Ernst, Hi I am interested in looking at Linux, not happy with the agressive tactics of Microsoft re W10, and wonder which system you are using, I have several installation disks for Ubuntu and Mint and cannot decide which is best any ideas please. Regards, Mike G4CFZ.

Ubuntu is one of the most popular distributions so is a good choice - plenty of packages and plenty of other users who can advise if you get stuck with something.
Mint is probably ok too but we (a few years ago) encountered problems with unsupported packages. Not sure if that has changed now.

Cheers,
Simon

Mike


As you know there are not many GNU/Linux users in this EumetCast community. And there is a steep learning curve ahead of you. Linux is UNIX, and that's not for the faint of heart. I even use command line systems only, for MS Windows users outright shocking. TBS support for GNU/Linux is not as good as for MS Windows either.


Much if not most of the Internet servers and infrastructure runs on Linux today. Supercomputing means Linux.


So this is my advice: Start with a Life System CD that does no installation on your HD. For Eumetcast I use Debian. I am still on Debian 7.9 Wheezy. Nowadays there is Debian 8.3 Jessie already. Ubuntu has LTS (Long Time Service) Editions. Ubuntu is Debian based and the actual LTS Ubuntu 14.04 will be supported untill 2019. In recent posts on this list you have read about members that use this brand of GNU/Linux for Eumetcast now.


When it comes to installation take an old PC you do not or cannot use anymore for Windows. Know the Type of PC processor. You will have to go over the installation cicle several times before you really know what you do.




Good Luck


Ernst


P.S.
I normally start with the Debian-7.9.0-i386-netinst.iso CD. This is for Intel processors and must have access to the Internet. The iso image is very small and most of the software is downloaded from the net while installing.

Thanks Ernst that gives me something to bite on I am getting another small PC to experiment on, W10 comes Free but what you loose is your privacy and confidentiality you are being watched all the time, ok Ernst will let you know how it goes, thanks again. Regards, Mike G4CFZ.

Thanks Simon, I have been getting more and more interested in Linux, I am even considering an Apple Mac PC in the near future, so ready to stretch the old grey cells a bit, now I have all systems running here with W8.1 and TBS Tuners its time to experiment a bit, so thanks for the advice. Regards, Mike G4CFZ.

Mike,

welcome to the Unix/Linux club. I'm a member since almost 30 years now and do most of my work there but it has its challenges. Most of them because of lack of support/attention by the manufacturers and service providers:

1) TBS does not integrate its drivers into the common Linux kernel. Therefore with every minor kernel release update (Ubuntu does this almost weekly) you have to recompile and reinstall the drivers. Can be easily automated the Unix way with a little script, but a nuisance.

2) Eumetcast made the IMHO bad decision to base the Eumetcast system on proprietary software and standards (less of a problem in the Windows world) and failed to update it in many years. Officially you still get 32bit software from the years 2006/2009. Biggest problem is the EKU from Safenet (now Gemalto). I never got this piece to work with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64bit. I even tried it with a newer release (not provided by EUmetsat) and could access the key and read some info but it did not work together with the Tellicast client. Maybe with more days to spent it could work but I gave up after a day. I could get it to work with a newer Safenet release on Win10 (and 8.1). So the safe way is to use an older PC and try it with a 32bit version of Ubuntu.

3) If you also want to process the data with Linux, you can not use David Taylors SW but must use Eumetcastview (excellent) or xrit2pic or one of the "professional" packages.

Let's hope that Eumetsat adopts the Open Data policy of ESA Sentinel and finally implements the Internet multicast based dissemination of the data for everybody with an interest (ideally with an open standard).

Markus



Am 22.02.2016 um 22:23 schrieb mikeg4cfz@... [MSG-1]:

Mike,
[]
3) If you also want to process the data with Linux, you can not use
David Taylors SW but must use Eumetcastview (excellent) or xrit2pic or
one of the "professional" packages.
[]
Markus
================================

Markus,

Please correct me, but I understood that a number of users of my software were working with it under Linux, either with WINE or by using a virtual PC. At least one user has WXtrack working on the Apple Mac. As the programs no longer require a hardware fingerprint, they may be more Linux/WINE compatible than before.

http://www.satsignal.eu/software/wxsat.htm#linux
http://www.satsignal.eu/software/screenshots/wxsat-on-linux.jpg

Cheers,
David
--
SatSignal Software - Quality software written to your requirements
Web: http://www.satsignal.eu
Email: david-taylor@...
Twitter: @gm8arv

David,

yes, you are right. I personally never tried it. I prefer to run native software and avoid emulations if possible.

Markus

Am 23.02.2016 um 10:53 schrieb 'David J Taylor' gm8arv@... [MSG-1]:

David,

yes, you are right. I personally never tried it. I prefer to run native
software and avoid emulations if possible.

Markus
=========================

Yes, Markus, I also prefer native software, which is why I, along with the great majority of EUMETCast users, run Windows. But I do also run Linux where appropriate, and also virtual PCs (with VMware Workstation in my case). What OS I use is a secondary consideration to which programs I want to run.

I look forward to your report after testing the MSG Data Manager and other software under Linux.

Cheers,
David
--
SatSignal Software - Quality software written to your requirements
Web: http://www.satsignal.eu
Email: david-taylor@...
Twitter: @gm8arv