Tag: xastir

Xastir and Linux Mint

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Installing Xastir in Mint

Ben, VK5JFK, left a comment on my review of Linux Mint at the Linux in the Ham Shack web site, asking if I had installed Xastir under Mint.  I had not, but since Richard talked about Xastir in Episode 23, and Linux Mint is the "official" distribution for Linux in the Ham Shack, I thought a brief how-to article might be useful to our listeners.

In fact, installing Xastir in Linux Mint is fairly easy.  Here's a step by step procedure:

  • Launch the Synaptic Package Manager
  • Select the Amateur Radio (Universe) repository
  • Click on Xastir in the list - version 1.9.4-3 was available as I did this
  • Click on Apply - a bunch of dependencies were selected, and after approving that list, off it went.

A few minutes later (over a DSL connection) the installation was complete.

The first (and only) problem I encountered was that the installer did not create an entry in the Mint menu.  To remedy this, I clicked Menu, Preferences, Main Menu.  This utility allowed me to add a new menu category I called Amateur Radio, and a new item in that category that I creatively called Xastir.  The associated command is "/usr/bin/xastir".  After logging out and in, the new menu item appeared.

Before running Xastir for the first time, I opened a terminal and entered the command:

$ callpass ka9wka

and the computer responded:

Passcode for ka9wka is 19125
$

Of course, you will use your callsign and you'll receive a different passcode.  You'll need that number when configuring the interface.  No, the callsign is not case-sensitive.

After running Xastir, you must perform some configuration, as Richard discussed.  For this test, it was simply a matter of defining my location and adding the Internet interface.  When you launch Xastir the first time, it will automatically open the "Configure Station" dialog, but you can return to that by clicking File, Configure, Station.  Here I entered my callsign and location.  I left the rest of the options at the defaults.

Next, I clicked the Interface menu option, then Interface Control.  This brings up an empty list of configured interfaces.  I clicked Add, chose "Internet Server", and clicked the Add button. The "Configure Internet" dialog box appeared.  I entered 19125 into the Passcode field (see above), and "r/42/-87/500" (without the quotes) into the Filter Parameters field.  This filter says, I believe, show all stations within a radius of 500km of 42 degrees N and 87 degrees W.  Modify to suit your location and preference, and click OK.  Finally, still in the Interface Control dialog box, I clicked Start All.  The status changed from DOWN to UP, and I closed the dialog box.  In a few moments, stations began to appear on the map.

There are a lot more options in Xastir that I haven't explored here.  For example, if you're planning on installing this on a laptop with a TNC and GPS device attached, you'll need to add interfaces for those as well, and you'll probably want to add a more detailed map for your area.  For now, this should get Xastir running under Linux Mint with a minimum of time and bother.

73,

-Bill, KA9WKA

LHS Show Notes #027

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Russ visited a Ham Radio Outlet in Virginia and bought a new Yaesu FT-7900R for his truck.
  • Richard bought a Kenwood TS-50, some wire and antennas at the Belton hamfest, but hasn't installed them yet.
  • John, EI7IG, says you don't need AX.25 support in the kernel to run XASTIR, since you're running the TNC in KISS mode. He also says that APRS is useful for emcomm events, disseminating local weather information, and passing short text messages.
  • Tim, KI6BGE, recommends Resonant Frequency, Linux in the Ham Shack, and SolderSmoke in his October 29 blog entry.

Announcements:

  • We received a donation from Paul during the last episode, and now Alex made a sizable donation. Thanks, Alex!

