[chirp_users] Thoughts on TH-F6A support and looking for D710 support

[Dan Smith]

> the column is blank as is the output of STDERR.  Please see my
> original post for an example of what's seen in the STDERR output.

Your initial email shows the output of it trying to fetch a name.  I
want you to edit the name field and show me the output of it trying to
set it (to see if the radio reports anything different).

> Also mentioned in the first email: Centos 5.5.  I have two versions
> of Python installed but, by default, it will run the 2.4.3 version
> which is the Centos stock version.

Okay, yeah, python 2.4 apparently didn't have ctypes.  So, you won't be
able to cancel a blocking operation on older versions.  I'll have to
make it handle that more gracefully.

> If I try to use the 2.5 version, it seems like many of my other
> modules are no longer found.  I've seen this before but I don't know
> how to populate one version of Python's modules into a different
> version of Python:

You need to install them specially for the newer version.  For the XML
and GTK libraries you need to use, that will likely be more trouble than
it's worth.

> Yeah.. I can understand that and they aren't all that cheap either.
> I would assume they are fairly similar but maybe that's a bad
> assumption.

They are the most similar of any of the brands, but as you can see from
your F6A experience, they do differ enough to break things now and then.
For the most part, the F6A driver uses all the same code as the D700,
D7, and (soon to be) the D710.  However, some of the command strings are
formatted just a bit different.

> Hmmmm... maybe that's when he still had time for things.. maybe
> things have changed?  I can try if you'd like.

He was solicited within the last couple of months, but feel free to try
again :)

> Well, like I mentioned, the VX5 is the bottom of my list so I rather
> you spend your time on the D710 first and then, if you're willing, I
> can ship it up.

Okay, I'll let you know.

> That would help though I think most people won't understand what a 
> "live" radio means.  Most programs that people have used like
> Kenwood's radios, VX commander, etc. are batch download/upload
> tools.

Yeah, I was just being short.  The box would need to explain the situation.

> I prefer this live approach though!

Yeah, a lot of people want to be able to script interaction with the
radio so that they can automate a base station.

> Did you notice in my original email that there was some data output
> when I selected the VX3 mode?  Does that help at all?

It depends.  It looks like it might be the 10-byte identification block
that most of the Yaesu handhelds use to initiate a clone, but it's not
as obvious as most of the other models.  Regardless, *all* of them use a
completely different in-memory format, so there's a *lot* of work to be
done for each new model :)

Thanks!

-- 
Dan Smith
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS