[Xastir] AGW under WINE ?

[Ray Wells]

Curt, WE7U wrote:
> On Sat, 18 Apr 2009, Ray Wells wrote:
>
>> Let's not confuse operating system ability with user ability
>
> Careful there.
>
> In his defense, I have played with Soundmodem (receive only) and
> there are some tricky bits to it.  I configured it sometimes as an
> AX.25 kernel device, and at other times as a serial KISS TNC.
I should have added a few more words to clarify what I was trying to say.

As Curt would know, because I gave him so much grief over it a few years 
back, I had one hell of a job getting raster maps to display in xastir 
on a Debian system. Instead of blaming Linux for being difficult - I 
expect a superior and vastly more flexible operating system to be more 
complex - I was determined to make it work, and persevered.

As a computer user I sit a lot closer to the bottom of the knowledge 
ladder than the top but I've always pushed myself a bit beyond my 
present level, so it wasn't my knowledge that got me there, it was a 
"this isn't going to beat me" attitude. Some might say I'm stubborn.
>
> One can have trouble with the audio levels and settings on the
> soundcard, making it trickier yet.
As it is with TNC's and radios. Think pre-emphasis/de-emphasis mismatch, 
think over-driving tx limiters to compress out pre-emphasis. With 
software audio oscilloscopes so readily available the tools are there to 
measure audio levels to at very least get a ballpark picture of levels, 
tone level ratios, and possible distortion - those things that can make 
or break successful packet. The oscilloscope has been my best friend for 
packet for 20+ years.

Setting levels in Soundmodem may be tricky but if you can measure audio 
levels you'll know by how much your adjustment changed the level, rather 
than fly by the seat of your pants guesswork - was it too high, was it 
too low, did I move the control far enough, too far, did it really 
change at all?

Don't forget to apply some logic. Ask yourself questions - what is/isn't 
it doing?, call on your technical training (you probably learned all you 
need to know when you studied for your licence) and try to think of what 
"may" be happening, and what you need to do (test) to check your theory 
and correct the problem. Ask others.
>
> Configuring AX.25 networking ports of any type is not that hard once
> you've done it a few dozen times, but that first time is a doozy.
> It's probably easier to configure Soundmodem as a serial KISS TNC,
> then just attach Xastir's serial KISS TNC interface to it.  That way
> you can avoid all the AX.25 kernel networking setup.
>
But there is so much help available these days via the internet, 
especially with topic-specific mailing groups. This group is brilliant 
in this regard.

I've never seen kernel ax25 as a problem area, even back in 1992/3 with 
kernel 2.0.29 booting and running a two port packet switch (KISS and 
Baycom modems) from a 1.4M floppy and 8M Ramdisk, and all I had back 
then was the ax25 howto and a willing Elmer - no internet.

I think the (perceived) complexity of configuring kernel ax25 can cause 
a mental block that slows/prevents progress, but if overcome, the 
versatility and flexibility of kernel ax25 soon becomes so obvious and 
the door to almost endless possibilities opens wide.

Whether it's kernel ax25 or Soundmodem, just keep thinking "I can do it, 
I'll make it work".

Ray vk2tv