[Ham-Mac] Google Maps or Google Earth with fldigi for Mac

[David Ferrington, M0XDF]

Ok John, you should have said and I would have expanded on that, but  
no problem

The Perl script uses     exec("xdg-open", $url);
exec is the perl way of running a program, in this case xdg-open. As I  
said, that is a Linux program (a command) which doesn't appear to  
exist in OSX (well not with that name), but there is an equivalent,  
called open.

So we have to do one of 3 things:

1) modify the code to determine which platform (Operating system) the  
code is running on and call the appropriate program - this is the  
right way to do it, but little point if your only running your code on  
the Mac - it's the programmers job to do that.
So I discounted that option.


2) modify the code to call 'open' instead of 'xdg-open' - this is very  
easy to do, you just open the file (map.pl) in TextEdit and change  
line 26 so it reads 'exec("open", $url);'
I've attached a modified version of map.pl for you, not using Fldigi,  
I haven't tested it, but I can't see why it wouldn't work (should have  
done that the first time :-(
-------------- next part --------------




3) create a symbolic link, known as an alias in Mac terms (or a  
shortcut in Windows) for the OSX program 'open' and call it 'xdg- 
open'. In this way, when map.pl uses xdg-open, it will actually be  
using the OSX 'open' program.
This is relatively easy to do, but you must be a administrator of OSX,  
which you probably are if it's your Mac ...

a: open a terminal window using the Terminal  application that is  
either in the Applications folder or the Utilities folder which is in  
the Applications folder (I may have moved mine) - easy way to find it,  
use Spotlight to find Terminal and double click it.

b: in the Terminal window, type
	cd /usr/bin
that will change the directory (folder) you are working in (in the  
Terminal) to be where the open program is, it's a bit like double  
clicking a folder in the Finder (ok no flames Unix people, I no that's  
not quite true, but it?s a good explanation for someone who doesn't  
know the Unix environment).

c: type the following
	sudo ln -s open xdg-open
this should ask you for your password, this is the password you setup  
when you created your account on the Mac.
This command tells OSX to run the 'ln' command as a super-user - this  
is required since the permissions of the /usr/bin directory prevent  
non-super-user modifying it. The 'ln' command creates a link, with the  
'-s' option, it?s a symbolic link, and it's being told to create a  
link for 'xdg-open' and to call it 'open'.

d: close the Terminal application in the normal way (click red dot in  
top left, type cmd-Q etc).


I guess for you, the easiest option will be to try using the map.pl I  
included as option 2.

Hope this is of more help this time. Don't hesitate to come back to me  
if you have more questions (on or off list is fine with me).
73 de M0XDF

-- 
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to  
your
tasks. -Phillips Brooks, bishop and orator (1835-1893)

On 10 Jan 2010, at 15:24, John Wiener wrote:

> I thought I'd try this again.
> I have corresponded with Dave W1HKJ and, apparently, no one has tried
> successfully to use Google Maps or Google Earth through fldigi on a
> Mac (10.4) ...at least using the Perl software listed here:
>
> http://www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp/map.html
>
>
>
> I got this message from David M0XDF
>
> "ok, looking into this a little more, I think this script is intended
> for Linux - line 26:
>     exec("xdg-open", $url);
> xdg-open is a Linux command, the equivalent on OSX is "open", so
> either change xdg-open to open in map.pl
> or create a symbolic link of xdg-open to open so other Linux scripts
> will work, to do this, open a terminal window using the Terminal
> application and type the following commands:
>
> cd /usr/bin
> sudo ln -s open xdg-open
>
> that last command will ask for your password."
>
> So, I am not a programmer and I guess I cannot wrap this old brain
> around the above instructions.  Any help much appreciated.
> And, Thanks to Dave W1HKJ and David M0XDF!
>
> 73
>
> John
> AB8O
>
>
>
>
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