I have some people asking me if it is worth the trouble to upgrade to the new version of D-Rats.? I know Maurizio Andreotti (IZ2LXI) & Marius Petrescu (YO2LOJ) have put in a lot of time and effort into getting D-Rats back to the point where it is a most useful addition to D-Star again.? So, what are the differences?? What features are most important to you?? Below is a table comparing the fixes and improvements over the original program.? I am sure other users here might have some additional ideas.? For example, D-Rats also knows how to work over VHF or UHF Packet with most of the RF features intact.? A ratflector can be connected to a TNC as well as a D-star radio and share information between both.? Just don't connect it to the same frequency as your local Packet backbone or regular Packet users will be very upset with you.
An asterisk (*) means the feature works.
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FEATURES
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Original D-Rats
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D-Rats v. 0.3.9 beta 2
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Email & Forms between stations
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*
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*
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Interaction with Gmail
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*
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*
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Winlink Connectivity
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Broken
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*
Input of Winlink ID and password in program set-up
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Interactive Chat Feature with filters and private options
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*
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*
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Ability to copy and send bulletins from file
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*
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*
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APRS like mapping feature
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Broken
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*
Depending on detail needed may require obtaining free API key from thunderforest.com
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Automatic pickup and broadcast of current weather & forecasts
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Broken
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*
Requires obtaining free API key from openweathermap.org
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GPS Location Feature by static input or GPS dongle
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*
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*
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Spell check feature turns misspelled words red
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Requires the add-on of Aspell a free program
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Requires the add-on of Aspell a free program
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Sound Alerts for Chat, Message, and File activity
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Requires set-up.? Wave files needed are available
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Requires set-up but will pick up settings from the old program.
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Ability to assign multiple radio and/or ratflector connections
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*
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*
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?File Transfer Feature
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*
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*
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Automatic QST Beacons
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Old Weather beacon and some RSS feeds no longer function.
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*
Several new features for Weather, RSS, CAP, and Script Execution available
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Event and Debug logs
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*
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*
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Glen Strecker
Luis ea1axy