[Xastir] OpenTrac

Wed Apr 10 08:16:29 PDT 2019

:-)
At the time, the index microcontroller WAS an 8-bit. 16-bit systems were
big and expensive!

gerry

On Wed, Apr 10, 2019 at 9:21 AM Jason KG4WSV <kg4wsv at gmail.com> wrote:

> it should probably just be removed.
>
> kinda sad, i wanted to implement it once, but the only "documentation" i
> could ever find was the version of the OT code that Scott made available.
> An implementation for an 8 bit micro controller isn't exactly an ideal
> reference design.
>
> -j
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 8, 2019 at 12:33 AM Curt Mills <curt.we7u at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The only trackers that implemented it were Argentdata trackers. APRS-IS
> > can't handle the packets but your average digipeaters can. I used to run
> a
> > dual-protocol tracker in my Jeep that would do both APRS and Opentrac
> > packets every posit and it worked well. I don't have that in my later
> > Argentdata trackers though.
> >
> > Unless Scott starts putting it into his trackers again it's unlikely
> anyone
> > will be using it. It's definitely a nice protocol though!
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Apr 7, 2019 at 9:01 PM David Ranch <xastir at trinnet.net> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Hello Tom,
> > >
> > > Thanks for working on this.  To be honest, I've never even heard of
> > > OpenTrac protocol before and I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable
> on
> > > APRS.  Guess not!   Anyway, as I've learned from the hobby, the APRS
> > > protocol is very capable but also buried in a huge amount of legacy
> > > "debt".  It's shift away from RELAY, it's multiple addendum and what
> not
> > > really make it difficult to implement a clean solution.  I don't know
> > > why OpenTrac didn't catch on but maybe embedded solutions can't support
> > > both protocols simultaneously on the same frequency?  Maybe there isn't
> > > enough real benefit over APRS to deploy it more widely?  It also
> doesn't
> > > help that TNC vendors like Kantronics, Timewave, etc. have essentially
> > > abandoned their firmware work.
> > >
> > > If something modern like say Direwolf added Opentrac support, would
> that
> > > help?  I see that YACC supports it already as well.
> > >
> > > --David
> > > KI6ZHD
> > >
> > >
> > > On 04/07/2019 02:01 PM, Tom Russo wrote:
> > > > So, I have been going through Xastir very slowly trying to clean up
> the
> > > many,
> > > > many warnings that are emitted by modern compilers.  GCC 8 is
> > especially
> > > noisy,
> > > > and warns about many things that are not in fact errors in Xastir,
> but
> > > it is
> > > > also finding a bunch of potential problems that need cleaning up.
> > > >
> > > > A bunch of these potential problems are showing up in the various
> > > functions
> > > > to handle OpenTrac protocol packets.  Some of these are potential
> > buffer
> > > > overruns, others are just noise.
> > > >
> > > > I discussed with Curt how to clean these up, and we could do one of
> two
> > > things:
> > > >     - work hard to work out exactly how to fix things so the code
> > > actually works
> > > >     OR
> > > >     - just remove OpenTrac support, since it's basically dead
> > > >
> > > > The latter is probably the right thing to do, as there are probably
> > very
> > > few
> > > > people out there who even remember what OpenTrac was, and even fewer
> > who
> > > still
> > > > use it.  It was meant to be a more carefully designed protocol than
> > APRS
> > > > (which grew more-or-less organically, and randomly), but never really
> > > > caught on.  I do not believe there are any currently-available
> trackers
> > > or
> > > > software that supports transmitting it.
> > > >
> > > > So, is anyone at all using the OpenTrac decoding in Xastir, and would
> > > they
> > > > be upset if it were removed?
> > > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Xastir mailing list
> > > Xastir at lists.xastir.org
> > > http://xastir.org/mailman/listinfo/xastir
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Curt, WE7U        http://we7u.wetnet.net
> > http://www.sarguydigital.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > Xastir mailing list
> > Xastir at lists.xastir.org
> > http://xastir.org/mailman/listinfo/xastir
> >
>
>
> --
> -Jason
> kg4wsv
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>

-- 
Gerry Creager
NSSL/CIMMS
405.325.6371
++++++++++++++++++++++
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