[Xastir] Initial Startup

[Curt, WE7U]

On Mon, 13 Nov 2006, James Ewen wrote:

> That should reduce the number of newbie questions by a fair bit, and make
> Xastir a little more user friendly.
>
> Xastir is one of the most feature laden APRS programs out there, with the
> BEST developer support available. The biggest detractor in my mind is the
> difficulty in initially gettting the program up and running for the first
> time user. The easier it is to get Xastir up and running the more people can
> see what it can do.

With the Shapelib work Tom just did, it's even better!  Xastir
_will_ have Shapefile support now, whether or not you decide to
install the Shapelib library before you compile Xastir.  This makes
weather alerts supported by default (if the user runs the
"scripts/get-NWSdata" script), and allows one to use Shapefile maps
from the get-go.

We need someone to run through the README.Getting-Started file and
revise it for these new features.  This is so the first-time-user
knows how to get the maximum capability right away.

First thing to do:

*) Enter a callsign on the first dialog which pops up.


Optional:

*) Run the "get-NWSdata" script to enable weather alerts for the U.S.
*) Download the APRSWorld Shapefile map of the world for a
   higher-resolution world map.  Reindex maps to see any new maps in
   the Map Chooser.
*) Fetch Shapefile street maps for the U.S. from
   <http://xastir.tamu.edu/> or perhaps <ftp://aprs.tamu.edu/pub>
*) Run the "fcc-get" script to snag the FCC and RAC databases (VERY
   LARGE!).
*) Run "get-gnis" script to get GNIS maps for your area.  Reindex
   maps to see any new maps in the Map Chooser.
*) Run "get-maptools.sh" script to add additional map capability,
   then "./configure" and "make install" Xastir again afterwards.
*) Run "inf2geo.pl" to convert UI-View maps to Xastir maps.  There's
   also "mapblast2geo.pl" and "ozi2geo.pl" for other types.  Reindex
   maps to see any new maps in the Map Chooser.
*) Run "toporama250k.pl" and/or "toporama50k.pl" to fetch topo maps
   for all of Canada (VERY LARGE!).

Any more to add to either list?  Change the order?


> It sound like the Virtual Machine concept will allow this to happen.

I look forward to whatever comes of the VMWare stuff.

--
Curt, WE7U.   APRS Client Comparisons: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
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