[amsat-bb] Re: beep box help

[Tony Langdon]

At 03:44 AM 9/27/2012, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:

>I'd love to get involved in that, and indeed I think a lot of the 
>current thread was spawned by a discussion of tracking the F-1 sat. 
>Unfortunately, there is only a Windows binary available of this 
>software.  I know amateur radio is a technical hobby, but I haven't 
>the inclination to be a computer nerd as well, and I haven't the 
>time, inclination or money to buy another computer and a copy of 
>Windows and all the expensive training courses.

Well, the modern ham does need some level of computer expertise, 
though not necessarily programming.  You still have a few 
options.  The software may run under WINE (which runs on Linux and OS 
X) - if this is the case, you're in luck, you don't need Windows, or 
there's a number of virtual machine options - both free and 
commercial that you could load a copy of Windows in.  Virtualbox is a 
free option, VMware is a commercial one that is no cost for Linux 
(VMware Server), some cost for Macs.  Parallels is another commercial 
Mac alternative.  Of course, with this approach, you'd need a copy of 
Windows to install into the virtual machine.

Sadly, a lot of ham radio apps do require Windows.  I have the same 
issues, but VMware Fusion (with Windows 7) on the Mac gets around 
that quite nicely.

73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL
http://vkradio.com