[Xastir] map problem on MEPIS

[James Ewen]

On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 8:48 AM, Rob Neece <kk4r at cox.net> wrote:

> After reading the recent Linux Journal article, I decided it was time to
> check out APRS.  Xastir was available in the MEPIS repositories, so Synaptic
> was used to install it.  Getting it up and running was pretty easy, but the
> default map it displays is crude at best.

In my humble opinion, the biggest detractor about Xastir is the fact
that it requires so much tweaking to get it running. Xastir is an
excellent APRS program, and as is touted many times, it handles the
most map formats of any APRS program. The ability to stack maps is
another huge thing that can't be done with any other APRS program.

It is an amazing program, but you really need to be dedicated to get
it up and running the way you want. Once it is all configured and
running the way you like, it's pretty much dead simple, and very
impressive. The tweaks, pokes, and prodding needed to get it there can
be a killer though.

There are a handful of very dedicated people on this reflector that
have invested thousands of hours walking people through the minefield
of configuration options. Without them, the Xastir user base would be
no where near what it is.

For Xastir to become the #1 mainstream APRS program of choice, it
needs to be made more user friendly. That would probably mean moving
away from the Linux concept of doing as little as possible in the way
of adding in features to the program, and relying on external
libraries to do all the heavy lifting. Most APRS users don't want to
have to worry about whether they need Lestif or Motif, or what widget
set is installed... They want to start up the program, will endure
having to set their callsign and other personal information, but after
that, they should have a nice pretty display pop up in front of them.
Instant gratification please!

Yeah, it's not the *nix way, but then most of the world is not the *nix way...

Just my observations.

James
VE6SRV