software for [that other OS] and much, much more. And hey: Go buy a shirt. Please?

73 de The LHS Guys

LHS Episode #026: Junk in the Trunk

irlpBack from Baltimore and ready for more ham radio, Linux and Linux in the HAM Shack. I had originally planned to get this episode out before I left for the Large Installation System Administration conference in Maryland, but it didn't work out that way. I even brought all the audio with me to assemble the podcast during my off time at the conference. It turned out there wasn't any off time, so I wound up having to finish up when I got home. That being said, I have to admit this is my favorite episode so far.  It seems like Richard and I are finally getting the hang of this podcast thing. We truly appreciate all our listeners. It makes the time, effort and money of putting out this program worth it.

In Episode #024, we bring you some final wrap-up from Ohio Linux Fest, including interviews with ham radio operators, Linux users, Beth Lynn Eicher from OLF, members of the Drupal project and more. We answer listener comments and questions, of which there are many, and I talk about my getting back on the air and include my new experiences with digital communication via ham radio, from PSK to IRLP. Grab a drink, sit back and enjoy this episode of Linux in the HAM Shack. And if you have a spare couple of dollars, drop them in the can so we can bring our show to the national ham radio convention in 2010: The Dayton Hamvention.

73 de Russ, K5TUX