[drats_users] D-RATS 0.3.0b9

[Dan Smith]

Hi all,

It feels like an eternity since I last posted a beta, so here goes.
Changes are:

- Fix up icons on received GPS beacons
- Fix up position reports to avoid smearing a single station all over
  the map when they move
- Fix station list selection when sending a message
- Make the email gateway attempt to send incoming email forms back out
  on the port that the destination RF station was last seen
- Fix choking on adding a port when no serial ports exist (the famous
  night-before-dayton bug)
- Fix station bar width
- Add a new dialog for adding/editing ports (there are likely some
  bugs with this)
- Add preliminary TNC support

I think the last item deserves some explanation.  With this version,
you can add a port of type "TNC" and point it at the serial port of a
KISS-mode TNC.  If you have a buddy do the same thing, you can use the
TNCs and FM radios just like a D-STAR radio.  You're not transmitting
D-STAR, of course, you're just using the TNC as a modem instead of a
D-STAR radio.  Note that this does not (yet) include AX.25 support, so
you can only talk to other people on frequency with a similar
configuration.

This has some benefits:

1. You can use D-RATS without D-STAR radios entirely
2. You can use high-speed TNCs for better throughput
3. You can attach a D-STAR radio and a TNC at the same time and
   service clients from both networks

Right now, the performance is not as good as it should be, and it will
drop some packets now and again due to the naivety of the KISS code,
but that will be fixed up pretty soon.

I haven't decided about AX.25 support just yet.  It's a can of worms
I'm not sure I want to open.  Comments about the current functionality
and arguments for/against AX.25 support would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-- 
Dan Smith
dsmith#danplanet.com, s/#/@/
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS