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Author Topic: Anyone gone totally Linux?  (Read 2734 times)

K6SDW

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #15 on: January 21, 2021, 02:39:50 PM »

Make sure whichever OS you go with, it will run the software you use. If it can't why bother.

My experience with Linux WINE is hit and miss whether it will run a Window's specific *.exe  so why bother!
« Last Edit: January 21, 2021, 02:44:23 PM by K6SDW »
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VE6MB

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2021, 02:43:06 PM »

I just wanted to expand on my earlier comments.....the question was about going "totally" linux...but then the follow up questions were mostly about amateur radio use.....so I was focused on answering the questions of amateur radio use of linux.....I didn't tackle the question of using it for day-to-day activities.

Someone mentioned a lack of tax software for linux --an excellent example to bring up. You will run into other (non-ham) software that is not supported by lesser-than-mainstream operating systems.

However, a major factor is it not only that it depends on which version linux you are using....but also, what computer you are going to use it on. What is the processor of the computer you will run linux on (ie. Intel/AMD Processor found in most laptops or desktops, vs. the ARM-based processors of something like a Raspberry Pi computer.

Why is this important?  Because I've found that some computer peripherals don't have a driver supported under ARM processors (for example my EPSON GT-1500 flatbed scanner only has linux driver supported under Intel Processors)......

So, it helps to do some research before you are contemplating purchasing new computer accessories/peripherals to see to what extent they are supported under linux (in case you wish to move in that direction).

Another example, is on the software side, where you have no support on ARM-based processors.....Skype videoconferencing for example....(I don't know if this is still the case).....so you might have to try a different videoconferencing software (like google hangouts or something).

Some people have used windows emulators to run windows software on linux....WINE is a good example....I've never used this.....one of my favorite 'virtual machines' / emulators is Oracle VirtualBox....(they have versions for Windows, Linux, Mac, etc)......but again, it is not supported in Linux under an ARM-based processor.

On that note, I have found the Raspberry Pi (ARM-Processor) good for emulating old software in DOS and Windows  3.1, etc. Need something to run old Radio utilities under DOS? Some old radio programming software comes to mind.... Look up software called DosBox for this purpose.

73, Valentino, VE6MB


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NA4M

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #17 on: January 21, 2021, 06:53:30 PM »

IMHO, the great promise of Linux for the average person was ruined by two factors -
1) A gazillion competing Distros
2) Not understanding one simple concept - "Tho Shalt Not use the Command Line".

Add to that with:
No wide and deep selection of ham radio applications.
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W7XTV

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #18 on: January 21, 2021, 07:16:40 PM »

IMHO, the great promise of Linux for the average person was ruined by two factors -
1) A gazillion competing Distros
2) Not understanding one simple concept - "Tho Shalt Not use the Command Line".

Add to that with:
No wide and deep selection of ham radio applications.

What's missing?

CW and digital modes other than FT8 and related:  FLDIGI
FT8 and related modes:  WSJT-X
SSTV:  QSSTV
Antenna modeling:  4NEC2 via WINE or xnec2c
Electronic design/schematic capture:  KiCAD or GEDA
SDR modules:  GNU Radio
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He speaks fluent PSK31, in FT8...  One QSO with him earns you 5BDXCC...  His Wouff Hong has two Wouffs... Hiram Percy Maxim called HIM "The Old Man..."  He is... The Most Interesting Ham In The World!

N6MST

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #19 on: January 21, 2021, 08:37:54 PM »

IMHO, the great promise of Linux for the average person was ruined by two factors -
1) A gazillion competing Distros
2) Not understanding one simple concept - "Tho Shalt Not use the Command Line".

Add to that with:
No wide and deep selection of ham radio applications.

Um. There are a TON of radio packages available. Hell, the Debian repo itself has an entire section dedicated to ham radio and it is FILLED with relevant applications.
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W7XTV

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #20 on: January 21, 2021, 09:09:19 PM »

IMHO, the great promise of Linux for the average person was ruined by two factors -
1) A gazillion competing Distros
2) Not understanding one simple concept - "Tho Shalt Not use the Command Line".

