Linux in the Ham Shack

Welcome to Episode #021 of Linux in the HAM Shack. As always, feedback for the program has been abundant and entertaining. We address several listener questions and comments. We also have new features on the web site. Please check them out after listening to the show. Russ will be at the Ohio Linux Fest and Richard and Jerry from The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast will be in Denton at a hamfest t...

In this episode we tackle user questions and comments and then talk with Beth Lynn Eicher of the Ohio Linux Fest. Linux in the HAM Shack will be there. Will you? Hope to see everyone who can make it to Columbus from Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27.

Here is the second and final installment of the special OSCON update for Linux in the HAM Shack. In this episode I examine the second half of my trip to San Jose, California, and the O'Reilly Open Source Convention. I talk about sessions I attended dealing with subjects as diverse as patents and legal issues, processor speed, cloud computing, users as Open Source advocates and, yes, evening progra...

Linux in the HAM Shack #020 has arrived. This one ran a little bit long so it's been cut into two parts. The second part will wind up being the first half of Episode #022. For this show, we brought in a friend of the show to help us with a discussion of Linux Mint and several amateur radio topics. Thanks to Bill, KA9WKA, for sitting in with us. The amateur radio portion of the discussion is being...

Hey, everyone. I'm spending the week in San Jose, California at the O'Reilly OSCON conference. Since OSCON is an Open Source convention and has a lot of information about Linux and Open Source, I thought I would bring our listeners a couple of updates from the con. We'll call these supplemental episodes of Linux in the HAM Shack. The second one will be along in a couple of days. Hopefully this wil...

While Richard is back home in Texas, I came out to San Jose, California for a week of "geeking out." I'm attending the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, learning all I can about Ubuntu, Open Source licensing and patents, cloud computing, system tuning and monitoring and a whole lot more. I hope to put out a couple of short supplemental podcasts for Linux in the HAM Shack giving a little insite into...

Thanks to our wonderful listeners, we have some great feedback to go through in Episode #017 of Linux in the HAM Shack. After we attempt to address everyone's comments and questions while trying to seem moderately intelligent doing it, I give a short informative segment on Java, Adobe Air and other virtual runtime environments. Then Richard gets down to it, giving a nice description of d-rats, a c...

Because Episode #015 was a bit late, this one is going to seem a bit early but actually it's right on time. All it takes is a little perserverance and perspiration on my part and I can actually get these podcasts edited and released when they're supposed to be. Imagine that. As usual, we start out Episode #016 talking about feedback from listeners. We always love to hear what people are saying abo...

Linux in the HAM Shack #015 is here! I still believe that I can get these out on a regular basis but lately I find that life is very, very busy. However, I think Episode #015 is worth the little extra wait. We've got lots of feedback from listeners, our first donation (!) and two informative segments. In the first of our informational segments, Richard describes his installation of Ubuntu 9.04 (Ja...

Greetings to all of our listeners! Episode #014 is here. Thanks to our fans, the feedback segment has turned into a couple of questions we spend the rest of the episode answering. It's so nice when the topics present themselves with no help from us. Richard and I discuss why a ham radio operator, or anyone for that matter, might want to choose Linux as their preferred operating system. Then we dis...

We come to Episode #013 of Linux in the HAM Shack. This one is not for the faint of heart or the triskadecaphobic. Our last couple of episodes have generated a lot of feedback so we spend the first and last segments of the show talking about everyone who sent us comments and answering questions wherever possible. In the middle, we manage to squeeze in some information ham radio and Linux informati...

Logging applications are finally on tap for Episode #012. We take a look at a three interesting QSO logging applications, one graphical and the other two console based. And while we know that could have been a show all on its own, we packed in three different perspectives on CrunchBang Linux. Yes, that's right, three perspectives. We've invited a special guest to give us his impressions of CrunchB...

Today we present Linux in the HAM Shack for the eleventh time. Because of a topic snafu we switched to a completely untested and radically different format for the program. However, in the words of esteemed author Douglas Adams: "Don't panic." We simply rolled the live feed into something resembling a roundtable discussion of Linux and ham radio related topics that we think listeners will find rat...

That's right, everyone. We've hit Episode 10. I know it's hard to believe. We can hardly believe it ourselves. This one has been sitting in the editing room for a while due to life conflicts once again. It also spent a lot of time going through the editing machine. All that said, it's finally produced, mostly coherent, and occasionally informative. As always, thank you so much for listening to the...

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Linux in the HAM Shack, Episode #009. I am enjoying my time in sunny and warm Orlando, Florida as this episode is published. Richard and I would like to thank everyone for downloading and listening to the podcast. We've been getting encouraging pingbacks from other bloggers and amateurs and much good feedback as well. We'd like to encourage everyone who listens to the s...

Here it is, Episode #008. All the fault for how late this is lies squarely on my shoulders. We've had some difficult weather, which lead to my being sick for almost two weeks. After that, it took a few days to get my motivation back. Now that everything is in sync again, the latest episode of Linux in the HAM Shack has been edited and uploaded and is ready for your waiting ears. As always, Richard...

Episode #007 is out! Due to popular demand, this is an install episode. After running through comments and questions from listeners via the web site, e-mail and forums, we take a look at the procedure of installing Debian and Ubuntu Linux on a computer from start to finish. The show notes from this episode will include video footage of the Debian install so those of you who are interested in insta...

After putting this off some because of the holidays and other obligations, Episode #006 is now hot off the press. This is the second in our two-part series on PSK31. In the first part, we looked at sound cards, rig control interfaces and the basics of getting a PSK31 software package installed on your Linux operating system. In part two, we take a much closer look at two popular programs for opera...

Episode #005 is here. This is the first in a two-part series where we begin to discuss using Linux with your ham radio to participate in digital modes. We outline the software and hardware you might use to enjoy PSK31, a very popular digital mode in amateur radio. We take a look at sound cards, serial ports, rig control interfaces and prepare you for part two, which will get into the specifics of...

Episode #004 is finally here! I need to make two apologies. The first is a re-apology for the crackling in the audio for this episode. It appears to have been a problem with the machine that recorded the episode. My studio was in disarray and I didn't have a place for my laptop so I used an older desktop. The crackling that appears on the recording was not evident from my mixing console or to Rich...

Richard and I had a lot going on in our lives over the past two weeks. Most of it had nothing to do with amateur radio or Linux. Luckily we managed to get Episode #003 recorded and as I write this it's about 3:15am. But the podcast is going to be released on time. Please remember to send us that feedback, whether it's by e-mail, comment on the LHS web site or the Black Sparrow Media forums. In thi...

Welcome to the second episode of Linux in the HAM Shack. In this edition, we respond to listener feedback from the introductory episode. Everyone has been very positive and encouraging, and we've been looking forward to getting the second podcast done. We take a fairly in-depth look at Linux distributions that will get you up and running with ham radio applications and rig control quickly and easi...

Welcome to the first episode of Linux in the HAM Shack. In this episode, we give you a brief introduction to the podcast, explain who we are and what our backgrounds in Linux and Amateur Radio are. And we give a brief overview of what topics weâ€ll hope to cover in future episodes. We sincerely hope you enjoy our opening episode and we look forward to hearing from you, the listener, about anything...