[Xastir] Xastir virtual machine now available for download

[James Ewen]

On 12/2/06, Tom Russo <russo at bogodyn.org> wrote:
> Thanks to Jason Winningham, the Xastir virtual machine I made for use in
> VMware player is now available for download

I was finally able to get a chance to download and install the Xastir
virtual machine...

Jason's server rocks! I was able to pull down the file at an average
of 3.5 Mbps, with peaks to 4.5 Mbps. If I were on a fast connection, I
wonder what I could have done!

The Wiki instructions fall into the usual *nix trap. Rather than
simple straight forward instructions, they fall off track talking
about options available. You need to read a couple paragraphs, skip a
few, read another, skip 2 more, and then all of the sudden you're at
"Hey, I'm done".

Simple linear instructions with no branches are what is required to
make these things easy to follow. After the fact, you can add in all
the options, and let people know what they can do if desired.

The Cygwin instructions are written in a very linear fashion, and are
very easy to follow. I was able to follow the VMWare instructions, but
had to skip around a bit to get the proper path.

I had a bit of trouble with getting access to the ethernet device, but
that was my own fault. I had disabled the VMWare network devices
manually attempting to solve a networking problem in the week between
VMWare download and the Xastir appliance download. I did manage to get
the ethernet screwed up again, which I have not yet determined if it
was a one time problem, or a repeatable event.

I also discovered that one needs to disable any screen savers in the
VMWare world. My CPU cycles maxed out on me, which I was able to track
down to the VMWare process. Switching back into it, I found the "radar
screen" screen saver merrily chugging along. Killing the screen saver
brought the CPU cycles down a whole lot, but about that time is when
the ethernet broke.

For being a minimalist desktop environment, Xubuntu presents a nice
user interface!

James
VE6SRV