KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux / News: Recent posts

Hi Everybody,

There has been a LOT of interest in these most recent versions of AHRL. Thank you for your support!

v26b-beta is out. I've added a bunch of programs for the ARRL Teachers Institute, including their own menu. Those programs also appear in other menus as appropriate. Many of those programs are SDR related. They work for me but please try them and let me know.

I've tested this on several flavors of Ubuntu Linux 24.04.1 as well as Debian 12.7.0 (XFCE) and Linux Mint 22 (Cinnamon).... read more

Hi Everybody,

I discovered that v26 has some problems when I try to install it on Linux Mint 22 (Cinnamon). I'm fixing it now.

More news later,

Andy
KB1OIQ ..

Hi Everybody,

I have released version 26 of Andy's Ham Radio Linux. It can be found here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/files/v26

Version 26 is now the default version when the Download button is clicked.

Please be sure to read the GETTING_STARTED document, which can be found at the link above. This version is VERY different from previous versions. It is no longer a customized version of Xubuntu Linux. Instead, it is a large script which installs ham radio software on your favorite flavor of Ubuntu Linux. You need to have Linux installed first, and then follow the detailed instructions in the GETTING_STARTED document. Note that this version works on Raspberry Pi models 4 and 5 (with 8GB of memory). Tested configurations are listed in the GETTING_STARTED document. Other configurations MIGHT work - give it a try and let me know!... read more

Hi Everybody,

I cleaned up a few bugs in the alpha1 version and have released the beta1 version. It can be found here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/files/v26/

I've removed the alpha1 version. Many thanks to those who tested it.

Please report any bugs to me as well as any success stories on Linux flavors which I have not tested.

Have fun and 73!

Andy
KB1OIQ

Hi Everybody,

I'm sending this again because it seems to have been garbled when it was sent out previously.

The long awaited release of version26alpha1 has occurred! The files can be found here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/files/v26/alpha1/

Note that this release is ENTIRELY different from all of the previous releases. In earlier releases, I took Xubuntu Linux and hand crafted / customized the software selection, menus, etc. I created an ISO file out of the result and that's what was downloaded by the user community. It worked well for a lot of years but it wasn't perfect. Despite its imperfections, it was well received by the user community. Thank you!... read more

Hi Everybody,

The long awaited release of version26alpha1 has occurred! The files can be found here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/files/v26/alpha1/

Note that this release is ENTIRELY different from all of the previous releases. In earlier releases, I took Xubuntu Linux and hand crafted / customized the software selection, menus, etc. I created an ISO file out of the result and that's what was downloaded by the user community. It worked well for a lot of years but it wasn't perfect. Despite its imperfections, it was well received by the user community. Thank you!... read more

Hi Everybody,

I plan to attend Hamvention 2024 in Xenia, OH in May 2024. I will be giving a talk entitled, "Andy's Ham Radio Linux". It will be in room 2 at 9:15 AM on the first day of the convention (Friday).

Look for me and say "hi". I'll probably be wearing a Linux penguin tee shirt (weather permitting).

73,

Andy
KB1OIQ

Hi Everybody,

I'm in the process of creating AHRL version 25b which will still be based on Ubuntu LTS 22.04.*

I want to give Ubuntu 24.04 a chance to settle down before moving to it. That's OK since 22.04 is a LTS version.

Stay tuned ... more news later.

73,

Andy
KB1OIQ

Hi Everybody,

I have released version 0.2alpha of Andy's Ham Radio Linux (AHRL) for the Raspberry Pi. It contains a few bug fixes and added support for the Raspberry Pi 4. I tried an installation on a Raspberry Pi 2B and it seems to work with a few errors.

I look forward to hearing feedback from the user community.

Have fun and 73 de Andy KB1OIQ ..

Hi Everybody,

I have been working on a Raspberry Pi 5 and I've got most of Andy's Ham Radio Linux working on that hardware.
Go here to download it: https://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/files/raspberry_pi/0.1alpha/

Please note that this is a 0.1 alpha release - nobody has tested it but me, so please follow the directions carefully:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/files/raspberry_pi/0.1alpha/GETTING_STARTED... read more

Hi Everybody,

AHRL v25a has been released! Please download it and try it out!

Note that when creating a bootable USB thumb drive, the following tools are known to work:
* usb-creator-gtk
* balena-etcher

Note that MultiBootUSB seems NOT to work and I don't know why. It has always worked in the past. It created a device that was not bootable when I tried it. Maybe I was bleary eyed at 3AM when I tried it.... read more

Hi Everybody,

I tried to release AHRL v25a last night, but the file is TOO BIG for Sourceforge. It is just over 6GB, which is a big increase vs. v25. I'm looking into what I can remove to make the file smaller. There's also the possibility of using a slower but more compact compression algorithm. In my zeal to provide a lot of software for the user community, I accidentally created this problem.... read more

Hi Everybody,

I plan to attend Hamvention 2023 in Xenia, OH in May 2023. I will be giving a talk entitled, "Andy's Ham Radio Linux". I hope to see you there!!

