SOLVED > How to Install FLdigi, etc?

[EA5HDN]

Hi everyone, I posted this yesterday in the beginners section but in retrospect, that was probably the wrong place Confused ....

I´m trying to install FLdigi on an old Pentium II MMX, 350MHz, 512MB of RAM

I´ve installed Puppy 4.1.2 and it´s running and working fine - However...

I can´t get fldigi to install properly, show on the menu or in fact, work at all. I´ve downloaded the following PETs from W1HKJ´s website (http://www.w1hkj.com/download.html ): fldigi 3.22 (I also tried 3.21), flarq 4.3 and the required pet libs (fl_libs.pet) and saved them to the local drive.

Using Puppy´s Package manager, Puppy seems to install them and indeed, tells me that they have installed successfully. The problem is, they haven´t - In fact, it seems that they haven´t installed at all. The logbook pet (fllog) does the same. Just to be sure, I used the Package manager to install a couple of (non radio related) packages from the official repo´ and they installed and work just fine.

So, Firstly, should I actually be downloading a different version of fldigi, etc´ to work with Puppy 4.1.2 ?

Secondly, how do I add another Repo´ to the package manager in 4.1.2 (It only has the official repo´s for Pups 2, 3 and 4) ? - ie, I´d like to add the Ubuntu repository which contains the amateur radio Pet Packages.

Thirdly, will the package manager install the Pets directly from the Ubuntu repository ?

Fourthly, Is it possible (easily) to upgrade the package manager to one which downloads the repository updates and also allows me to configure it ? (As in Lucid, etc´).

If necessary, I don´t have any objection to using an earlier version of Puppy (version 2, 3, etc´) - or indeed, an entirely different, special or later version if it will run ok on this old box.

Unfortunately, Embarassed I don´t know how to install it if it doesn´t have a graphical installer....I´m still very much a "newbie" when it comes to using the command line.....

Any help or/and guidance would be very much appreciated.

[ardvark]

Hi...

Welcome to the forum

Where you originally posted was fine, I think that nobody knows how to answer your question, at least at this point and the truth is, neither do I. But I do have a couple thoughts to start out with....

1. I have found in my 1 year of experience of using Puppy (among other distributions) that not all programs are installed with links in the menu, even ones that you think would and do with other distributions. I don't why that happens and I don't know what criteria the package manager uses in determining whether it creates a link or not. Perhaps the developers or those who have much more experience with Puppy could comment on that. Apart from that, your program may have installed just fine.

2. The process of adding Ubuntu's repositories to a Puppy that doesn't already have them, such as Lucid and Precise, from what I understand, is pretty arduous, at least for me. However, while it may be possible, I'm not sure doing that will resolve your issue. Puppy is not debian based and I'm not sure if any Puppy that is not built to handle debian packages will handle them, especially a version as old as 4.1.2. Also, Ubuntu's repositories don't carry any .pets.

3. I'm not sure if it's possible to upgrade PPM in 4.1.2, I've never used that version.

4. Even though Linux has grown tremendously in a lot of areas, including in the use of GUI's, since 2001 when I started playing with Red Hat 7.2, one is still hard pressed to avoid using the terminal at least once in a while. Linux and use of the terminal seem to go hand in hand like bread and butter.

5. Speaking of the terminal, I'm curious what the result would be if you did the following...

A. Install "Sakura" from the package manager. Hopefully a link is provided, or you can use the one already provided with the install, Rxvt or Urxvt.

B. After bringing the program up, at the prompt, please copy and paste this command...

Code: Select all

fldigi

C. Press "Enter" on your keyboard and then please copy and paste the results in your next post. This will be much easier in Sakura, where this can be done with just the right and left mouse buttons, but with Urxvt, a little more is required. Best case scenerio here is that your program will come up. If not, hopefully there will be an error message that might tell us what the problem is.

Hope this helps...

[EA5HDN]

Hi Ardvark, good morning

Many thanks for the response. Sakura tells me this:

Sakura
# fldigi
bash: fldigi : command not found
#

I´m even more confused now than before (easy for me, lol) - After showing the message that the Pets had installed successfully (which they hadn´t), the files in fact, were nowhere to be found. I then discovered that the package manager, in the process of installing them (or not in this case) had also deleted all of the Pets from where I´d downloaded them to ! (sdb1).

So, after re-downloading them and trying again - with the same result - I then booted the computer with the slightly later Puppy, 4.3.1 (the installed version being 4.1.2). Although a little slower (booting from the ancient CD drive), it seems to work o.k. and has a considerably upgraded package manager. This one downloaded and installed the Pets with no problem at all and they all work perfectly. It also performs the upgrade from the repositories (although I still can´t add any other repo´s). The only minor issue, is that GParted will only work with a previously formatted HDD (I used my Window Washer disk to wipe it clean again) - but GParted on the earlier Puppy works fine, so no problem.

I spent a little time looking around the net and am stunned by the sheer number of Puppies now out there ! Not just the official releases - but literally hundreds of variants, remastered versions and specials. I even found a Windows Vista "look-alike" called VesaPet ! lol

I found a few remastered specifically for Amateur Radio but the links are now dead unfortunately. I´m surprised there´s not far more support for ham radio in Puppy - It lends itself perfectly to the hobby - and with more than 2.6 million hams in the world, I would have thought there would have been many potential users. In fact the last comments/questions related to ham radio I can see on the forum, are dated 2007. But then again, the hassle I´m having with this old box, perhaps that explains it....lol - I have to confess, that I would have left it with windows, had it been newer.

But - It´s a great learning exercise and has encouraged me to get down to learn how to use the command line - I think it´s time we had some more "Amateur Radio" Puppies !! In fact, I´ve decided to dedicate a much faster and newer machine to the task - as soon as I get my other stuff off of it

When I logged on here this morning, I found that I´ve been admonished for posting the question in two different places - So please accept my apology everyone, if I´ve caused problems by doing so. This is my first post to the forum and I was a little unsure where exactly to post it. I´ll try to be a good dog from now on

Thanks again Ardvark

[ardvark]

Hi...

Excellent, I'm glad you got 4.3.1 to bring up your programs!

If you would, please mark this thread as solved by editing the subject line of your first post. Don't worry with regards to making identical posts, we all make mistakes.

Regards...