At 03:44 AM 9/27/2012, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
I'd love to get involved in that, and indeed I think a lot of the current thread was spawned by a discussion of tracking the F-1 sat. Unfortunately, there is only a Windows binary available of this software. I know amateur radio is a technical hobby, but I haven't the inclination to be a computer nerd as well, and I haven't the time, inclination or money to buy another computer and a copy of Windows and all the expensive training courses.
Well, the modern ham does need some level of computer expertise, though not necessarily programming. You still have a few options. The software may run under WINE (which runs on Linux and OS X) - if this is the case, you're in luck, you don't need Windows, or there's a number of virtual machine options - both free and commercial that you could load a copy of Windows in. Virtualbox is a free option, VMware is a commercial one that is no cost for Linux (VMware Server), some cost for Macs. Parallels is another commercial Mac alternative. Of course, with this approach, you'd need a copy of Windows to install into the virtual machine.
Sadly, a lot of ham radio apps do require Windows. I have the same issues, but VMware Fusion (with Windows 7) on the Mac gets around that quite nicely.
73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com