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Please at least SKIM this document before asking questions. In fact,READ IT if you've never successfully set up Xastir before. PLEASE!READ IT! If you haven't read this file, and ask for helpexpect to be told to READ the README file first! or RTFM :)

Contents:

0. Important notice
1. What is Xastir?
2. How do I get Xastir & Git usage
3. Quick startup
4. Upgrading
5. Identification notes
6. OS-specific notes
7. Gating weather alerts
8. Boring legal stuff
9. Mailing list
10. Documentation
11. Obtaining help

0. NOTICE

   Please read this file carefully before trying to set up Xastir.This software was developed to be used by licensed amateur radiooperators. You are responsible for any information transmittedor propagated on any network.

1. WHAT IS XASTIR?

   Xastir is an open-source project to create a free X11 graphicalAPRS(tm) client. APRS(tm) use amateur radio and Internet services toconvey GPS mapping, weather, and positional data in a graphicalapplication. It has been developed by and for amateur radioenthusiasts to provide real-time data in an easy to use package.

   Xastir currently runs under several flavors of Linux and BSD Unix.A few people are running Xastir on Solaris Unix, FreeBSD, Lindowsand Mac OS X, but there may be small changes necessary in order toget Xastir to configure/compile on some systems. There are a fewnotes below which may help in this task. Most of the developers useLinux which makes it the best supported platform at the moment.

   Xastir is an open-source project: Most sources, documentation, andbinaries are available under the GPL license, with a few modulesavailable under other open-source or public domain licenses.

   More information on Xastir can be found here:

   • http://xastir.org
   • http://github.com/Xastir

   including the latest releases, Git access (lets youdownload the latest developers' code), and information on how to joinXastir mailing lists. Note that you must be subscribed in order topost to the mailing lists.

   SmartBeaconing(tm) was invented by Tony Arnerich (KD7TA) and SteveBragg (KA9MVA) for the HamHUD project. They offer the algorithm toother authors as long as proper credit is given and the termSmartBeaconing(tm) is used. Thanks to Tony and Steve for thatcontribution!

   -- The Xastir Group.

2. HOW TO GET XASTIR

   Xastir is currently developed athttp://github.com/Xastir/XastirYou can get the latest version of Xastir from there.

   You might tryhttp://xastir.org for help and information,particularly the Xastir mailing list (listed near the bottomof the page).

   • Git USAGE

     Obtain thevery latest version of Xastir under development byusing Git.

     See the fileREADME.GIT for more details.

   • Release version tarballs

     You can get the latest packaged release source code without gitathttps://github.com/Xastir/Xastir/releases. Be warned that packagedsource tarballs may be quite old and not representative of the currentstate of the project. We highly recommend not using this method unlessyou have a specific reason to stick to official releases.

3. QUICK STARTUP

   SeeINSTALL.md for arelatively quick overview of how to build and use Xastir.

   Check the Xastir wiki (http://xastir.org) for OS-specific guidancefor building Xastir on your system.

   WINDOWS USERS: Please refer to theREADME.CYGWIN file forspecific instructions.

4. UPGRADING

   Upgrading Xastir that has been built from a recent Git cloneis as simple as running "git pull" in the source tree andrecompiling.

5. IDENTIFICATION NOTES

   Packet radio modes, by their very nature, typically identifythemselves with every transmission. Xastir has a few featurestargeted to people who used Xastir in demonstrations and otherbroadcasts where Xastir itself is used over radio.

   Xastir can auto-ID via voice if Festival is compiled in and/or via amessage splashed across the screen. It does this identificationevery 9.5 minutes if enabled. These identification modes weredesigned for broadcasting Xastir across fast-scan television (forevents perhaps). Set the "ATV_SCREEN_ID" variable to 1 to enable thescreen message, and "SPEAK_ID" variable to 1 to enable festival tospeak the message. These variables are in the~/.xastir/config/xastir.cnf file.

6. OS SPECIFIC NOTES

   [The OS-specific notes that were here were horribly outdatedand not maintained. That text has been removed. Pleasesee the Xastir wiki athttp://xastir.org in the "Installation Notes"section for OS-specific build guidance.]

