Linux DStar Development

Linux DStar Development

Wednesday, 13 October 2010
New Project Name
 Please note that due to existing trademarks and the potential for infringement, the project name has been changed to:

StarGate


 Posted by  David  at 06:39 7 comments
Friday, 17 September 2010
NI-Star v2 has arrived
 NI-Star v2 is released, supporting multiple (up to 3) Node Adapters.

Support has been tested with:

- Satoshi v6.20
- Satoshi v7.08
- Dutch*Star v0.1.28-2

A full installation package for the v1 code will be available via the UKIT support team.

Modifications to run v2 are available on request.

73 David
 Posted by  David  at 09:17 12 comments
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Announcing the Imminent Arrival of NI-Star
Non-Icom Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio

The release of NI-Star is getting closer. The system now functions with Satoshi v6.17/6.20, v7.x and Fred's latest code.

Significant changes have been made to the code to make it easier to package and release, and this process has taken much longer than anticipated.

Please bear with me....

David
 Posted by  David  at 14:13 20 comments
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Why so quiet ?
 Simple. Eyjafjallajokull.

I was supposed to be in Bahrain for one week, then Florida for two.... It ended up as Florida for three weeks, 3 days.

In the meantime, I've been working on the user-facing web-pages with considerable help from others. They are now complete and running on GB7MH.

Mostly because I can't think of anywhere else to say this, I am going to say it here.

Thank You ! to the citizens of Florida for turning what could have been a week of expense and boredom into an enjoyable experience. You were simply GREAT.

Busch came up with FREE tickets for SeaWorld and Aquatica
Disney came up with FREE Rover tickets for the parks
The Zoo gave us 50% off
Even the Miniature Golf courses reduced rates !
Hotel dropped prices, restaurants too.

Everyone kept saying how sorry they were for us.

In short, we were treated in our adversity in the manner which I would hope I treat people in theirs. It counts for a lot, and we are VERY GRATEFUL.
 Posted by  David  at 09:03 8 comments
Friday, 26 February 2010
Dayton 2010
 For those interested, I will be at Dayton 2010, and will have my repeater live on-air in the show.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a G2 and D-Plus link out of the hall as well.

I'm presenting on the software (time to be advised), and will be at a booth for some of the time - alternatively, you'll be able to call me on the repeater !

73 David - G4ULF
 Posted by  David  at 15:43 6 comments
Release Plans
 Hi All

I've had many, many requests for code, and here are my plans.

At the moment, the installation is manual and time consuming. My plan is to take a break from development as the code seems substantially complete and concentrate on automating the installation via scripts.
As part of this, I want to add a user addition/deletion web page - the current system of flat text files is not working. I have an offer of help from Colin at GB7NE for this (thank you).
The code will then be made available via the UKIT.
I can then concentrate on new developments/bug fixes.

Please bear with me whilst I package it all up....
 Posted by  David  at 15:39 2 comments
Sunday, 7 February 2010
v6 Test System on-line
 At last, I have a stable v6 system up on G2 and D-Plus.

I've got two v6 boards build - one using v6.12 which works fine, and one using v6.16 which is not so stable. Now, I tried to flash the v6.16 unit with the v6.12 code, and immediately hit the code protection, so I need to ask Satoshi very nicely to provide me with the correct load.

I've also built a new system on CentOS 5 on a Mini ITX with 512MB RAM which using an EPIA-M 10000 and an 8GB SSD. This is MUCH faster and better than the unit installed at GB7MH, so at some point, I will be swapping this out for a v6 unit.

David

Travel to ancient Armenia

Millennium upon millennium, the vol­canoes erupted lava. As it cooled it solid­ified and covered the earth with a shell of stone.

Mountains, gorges, turbulent rivers, waterfalls, and lakes surrounded by grim, forbidding rocks, were the cradle of the Armenian people.

Stones, stones... A kingdom of stones! Life would seem impossible here. Yet people have been living here since time immemorial.

Travel to ancient Armenia!

They built dwellings, fortresses and temples of stone. They planted and grew vines, trees and grain in stone. Stone accompanies the Armenian through life, it is linked with the whole history of Ar­menia. It is both the fortune and misfor­tune of the people.

On the outskirts of Goris. high up in the Zangezur mountains, the rocks have been shaped into fantastic statues by the sun, the rains and the winds. Legend has it that when Tamerlane approached these parts with his horsemen, he stopped in astonishment, taking these statues for a strange, invincible army. And the hitherto intrepid conqueror retreated from Goris.

