[Xastir] Install

[Gerry Creager]

Aw, come on.  Using yum in fedora isn't too painful, either.  And, if 
you're using either apt-get or yum (both are available in fedora!) you 
still either have to use a package that seems to lag to or past the 
latest stable releae, or resolve the dependencies by a little bit of 
inspection and work.

gerry

Rick Green wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Oct 2006, Robbie, wa9inf wrote:
> 
>> I'm trying to do a complete install of Xastir and having difficulties 
>> with the "language" and terms of it all, however, I am trying.. I've 
>> tried to get a handle on Linux a few times but would give up, :-(
>>
>> Is there a text file, documentation, like a step by step file out 
>> there any where for dummies like me?
>>
>> As always, to me, its very difficult to come into the middle of 
>> something, then have to spend so much time understanding Linux, I give 
>> up on Xastir since I keep getting errors on the files I download to 
>> install. Like dependencies on Perl for GPS, and the ax25libs not 
>> found. Curt mentioned the problems with some binary files compiled 
>> with things I may not need or want and not there, :-)
>>
>> I am up and running with Fedora Core 5, and several "Windows" like 
>> applications, but all that isn't what I was after really, more for ham 
>> radio applications and reliability of Linux and Xastir..
>>
>   I haven't used fedora in quite a while, but I can relate to the 
> dependency-hell problem.
>   My suggestion:  Switch to a Debian derivative.  Apt-get rocks! Many 
> have touted Mepis as being ham-friendly, but my personal favorite lately 
> is (X|K)Ubuntu.  It's pretty painless, and the user community is 
> especially friendly to newbies.
>   Quick howto:
>   Obtain the Live/Install disk image via FTP or Bittorrent.
>   Burn to media.
>   Boot from that media.  It'll take a while, as it does hardware 
> detection and brings up a full graphical system, running from the CD.
>   Install to your HDD.  This is where my memory fails me.  Was there an 
> icon on the desktop?  Or a prominent menu item on the application menu? 
> Either way, it was easy to find, I just haven't done it for six months 
> now...
>   Bring up the package manager(in the 'system' group on the menu, it's 
> 'adept' on Kubuntu, 'Synaptic' on Ubuntu.)  Go to the 'settings' menu, 
> select 'manage repositories', and enable the 'restricted-', 'universe', 
> and 'multiverse' repositories.
>   Once the repositories have been enabled, click on the 'fetch updates' 
> button to download the available package list from all the new 
> repositories you've enabled.
>   Now, use the search function to find 'xastir', and select it for 
> installation.
>   If you're real eager, click on 'apply changes' and watch it do all the 
> real work.  It'll pull in all the dependencies for you.
>   Once its done, close the package manager, hit alt-F2 to bring up a 
> 'run' dialog, type in xastir, and click on 'Run'.  Or type 'xastir' in a 
> user shell.  That'll show you any error messages, but will tie up the 
> shell, also.
>   In a moment, you'll see a window open up that will be all grey with 
> some menus at the top.  Go to 'file/configure/station' first, then 
> 'maps/chooser', and finally 'interfaces', and you'll start seeing data 
> appearing on pretty maps.  (Yes, each of these dialog boxes will have 
> lots of questions, each deserving its own howto!  If you get stuck, 
> google, read, and ask again!)
> 
> (Here's a wishlist item for the developers:  In the 'first-time use' 
> code, when you discover no ~.xastir directory exists, detour thru a 
> startup dialog that will prompt the user for station info(call, 
> Lat/long), and based on that, automatically enable tigermap.geo and a 
> read-only internet interface filtered for that location and a 100km 
> radius. Then set the display for zoom level 500 with the station at the 
> center. That would eliminate the appearance of that ugly blank grey 
> screen, and the consequent 'how do I get this thing to actually DO 
> something?' quandary.)
> 
> When you've got more time, go back to the package manager, select 'Fetch 
> changes', then 'full upgrade' then 'apply changes', and you'll pick up 
> the latest and greatest version of all packages you already have installed.
> 
> This method gets you up and running with an older, known stable 
> version(1.7.1) of xastir.  Later, when you're feeling daring and have 
> some Linux development knowledge gained, you can compile your own from 
> one of the development tarballs, or even directly from CVS, but leave 
> that for when you want to interface the latest weather station or whatever.
> 
> 

-- 
Gerry Creager -- gerry.creager at tamu.edu
Texas Mesonet -- AATLT, Texas A&M University	
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