73,

Andy
KB1OIQ

Hi Everybody,

I am now starting to work on version 25a. I don't anticipate any major changes, but there will be a lot of software updates. If you have any pointers to software that you'd like to see in this collection, please let me know.

Thanks, and 73,

Andy

Hi Everybody,

There are two videos which might be of interest to fans of AHRL:

• A very fair review of version 25 was done by "The Old Tech Guy" and is available on YouTube:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEd5uMoksa8&ab_channel=KevinLoughin

• I recently gave a presentation to the RATPAC group, and they made a YouTube video of that presentation.
  https://youtu.be/BOlHi73zY74

I hope you find these videos useful.... read more

Hi Everybody,

Version 25 of "Andy's Ham Radio Linux" has been released. It is based on Xubuntu 22.04.0 and the Xfce4 desktop environment.

Please read the GETTING_STARTED document for instructions.

If there are any issues, please post them in the "Discussion" area.

Have fun and 73,

Andy
KB1OIQ

Hi Everybody,

I have started working on version 25 of Andy's Ham Radio Linux. It will be based on Ubuntu 22.04 and will be for 64-bit computers.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Have fun and 73,

Andy
KB1OIQ

Hi Everybody,

I've just released version 24e of "Andy's Ham Radio Linux". It contains updates to all of the existing software, plus a few new additions. It is based on Ubuntu 18.04.6 and is probably the last version that I will release based on 18.04.

Be sure to consult the HOWTO_GridTracker document for instructions about obtaining and installing this excellent software. Look through the menu to see all of the software that is available to you - there's a lot in there! I searched the internet for as much Free Software / Open Source software related to ham radio as I could find. If you find something else, please let me know.... read more

Hi Everybody,

"Andy's Ham Radio Linux" (AHRL) version 24e is in progress, and is almost finished. It is based on Ubuntu 18.04, and is the last version of AHRL that will be based on this Ubuntu version. There's one error I need to investigate before release. I've noticed that Xlog and Hamlib aren't getting along very well. Performance during CI-V operations is sluggish and error prone and I don't yet know why. I just got a new IC-7610, so perhaps it is just a local setup issue. That said, it may be a symptom of something larger, so I need to investigate. Life is very busy so this make take a while.... read more

Hi Everybody,

Version 24d has been released for 64-bit computers. There is no support for 32-bit architectures. There were minor changes and revision updates vs. version 24c. Please look at the CHANGES file for more details.

You might not have any of these problems, but I estimate that 95% of the issues reported fall into these categories:

• Corrupt download - please verify the MD5SUM before doing anything with the downloaded ISO file... read more

Hi Everybody,

I put V24b out there at the request of a community member who was seeking support for bluetooth devices. If you are happily running V24, there's no need to upgrade unless you want this additional functionality.

73,

Andy
KB1OIQ

Hi Everybody,

Version 24 of "Andy's Ham Radio Linux" (AHRL) has been released. The big change from version 23 is that the XFCE windowing environment is now the default. A few pieces of software were upgraded to more recent versions. Look in the CHANGES file for more details.

Important notes:

1) Be very sure to compute the MD5 checksum after you download the ISO file. Many problems that have been reported to me were caused by corrupt downloads. Also, at the "boot:" prompt, type "check" to double check the integrity of the image once it has been copied to the boot medium.... read more

Hi Everybody,

I've released another "experimental" version of AHRL. It uses the Xfce Desktop Environment, therefore icewm is no longer supported in AHRL. Please look in the v23/v23_xfce_experimental directory for andy_v23d_64bit.iso.

I've cleaned up the "Andy Ham Radio Linux" menu that is found in the Applications menu at the top left of the screen. I've added a Documentation menu. Please note the new document entitled 00_Manual_dexterity_solutions, which describes how to change the sizes of fonts and other graphical objects, to make it easier for folks for whom very fine mouse cursor placement is a challenge.... read more

Hi Everybody,

V23 of "Andy's Ham Radio Linux" (AHRL) has been released. It is a remix of Ubuntu 18.04.3 and has updates to your favorite programs. Look at the CHANGES file for more details.

Version V23-ALPHA was out for about a week. A few people downloaded it. I heard no complaints. Many thanks to those who tried it.

Have fun and 73,

Andy
KB1OIQ