Is there a list of Ham Radio extensions already in TC?

[bkm]

Greetings All,

I am trying to convert a short stack of old ThinkPad 600x laptops into working tools for some of my local ham radio friends. At this point I have been hunting through the tcz listings and found a few: (are there more?)
- FlDigi
- UnixCW
- Xlog
- Gpredict

Unfortunately all of them were only in the v4.x listings. So, reluctantly I have started loading V4.7.6 TC on the laptops and setting up these programs. (the new core+ kept blowing up anyway (in another post))

So what I am really asking is "Are there more that I have not yet found?"

TC is such a tidy way to make some of these older PC's useful again if only for special purposes like being dedicated to a Ham Radio connection. It might be interesting to see a few different topic listings where folks might add to running lists of extensions for specific topics. However I would be happy to find anyone that could tell me what other extensions I might be able to use for my radio club project.

Thanks in advance for any input here. 

BKM - KJ4WRD

[gerald_clark]

Enter 'ham' in the TAGS field of the APPS browser.

[bkm]

TAGs field !?

When I entered 'ham' in the apps browser and searched it only came up with hamlib.

I must be missing something.

BKM

[Rich]

Hi bkm
Click on the  Search  button and you will see a drop down menu. Change to tags and try again.

[bmarkus]

Hi

hamlib, Xastir and soundmodem is also there. I'm planning to update, rebuild them on 6.0

Are you looking for a specific program?

Bela, HA5DI

[bkm]

Hi there Bela! Nice to see a Ham developer in the mix.

I need fldigi and a logging program. Anything else would only be a plus after those. Maybe an APRS configuration in the future but as a volunteer I will start with what I think I can handle first and add more later.

Not sure what sound modem does that fldigi doesn't already do. Doesn't fldigi in linux use the sound card already similar to the windows versions? Is soundmodem required for fldigi? I didn't see it in the dependencies.

Since I was making these laptops up for our local club I wanted to get as much usefulness out of them as I could. They will be hooked up to the various club radios for field day events and educational events. These laptops came with a business I bought many years ago and they were phased out in 2003. The have been idle for a long time and I thought it would be great to use them as dedicated radio PCs for our local club.

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

BKM - call sign KJ4WRD

[bmarkus]

Hi

fldigi do not need soundmodem as all such functions are built-in. Soundmodem is for packet radio/APRS (Xastir) only.

[bkm]

Bela,

Why would you already be working on a version 6? Is there something major that will be changing with the base system very soon?

Also... a big thank you to gerald_clark and Rich. I have only recently started using TC as a gui distro. I have been using micro-core since 2009 and have several hundred devices running it headless for some dedicated functions. Working through a GUI now is all new to me and I really had no idea I could alter the search. Thanks again.

BKM

[gerald_clark]

For command line, you can use 'tce-ab'.

[bmarkus]

Bela,

Why would you already be working on a version 6? Is there something major that will be changing with the base system very soon?

Bryan

TC Dev Team was working hard on next major release, 6.0 in alst weeks. First alpha release for x86, x86_64 and armv6 (Raspberry Pi) was released few days ago, see

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,17689.0.html
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,17691.0.html

Hopefully armv7/mips will follow, thought no ETA fot them.

Updates, additions will be seen in 6.x repos as part of testing. I'm not planning to make any changes in current 4.x/5.x repos.

Béla

[bkm]

Bela,

Thanks for the alert to the upcoming 6 releases. I look forward to trying them out.

Currently trying to get a 4.x system running in order to use the fldigi and the xlog packages. Unfortunately TC is having trouble with the sound chipset in the ThinkPad 600x. The alsa drivers do not recognize it. I will play with it a bit more to see if I can get it working but, if not then the laptops may go back into the closet for another few years or until I throw them out.

I was really hoping to make them useful again, but if fldigi does not see the sound system then it can't really do anything. I am trying to figure out how to delete the alsa drivers now and maybe substitute the OSS drivers in hopes of getting something working.

Again, all this user interface stuff is new to me. With my micro-core stuff I just "apt get" my python package, load my scripts, everything works! Figuring out how to remove drivers has me scratching my head, but with enough reading and trial and error attempts I think I can get it. I never had to worry about sound before.

Having fun with all this though. Thanks again for your help.

BKM

[bmarkus]

sound: Does it work with other distros? If yes, we can find a solution on TC for sure. There are also cheap, few bucks USB sound 'cards'. Most cases they have only mono input but it is good for fldigi, sstv, etc. except I/Q SDR receivers. I'm using one with a Raspberry Pi and just works fine.

Regarding reuse of old staff there are cases where simply better to throw them away and use a small SBC like Raspberry Pi or Beaglebone Black but there are many others. We are running for example at HA5HRK two WEB SDR systems, one is RPI other is BBB with FunCube Dongle Pro+. They took cca. 5W only, no HD, no coolers, no noise. Just doing the job.

[bkm]

The sound worked in Lubuntu, but the whole Lubuntu distro was a resource hog and I had to jump to TC.

I have a box of RPi units here with the ethernet port. I use them as headless appliances for other fun stuff. I have never tried to use them with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. In fact I never tried them with TC either. I use the micro core in miniature x86 devices but not with the RPi. I guess they would work but then I would have to get a bunch of screens and other human interface goodies to make them useful for this project. The laptops already have all that fun stuff and don't cost me anything to re-allocate to the ham project.

Now that you mention it... I think I have a few of those sound dongles around here somewhere. I will have to try that. It may save me a bunch of time. That beats trying to figure out how to remove/replace the alsa drivers.

Thanks again,

BKM

[bmarkus]

These cheap USB sound dongles work without any driver installation, configuration, etc. What you need just alsa.tcz everything else is done by the system.

[bkm]

Hmm... I plugged one of those cheap sound dongles in and tried it. Nothing happened. I then downloaded alsa.tcz to load on boot and rebooted. Still nothing with either the internal sound system or the USB sound. I know the usb sound works. I took it off my Windows box to use it here.

When I open the config area of fldigi it automatically checks the File I/O box only and does not recognize and sound devices. It also appears that OSS drivers are needed for fldig. At lease they are given a check box in the config page. But when I tried to load them I got a message that they conflict with the already loaded drivers.

So I guess I still have to figure out how to dump the alsa drivers so the OSS ones can work.... Maybe?!

I din't know. I will have to play with it more when I get back to the desk ina few hours.

Thanks again.

Id there a different area of the forum we should take this part of the conversation?

BKM