Linux and Amateur Radio

[Sudden]

Hello,
I am toying with the idea of putting Linux on the computer I use for Amateur Radio. Is there a suitable Linux, I think the word is, 'distro' that could be recomended for Amateur Radio use? I am getting fed up with win98se losing the plot every now and then.

[2e0sql]

Popular distro seems to be Ubuntu which seems a wise choice.

[Sudden]

Hi Peter,

I have just downloaded a Live Ubuntu 10.10 CD but I can not get it to mount. I have tried it on 3 computers. Did you actually use Linux?

Sudden

[WolfSpring]

I have used Ubuntu 9 in the past on several computers, by mount do you mean the initial instal mounting to the hard drive or do you mean after you downloaded to mount the iso file so you can burn it to a usable DVD? If you have it downloaded is whichever format and you want to burn it to CD it all depends on the format, .iso, .nrg, etc... and which burning program you are using, of course all of this would depend on which OS you are currently running as well.

[Sudden]

Hi Wolfspring,

I know this raher a delayed reply.(this computer and the one use for radio purposes threw fits and wobblies) I downloaded and made a ISO disk of Ubuntu 9 which works as a live disc on all compters tried sofar. If Win98se plays up much more it Ubuntu 9 will take it's place.

Sudden

[2E0JTP]

I currently have Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat running on my laptop. It's worked flawlessly so far.

I've had other Linux distros (you name it, I've tried it) running on a variety of other PC's over the last decade or more, and it's been very hit or miss, but the latest Linux distros are big improvements on 'plug 'n play'.

For a Linux distro that just works without faffing, you can't go wrong with Ubuntu.

OpenSUSE is another goodie.

I've officially given up on Fedora. Grrrr. :mad:

[Sudden]

Hi All,
This is an update on my Linux trial. Trial being the operative word. I gave Linux a fair go for about 6 months. Every time I tried to load a program I either did not have permission ( on my own computer, this is annoying) or I had to download other files to make the program work.
To be fair Linux Ubuntu worked OK as long as I did not try anything out of the ordinary, like loading an amateur radio program. I found it very frustrating and now I am running Win XP for my radio software. It was at least a good learning curve and reminded me of MSDOS programming.

[W5EDF]

It's a learning curve that's for sure. Normally when you install (via aptitude) you need to be root. If you were wanting to run Windows software, you would need to have installed Wine (though, not everything will work. Photoshop is my example of that). I run Ubuntu on my file server at home, and desktop and laptop are dual boot (both Win7 and Ubuntu). It's fun when you get the hang of it.. I've been using various flavors of unix for years due to where I work.

Now if you want pain, try Gentoo. Esp a few years ago. Trying to get that working on my laptop and trying to get the wireless card working.. Ugh..

[G6NHU]

I like the idea of Linux, I really do but I feel it's still got a long way to go until it becomes a mainstream desktop OS for the masses. I consider myself an advanced computer user, I've worked in IT all my life and was playing with computers from the days of the Commodore PET. I've supported *nix systems for many years but I still struggle with Linux and have done with any disto I've tried.

As a Mac user now at home, I find there are still some pieces of amateur radio software for which there are no OS X alternative and for those I revert to an XP virtual machine.

I'm sure many people get on with Linux but it's really not for me.

[2E0JTP]

It's a shame that amateurs who develop free (or cheap) software for the amateur community don't do so for free community developed operating systems.

The irony is of course, that if people stick with Windows for software availability, then the software developers have no reason to develop their software for alternative operating systems. :(

The good news is that software availability for Linux distributions has increased dramatically over the last few years, and I'm sure this trend will continue with the ever increasing belt tightening we all seem to be under.

The average PC user has every piece of software they need, right out of the (free) Linux box. :)