ubuntu-hams team mailing list archive

[Paula Keezer <paula_ke@xxxxxxxxx>]

Peter, I'm not sure what you meant by "things have changed since y2k"  Perhaps you can clarify that for me.  CQRlog was one of the several linux logging packages that I tried. (I had over 500 hours into it before I moved on)  I didn't call it or any other one out, because I didn't wish to offend anyone.  My general observation, that there are more ham radio eyeballs in the windoz world is irrefutable.  That has not changed since Y2K. And where there are eyeballs there are developers. For Linux logging development to compete with the overwhelming number of windoz ham radio ops and developers,  21st century technologies that make it easy for anyone who can program to participate in development must be leveraged. What has changed since y2k (and decades earlier) are the development platforms available.  We no longer need to work in Pascal, relational databases or development and deployment platforms that require close synchronization with code bases
 and  years of experience when we have resilient, web based technologies like python, wsgi and noSQL databases.  Perhaps this is what you meant when you said "things have changed since y2k"?

Paula NX1P



________________________________
 From: Peter Frenning [OZ1PIF] <peter@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Paula Keezer <paula_ke@xxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: "ubuntu-hams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ubuntu-hams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 3:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-hams] Logging Software
 

Den 03-04-2012 23:52, Paula Keezer skrev: 
Hi Jeff,
>
>
>Their isn't much in linux logging software that is worth the effort (maintaining even a casual log is an effort).  I've tried them all.  There just are not enough eyeballs to make a solid effort in Linux logging effort worth while.
>
>
>So where am I going with this.  Back in the late 80's and early 90's I wrote the first windoz based logging software.  It was modular in that logging, rig control, packet were all separate code bases that talked to each other. It was popular for 5 or 6 years.  It took a huge effort to write and maintain.  Y2K came and windoz time stamping required a major overhaul.  I dropped the effort (to much going on in my life back then).  The experience was great and I have a good feel for what a logging program should do.  I the past couple of years, I settled on dxlab.  It shares much of the strategy I used in the original windoz logging software I wrote.  It is not a panacea. 
>
>
>The good:  
>
>It is very modular,  
>
>You choose to use pieces or not, the basic logging program does not care.
>It is very well maintained (new releases fixing bugs, making enhancements come out often
>The one line databases for DXCC are updated as soon as new DXCC data is available
>It couples very nicely with LOTW and eQSL
>It does extraordinarily well in shack automation (if that is what you are into)
>It is easy to backup the log database and restore somewhere else
>Works fine when not connected to the Internet
>
>
>
>The bad:
>It runs on windoz
>It uses visual basic as its environment which is slow even on a very fast machine
>The logging window can be annoying because of its slow speed (erasing a call to enter a new call to find information can take 20 or 30 seconds)
>
>
>I've often thought of starting an open source development team that would build a platform independent, web service based logging program using something like couchDB.  Core services for the shack would still be required to run on the shack machine.  Well defined service interfaces using web api's would allow for very flexible development and customization.
>Anyway, no time for that now.  dxbase fills my basic requirements (DX and award chasing, logging, qsling, LOTW eQSL, rig control, rotator control, dxcluster data etc)
>
>
>Good Luck in your search!
>
>
>Paula NX1P
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>________________________________
> From: Jeff Lane <jeff@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: ubuntu-hams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
>Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 2:05 PM
>Subject: [Ubuntu-hams] Logging Software
> 
>I know this comes up from time to time, and I also know the
            answers can be defended/argued as strongly as vi v emacs ;-)
            but I thought I'd ask you guys what the cool kids are using
            for logging these days.
>
>I've played with various logging programs over the years,
            none of which I've ever stayed with, mostly for one big
            reason... no way to easily store or sync the log data online
            somewhere.  Which means if I use a program on one laptop,
            that means it's yet another piece of data I have to remember
            to sync between systems.
>
>So I was hoping to get an idea of what good general purpose
            logging programs are popular right now. I don't do a lot of
            contesting, so I don't need that kind of horsepower, but
            something good for general purpose logging.
>
>Hopefully something that will sync on the fly or on demand
            with something online (looking at LOTW, I've never used it
            before but maybe that's the solution I'm looking for, even
            though their software doesn't appear to be linux friendly).
>
>I do most of my logging still with pen and paper because
            I've never found a logging program that wow'ed me enough to
            stick with.  I even started writing my own at one point that
            was going to sync with a SQL database hosted along with one
            of my websites, or at the very least sync its data to one of
            my websites for backup purposes. But I got lazy and
            abandoned that because pen and paper still work well.
>
>It would be nice to have something that could do QSL lookups
            on the fly but that's not necessarily required as I may or
            may not have internet connectivity when operating (portable,
            QRP, etc)
>
>Anyway, it just occurred to me to ask that old familiar
            question as I sat here working today with the HF rig on
            behind me.  I've stopped and made a few contacts today,
            including an IOTA and a SOTA station on 20m and realized
            that sometimes my logs consist of scraps of paper that were
            handy when I needed something to write on :/
>
>Cheers and 73,
>
>Jeff
>
Well things have changed since Y2K, CQRlog (www.cqrlog.com) arrived a few years ago, and it's developed to a pretty competent and comprehensive level by now. It runs on almost any flavour of Linux (32-bit) out there, and could probably be made to run on a 64-bit distribution as well.
Now if anybody could tell me how to run it's mySQL database on
    DropBox storage, I would be in hog heaven - till then I'll be coping
    by doing an automatic ADIF export when closing down the program to
    my DropBox storage.


-- 
Vy 73 de OZ1PIF/5Q2M, Peter *****************************************
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** and ninety-nine per cent            **
** perspiration.                       **
**               -- Thomas A. Edison   **
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