[Ham-Linux] Anyone using . . .

[ab6mt]

I just installed Fedora 4.  I would like to install gmfsk on this system.
Attempting to do so yielded a pleasant automated process, except missing
dependencies were indicated:

libfftw.so.2
libhamlib-1.2.0.so.2

So, merrily I go along to look up hamlib.  There, ran into a whole raft of
various versions, an RPM for Fedora 2, but only for version 1.2.4.  Is this
compatable?  Is this compatable for linux, or are there eighty different
versions of linux for which separate compliations are required?  Well, there
are also milestone versions, including the specified 1.2.0, but don't know
about 1.2.0.so.2 or whether that is significant.  Anyway, there is a
download procedure to obtain a GPG key (security run amok), did that.  Then
have to carve up a yum.conf file on the system here, clear enough.  Then ran
"yum install hamlib".  That yielded a 17-line error message which appears to
indicate that the script cannot access an "repomd.xml" file in the
repository, or in another mirror.

Not deterred (yet) I then try for libfftw.so.2.  Although I started at the
OH2BNS home page, I had started instead at an RPM repository (URL since
lost) to install gmfsk as described above.  But that repository didn't have
any reference to the required dependencies.

Going back and forth, I stumbed across a page from K5DI which documents
another procedure that might install gmfsk.  A series of special steps were
documented which might ease the path somewhat.  It looks like the libfftw
package requires both the compled version AND installation of the source
code to work, more clutter, but so what.  Further, access to FFTW indicates
Redhat packages already come with their own versions and they are
recommended.  Anyway, clicked on fftw to start.  That yielded a download
page, but clicking further did nothing.  Well, with typical Linux
distraction, I am loosing track of (1) what the first objective was -
installing, what was it?  oh, gmfsk.  And, (2) where am I?  I am now faced
with a screen with one alert box showing fftw-2.1.3-1.src.rpm,
fftw-3.0.1.tar.gz, hamlib-1.2.4.tar.gz, gmfs-0.6-1.i386.rpm, all which can
be opened or removed    A second alert states that file
/tmp/fftw-2.1.3-1.src-1.rpm is a source RPM which cannot be installed with
system-config packages.  Clicking on fftw-2.1.3-1.src.rpm "open" yielded the
same result.   Going back to the  K5DI page, he specifies downloading RPM
versions of these files, but they don't exist on the referenced page.
Anyway, I thought I had alread installed this library in a previous attempt
at installing gmfsk.

Well, at this point, it is time to stop and ask questions.  If anyone
wonders why Linux is complicated, or if they have some strange curiousity,
they might attempt to recreate what I have just been through, and see where
to go next.   Caution:  it will take hours.  The real difficulty is not
stumbling through this maze, but to provide a way for others who are much
less literate in computer technology than I (which is saying very little) to
install gmfsk, or any other ham software for that matter.

Is it really true that one has to follow a specific version of Linux
operating system to install an applications packge?

ref. K5DI
http://www.zianet.com/k5di/gmfsk/gmfsk.htm



----- Original Message ----- 
From: bdheaton
<snips>

I concur with the "If it ain't plug & play, no way" observation.  I also
know that the majority of hams haven't learned to "tame Windows" either.
The majority of computer discussions I've heard on repeaters and at club
meetings have been very simple things that 5 minutes on Google would have
answered.

The most disheartening to me is that many of the hams who decry the death of
experimentation in ham radio via the various online forums are the same
people that refuse to try Linux or some other alternative operating system.
That's a disconnect that I don't see going away any time soon.

.