Add to that with:
No wide and deep selection of ham radio applications.

Um. There are a TON of radio packages available. Hell, the Debian repo itself has an entire section dedicated to ham radio and it is FILLED with relevant applications.

Being Debian-based, so do Ubuntu and Mint. 

Does Windows have the equivalent of an app store/repository these days?  I know they didn't when I finally jettisoned Windows 10 two years ago.
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He speaks fluent PSK31, in FT8...  One QSO with him earns you 5BDXCC...  His Wouff Hong has two Wouffs... Hiram Percy Maxim called HIM "The Old Man..."  He is... The Most Interesting Ham In The World!

G8FXC

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #21 on: January 22, 2021, 01:55:17 AM »

I went Linux several years ago - everywhere apart from the shack. I'm a software developer - server side - and Linux is both my development platform and deployment target. I would like to go Linux in the shack - I could get away with a lower specification PC than the mid-range tower running Windows 10 that I currently use - but the quality of amateur radio related software available for Linux is simply not good enough. The core of my shack is a MicroHAM Microkeyer and there is no proper Linux support for that. I tried the unofficial Linux driver that is out on the web, but it is full of bugs and seems to be effectively unsupported. That is enough to force me to use Windows, but I also have to admit that other Linux amateur radio software like logging seems to be significantly behind the Windows alternatives.

Do I care? Not very much... I have always used a dedicated "shack PC" which is only used for radio related applications, so I'm not too worried what the operating system is provided it works. I have found that Windows 10 (and Windows 8 before it) are pretty reliable - the days of BSOD are pretty much gone. I think it is safe to say that I've crashed my Linux laptop more often than my Windows desktop over the last year - though the Linux machine is far more heavily loaded, of course! The only real problem with Windows these days is that it does have an annoying tendency to reassign COM ports and audio devices following a major update - I've got used to keeping notes of the working configurations of my radio software so that I can get it working again after MS stomps all over it.

Martin (G8FXC)
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NA4M

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #22 on: January 22, 2021, 05:25:03 AM »

If someone took the time/effort to go thru all the ham radio software listed in the eHam product reviews they would find only a small number of them run natively on Linux.   

This includes the popular mainstream multi-function logging suites like DXLab, Ham Radio Deluxe, etc.

Choose the best applications to do what you need or want then check system requirements to determine what OS they run on.  Selecting an OS then trying to find applications to best meet our needs is backwards.
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N4OGW

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #23 on: January 22, 2021, 06:57:16 AM »

My three computers at home are pretty old, 10 years old, an old iMac, a Mac laptop (with hardware issues), and an old Windows machine I inherited from an estate.  I've used Macs for a long time, but now I read that Apple is going to a new chip (M-1).  This is the second switcheroo.  They went from Motorola to Intel, eventually stranding a lot of my software, and now they are going from Intel to M-1, which will also strand a lot of software, probably most of it on my old Macs.  I should also say that I am retiring soon, and that my Mac at work is really old, too. 

As far as ham radio goes, I'm using the old Windows PC.  I'm running HRD on it, but my guess is that the computer's days are numbered.

So, I'm toying with the idea of keeping the iMac in good repair for legacy stuff from work, but going with Linux-based computers into the future/retirement. 

So, I'd like to have a discussion with hams here who have gone totally with Linux for their personal computing needs, how do you do digital, rig control, the stuff that HRD does.

Thanks

Jay

WSØY, formerly WDØEGC

I use linux 100% for my job and nearly 100% for radio.

Radio: general logging = cqrlog; contesting = so2sr; digital=wsjtx. All of those will control radios.

