[Xastir] Need ideas for messaging changes

[Curt Mills]

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Curt Mills wrote:

> I've been tweaking the messaging code quite a bit lately.  It is
> still lacking.  Most recently I had a QSO going with a guy on local
> RF that was a few hops away.
>
>   He was getting my transmissions.
>   I was getting his ACK's.
>   I was getting his transmissions.
>   He was _not_ getting my ACK's back, so kept transmitting.
>
> Turned out the problem was with the default path(s) set for the
> interface.  I had a path that didn't have much of a chance of
> getting out.  I had changed the path in the Send Message dialog, but
> that path only gets used for the outgoing messages, not for the
> ACK's.  That made for a lop-sided QSO until I figured out the
> problem.
>
> The current rules in Xastir appear to be:
>
>   Ack: Use the three round-robin paths in the interface properties.
>
>   Outgoing message: Use whatever you type in the Path: field on the
>   Send Message dialog.  This gets attached to the message in the
>   outgoing queue, so changing it after you hit Send Now! or Enter
>   has no effect except for future messages.  If you blank out the
>   Path: field on this dialog, you'll have no digipeaters in your
>   path (it doesn't default to doing the round-robin thing with the
>   default paths).

That last comment looks to be incorrect.  It looks like it _does_
default to the round-robin paths for the interface in this case.


>   The Path: field gets filled in with the best
>   guess at a reverse path, which may or may not be useful.

Which also knocks out the use of the round-robin paths unless you
clear out this field.  More ammo for deciding NOT to auto-fill-in
this field with the guessed reverse path, 'cuz it'll screw things up
more often than help.


>   In my
>   case I find it hard to get to a WIDE directly, and must go through
>   a relay digi first.  The reversed paths don't have that of course.
>
>
> Any ideas on how best to change this stuff to make it easy to use
> yet still get messaging done?  Some things I'm considering:
>
> *) Put the guessed reverse path into a label instead of directly
> into the Path: input field in the Send Message dialog.  That way you
> can refer to the reverse path when trying to come up with a better
> path, but it doesn't get used by default.
>
> *) If the Path: input field is blank, revert to the three
> round-robin paths in the Interface Properties dialog.
>
> *) If the Send Message dialog is still up, use the current Path:
> field for each transmission in the QSO, whether it is a message or
> an ACK.
>
> *) If the Send Message dialog is not up anymore, use the saved path
> for the message that's in the transmit queue, just like it does now.
> What I don't know is what path to use for the ACK in this case.
>
> *) Another thing that would really help is a way to send an extra
> ACK or three, sometime after the initial ACK.  Perhaps a button as
> well to send an extra ACK if you notice that the station is still
> sending the same message.
>
> *) Oh yea, another few changes:  Don't pop up the dialog if we get
> yet another copy of a previously received ack or message.  Only pop
> it up when something new comes in.  Same for the audio alerts, and
> perhaps Festival alerts.
>
> Anyone used messaging enough with Xastir or others to be able to
> streamline the above ideas into something simpler that would be
> easier to use/maintain?  Right now I think the path stuff is strange
> enough as to cause problems during normal QSO's.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.				archer at eskimo dot com
http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
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