Nature suggested the forms to the Armenian architects, and sketched the rough draft  which  they elaborated  in detail, developing an inimitable archi­tectural style. Look at the tapering rocks of Gegard and Goris, look at the perfectly flat tops of Lori, and look at the flowing contours of the Gegami mountains. Sure­ly it is from here that the modern Ar­menian architects acquired their perfec­tion of line and design, and their amazing sense of proportion and rhythm. Present-day architects are as skilled as their celebrated predecessors in blending their buildings with the landscape. They also have a way of combining the traditions of ancient architecture with the features of the modern age.

Armenia is one of the world’s most fascinating museums. There are more than four thousand unique stone monuments on its relatively small territory – crom­lechs and dolmens from the Bronze Age. Urartu fortresses and heathen temples, early – Christian churches, medieval mon­astery schools and castles crowning the mountain tops.

Rejas Films production presents a documentary film "My Armenia" in english

Solid walls built from smoothly hewn enormous basalt slabs rise on both sides of the Garni fortress gates. The walls run down to the edge of the precipice where the steep unscaleable cliffs take over the protection of the fortress from enemy invasion – Nature's own wise solution to the problem of defence.

This is how Muratsan, the Armenian classic, described the fortress centuries later:

"The scenery around ihe plateau, crowned with the fortress, was majestic and forbidding. Towering rocks, strangely shaped cliffs, frightening chasms, deep gorges, arrogantly crenellated, beautiful mountains stretched away to the horizon, in front of the fortress, a frothing stream hurtled down from a great height to Row into the Azat River. On the northern side, in addition to the semicircular walls and towers, the fortress was protected by the overhanging cliffs which merged with Mt. Geg in the distance From the east and the west it was well-defended by its walls and towers made from smooth­ly hewn basalt slabs, secured with lead and iron. On the southeastern hill, practi­cally on the boundary line of the fortress, loomed the sombre crenellated edifices of the royal palace, and also Trdat's magnificent summer palace whose porti­coes were supported by twenty-four tall Ionic columns. The statues and the high, carved vaults of the palace – creations of Roman art – were still intact..."

What will the traveller see today?

A spreading walnut tree casts its shad­ow on the ground, vines on the stones, late cucumbers are ripening on their neat beds, apricot trees have donned their vivid autumn finery, and through their crowns one can glimpse Ihe arm of a crane and hear the purring of a motor. What a peaceful scene to find in this fortress which had once been besieged by hordes of invaders!

But let us follow the sound of the purring motor, and see what is there.

Basalt capitals, friezes, broken cornices, pieces of pediments are lying on the ground. They are fragments of the Sun temple, built in the first century A. D. and destroyed  in   the  earthquake  of 1679. Each stone has been cleaned of the dust of centuries, and numbered. Now they will be laid in place, for restoration work on the ancient temple has begun.

The ruins of the Sun temple are so spellbinding that you cannot tear your fascinated gaze away. You stand there, enchanted and speechless, gazing at the remains of ravished beamy… The purring of the motor makes a discordant sound, crashing into the tranquillising silence of eternity.

Till stone steps lead to a basalt platform on which two broad slabs, with the carved figures of the Atlases, have survived. The majestic and forbidding view, described by Muratsan, opens from this platform. You fancy that you are standing on a sunlit peninsula, and that to the left, to the right, and in front of you there is an angry sea, ready to crash down on you. But the waves have become petrified, and the sea is motionless. Everything around you is swathed in shadow – the mountains, the forest not far away, the ravines, and the black ribbon of the Azat deep down in the abyss. Only the rocky peninsula with the ruins of the heathen temple is ablaze with the inextinguishable light of the sun.

Not far away from here, there is a monastery hidden from view in the mountains where the sunrays do not penetrate, and all is in shadow.

The road to this monastery runs through the valley of the Azat, meandering along the floor of the gorge past the chaotic conglomeration of basalt rocks, each of which is a masterpiece of sculpture. Their shapes are so clear-cut and elaborate that at moments you refuse to believe that Nature and not an artist has carved them. The rocks high up in front are shaped like a crenellated fortress wall, to the right you see the domes of ancient churches, and higher above – the figures of heraldic beasts and birds. What you still do not know is that inside these basalt rocks you will find man-made works of unique beauty.

The gorge grows narrower and the overhanging cliffs seem to weigh down upon you more ominously than before. It is a long time till sundown, but a brooding darkness settles over the gorge.

The Gegard Monastery is, in fact, an architectural complex created in the 12th-13th centuries. Katogike is the only church built in the usual way with outside walls and an outside dome. The other three have been hewn out of the basalt monoliths. What light there is comes through the small round apertures in the domes. It was from here that the masters began hacking out the rock, cutting into the basalt and removing the pieces through a narrow hole in the roof of the future church. Inside the monolith they carved out the domes, the vaults, the altars, the columns and the arches, adorning them    with    an    exquisitely    designed ornament.

                              

See more at: Pavijuan.com