I do dual boot and use Windows to do my taxes :)

Tor N4OGW

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N8YX

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #24 on: January 22, 2021, 07:23:10 AM »

I'm posting this from a 64-bit Mint Tricia 19.3 system which serves as a VirtualBox host for an installation of Windows 10 Pro. (The system can dual-boot, but I almost never switch to Windows in native mode.)

WSJT-X is running at the moment and is displayed on one of three monitors connected to the PC. It successfully controls - via serial-port CAT - an FT-980. If I need to run an older software package (Win-XP for my KAM, for example) I merely spin up one of several VMs and do it that way. There's no Internet connectivity whatsoever for any of the VMs which contain unsupported/outdated software and the VMs themselves are derivatives of "gold" images.

In my day job I bounce between Win10E, several versions of Linux and other assorted platforms. Each platform has pluses and minuses, just as each physical wrench in my toolbox is used for different jobs.

A number of my contemporaries are engaged in ongoing development of things like Hamlib and other portable, amateur-radio-focused libraries. Ten years ago I'd have opined that Linux wasn't ready for the ham's desktop - not by a long shot. Yet, here we are.

A note about WINE: The latest version is running a couple of older, hinky Windows apps just fine on this platform. As with anything, it evolves.

There's a larger variant of this particular PC going together and it'll allow for multiple VMs run concurrently. Will probably retain Linux as the host OS.
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G8FXC

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #25 on: January 22, 2021, 07:25:48 AM »

...

Um. There are a TON of radio packages available. Hell, the Debian repo itself has an entire section dedicated to ham radio and it is FILLED with relevant applications.

Quantity does not imply quality - and many of the Linux radio packages on offer are simply quite elderly or primitive. I tried going Linux in the shack three or four months ago, but gave up within a couple of weeks. The lack of (good) support for MicroHAM hardware was enough to drive me away, but the lack of a good logging program and the poor support for SDR receivers was also a problem.

Martin (G8FXC)
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N6YWU

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #26 on: January 22, 2021, 08:54:07 AM »

...poor support for SDR receivers was also a problem.

What was missing in Linux SDR receiver support?  Was it support for a particular manufacturer's SDR?  Or some particular missing SDR application functionality?
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NA4IT

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #27 on: January 22, 2021, 02:37:08 PM »

If someone took the time/effort to go thru all the ham radio software listed in the eHam product reviews they would find only a small number of them run natively on Linux.   

This includes the popular mainstream multi-function logging suites like DXLab, Ham Radio Deluxe, etc.

Choose the best applications to do what you need or want then check system requirements to determine what OS they run on.  Selecting an OS then trying to find applications to best meet our needs is backwards.

Don't forget, the FLDigi suite of software is one the best sound card digital softwares there is. And it worked very well on Linux. I used to run it on Puppy Linux, which was only a little over 100MB at the time. Ran it off a thumb drive, operating system and all.
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G8FXC

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #28 on: January 23, 2021, 08:22:53 AM »

...poor support for SDR receivers was also a problem.

What was missing in Linux SDR receiver support?  Was it support for a particular manufacturer's SDR?  Or some particular missing SDR application functionality?

I use an SDRPlay RSP1A and the dedicated software, SDRUno, is only supported under Windows. SDRConsole is not bad - but again Windows only. I tried several Linux options, but none were convincing.

Martin (G8FXC)
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N6YWU

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Re: Anyone gone totally Linux?
« Reply #29 on: January 23, 2021, 10:13:01 AM »

...poor support for SDR receivers was also a problem.

What was missing in Linux SDR receiver support?  Was it support for a particular manufacturer's SDR?  Or some particular missing SDR application functionality?

I use an SDRPlay RSP1A and the dedicated software, SDRUno, is only supported under Windows. SDRConsole is not bad - but again Windows only. I tried several Linux options, but none were convincing.

Martin (G8FXC)

Any particular lack of functionality that cause you not to be convinced by the Linux options?  AFAIK, libsdrplay runs on Linux and allows complete control of the RSP1A.
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