7. GATING WEATHER ALERTS, STATIONS, OBJECTS/ITEMS TO RF

   Gating NWS Weather Alerts to RF:

   If you wish to gate NWS weather alerts from the Internet onto RF, you'llneed to create a text file in the users directory as~/.xastir/data/nws-stations.txtList each NWS station that you would like to transmit via RF. Wildcardsare implied for lengths of 3 or greater. Here's what an example filelooks like:

   ## Seattle, WASEANPW## Portland, OR (any alert type)PDX## Pendleton, ORPDTNPW## Medford, ORMFRNPW#

   All text should start at the beginning of the line.

   Once that file is in place, you'll need to hook up to at least oneInternet server that is feeding you the weather alerts. You'll also needto have at least one RF interface up and running with transmit enabled onthat interface. Make sure that "Interfaces->Disable Transmit: All" is notselected. You should now be gating NWS weather messages to RF.

   Turn on igate logging and look at that log file to view what you'resending out via RF. Don't forget to turn off logging or set upauto-rollover of the log files, else your hard drive might fill up withlogging info. Auto-rollover of log files is typically accomplished viaCRON.

   Gating Stations, Objects/Items to RF:

   The latest code also allows gating packets from specific stations to RFusing the above method (except object/item packets). You can also gateobjects/items to RF by name. The same wildcarding rules apply as listedabove. Callsigns or object/item names listed in this file arecase-insensitive, so they'll match any case in received packets.

   Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, recommends gating these calls to RF:

   SCOUTS, SATERN, KIDS, REDCROSS, FOUR-H, YOUTH, GUARD, MARS, JOTA

   See his link: "Generic Callsigns for National Events" off this web pagefor his current list of recommended callsigns:

http://www.aprs.org/aprs-jota.txt

8. BORING LEGAL STUFF

   Xastir is Copyright © by Frank Giannandrea. Xastir isdistributed according to the GNU General PublicLicense. There should be a copy of this license in thefile COPYING. If not, write to the Free SoftwareFoundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA02139, USA.

   As of Xastir 0.4.0 all changes made by the Xastirdevelopment team to the Xastir source code and any relatedfiles are Copyright (C) 2000-2023 The Xastir Group. The sourcecode will still be distributed according to the GNU GeneralPublic License as Frank Giannandrea did in the past.

   There is no warranty, implied or whatever. You use thissoftware at your own risk, no matter what purpose you putit to.

   You didn't pay for it, so don't expect magic.

9. MAILING LIST

   There are currently a couple of mailing lists about Xastir.xastir@xastir.org is the one relevant for most users.

   Thexastir@xastir.org mail-list is dedicated to Bugreports, technical questions, your thoughts orsuggestions on new features being added to Xastir, thingsthat should be removed or fixed, amazing problems that evenstump the guru's, etc... are what we want to see here. Youmust be subscribed to the list in order to post messages.

   To subscribe to the Xastir mailing list, send email to:xastir-request@xastir.org In the body of the message,put "subscribe xastir"; or go tohttp://xastir.org and click on "XASTIR MAILING LISTS" (in the"Resources" section near the bottom) to subscribe.

    ### DO NOT SEND FRANK EMAIL ABOUT XASTIR ###

   Frank is no longer developing the Xastir code (althoughhe does put a word in every now and then) so don't bothere-mailing him. If you have a serious problem, email theXastir mailing list and it will get to the coders.

   Please, before posting to this list, see what things arelike, and when you do post, read over your post forreadability, spelling, and grammar mistakes. Obviously,we're all human (or are we?) and we all make mistakes (heck,look at this document! ;).

   Open discussion and debate is integral to change andprogress. Don't flame others over mere form (grammar andspelling), or even substantive issues either for thatmatter. Please read and follow the mailing list rules.

   A second mailing list,xastir-dev@xastir.org is intended fordeveloper's discussion.

10. DOCUMENTATION

    We're trying to get the documentation up to date. If youfeel that anything is missing here, or that anything shouldbe added etc, please emailxastir@xastir.org about it,thank you.

11. OBTAINING HELP

    Please read the file FAQ, and make sure you've followed any relevantinstructions in INSTALL. If the problem still exists, feel free toask on the Xastir mailing-list, as described above.

APRS(tm) is a Trademark of Bob Bruninga

Copyright (C) 1999 Frank GiannandreaCopyright (C) 2000-2023 The Xastir Group