On:
In: Computer
With: 0 Comments

On a new Debian 10 server I wanted to create some system accounts. Like those being used by mysql, postfix and ntp: messagebus:x:104:105::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin unscd:x:105:109::/var/lib/unscd:/usr/sbin/nologin ntp:x:106:112::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin mysql:x:108:114:MySQL Server,,,:/nonexistent:/bin/false postfix:x:109:116::/var/spool/postfix:/usr/sbin/nologin Account are created with useradd, or adduser? Well, man useradd tells me this is a low level command, so better use adduser. Fair enough. man adduser clearly states how to create a system account, use the –system flag. Reading futher, man adduser tells me, that “A home directory is created by the same rules as for normal users“. Really, for a system user? No problem, just add the –no-create-home flag and the problem is solved. What thisRead More →

On:
In: Amateur Radio, Computer
With: 4 Comments

The new IC-705 has many functions. One of them is D-Star terminal mode (TM). Icom presents TM in two flavours: internal and external. Internal TM uses the WLAN connection and connects directly to the internet, no additional hardware required. However, you have to configure a TM capable reflector in settings. So changing reflector means changing settings. What is needed here is some TM “proxy”, that handles all connections and routes them to the different reflectors, based on D-Star linking commands. In addition, this proxy should implement some form of heartbeat so that the incoming UDP port on your router remains open, even when there is noRead More →

On:
In: Amateur Radio, Audio, Computer
With: 1 Comment

I’ve decided to stop trying to use two different computers (one Win10 PC for amateur radio and one Mac Mini) more or less at the same time, switching back and forth keyboard and screen. So I upgraded my Parallels to version 15 (at reduced price..), installed Win10 on the Mac Mini and started to transfer the different amateur radio programs to the new Win10 virtual machine. Running WSJT-X on Win10 in Parallels works, but I noticed dropouts on transmit. No issues on receive, only transmit. Audio is all about timing, and generating the WSJT-X audio requires proper timing, something that a virtual machine will struggleRead More →

On:
In: Amateur Radio, Audio, Computer
With: 0 Comments

I have both the IC-9700 and IC-7300 Icom transceiver connected to my Win10 PC. Looking at device manager or your amateur radio software setup, it would be nice to know which is which. The serial ports of these Icom radios have model and serial number embedded in the “serial” field of the USB device properties. On Windows, this information is used to keep the device assigned to the same COM port all the time. Unfortunately, the audio devices are all called “<some number>- USB Audio CODEC”. So “2- USB Audio CODEC” references my IC-7300 and “3- USB Audio CODEC” my IC-9700. This is not somethingRead More →