Which distro is best for Amateur Radio applications?

BuckNekkid · 10-10-2011, 06:48 PM

Hi All,

I see that HRD has been sold to 3 ham radio operators.
It's a WIN program. I'd like to know which Linux distro is the best for ham radio applications: digital modes, logging, QTH look-ups, etc.

Ubuntu was touted as the best, but I understand it has problems now. I want something very stable that has a spreadsheet for my work, a good music player, MP3, etc and a good program to store pictures of space and nature shots (woods, streams, rock outcrops, animals, birds, sunrises, sunsets, weather, with NO signs of "man" around, LOL!

Any help you can give me to guide me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
73,
Buck/KA5LQJ

coralfang · 10-10-2011, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Ubuntu was touted as the best, but I understand it has problems now. I want something very stable that has a spreadsheet for my work, a good music player, MP3, etc and a good program to store pictures of space and nature shots (woods, streams, rock outcrops, animals, birds, sunrises, sunsets, weather, with NO signs of "man" around, LOL!

Some program suggestions for the above quote which i personally enjoy using:

Gnumeric http://projects.gnome.org/gnumeric/ (no lack of features from openoffice spreadsheet, although i only do basic things)
Banshee http://banshee.fm/ (point and click, songs are sorted perfectly, looks nice too)
Shotwell http://yorba.org/shotwell/ (clean interface, easy image tagging)

I thought i'd post these, application wise you could use any distro you feel comfortable with, many have their own repositories of pre-packaged software you can usually install with 2 clicks (or 2 commands), such as the programs i mentioned.

I'm not a ham operator, but what problems do you get with ubuntu? Most of the major distro's typically enable ham radio related options in the generic kernel, as far as i'm aware.

Lexus45 · 10-10-2011, 10:38 PM

I've never been an amateur radio "user", but I saw the section on Debian website: http://packages.debian.org/en/squeeze/hamradio/

amarweb · 01-01-2013, 12:35 PM

Linux Mint is a Debian based linux build that comes with everything you would ever need in a distro. It is large, friendly and takes advantage of the most popular Linux base, Debian. Linux Mint is based of Ubuntu and is very stable. Ham Radio apps are very useful and work like a charm. I have been using Linux Mint for Ham Radio for about three years now.

Steve R. · 01-01-2013, 05:58 PM

Though I have my license, KE6TDP, I have not yet explored the Linux software available. I will be interesting following this post. Good-Luck.