Amateur radio is a great place to get involved with computers, especially now. So many tools are available for the ham radio operator, like software for logging, satellite tracking, antenna calculations, software defined radios, APRS, and digital communications like the old PSK, the newer FT8, and everything in between. There's email, faxing, texting, messaging, even Morse code in so-fast-I-can't-hear-it mode. You name it, and it's probably there somewhere, ready for your exploration. So keep your old computers around because they can be very useful in the shack. How? Read on.
Pi Cooler | Pi Links | Linux Mint | Chrome OS | Windows
I started working with computers back when the hot new PC was the Commodore 64, and the even hotter PC, the Atari dual 3.5 inch drive desktop with one drive for the "program" and a second drive for saved data. This was my first PC. My second was the IBM 50Z desktop, a real PC running IBM DOS on a massive 60 MB hard drive. I think "50Z" really stood for 50 pounds! Pretty cool stuff for the day.
Raspberry Pi
Since I started working with Raspberry Pi in 2018, my interest in it has grown so much that Raspberry Pi is now the central hardware and software in my radio-related computing life, with the Raspberry Pi 4 B 8 GB as a very respectable system for amateur radio. My interest in Raspberry Pi will continue, I'm sure.
What can you do with a Raspberry Pi? Almost anything. Do a search for ham radio in the Add Remove Software app, and install the Debian packages. You will be amazed with all that's there. I write a lot about the various software programs and hardware available for the Pi.
Here's whats currently in the Pi rack:
Raspberry Pi 4B 8GB, Raspberry Pi 64 bit OS, USB booting 120 GB SSD - primary desktop for everything, including ham radio
Raspberry Pi 4B 4GB, Raspberry Pi OS - experiments
Raspberry Pi 4B 2GB, Raspberry Pi OS - dedicated APRS digipeater iGate, Alinco DR-135T-T3
Raspberry Pi 3B+ 1GB, Pi-Star - dedicated ZUM Radio MMDVM homebrew repeater
Raspberry Pi 3B+ 1GB, Raspberry Pi OS - experiments
Raspberry Pi Zero W, Pi-Star - dedicated ZUMspot v0.4, FW v1.4.17
Raspberry Pi Zero W, Pi-Star - dedicated ZUMspot v0.6, FW v1.4.17
Pi Cooler
Pi Links
Linux Mint
The year 2020 started with a trip down the Linux road with Mint 19.3 on an old Dell, formerly Windows, tower. A 120 GB SSD from one of my old laptops holds the OS, and a fairly new 1 TB HDD is a second drive and network file share keeping all my data from the Raspberry Pi computers.
In September, I cobbled together 8 GB of old memory I had laying around and upgraded to Linux Mint 20 "Ulyana". Now just 30 seconds after pushing the start button, the desktop is waiting for my login and ready to go to work. Not too bad for an old 3.2 GHz Pentium dual-core! It looks like this old Dell has a whole new life ahead of it!
What can you do with Linux Mint? Even more than you can with Raspberry Pi, but I have much to learn about Linux, therefore, I have little else to say about it right now. Do I like it so far? Yes I do, far more than Windows 10.
Chrome OS
A great OS for netbooks and cloud computing, with two Dell Chromebox computers, an HP Chromebook, and an Asus C213S 2-in-1, Chrome really shines for anything online.
As the Chromebox computers live past their EoL support date, running them with Linux or Raspberry Pi OS is yet another experiment to be fiddled with.
updated: 11/19/2022
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