January 31, 2009
FT817, Acer Aspire One and Ham radio applications
Recently I bought a neat Acer Aspire One 'netbook' and I have an FT817 radio which is just what I want to get the netbook talking too.
The netbook came with Linpus on it which does the job, for many users.. However a good version of Ubuntu called Ubuntu UNR has been remixed for these new type of mini-laptops. See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR I'd like to thank Chris G7NBP for helping with the install of UNR onto the Acer - which really isn't as complicated as some sites make out. There's still some things to sort out out, but getting radio to talk to Ubuntu isn't quite so obvious as the radio needs a serial port - which the netbook hasn't got and some usb-serial adaptors don't work.
Luckily the one I have worked - to find out - plug in your and open a terminal type 'dmesg' and return - look for usb lines amongst many - my results were
==========================================
[ 25.259727] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 25.259772] /root/src/hardy-netbook/debian/build/custom-source-lpia/drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 25.259859] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 25.259866] /root/src/hardy-netbook/debian/build/custom-source-lpia/drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial Driver core
[ 25.300811] /root/src/hardy-netbook/debian/build/custom-source-lpia/drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for pl2303
[ 25.300876] pl2303 2-1:1.0: pl2303 converter detected
[ 25.301122] usb 2-1: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 25.301148] usbcore: registered new interface driver pl2303
=============================================
So - everything usb aside - my settings for serial should be /dev/ttyUSB0
I've installed and run gMFSK and setup hamlib with the model FT817 /dev/ttyUSB the speed at 38400 - Pleasingly the waterfall started showing the frequency when I switched the radio on and frequency changed when I tuned the radio. I set the PTT to be controlled by hamlib - it worked too. Just the sound now.
Dave H G0CER
The netbook came with Linpus on it which does the job, for many users.. However a good version of Ubuntu called Ubuntu UNR has been remixed for these new type of mini-laptops. See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR I'd like to thank Chris G7NBP for helping with the install of UNR onto the Acer - which really isn't as complicated as some sites make out. There's still some things to sort out out, but getting radio to talk to Ubuntu isn't quite so obvious as the radio needs a serial port - which the netbook hasn't got and some usb-serial adaptors don't work.
Luckily the one I have worked - to find out - plug in your and open a terminal type 'dmesg' and return - look for usb lines amongst many - my results were
==========================================
[ 25.259727] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 25.259772] /root/src/hardy-netbook/debian/build/custom-source-lpia/drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 25.259859] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 25.259866] /root/src/hardy-netbook/debian/build/custom-source-lpia/drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial Driver core
[ 25.300811] /root/src/hardy-netbook/debian/build/custom-source-lpia/drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for pl2303
[ 25.300876] pl2303 2-1:1.0: pl2303 converter detected
[ 25.301122] usb 2-1: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 25.301148] usbcore: registered new interface driver pl2303
=============================================
So - everything usb aside - my settings for serial should be /dev/ttyUSB0
I've installed and run gMFSK and setup hamlib with the model FT817 /dev/ttyUSB the speed at 38400 - Pleasingly the waterfall started showing the frequency when I switched the radio on and frequency changed when I tuned the radio. I set the PTT to be controlled by hamlib - it worked too. Just the sound now.
Dave H G0CER
