[aprssig] aprsd replacements

[Michael Conrad]

Hi Patrick,

> I'll have to check these out. I haven't run across them before.
> 
> I have saw the aprs4r program, but I have issues personally with  
> supporting and loading python (or yet another scripting software) onto  
> equipment.
its even better, its Ruby (http://www.ruby-lang.org)  ;-)

At the beginning of the APRS4R project (end of 2005), I want to learn a new
programming language. In my spare time project I do not want use tools,
which are not up to date. Ruby (and a lot of other scripting languages too)
provides real object orientation, garbage collection and dynamic typing,
all things classical programming languages like C can not provide (and make
development much more harder). Things like multi-threading, object serialisation,
distributed computing, database support and a lot of other components are part
of the standard distribution. A ruby interpreter (written in C ;-) is provided
for a lot of platforms.

But back to the APRS4R project: The initial goal was to provide a low-cost (<70 EUR/USD) and
a low-power (5W) APRS internet gateway. The primary hardware platform is a Linux
based wireless router supported by the OpenWrt project (http://www.openwrt.org).
The software itself runs on a Linux PC also, Windows is untested, but possible.

At spring 2008 we publish the first official version, here a short feature list:

- ax.25/kiss support, aprs-is support
- flexible beacon schedule
- transparent rf-to-is gateway
- full newn-n compliant digipeater (true path reduction, not only substituting path calls)
- message support
- local aprs server (other clients can connect directly on the router, can see local rf traffic)
- weather station integration (Oregon WMR 928 NX)
- xml export (there is an addon to show your local rf/is traffic via google maps api)

Sorry for promotion, but I think using a classical programming language, I had never reached this
point, still looking for memory leaks inside of hacked piece of software and the same problems
like the aprsd project.

More information about APRS4R can be found on our website http://www.aprs4r.org, but the english
part is not up to date at this time. Feel free to participate, the software is open source and
licensed under GPLv2.


Kind regards

     Micha

PS: I'am able to write C/C++ programs, but I do not want to do this.