On 3/20/2022 5:19 PM, Patrick Connor via groups.io wrote:
First, I would like to thank WB8TYW for his efforts to modernize D-RATS. His recent posts about the map jogged my memory. I have been
using D-RATS since the 2.x days. Some of the features built into D-RATS were just hacks by Dan as experiments that were not followed through to completion. That brings me to the question: Does D-RATS need a map? I always have an APRS client open at the same time I am using D-RATS. I would find it convenient to show D-RATS position reports on my APRS map, having all assets shown in one window. I suggest D-RATS can connect to APRS clients by emulating an APRS-IS server port, or an AGW or KISS over TCP port that APRS clients can
connect to.
I'm just thinking out loud here and would welcome any discussion.
Your welcome.
Current status:
The new fork is now python3 only. I am slowly removing the python2 compatibility mode code. I can not test pyton2 on windows any more.
The Map code is now fully functional in my the python_tyw branch of my test fork. Maurizio, IZ2LXI, has pointed out that some of the menus imply that they can do things that they can not, but should. So there is a learning curve to using things.
Working in Maps are the USGS River data, Buoy data, and static data points. Also the points are now plotted accurately on the map at all zoom levels as a bug fix.
If you have the current python geopy module installed, (Not availed as a signed package for some platforms), you can now add points based on addresses, city names, or zip-codes. Old feature brought back to life.
So the map function will be there, but by default the map is not active.
So you are free to ignore it.
File and form transfers appear to work, and so are most the QST modes working including RSS and CAP modes.
When the lands, it will have communications tested for the serial ports and ratflectors.
It adds automatic re-connection to socket based ratflectors that get disconnected, and it fixes an existing bug in KISS mode that removes some noise from the Chat window.
No test feedback from Mac OS-X users yet. The current "official" d-rats release only has one feature disabled for Mac users, wl2k mode. And the reason in the comments for it being disabled is incorrect, it should be trivial for a Mac OS-X programmer to get that re-enabled.
Everything else should work, but just has not been tested. So we can work with Mac OS-X testers to get that fully functional.
I have not tested AGW or W2LK modes yet in my fork. I have not looked at how to test them yet. Quite a bit of network stuff, such as e-mail, network GPS, etc., has not been tested yet.
I am not currently an APRS, AGW, or W2LK user, so I do not know how to test them fully. I was able to test the serial modes by connecting two d-rats clients via serial cables.
Maurzio and I are tracking issues found with the fork at:
Enhancements are not a priority over just getting existing functionally or existing bugs fixed.
One of the features deprecated form GTK-2 to GTK-3 is thread locking, it is now a noop. The explanation for the change is worded to indicate that making GTK Calls directly from a thread has never been supported.
I have already removed some code in maps for that, but do not know if anything else needs changing. But the symptoms of that are random messages to stderr, and various crashes including segmentation faults, which we are still seeing. I can go for days with out one of these occurrences now, or one can happen overnight.
73
-John
wb8tyw@... or wb8tyw@... - Both go to the same inbox.