Links and Notes:

Music:

  • "Company of Fools" by Great Big Sea from the album "Fortune's Favour"

LHS Show Notes #025

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Paul, from TeenRadioJourney.com, mentions LHS on his blog.
  • Russ Wenner from The Techie Geek podcast joins us in the chat room.
  • Kent, VE4KEH, in a post in the forums, says he heard Russ on an episode of Hacker Public Radio, and wonders if an appearance on Linux Outlaws is next. He also asks about a Windows 7 launch party. Our hosts respond.
  • Kent also posts a comment in a thread about Acer dropping support if you install Linux on one of their computers. Kent asks which manufacturers are Linux friendly? He also wonders why Acer creates two partitions on their laptops.
  • threethirty from Linux Cranks sent congratulations about LHS getting a mention in an LXer.com article Ohio LinuxFest Report
  • Matt, KC8BEW, in a comment about Episode 22 asks if Chirp will support radios other than Icom D-Star.

Announcements:

Links and Notes:

  • Russ talks a bit about being at Ohio Linux Fest. He was in "podcasters row" in the exhibit hall, along with the Northeast Ohio Open Source Society, The Linux Link Tech Show, and the Security Justice podcast. Russ shares some interviews and audio he recorded:
    • Interview with Matt, KC8BEW.
    • Russ plans on taking Linux in the Ham Shack to Dayton Hamvention, 2010.
    • Jim, KB3ORA, stops by the booth.
  • Questions in the chat room:
    • Russ Wenner from the Techie Geek Podcast, asks: is ham radio an expensive hobby? Richard opines.
    • HamTests.net is a good resource. The European site is HamTests.co.uk.
    • Do you need to learn Morse code? Nope, but it's even more popular now.
    • Do you need a high antenna? Not necessarily. Russ discusses. The ARRL has several good books on antennas.
    • Paul Shirey asks if shared folders on different machines can be combined. Possible, but difficult.
  • Richard talks about APRS and XASTIR.
    • One of the requirements for using APRS under Linux is that you must have the AX.25 packet radio protocol support in the kernel.
    • To determine if your kernal has AX.25 support, enter this command in a terminal: 
      grep ax25 /proc/kallsyms

      If you get a result something like this:

      c0510ddc r trans_net_ax25_table
c05127a0 r trans_net_ax25_param_table

      then AX.25 support is built into the kernel. If you receive nothing, then you'll need to recompile the kernel with AX.25 support. (Most of the current versions of Ubuntu and Linux Mint have AX.25 support.)
      For more information, see the HowTo:AX.25 article on the XASTIR wiki.

    • Richard describes configuring XASTIR.
    • Bottom line: it's not all that hard to set up. Read the wiki. There are how-to articles for many different operating systems.
  • From the chatroom, someone asks about the throughput of the various data modes in amateur radio.

Music:

  • "Like This" by STEEP from the album "STEEP"
  • "Lost" by Trainlight from the album "Now You're Alone with Ghosts"

LHS Show Notes #023

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Jeff has switched to Linux Mint. He asks about iPod syncing programs. He has tried Banshee and Amarok, and is not impressed. He'd like to use iTunes, perhaps under Wine. Russ suggests trying Songbird, if it supports your device. Check their wiki page to see if your device is supported.
  • Tweet from M0GLG regarding Echolink under Wine. He says it works with no real issues other than configuring the sound devices. He hasn't managed to get it to work with USB devices, yet.
  • Comment on the website about episode 20 from Matt, KC8BEW. He is looking forward to seeing Russ at Ohio Linux Fest.
  • Look for Richard at the upcoming Belton, TX hamfest.
  • LHS was mentioned on Jonathan Hardy's blog KIX-online in the August 30 post.
  • John, EI7IG, posted a message in the forums providing a link to information on compiling XASTIR from source, and mentions the Linux RMS Gateway software for accessing Winlink 2000 networks. He also says the Windows Winlink 2000 client, Airmail, works fine under Wine.
  • Clay, K6AEP, writes that he has an Eee PC 1000he and 702, and says you can use applications on the smaller screens. In eeebuntu 3.0, hold down the Alt key and you can move the screen around to see the rest of it. Crossover 8 has allowed him to avoid using Windows except for a couple of programs, such as Echolink. It seems to install fine, but mic audio doesn't work. He's tried SUSE 10 and 11, CentOS 4 and 5, Slackware 12.2, Ubuntu, Mint, Extreme Ubuntu, and Debian, and a variety of computers. He likes Ultimate Edition Linux 2.3, based on Ubuntu 9.04, even better than Mint 7.
  • Gary, M0TXD, comments that he has just installed Ubuntu on his hamshack computer with four serial ports, but can't get them to open. Russ suggests that it's a permissions problem on the devices.

