[Ham-Linux] Which Distro/Apps/Apps development software to use?

[Bill Anderson]

With your configuration, you have plenty of memory and plenty of disk. I
agree with a previous comment that openSuse is an excellent choice. The
Debian-based distros also have a good size collection of ham software.
Fedora has finally decided to package a lot of ham software. It looks like
Fedora 11 is going to have one huge collection of ham software. Debian is
slow changing and Fedora is on steroids, openSuse offers a good balance
having a large collection of software and a longer life cycle.

Drivers are packed with the kernel, so newer hardware, expecially SATA,
requires newer releases. Puppy Linux and DSL tend to run a bit behind on the
kernel curve, which can create issues with hardware.

Bill Anderson
WW7BA

On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 5:30 PM, Dr. Gerald N. Johnson <
geraldj at storm.weather.net> wrote:

> On Wed, 2009-02-11 at 23:30 +0000, Stephen Farthing wrote:
> > Hi Guys.
> >
> >
> >
> > I have just finished putting together a computer for the shack. It is
> > a dual core AMD something or other with 1Gbyte of RAM and 250 GByte
> > ofSata HDD. I also have a soundblaster USB external sound "card" I
> > want to use as well. The mother board has onboard everything else I
> > think I need, and until the Gods of freecycle smile on me I'll be
> > using an old SVSG CRT Old School monitor.  Also it has many, many USB
> > ports and one serial port.
> >
> >
> >
> > I am keen to work towards a "Linux only" shack system because I feel
> > that Linux is more in keeping with the spirit of ham Radio than
> > Windows which I have to use professionally as well as an OS/X Mac. I
> > am reasonably computer proficient and can work my way around shell
> > scripts and C Programs as well as COBOL and a load of other old skool
> > languages. (and no I don't want a punch card reader either!). I am
> > also learning my way around Ruby and Joomla for what it's worth and C#
> > under Vista.
> >
> >
> >
> > The sorts of things I want to do are :-
> >
> >
> >
> > Rig control – FT817, TS 570, Elecraft K2
> >
> > Digital and weak signal modes – WSPR, PSK, QRSS, Morse. RTTY
> >
> > SDR – I have a Softrock 9. Is there a linux equivalent of Power SDR?
> >
> > Test equipment  - Probably be building a VNA to Toms design in QEX,
> > use of the sound card as an AF generator and component tester,
> >
> > AVR programming (probably using the Adruino board and Wiring which I
> > believe runs under Linux
> >
> > Spice circuit simulation
> >
> > Development of bespoke applications to run under, I guess, Gnome
> > and/or KDE in a high level language (e.g. C, Ruby)
> >
> > Small scale web site development to document the above and act as a
> > "Lab Notebook"
> >
> > Logging
> >
> > Connect to the internet via wifi
> >
> > Anything else you guys can come up with..
> >
> >
> >
> > So the questions are :-
> >
> >
> >
> > What distro should I use?
> >
> > What applications should I use?
> >
> > Is there a decent Applications Development environment that I can use
> > to develop GUI applications in either C or Ruby (or something similar,
> > but please, please, not assembler as I am not clever enough)
> >
> >
> >
> > Sorry about the bandwidth – but I am sure someone out has figured it
> > all out before hand.
> >
> >
> >
> > 72 de Steve G0XAR
> >
> >
> I've been using Fedora Core 3 for a long time for internet. But getting
> all the pieces found and downloaded for the ham modes has escaped me.
> But flpuppy linux come with rig control and most digital modes already
> working. A small distro that runs in 256 MB of ram while booted from CD
> or thumb drive. It does sneak in a piece of the HDD if you wish, but
> keeps it all in one file in whatever file system it finds on the hard
> drive.
>
> 73, Jerry, K0CQ
>
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-- 
Bill Anderson
WW7BA
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