[Mep-dev] Xastir Evaluation

[Roger Thompson]

Michelle,

I've made a cursory evaluation of Xastir, but not to the point of answering
the questions you asked about direction finding packets.  The following may
help anyone who wants to try Xastir without a lot of effort.

I used Synaptic to load a binary of Xastir from, I think, the Universe
depository on my Ubuntu 8.04 computer, and there are certainly many
dependencies with this package. The binary package loads version 1.9.0,
compiled in May, 2007.  There seem to be several other ways to get Xastir
running, including a VM virtual appliance and some live CD versions.  See
http://www.xastir.org/wiki/index.php/Downloads .

The help index gives enough info for setup.  A minimal amount of station
configuration is needed, callsign and location.  I didn't connect a TNC, and
just used the default Internet server to view APRS stations.  The only
configuration for the server was to enter a passcode, where I used my
UI-view Validation #, which was generated several years back with the same
callsign (AD5T).  A restart was needed for the server to start.  There is a
reference to a passcode generator in the help files section for the Internet
Server setup, but I didn't try to find it after my old one worked, at least
for receive.

A default world map starts and can be centered and zoomed into the
configured station location.  This map is not likely to be satisfactory for
long term use.

Most of the web discussion is around loading the application from current
source, where the version is 1.95 from August, 2009.  My initial impressions
are that this application is like 1980's vintage UNIX applications, where
the user is assumed to be familiar with things like vi, sed, and probably a
bit too much other sysadmin for most people.  Once all the map location,
download, and configuration is finished, I'd guess day to day use would be
uncomplicated.

I'm not much of an APRS user, but Xastir seems to be a pretty capable
application, and looks to have much more map capability than UI-View, which
I understand is at a development dead end.  Sometime in the distant future,
I may go back and load the current Xastir version from source and get some
decent maps.

I guess somewhere in the Xastir source is the code needed for someone to
create some sort of mep-xastir-lite application for station discovery, but
seems to me the current Xastir application is too heavy for direct use in
the field.  I'm not sure you even need maps for discovery.

73,
Roger
AD5T

-----Original Message-----
From: mep-dev-bounces at uppermeadow.com
[mailto:mep-dev-bounces at uppermeadow.com] On Behalf Of Michelle
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 6:39 PM
To: mep
Subject: [Mep-dev] Weekly Report for ... to 21 August 2009

I have succeeded in cleaning off my desk!

I'd like to prototype some code for the station discovery function. We'll
need some sort of open source APRS code base or library for the APRS-based
approach.

I found two possibilities for that.

First, XASTIR (http://www.xastir.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) - this is an
APRS client. 

Second, APRS World (http://www.aprsworld.net/) - this looks like a database
and presentation package.

How to help?

Download the two programs and see if they work OK in general and handle
Direction Finding packets in particular. Can we create and receive DF APRS
packets?

Here's a record of the discussion so far, with some description of the DF
packets:

http://www.delmarnorth.com/microwave/overview/TAPRArticleNovember2008v4.pdf


 -Michelle W5NYV
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