Same here.

I've had it running on XP and Win 7 64-bit for WEEKS at a time and _never_ had a crash.

Jim KQ6EA

On 05/18/2013 04:26 AM, George Henry wrote:

Interesting. I have NEVER had a SatPC32 crash, under XP or Win7, and I have left it running continuously for several days at a time.

George, KA3HSW

----- Original Message ----- From: "Lizeth Norman" [email protected] To: "Philip Jenkins" [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 10:55 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Better/best operating system for SatPC32?

...

None. Pick you poison. Satpc32 crashes using all operating systems. Good for an hour or so. Then you get an OLE FEHER error. Tried this over all operating systems (xp, win7, win8) Grab a pc from the kerb and load up xp. cheap and simple. As many problems as satpc32 has, it's far and away better than the competition.

---

Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

Oops, I meant to say gpredict, not xastir.

On Sat, May 18, 2013 at 10:33 AM, Philip Jenkins [email protected]wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I do have a Win 7-64 machine with 4GB RAM as my main PC; I've just never used the 32 bit version and wanted to see if I needed to avoid it.

I should have added that these refurbed machines (which are ITX/small form factor) already have the OS (Win 7-32 or Win 7-64) installed. They are listed as off-lease, so I'm guessing that they were networked to a server since they only have 1-2 GB RAM.

As for the Linux suggestion, that did cross my mind and am still considering it. I do have an older ATX tall-tower with Ubuntu installed, but haven't played with it much; it's a bit bigger than I would want to carry to a Field Day/demo site. I haven't played with Xastir at all.

The refurbs are pretty cheap, so I may get two and install XP on one and some flavor of Linux on the other (I'm the most familiar with Ubuntu (but that isn't saying much), but open to suggestions.) Does Linux still support serial ports?

Philip N4HF

On Fri, May 17, 2013 at 4:37 PM, Philip Jenkins [email protected]wrote:

...

I'm in the process of buying a very low-end refurbished PC for use at Field Day and at a 10 day local fair this Fall to demonstrate satellite operating.

All that this PC will be used for is running packet software and SatPC32 in the field. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to use the PC to control the antenna. (I may use this PC as for packet/APRS at home; I have another Win XP shack desktop already dedicated to ham radio/SatPC32/rig control/antenna steering.)

Which is a better OS for this, Win 7 Home Premium 32-bit (which most of the PCs that I'm looking at) or Win 7 Home Premium (64-bit)? I had heard there were some compatibility problems (not necessarily with any ham radio software) with the 32-bit version when Win 7 first came out.

Most of the machines with either version come with 1 GB RAM - should I choose one with 2GB or more (or install more RAM myself), or will 1 GB be sufficient for the light use I'm intending for this machine? (I noticed in the WIN 7 specifications that 1 GB is the minimum.)

Most of the PCs I'm looking at with have a serial port as well (which is one of my criterion for considering these units) - that will make my life much easier with the old TNCs I have :-)

To sum up, which OS should I choose, Win 7 Home Premium 32-bit, or Home Premium (64-bit)?

Tnx es 73

Philip N4HF

And it's free. And that includes not having to pay for anti-virus software on top of paying for the O/S (though in this case apparently Win 7 is already there), or reboot for the ever-coming patches. And even if you use the free AV software, it still takes up valuable CPU and memory resources, which on a smaller machine can be a killer.

Uptime on this PC, by the way, is currently 224 days. OpenSuSE 12.1, on an old 2 ghz AMD Sempron. I think I have 3gb of RAM installed, but it used to have a lot less 224 days ago (under a gig, if I recall). My PC at work is running OpenSusE 11.4, and it's been up for well over 200 days as well. I also run VMPlayer with Windows 7 inside, but it's up and down like a yo-yo with the corporate-driven patches that get applied.

APRSIS/32, if you want to run APRS, works excellently in Wine on Linux, much better in my opinion than XASTIR. I have also run several of the Windows-based satellite tracking programs in Wine, if you need compatibility, though I prefer gpredict.

Ubuntu is a very popular Linux distro, but I prefer OpenSuSE. The user experience is more main-stream (but without being too Windows-like), and all of the system configuration utilities are bundled into a single setup tool, so they're easy to find and have the same look & feel.

Greg KO6TH

[email protected] wrote:

On Sat, May 18, 2013 at 10:33:18AM -0400, Philip Jenkins wrote:

...

The refurbs are pretty cheap, so I may get two and install XP on one and some flavor of Linux on the other (I'm the most familiar with Ubuntu (but that isn't saying much), but open to suggestions.) Does Linux still support serial ports?

Yes, of course! There's the added advantage that you don't need additional drivers for USB-to-serial converters, too, which takes a bit more uncertainty out of things.

If it ever was supported, it should be supported now. Okay, the kernel-mode soundmodem stuff has gone, but that was a stupid idea ;-) Remember those old floppy connector tape drives? They're still supported - if you can get a real genuine FDC to play with...

On 19/05/13 12:33 AM, Philip Jenkins wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I do have a Win 7-64 machine with 4GB RAM as my main PC; I've just never used the 32 bit version and wanted to see if I needed to avoid it.

I'd only use the 32 bit version on a machine with < 4GB RAM. The amount of RAM you have would normally be the main factor determining whether you use 32 or 64 bit. Less than about 3GB (exact value varies from system to system), and 32 bit may result in slightly less RAM usage. At worst, you're no worse off, and you do have compatibility with applications and hardware that uses only 32 bit driver (or other kernel mode) code. Once you start getting over that 3 GB RAM, then the extra addressing capability of the 64 bit OSs comes into play, and you need the 64 bit version to fully utilise your available RAM (there are exceptions, mainly 32 bit Windows Server and Linux PAE kernels, but for end user Windows versions, the previous applies).

I've run 64 bit Windows Vista and 7 with no issues, except the obvious ones, such as:

Software or hardware that only comes with 32 bit drivers (64 bit OS needs 64 bit drivers). Unsigned drivers - 64 bit Windows is normally anal retentive about driver signing, but there is a workaround. Old 16 bit software or installers - 16 bit software does not run under 64 bit Windows. Workaround here is to use a virtual machine - VMware, VirtualBox, etc.

Linux is definitely a viable alternative. A lot of ham software these days has Linux equivalents, packet is built right into the network stack, and a lot of Windows software will happily run under WINE/Crossover .