Amateur radio, space, technology and other geeky stuff by Alexandru Csete
Ham radio applications on the Asus Eeepc (abandoned).
Now that I have Ubuntu 9.04 runnign on my Asus Eee PC 701 it was very easy to get Gpredict up and running. After a few configuration tweaks related to the views it runs and looks very well even on this small 800×480 pixel display!
Watch in high resolution.
Thus, I have now following hamradio applications running on the Eee PC:
It’s been more than a year now that I last posted an update about using my Asus Eee PC 701 for hamradio. To be honest, my Eee PC has been more or less idle ever since. Back in August 2008 I have decided that I need a newer and better OS on it than the Asus/Xandros that it came installed with. I tried a few one every now and then but without any satisfactory results. Until now…
Note: This page is now obsolete since I have installed Ubuntu 9.04 desktop edition on the Eeepc. This opens the door to use all ham radio applications available for Ubuntu!
Eeeham dedicated to ham radio applications on the Asus eeepc. The idea is to have a set of Linux ham radio applications built on a host computer and packaged and configured so that they can be run off an SD or USB disk on the eeepc. User data related to the applications shall be stored on the same disk. I think this is a good approach since it will keep the eeepc system disk clean of my experiments.
Finally, after several failed attempts I have now succeeded in running predict on the eeepc. As you might remember, my very first attempt consisting of simply taking a binary built on Ubuntu host failed due to the ancient version og glibc available on the eeepc.
My first attempt to port Predict to the eeepc using my Ubunutu 7.10 desktop as host did not work out. First, I created a custom version of predict-2.2.1jh6, i.e. the version containing the rather cool mods by John Heaton G1YYH. My own mods of the jh6 version include getting rid of the silly build system and tweaking the vocalizer.
Just a quick note… I have started hacking predict to make it run on the eeepc. Tonight I manage to build the vocalizer on its own, i.e. without that silly installer that comes with predict. I have also modified it to use aplay (available on the eeepc) instead of the built-in DSP routine, which is choppy when switching between WAV files.
It plays well and it sounds good. Tomorrow I will continue with John Heatons version of predict.
I have now created a web space on my site dedicated to ham radio applications on the eeepc. You can access it by clicking on eeeham in the subject field of this post. At this point only a WIP, but I will update is as I make progress.
Continue reading “eeeham: Hamradio Applications on the eeepc”
Ok, so the eeepc seems to be intended as an entertainment computer with which you can have fun, listen to music, watch movies, and so on. But does it work?
I forgot to mention one of the most important things in the eeepc: Simply press CTRL+ALT+T and you get a nice xterm up.
I guess it had to happen sooner or later… I couldn’t resist any longer and I finally got my hands on a eeepc. It should be quite fun taking into account that I bought it in Germany with QWERTZ keyboard.