[Elecraft] 32 bit Elecraft Utility Apps

[Dave B]

On 13/04/18 21:14, elecraft-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] 32 bit Elecraft Utility Apps
> Message-ID: <17e8f51187234f12854d33c210d8d1f6 at smtp.videotron.ca>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> So forgive me but is it the case that the 32 bit elecraft utilities will not run on 64 bit operating systems??If that's the case then elecraft will release a 64 bit version of the utilities. If the 32 bit utilities? do run on a 64 bit OS then what's the point??There is no point. A 32 bit version of their utilities will work just as well as just fast over a rs232 connection no matter if the OS is 64 bit 128 bit or 256 bit.?So the question is will these utilities not run on a 64 bit OS? They are 32 bit and run just fine on 64 bit windows..?73 Tom?

The 32bit code on 64bit system problem varies by OS.  Windows(64)
generally has good support for 32 bit applications.  (Most of the more
esoteric background system tools are 32 bit code anyway, some are still
virtually the same as those developed for Windows 2000, or even NT!)

But these days MS has no support for 16 bit software, such as Windows
3.xx code etc (not exactly surprising, but the old Win3x "Terminal"
program is still quick and easy to use, for example, on an old XP box.)
  Windows 32 bit systems, XP and earlier, fully support the old Win3x
software, and many DOS programs too.   (Vista and later dropped 16 bit
support, even on the command line.)

In the Linux world, it's utterly different.  From my personal
experience, a pure 64 bit system will not run any 32 bit code "as is",
unless you hunt down and load a sort of compatibility layer.   Much as
in the later days of Windows 3.xx, you'd use a 32 bit compatibility
tool, to run some 32 bit code on a 16 bit system!   Some systems come
with that already, but it needs enabling.

So, if you go to a 64 bit Linux, unless all the programs you want are
freely available in that OS's 64 bit flavours, you'll have to compile
them yourself.  And that too, can be troublesome for some older (and not
so old) Ham software, where the original author has "handed off" support
to the "community."   Also, some of the compilation tools that a lot of
the older (but still very good) code needs so you can build it, have not
yet been updated to "64 bitness" themselves.

Plus, as before, though "64 bit" CPU's have been around for a long time
now, many of the class of machine that most of us would "recycle" (Ex
Vista era or later laptops etc) and put Linux on, other than the
internals of the CPU, are in truth 32 bit machines, and as such will
have memory addressing issues above 4Gig.

Even ex XP machines, running 32 bit versions of Lubuntu, LinuxLite, or
Puppy Linux, can have very useful roles in a ham shack, for (other than
time) next to zero cost.

If however, you want to edit/mix real-time HD video and audio on a PC. 
Then, a fast 64 bit system will probably be needed.   The other "maybe"
need, is if you run a pure SDR based station, and need to run various
digimodes all on the same PC, with multiple screens and I/O systems.  
But I know of other people already doing all that on 32 bit Linux
systems just fine anyway.  (Once they find out how to make it all work
and play nice.)

Plus as before, the K3/KX3 utility, only communicates to the radio over
an 8 bit link, & that is not in the MBPS range.

I have no experience of Apple products, other than on odd occasions
having to reconfigure the XYL's iPad WiFi settings.

73.

Dave G0WBX/G8KBV (Who does use Windows 7 Pro 64 bit at work, but I'm 95%
Linux at home now.)

PS:
The fix for this, is to release the K3/KX3 utility sources into the
public domain.   Then if you want, you can compile it on a 32, 64 bit
(or other) system where a compatible compiler exists.   Any Elecraft
"secret sauce" could probably be reverse engineered from the existing
tool today, by recording and examining the data passing between the rig
and utility, for known tasks.  (I'm thinking of the firmware update
procedure etc, all the other stuff is documented in the manuals.)

>><<

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