[aprssig] New Open Source APRS Client Project

[Brian Webster]

	Unfortunately I have my business to consider. I have engineering and GIS
tools that I need to run and there are no Linux equivalent programs or my
clients require me to use specific software (some are close but a critical
few of the advanced tasks I must accomplish can't be done in Linux
software). I have looked and have been looking at moving to Linux for years.
I have checked in to things like GRASS and SPLAT as replacements but to
design cellular and other wireless networks they are not up to the task. I
am not a fan of Microsoft by any stretch and would love to get away from it
if at all possible. While 90% of my needs could be met by Linux programs,
it's the other 10% where I have to make a living and I would assume many
other people are in the same situation. I know there are ways to emulate but
that saps valuable computing resources which takes up valuable computing
time for me.
	I tried the Virtual machine version last night with VMWare on my Dell
Latitude laptop using a built in wireless card. It would not recognize the
card and/or the network interface properly so I have no networking on the
Virtual Machine. I'll give it a shot on a computer that has a wired lan
connection. This still takes well over a gig of disk space which I think is
a lot of room just to accommodate one program not to mention the resources
required to emulate another operating system. I really like Xastir and have
set up Linux on older machines to check it out. If there could be a port to
Windows I think you would gain a lot of support from the APRS community.
Being able to use very good on line mapping sources is a huge benefit over
all other APRS clients I have used. I know you can also use just about every
other map format out there, which is great for folks who already have them,
but the online tiger mapping is awesome for users new to APRS. It takes a
lot of work out and gives immediate results to "see" things on a good
quality map. The only feature I wish Xastir had was one of multiple map
windows in the same instance of the program. In WinAPRS that is a great
feature, being able to have multiple maps open with specific tracks of units
or areas of interest that you can jump to by hitting a function key. It
works nice to hook a specific map window to a mobile object and set that map
to track that unit. At close in zoom levels just that map redraws while all
other map windows stay as you set them.



Thank You,
Brian N2KGC

Brian Webster wrote:
> You have my vote for the porting to Windows for Xastir!!!! I love the
> program but hate having to dedicate a specific machine to Linux to run it
> and the Cgwyn option took up a lot of disk space.
>
>
>
> Thank You,
> Brian N2KGC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org
> [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]On Behalf Of Curt, WE7U
> Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 1:25 PM
> To: TAPR APRS Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [aprssig] New Open Source APRS Client Project (aprssig: to
> exclusive)
>
>
> On Wed, 11 Jun 2008, Scott Miller wrote:
>
>> I'd also agree that VB6 is likely to be a pain.  If a developer wanted
>> to get the most bang for the buck, I'd say the best approach would be to
>> start porting Xastir to Windows.
>
> Give us a bit of time, we've got a plan...
>
> It won't be _just_ a Windows app though.  Like, duh!
>