[chirp_users] Dev/Interface Q: New WebChirp using WebSerial?

[Ryan Sayre]

Hi there,

I've been a Chirp user for quite some time, and in light of the
codebase being modernized, I wanted to ask whether there may be an
opportunity for a Webserial-based version of the app in the future.

Yeah, a browser-driven version of Chirp.  In the era where email
clients, office suites, and more are driven from the browser, Chirp
functionality is capable of doing this as well and could be pretty
useful and cool.

* What's WebSerial?

The Web Serial API provides a way for websites to read and write from
a serial device through script. Such an API would bridge the web and
the physical world, by allowing documents to communicate with devices
such as microcontrollers, 3D printers, and other serial devices.  The
living document behind this project backed by the W3 Consortium is
here:
https://wicg.github.io/serial/

* Are there similar WebSerial projects (programming standalone
devices) to Chirp?

Yes! IDEs, Bootloaders, Code programming tools, charting tools, and
device controllers are all using this with good success.  I found a
lot of these here:
https://github.com/louisfoster/awesome-web-serial

* Are there radio examples of using WebSerial?

Yes! Check out this recent Hackaday article on updating a new
inexpensive Chinese handheld radio with upgraded firmware:
https://hackaday.com/2023/08/13/update-your-chinese-radio-without-the-pain/

* How would this work with Chirp and how would this benefit users?

Chirp is constantly being updated with new radios and
repeater/frequency lists are changing often.  Imagine a single website
that makes things easy and always the latest version.  It would be
cross-platform too.

Always up to date frequency lists: A hosted version would (in theory)
be up to date and could potentially offer a single-click download of
nearby repeaters/frequencies with browser geolocation which many
websites do all of the time.

Local files supported: Settings could be overridden/changed at any
point. This is meant to be the easy button for a huge number of users
that want to quickly program their radios once and be done with it.

* Does this remove the ability to have a standalone Chirp app?  No!
This is not a lock-in choice.

* Did I try to see if this was discussed already?

Yes, but couldn't seem to find any discussion of it, nor was it in the FAQ.

I think I'm actually local to Dan in case he reads it and wants me to
buy him a beer or coffee and share my enthusiasm for webserial. Maybe
I bring a Quansheng UV-K5 and a laptop and flash it in front of him
using webserial! ;-)

Thanks for hearing out my idea.