[amsat-bb] Re: Predict 2.2.3 for Linux

[Bruce Robertson]

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 9:44 PM,  <w8iss at wideopenwest.com> wrote:
> 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

I just checked my Ubuntu 7.10 and, no, I did not have the gpredict
package installed. In a private letter to KD2BD, I noted two other
things: first, if I uninstalled the package and built predict from
source  the result was a properly-functioning copy of predict;
secondly, the 'broken' copies could be fixed by putting a predict.tle
and predict.db file from a working copy in the ~/.predict directory.
It must be something about the routines that create those files for
the first time in ~/.predict; however, permissions are an obvious
problem because the predict.qth file makes it just fine.

73, Bruce
VE9QRP

>
>  ---------- 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 -------
>
>