[Xastir] xastir review

[Curt Mills, WE7U]

A few words on Xastir from one of our newer users.  This was posted
to the APRSSIG over the weekend.

-- 
Curt Mills, WE7U                    hacker_NO_SPAM_ at tc.fluke.com
Senior Methods Engineer/SysAdmin
"Lotto:    A tax on people who are bad at math!"
"Windows:  Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates!" -- WE7U
"The world DOES revolve around me:  I picked the coordinate system!"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 18 May 2003 10:40:41 -0400
From: Wes Johnston <wes at johnston.net>
To: aprssig at tapr.org
Subject: xastir review

I've been playing with xastir for a few days now.  Actually, what got me
interested was the release of winaprs supporting tiger maps and a vauge
recollection that xastir supported over 100 map types.  Yes, xastir is for
linux, but you can run it on windows.  There is a program called CYGWIN
which is a linux "environment" which runs on your windows desktop.

When you install CYGWIN, you have a full functioning linux workstation on
your desktop.  This is not unlike the macintosh emulator I've used in the
past.  Something which tricked me during the installation was that I didn't
realize the CYGWIN was not written specifically for xastir, and wrongly
assumed that the default applications installed would work.  They don't -
you have to manually select the app's listed in the xastir documention.
That fact is in the install documentation, I just didn't read it in my
haste.  Note:CYGWIN can also install cool things like PERL and APACHE
webserver while it's being setup.

Once CYGWIN is installed, you must download the source code to xastir.  This
is really simple and takes only a few minutes.... and guess what.... you
have the source code to the whole program on your PC.  If you want to change
anything, it's right there in front of you!  A simple command called CVS
will download the source code.  Once the source code is on your PC,
subsiquent CVS commands will only download the updated source code - a few
small files which even on dial up takes like 30 seconds.  You type in about
4 more 1 line commands, and xastir is ready to run.

At this point, xastir is able to run and display any pocket aprs, dos aprs,
or winaprs maps.  By installing two more modules (freely downloadable from
the net), you can add support for tiger line maps and terra server photos.
Add another module and you have support for topo maps (and they'll get tiled
with the next map when you get to the edge of a quad).

Something which I thought really cool was the dead reconing implementation.
It plots a vehicle with a lighter faded version of the icon at the dead
reconed distance away with a semicircle arc showing the degree of
uncertainty.  I just used it Friday night to track my wife's position as she
drove up to visit me.  Since I didn't enter the heading exactly, her car
"drifted" off the interstate, but because of the range semi-circle, I still
knew about where she was on the interstate.

Another cool trick is that the icons rotate to face the approximate
direction the vechicle is moving.

Now back to maps.... Every other aprs mapping program requires you to
download maps before using an area.  The exceptions to this are the use of
instantly downloadable tiger maps in winaprs and commercial add-on's like
Street Atlas, Precision mapping, and mappoint ($$$).  UI-view for example
has an add in which allows you to snag a photo map from the terra server and
display it.  But it requires you to fetch the map, then once you are
satisfied with the view, save it , and finally display it.  Xastir on the
other hand, displays the map on the fly.  It will automatically download a
photo from terra server and display.  Same for tiger maps.  It will even
layer different maps.  You can set the display order of the maps so that it
lays a tiger map on the bottom and overlays winaprs maps or shapefiles on
top of the base map.  This means that you could create a BMP or JPG drawing
of a race course with your own notes on it, and overlay streets ontop of it.
Unlike PMAP and street atlas based products (Which cost $60 to $100), the
mapping data for xastir is free... and updated yearly for free.  A website
called mapshots.com is probably the easiest way to download tiger maps from.
It bundles all the different components of tiger files together into a ZIP
file for you.

Now that you have some maps loaded, you'll need to either open a connection
to the aprs internet stream or a TNC on a serial port.  In xastir this is
called an interface in either case.  You simply create an interface by
choosing from about 12 options... including AGWPE, AX25 tnc, tnc with HSP,
gps, etc....  You can select for any interface you create to auto start and
autoreconnect.  Once you create two to three interfaces, you can START and
STOP them... this is similar to the winaprs OPEN VHF tnc menu option.  I'm
still learning... I still want to find out about "bridging" tncs together
and a few other things.

By and large, I think xastir is the sleeper app of the year.  You never seem
to hear much about it, and when I did, I never realized it would run under
windows.  There are so many map types which can be displayed that it is
overwhelming.  The installation is not your standard "unzip these files and
run the installer", but it's not hard.   Just be sure to print out the
directions and check off the steps as you complete them (Heathkit did have a
good idea).

http://www.xastir.org

Wes