[amsat-bb] Re: Predict 2.2.3 for Linux

[w8iss@wideopenwest.com]

Bruce,

Do you have Gnome Predict installed also? I have found the same problem after
installing Gpredict, but it will do it still even after uninstalling gpredict.

James W8ISS


---------- Original Message -----------
From: "Bruce Robertson" <ve9qrp at gmail.com>
To: "John Heaton" <john at manchester.ac.uk>
Cc: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
Sent: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:23:58 -0300
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Predict 2.2.3 for Linux

> On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 7:37 AM, John Heaton <john at manchester.ac.uk> 
> wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> >  Hash: SHA1
> >
> >
> >  On 16 Mar 2008, at 05:50, Bruce Robertson wrote:
> >  > Your Predict is possibly dying for a lack of a TLE file. Point to one
> >  > with the -t command-line parameter. Ensure also that a qth file is
> >  > being created in ~/.predict and that you as user can read it with,
> >  > e.g. 'cat'. I believe predict is supposed to find a tle file in that
> >  > same directory, but I think I've had troubles with that option.
> >
> >  Predict will run without a TLE file - you won't see any predictions
> 
> I just double-checked this, and I still find that if there is no tle
> file and none pointed to with a -t switch, it will die as Kent
> described below. Namely, it will send you to the new user screen and
> then exit when the info is entered. (Unfortunately, it exits with the
> terminal in a funny state.) In my experience, it does this on a fresh
> install with apt-get on Ubuntu, or with a build install (using root).
> This is a frustrating loop for the user, since he or she can
> reasonably expect that the data is entered after the first attempt,
> and furthermore the qth file can be found in the ~/.predict
> 
> I've taken a screenshot and posted it at
> http://heml.mta.ca/Amsat/predict-fail.png
> 
> If, however, you use -t to point it to a tle file it can't parse, it
> will do as you, John, describe above. More specifically, you can
> select the [P] option from the main menu, but this results in a blank
> list of satellites from which to choose.
> 
> For instance, the following command will produce this effect:
> brucerob at heml:~$ touch foo
> brucerob at heml:~$ predict -t foo
> 
> I get the exact same effect if I use the documented nasa tle files. 
> For example:
> 
> brucerob at heml:~$ wget http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasa.all
> brucerob at heml:~$ predict -t nasa.all
> 
> Fails the same as my 'foo' file above. However if I edit out the
> comments in the file describing the file format so that the first 
> line begins with 'AO-07', predict operates normally.
> 
> >  > Finally, make sure that your tle file does not have any comments at
> >  > its top before the actual elements. For instance, the commonly used
> >  > nasa.tle files have a set of comments describing the tle format.
> >  > Predict dies on these.
> >
> >  Predict ignores data in the TLE file before the TLE data, so if you
> >  get your TLE as a meil message you don't need to remove the headers
> 
> Perhaps predict is written to ignore the headers of a mail message,
> but not the comments that appear in the nasa file?
> 
> I hope it is understood that I'm documenting this because I like
> predict and consider it a wonderful arrow in AMSAT's quiver. Indeed,
> since it might be a potential AMSAT'er's first encounter with pass
> prediction -- given that it is part of the debian world -- I think we
> should ensure that it is very easy to use. Furthermore it
> cross-compiles like a dream: as I've said elsewhere it works
> identically on a Nokia N800; and another member of this list got it 
> to run on the gumstix platform.
> 
> 73, Bruce
> VE9QRP
> 
> >
> >  >
> >  > On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 12:59 AM, Kent R. Frazier <k5knt at amsat.org>
> >  > wrote:
> >  >> I just installed Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and Predict 2.2.3 on my
> >  >> notebook. When I
> >  >>  start Predict I get the "new user" screen where I enter the required
> >  >>  information. After pressing the "enter" key on the last entry I
> >  >> get a
> >  >>  command prompt. I can not seem to get to the main menu.
> >  >>
> >  >>  Is anyone using this software that could offer some suggestions?
> >  >> Or maybe
> >  >>  another alternative to run under Linux?
> >
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------- End of Original Message -------