[aprssig] xastir vs. oziexplorer

[Curt, WE7U]

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006, Laidlaw, Andrew wrote:

> I'm looking at using APRS as an addition/supplement to some of my
> activities. After doing some Internet research, it looks as if I
> would be trying to use APRS inside either Xastir or OziExplorer. I
> would like to hear some feedback from people who have experience
> with both programs as to the good and bad points of each program.
> I realize that: Xastir is free, and can be problematic to get
> running initially; OziExplorer and OziAPRS/NETAprs cost money, but
> installs easier.
> I guess I'm looking for feedback dealing more with daily
> operation, program crashes, etc (the after it's up and running
> phase).

Xastir:

I won't talk much about the ease-of-install, partially because I do
it many times a week because of my developer role, partially because
those that do Unix/Linux installs tend to have no problem with it,
those that are used to Windows installs sometimes have great
difficulty.  There are several that breezed through the install too,
even though they were coming from the Windows side to Linux/Unix or
installing Xastir on Windows itself.

I will talk about the reliability:  We've had several users make it
to the 100-day mark and further.  I've got three sessions running
right now, one of which has been up for 60+ days (off a filtered
firenet feed).  My other two sessions I restart often as the code
gets developed and I want to try the new features.  All of the
versions I run are the "developmental" versions as well, I'm not
even running the "stable" version.

I'm currently tracking 35,388 stations/objects world-wide on one
session that's hook to a full firenet feed.

Every once in a while one of our users tests Xastir on a 486 laptop,
and we sometimes to tweaks to make sure it still runs ok there.  For
an RF-only connection or a very filtered TCP connection this might
work, but for more stations you'll need more memory and probably a
bit more CPU.  I run a PP200 w/128MB at home and it keeps up fine.

See the link listed below, then click on "APRS Client Capabilities
Chart" to see what features each of the major clients have.  If you
have data to add to the chart, please send it to me.

--
Curt, WE7U.   APRS Client Comparisons: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
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