Alexander - Agreed that a LOT of Amateur Radio software is written to run on Windows, particularly software intended for use by the general Amateur Radio population - logging software, software for particular radios such as Icom, even my West Mountain Radio Computerized Battery Analyzer (CBA).
Alexander - Agreed that a LOT of Amateur Radio software is written to run on Windows, particularly software intended for use by the general Amateur Radio population - logging software, software for particular radios such as Icom, even my West Mountain Radio Computerized Battery Analyzer (CBA).
And yes, VARA (FM and HF). And yes, VARA has been successfully run on Raspberry Pi computers, and it just keeps getting better, especially under the Raspberry Pi 4 and now the Raspberry Pi 5. Not only do you have to emulate Windows on Linux (WINE), but you also have to emulate the X86 instruction set on ARM instruction set. It can be done, and has been done. There are various instructions, scripts, etc. The trick is to perfect a particular "build" and then don't change it - don't update Linux, or Windows (and, obviously, keep the unit off the Internet as much as possible).
Thus, given that degree of difficulty and overall "fussiness", I agree with you that the easiest, least hassle, overall most cost effective solution when you want to run a Windows app is to do so on a Windows appliance computer - ideally a computer inexpensive enough to dedicated to a particular app and capable of running off 12 volts. That's exactly why I bought a stack of 5 retired Lenovo computers that had been updated to Windows 10 to load various Windows apps that have no equivalent in Linux. In intend to update them one last time to the most current security updates, run one of the "Windows delousing" scripts (no more phoning home, etc.), and call that particular computer updated for the remainder of its usable life as a Windows device.
But I continue to have a lot of enthusiasm for the Raspberry Pi series because more, and more Amateur Radio software is being developed for, or ported to Linux. One of the most critical in the Zero Retries Interesting ecosystem is DIRE WOLF. It just works under Linux. Ditto all the software in DigiPi. And the fldigi suite of apps. Even WSJT-X and FT8. Etc.
I think that someone will eventually (at least, I hope they will) do something like HamPi - https://sourceforge.net/projects/hampi/ but built to run various Amateur Radio Windows apps on the dual emulation layer of X86>ARM and Windows>Linux and it'll just work well enough. And they'll do so as a community so that when EA5HVK updates VARA, it's run against the "standard VARA emulation" and if tweaks are needed for the new version, those get done.
One last reason for my enthusiasm for the Raspberry Pi series for Amateur Radio use - "compatibility" and familiarity within STEM / Maker / Hacker folks. Those communities are the easiest and closest "in spirit" to Amateur Radio (low hanging fruit). Thus it makes an impression when Amateur Radio can showcase radio technology projects that use Raspberry Pi computers - like SatNOGS - https://satnogs.org and WsprryPi - https://github.com/JamesP6000/WsprryPi.
Simply put... There is a strong perception that Windows is for old folks and business applications... and some gaming. Most younger folks use mobile phones (IOS / Android), Google Chrome OS (tablets / thin laptops used in education) and Linux.
Thus, if Amateur Radio can showcase applications and projects running on Raspberry Pi computers and Linux, then we've already demonstrated some real world relevance about Amateur Radio - refuting the perception that Amateur Radio is stuck in the past century , sitting at a desk tapping on a Morse Code key or yakking into a microphone.
I hope that helps explain my Amateur Radio / Zero Retries Interesting enthusiasm for Raspberry Pi computers running Linux.
Alexander - Agreed that a LOT of Amateur Radio software is written to run on Windows, particularly software intended for use by the general Amateur Radio population - logging software, software for particular radios such as Icom, even my West Mountain Radio Computerized Battery Analyzer (CBA).
And yes, VARA (FM and HF). And yes, VARA has been successfully run on Raspberry Pi computers, and it just keeps getting better, especially under the Raspberry Pi 4 and now the Raspberry Pi 5. Not only do you have to emulate Windows on Linux (WINE), but you also have to emulate the X86 instruction set on ARM instruction set. It can be done, and has been done. There are various instructions, scripts, etc. The trick is to perfect a particular "build" and then don't change it - don't update Linux, or Windows (and, obviously, keep the unit off the Internet as much as possible).
Thus, given that degree of difficulty and overall "fussiness", I agree with you that the easiest, least hassle, overall most cost effective solution when you want to run a Windows app is to do so on a Windows appliance computer - ideally a computer inexpensive enough to dedicated to a particular app and capable of running off 12 volts. That's exactly why I bought a stack of 5 retired Lenovo computers that had been updated to Windows 10 to load various Windows apps that have no equivalent in Linux. In intend to update them one last time to the most current security updates, run one of the "Windows delousing" scripts (no more phoning home, etc.), and call that particular computer updated for the remainder of its usable life as a Windows device.
But I continue to have a lot of enthusiasm for the Raspberry Pi series because more, and more Amateur Radio software is being developed for, or ported to Linux. One of the most critical in the Zero Retries Interesting ecosystem is DIRE WOLF. It just works under Linux. Ditto all the software in DigiPi. And the fldigi suite of apps. Even WSJT-X and FT8. Etc.
I think that someone will eventually (at least, I hope they will) do something like HamPi - https://sourceforge.net/projects/hampi/ but built to run various Amateur Radio Windows apps on the dual emulation layer of X86>ARM and Windows>Linux and it'll just work well enough. And they'll do so as a community so that when EA5HVK updates VARA, it's run against the "standard VARA emulation" and if tweaks are needed for the new version, those get done.
One last reason for my enthusiasm for the Raspberry Pi series for Amateur Radio use - "compatibility" and familiarity within STEM / Maker / Hacker folks. Those communities are the easiest and closest "in spirit" to Amateur Radio (low hanging fruit). Thus it makes an impression when Amateur Radio can showcase radio technology projects that use Raspberry Pi computers - like SatNOGS - https://satnogs.org and WsprryPi - https://github.com/JamesP6000/WsprryPi.
Simply put... There is a strong perception that Windows is for old folks and business applications... and some gaming. Most younger folks use mobile phones (IOS / Android), Google Chrome OS (tablets / thin laptops used in education) and Linux.
Thus, if Amateur Radio can showcase applications and projects running on Raspberry Pi computers and Linux, then we've already demonstrated some real world relevance about Amateur Radio - refuting the perception that Amateur Radio is stuck in the past century , sitting at a desk tapping on a Morse Code key or yakking into a microphone.
I hope that helps explain my Amateur Radio / Zero Retries Interesting enthusiasm for Raspberry Pi computers running Linux.