Best Version For Amateur Radio

[KK3Q]

Ok, I am ready to establish a computer to back up my XP box here that is dedicated to ham radio.

I have experimented with Ubuntu through bootable cd's and it looks to be an easy install on the dinosaur pc that I wil be using for this test. I will need to run several Windows programs on the Linux box that I have not found comparable open source subtitutes for. Plus I would like to use my favorite PSK program, YG-PSK, on this box (I know their are PSK apps for Linux but Jeff's is my personal favorite).

Here is the box I will be using:

AMD 350mhz
40gb drive
128mb RAM

I have twin monitors on the XP box but will run this box with a single monitor for testing purposes.

So now the question is: What is the best version of Linux for this box?

[kd5de]

Floyd I think you will find that Ubuntu is the easiest to make the transition to. Of course I use Slackware and Fedora but neither seem to lend themselves to getting right down to work. I have Ubuntu on a laptop and it works great. A good place to look at what is all out there is Linux Central. Heck I perfer just to order the distro's from then instead of the hassle of creating my own CD's guess I am getting lazy with my age.

[kd5de]

BTW you might consider doubling the ram in that box just noticed you had 128 that is fine for console use but gets a little gummy for X11.

[K4QHH]

www.slickdeals.net has a Free Parallels Workstation Virtualization Software for 32 bit Windows and Linux OS today.

It supports most windows OS versions for the primary and the following Linux OS for the secondary:

Linux guest operating systems:
- Ubuntu Linux 7.10
- Ubuntu Linux 7.04
- Ubuntu Linux 6.06
- Ubuntu Linux 5.04
- Fedora 8
- Fedora 7
- Fedora Core Linux 6
- Fedora Core Linux 5
- Fedora Core Linux 4
- Fedora Core Linux 3
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS4
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS4
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS3
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES4
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES3
- Red Hat Linux 9
- Red Hat Linux 8
- Red Hat Linux 7.3
- Debian Linux 4.0
- Debian Linux 3.1
- openSUSE Linux 10.2
- SUSE Linux 10
- SUSE Linux 9.3
- SUSE Linux 9.2
- SUSE Linux 9.1
- SUSE Linux 9.0
- Mandriva Linux 2007.1
- Mandriva Linux 10.1
- Mandriva Linux 10
- Mandriva Linux 9.2
- Xandros Linux 4.0

Since the previous answer to which is the best version of Linux to use was Ubuntu, I guess that is what I will get to run with this software.
Does it make any difference which version of Ubuntu I get?

Just thought others might be interested. Since I might need Linux for the Gold City website thought I would look into this.

[kd5de]

Well Bob all the Linux versions listed are outdated Ubuntu is now at version 8.1 I just finished installing Fedora core 10. Check Linux central I always order the cds and not download the software. That way when I upgrade I can pass the cd on to a local. I am going to order The latest ubuntu next week to put on the laptop and one of my personal boxes. I hopefully now can get ride of all the M$ machines in the shack since it is no longer an office.
Going to be a pain to get away from win 10-10 and YGPSK but there has got to be a better way to do things.
Mel

[wj5o]

Bob & Mel,
This past week I downloaded the "Linux Mint 4" operating system..... based on the Ubuntu OS. I am currently using as a dual boot with Windows XP while I get used to the system...... I figure that one day in the coming months Microsoft will drop XP from the supported category and I plan on being ahead of the game......
Linux Mint is real straight forward with great "Help" screens...... Now if I can just find the Amateur Radio programs that I can "plug in"....

[kd5de]

Well for PSK the cats meow is Fldigi it is available through your ubuntu repo (repository), it supports all that I want to use. Xlog is a good logging program. BTW there were ham programs for Linux from day one. AX_25 is and always has a Linux lib. I was on the team that built that lib and we were using 8 bit blasters converted as modems in the early 90's
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AmateurRadio

Mel
Linux User #25446 Linux 2.6.27

[kd5de]

Sorry about this I forgot to post the big link
http://radio.linux.org.au/
Check it out there are more Amateur Radio Programs for Linux that there ever has been for winders,
Maybe one day Lin 10-10 and YGLPSK
Then I could throw away my virus collectors
Mel

[kz3t]

Well, as you all may know I finally made the switch from Windows to MAC .. I got an iMAC 27" and upgraded it with memory, etc. so far I love it. Just wish there were more programs out there for mac as opposed to windows but I knew that when I bought it. I am running VMware Fusion 3 and have my Windows XP running dual monitor. Love it ....

Now, down to the meat of things: On windows all my programs work just fine except for PSK Express which tends to be a bit flaky at times and always when I'm busy trying to make contacts hihi .... I like PSK Express because it is very 10-10 friendly , autofills all the data fields from QRZ, 10-10#, VP#, EPC and P070 numbers also. Not lazy or anything just convenient this way. Too bad mac don't have anything like that. I don't think Jeff is wanting to even mess with mac/linux, etc. I use PskExpress, win1010 and ACLog .... Another good program that I had Jeff redo is TenxLogger for ALL of the 10-10 QSO Parties and it works rather well. So, now members have a choice of win1010 or tenxlogger. Those are the ONLY two programs that will actually do all of the QSO Parties for 10-10.

Now, I tried Cocoamodem but did not have any luck with it, however, I have downloaded and worked fldigi this last weekend and was very impressed with it. I still need to practice with it. too bad nothing for 10-10, epc and p070. that would really be nice. Maybe I'll talk to the author of that program and see what he can do. One never knows. Plus, unlike pskexpress it does not automatically send to eQSL nor lotw .... I would love to find a log for mac similar to ACLog that will send data directly to eQSL and LoTW but also be able to enter or have fields for 10-10, VP, EPC and P070. I want the best of both worlds hihi -- So, I'm going to surf around at the above link and try different logs and see which one would best suit my needs --- Maybe I can get the author of one of those programs to tweak it up for us. One never knows.

I tried entering the appropriate data into the NOTES field of fldigi but I'm still learning that program so am pretty slow at it right now and not sure if the adif output will have the notes field listed.

I doubt that Jim, K4HAV will take on the job of trying to get win1010 into mac but one never knows. that would be a huge project.

So, I know Mel that you suggested Xlog and I will try it out but I want to try a few of the others and see what they are like and how easy they are. I may not be able to replace ACLog at all, so may have to stick with the XP on the MAC for now.

[n7yg]

I have been using Ubuntu nor for about a year after converting from Redhat distributions. Currently on version 12.04. Once I took the desktop back to the standard GNOME, it has been functioning flawlessly. Although, I do seem to get updates on a daily basis since I updated to 12.04 a few months ago. I am using this as the server for one of the PropNET backup servers and it just runs int he background without any need for worry. I also set it up as a router for a while while I was troubleshooting my RFI problem from a commercial router and it worked just as good if not better than my commercial Netgear router. I have run a number of ham radio programs on it, including a number of Windows program in WINE and the only program I had trouble with was an antenna modeling program and I think that might be a graphics card issue.

Linux has come a long way since the days of the original command line distros. It is definitely a good backup to a Windows computer if you have the skills to administer a Linux system.

[kd5de]

Floyd I am using the very same distro that Jeff is using, but I am using the Xubuntu version. It uses a memory friendly xwindows GUI called XFCE. I have attached a screenshot

[n7yg]

I've got the XFCE desktop also and I haven't't made up my mind which one I am goiugn to use. Been testing them over the course of the past month or so, and I'll make a decision soon on which will be the primary desktop.