[Lowfer] newbie questions

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi,

I'm new here looking at all sorts of things that are brand new to me. I
ended up looking at a couple of new lists due to the upcoming new band
at 600 meters. Here I see QRSS, WSPR, ARGO, Opera (the name of one of my
web browsers BTW), Wolf and several others. I feel like a new aspiring
ham studying for the novice exam! I'm wading through okay.

I have a question or two for the list members. So far I have downloaded
and played with a couple of the souncard packages. To date just looking
them over and wading into the manuals for them. I have been successful
at starting (no on air ops) running them in WINE on a Linux box. This is
NOT an OT question or statement about Linux v Windows. The fact is I run
Linux. What I am more interested is what a minimum processor speed would
be for some of these packages. I have found that Linux makes some of my
older laptops more usable than newer versions of Windows. Some of the
packages are not clear about minimum requirements - or I haven't yet
found the specs. One package suggested it will run on a 400 MHz Pentium
machine! I could use some suggestions about what has worked for others
and what is just too dismally underpowered. I am interested in that
because of the power budget for field operations. Faster always means
higher battery drain. If older hardware is adequate I'm all about that.

Looking at the speeds (SPEED?) of modes like QRSS I don't see them as
useful for tactical communication in a large scale disaster but they
could help the power budget for logistical and welfare traffic. I see
they are also being used to "probe" propagation paths. That alone is
worthwhile to me and I will try to get something up and listening as
soon as I can. Are there other comments on how these slower speeds might
be used. I can see that rag chewing is mostly off the table.

There may be links to discussions about these same questions - links
that I have not yet found. Pointers?

73,

Bill  KU8H