[Xastir] couple quick q's

[N1OFZ]

> Yea.  Figure out a couple of points on there that you can use for
> tiepoints.  Move the mouse cursor there (in the right coordinate
> mode for .geo lat/lon's) and mark down the coordinates of those
> points.  Turn off display of all stations, then turn on snapshots.
> Go collect a copy of the map out of /var/tmp.
When Xastir creates the maps initially for display a gif gets created 
in /var/tmp called xastir_dr_map.gif.  How is this image different than 
turning off all the stations and turning on snapshots?  Other than the 
snapshot images is a png?  Is there a reason the png would be better?

> You can run aprsd or some other server on your local box, have it
> connect out to the servers, and have Xastir connect to it.  I run
> verything connect to it.
I'm going to try aprsd this weekend.  I have an old Pentium w/ RH 8.0 
that can run as the aprsd server if I can't get it to run under OSX.

> What we'll hopefully end up with is a database back-end fed by
> the interfaces portion of Xastir, then clients that connect to the
> database to do messaging, maps, etc.  You'll be able to bring up as
> many map views as you want, as each one will be an independent
Just curious as to what you are considering for the backend?  Mysql,  
Postgresql, something else?  This would be great and I'd love to help 
out to the best of my ability.  I have some experience with 
mysql/postgres.  I also have 2 guys on my staff that are Postgres gurus 
and I can leverage them a little if necessary.

This is a lot of fun!
Dana