[chirp_users] LiveCd Version

[Jim Unroe]

On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 3:57 PM, Bruce LeGrande <kb6lwn at gmail.com> wrote:
> Ladies and Gentlemen,
>
> After much frustration, many failed attempts, and almost a year of trying, I
> finally got the LiveCD archive to download and burn to a USB thumb.
>
> Imagine my joy when it actually booted, loaded, and ran the Live version,
> then miraculously brought Chirp up !!!   Wow !!!
> I would finally be able to program all my radios and make them able to all
> communicate.
> I could actually have the UV82s in the stands programmed the same and just
> grab a cloned radio on the way out and not have to deal with swapping
> batteries...
>
> Unfortunately, the only radio that version of Chirp would read/write is the
> UV-5R, it reads the UV-82's but does not display the data screen - just
> stays blank, and it refuses to read the UV-5x3.

The CHIRPlive CD was released in October of 2013. There have been some
200 updates since then. You must perform the update using the shortcut
on the desktop.
You will have to fix the shortcut that launches CHIRP because it is
broken after the update, but after the update you will be running the
latest CHIRP and all of your radios will be supported.

>
> My install of Chirp on my Debian Squeeze OS, will read/write the UV-82 and
> 82L, but has firmware issues with the 82HP.

What do you mean firmware issues? If the firmware versions don't
exactly match, it is intentional for CHIRP to block the upload (the
most recent releases are more forgiving). You have to importing the
image from the source radio into a tab from the radio you are trying
to program or have a tab from each radio and copy-and-paste between
tabs. Again, this is by design.

>
> I have another install of Chirp on a TahrPup64 Thumb that will read/write
> the UV-82HP, but none of the others.

I'll bet it isn't the latest daily build.

>
> Perhaps if there was the latest version of Chirp (Ubuntu) in the Puppy
> Package Manager (PPM), I could install the latest and it might have all the
> modules in it ?
>
> I DID notice a new selection in the menu about 'loading modules', did
> someone get Chirp set up to be module based on the firmware drivers and
> where can I find a collection of these modules for my various rigs ?

CHIRP is open source. Everything is in the repository. But when you
download/install CHIRP, you get all of the modules that are released.

>
> My inventory consists of:
> 1 - Baofeng UV-82
> 1 - Baofeng UV-82L
> 1 - Baofeng UV-82HP
> 1 - Baofeng UV-5R
> 1 - Baofeng UV-5x3
> 1 - Baofeng UV-50x3  (mobile)
> 1 - Leixen VV-898S  (RV Base)
> 1 - Yaesu  VX-8DR
>       (no cable for Yaesu yet)
>
> Is there *ONE* version of chirp that is able to program ALL of these without
> OS gymnastics ?  Loading/unloading modules while running would be
> acceptable, if Chirp only has hooks set up for one at a time...
> But it would be nice to have them all (for the above radios) loaded at one
> time without having to reload Chirp, so I can copy-n-paste data from one
> radio to the other - if necessary...

That is what the import feature is for. I use my UV-5R image as a
"master" image for all of the above radios except the Yaesu (and many
other radios Wouxun, Luiton, Retevis, Anytone, and Baofeng Tech). The
UV-5X3 and UV-50X3 radios are Baofeng Tech, nor Baofeng radios.

>
> Also, there is no keyboard selection on the LiveCD that is compatible with
> my ACER AspireOne Netbook, but works with my HP-USB Wireless using the
> Generic-108 Key driver.
> And even if there was, the LiveCD (even if logged in as "chirp" user)
> refuses to REMEMBER the keyboard setting but always reverts to the default
> after boot.

Did you burn it to a USB flash driver with a persistent partition so
it can store changes? If not, it is read only and nothing can be
saved.

>
> I tried to update to a newer version of Chirp on the LiveCD using the
> 'updater' kindly provided on the desktop, thinking I might be able to
> increase the radio-firmware driver list, but even though the browser sees
> and works with an internet connection, ChirpUpdater is blind to the net and
> reports 'No Internet Connection'...

I had the same problem with my laptop. It wasn't compatible with the
wifi device. I have to use a wired connection. This is probably due to
the age of the Live CD (December 2013).

>
> I have not tried copying that updater script over to one of the other OS's
> where Chirp exists, and see if it will work there.
> Is there a location online where this 'script' is available for downloading
> ?    I know its a simple script, so even a text block on a webpage would
> work for me...

CHIRP works great and is up-to-date on all of my Windows computers,
Linux (including Raspberry Pi) computers.

>
> <sigh>
>
> I should have known it was too good to be true...
>
> 73 - Bruce
>

Jim