[Ham-Mac] Installing DarwinPSK

[Tom Dove]

Hi all,

The binary version of DarwinPSK is now available on the LinPSK home 
page (http://linpsk.sourceforge.net/). The Mac installation 
instructions will be there soon, but in case you want to start now, I'm 
posting them here.

Enjoy.

-- 73 de Tom / K3ORC

============

		INSTALLING DARWINPSK

This is a guide for non-geeks who are accustomed to the easy world of 
Macintosh.

(Darwinpsk-0.7-alpha)

		==============

DarwinPSK, an amateur radio program that lets your Mac operate on the 
PSK31 digital mode over amateur radio, is an X-Windows application. 
This means that it is not native to Macintosh, but requires a separate 
environment in which to live long and prosper. This environment is 
called X-Windows, a standard interface for UNIX and Linux computers. 
The UNIX kernel of Mac OSX allows us to adapt ("port") thousands of 
X-Windows applications to the Mac that formerly ran only on UNIX and 
Linux machines.

		==============

Installing X-Windows and other essential software:

The new environment means you need to do two, or preferably three, 
things to your Mac to run DarwinPSK. Once you have set up the X-Windows 
environment, a whole new world of applications becomes available to 
you, and most of them are free.

1. Install the X-Windows environment. There are several ways to do 
this. You can use Apple X11 (which I recommend) or XFree86 from one of 
the various sources, either free online or commercial.

      Download the Apple X11 package from the Mother Ship 
(www.apple.com/macosx/x11). Get both the X11 and SDK packages. Install 
them in the usual Mac way, which will produce an application called X11 
in your Applications folder. Double-clicking on that icon will start up 
X-Windows. You can add X11 to your Favorites list or to the Dock for 
easy access.

2. Install Fink, the standard package manager for X-Windows on 
Macintosh. Go to the Fink home page (www.sourceforge.net/fink) to get 
the details and download the files you need. This is more complex than 
installing X11, so follow all the directions very carefully.

3. Optional but recommended: Install Fink Commander, a user-friendly 
Mac program that lets you install, update and remove X-Windows programs 
easily. A link to Fink Commander is on the Fink home page. You download 
it and drag it to your Applications folder like any other Mac 
application. The alternative is to use typed commands in a terminal 
window. If you aren't bothered by that, go right ahead; the resultant 
installed programs are the same.

DarwinPSK needs three more things beyond the basic X-Windows 
installation:

1. Qt3 libraries - This is a collection of subroutines that let a 
program draw displays and buttons on the screen, access the ports, and 
more. DarwinPSK uses many of these routines. Note that this is not the 
same as Apple QuickTime.

2. Esound (esd) - This is a sound daemon, a program for UNIX/Linux that 
lets software send and receive sounds from the input and output ports. 
DarwinPSK uses esound to communicate with the outside world.

3. FFTW (Fastest Fourier Transform in the West) - These math routines 
are used in digital signal processing.

Using Fink Commander, install the Qt3 libraries this way:

1. Type "qt" in the Name window at the top right. Commander will list 
all programs that contain that word.

2. Highlight "qt3" with a single click. In the top menu, choose Binary 
 > Install. When it asks you questions, just accept the default answers.

This should automagically install the libraries.

Now use Fink Commander to install esound and fftw in the same way, and 
you should be ready to install DarwinPSK.


About the Developer Tools:

Eventually, you'll want to build your X11 software from the source code 
instead of installing pre-built binaries as we are doing here. Building 
from source requires a huge set of files called the Apple Developer 
Tools. A version of those is probably on your set of OSX CDs, but 
you'll need the latest version, instead. You can download them (free) 
from the Apple site (www.apple.com/macosx) after a free registration on 
the Apple Developer Connection page. It's over 300 mB, so a fast 
Internet connection helps. If you have a dial-up connection, download 
it in segments and allow most of a day (or overnight) to do it.

		==============

Installing the DarwinPSK binary:

1. Download the gzip (compressed) binary version (darwinpsk.gz) from 
the LinPSK home page at http://linpsk.sourceforge.net/ and let Stuffit 
Expander expand it to make a file called darwinpsk. Drag this file to 
your Home folder.

2. Start X11 as you would any Mac application. You will get a terminal 
window with a prompt. It should be in your home directory by default. 
Check to see that darwinpsk is there with the List command, 'ls'.

3. Depending on your system, you may need to set the permissions of 
darwinpsk so you can run it. In the terminal window, enter the command 
'chmod 775 darwinpsk'. This cryptic command changes the permissions to 
read-write-execute for the user, so you don't have to have Root 
permissions to run it.

4. Run DarwinPSK with the './darwinpsk' command in the terminal window. 
Note the dot and slash, and use no spaces. This translates, "run 
darwinpsk, which is in this directory."

You should get a window called LinPSK. Go to Settings to enter your own 
callsign and save it. Click on Rx to begin receiving; click on Tx to 
produce a PSK31 output sound and on Rx again to stop transmitting. 
Incoming signals appear in the top window, and you type your outgoing 
messages in the bottom window.

Both Rx and Tx will use whatever sound input and output settings you 
choose in your Mac's System Preferences > Sound (internal mic, iMic 
USB, speaker, etc.). Set both input and output volumes as low as 
possible to start; you'll have to experiment with your own radio to get 
the levels correct, and this may require careful external hardware 
adjustments.

This is an alpha version, so not all the features are working yet. For 
example, the QSO Data window appears but does nothing, and the RTTY 
mode is not as smooth as it will be. Please be patient as we refine 
these features.

Depending on your system and on any changes to X11 or Fink, you may get 
an error message instead of a running application. If this happens, 
email me (k3orc@arrl.net) and I'll try to help you through it as my 
time permits. This is UNIX, not your familiar, friendly Mac, so prepare 
yourself for a learning curve.

-- Tom Dove / K3ORC
10 May 2003