Announcements:

  • Russ was invited by Klaatu of Linux Cranks to join their fourth roundtable discussion. The topic is the most common Linux applications on the desktop. Look for it on Hacker Public Radio (.mp3 file).
  • Linux in the Ham Shack has become an official sponsor of Linux Mint.
  • lhsinfo.org now has streaming audio links.
  • Check out Ohio Linux Fest. Russ will be there. Will you?
  • Question from the chatroom: How do I change from Ubuntu to Linux Mint? 1) Download the .iso and install it, but that will likely overwrite everything on your machine. 2) Get the sources.list file from a Mint installation (if you are on Ubuntu 9.04 already and want Mint 7) and update the repositories, then do an apt-get dist-upgrade. Russ tried that, and it worked pretty well, but there were a couple of package conflicts that had to be handled manually. The safest and easiest is to just install from the .iso, especially if you already have your /home directories in a separate partition. No matter how you do it, you should backup your system first.

Interview:

Music:

  • "Give In Give Out" by Plunkett from the album "Plunkett"
  • "Dale" by Mutandina from the album "Mutandina"

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

LHS Show Notes #022

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Contributors:

  • Email exchange with Herve, of Shackbox Linux.  If you found it useful, please consider donating something to the project.
  • Voice comment from Rodney (aka R0dzilla) KJ4OHH: he asks for more information on Echolink and Echolinux. Our hosts respond with CQiNet and QTel.
  • Rod, KJ4OHH, postsin the forum:  If you install a 32-bit program under 64-bit Linux Mint 7, then install a 32-bit application, getlibs may not find the 32-bit libraries, so you have to get them from the Ubuntu repository: 
    $sudo getlibs --distro Ubuntu --release jaunty nameof32bitprogram

    And congratulations to Rodney on getting his license!

  • VK5HZ in IRC says Echolink does work in Wine, at least for him.
  • Joe, NE3R, runs packet and uses an old TNC with firmware from the 1980s.  He runs XASTIR with an MFJ TNC and minicom.
  • Ken, WA3FKG, posts in the forum:  Acer says if you replace windows with Linux on one of their machines, you've voided the warranty.
  • Tony Malloy re-Tweeted on identi.ca when Episode 019a came out.  Thanks, Tony.
  • Damon, NN7B, asks "Which packet program do you use for Linux?"  It's probably easier to use a TNC in KISS mode, rather than trying to do software packet.
  • David, KF5BCM, wants a noise gate on Richard. 🙂 He says hears Richard breathing loudly on Episode 15.  (Make a donation and maybe that will help fund the equipment.)
  • turtles7, in the forums, suggested a topic for a future show: mobile installation hints. He recently installed a mobile in a minivan, and still has high SWR.

Interview:

  • Interview with Beth Lynn Eicher of the Ohio Linux Fest.
  • Beth Lynn talks about the training opportunities at OLF, exhibitors, and the history of OLF.

From the chat room:

  • Why don't we do shows on Linux basics? We did. Check out the older episodes. If there's something we haven't covered, let us know.
  • What is a "Crank"? See Linux Cranks.  (ogg format, explicit)
  • How to play .ogg files in iTunes.
  • KJ4OHH just bought a 8GB Sansa Fuze for $39. Refurbished Sansa Clips are often available at buy.com and newegg.com for good prices, too. They play OGG files natively.
  • Check out Shackbox Linux, too.

Music:

  • "Out of It" by Brad Sucks from the album "Out of It".
  • "Fallen from Grace" by Shawn Harris from the album "Temptation".