[drats_users] Use of AGWPE

[N7TZK]

On 7/30/2010 9:31 AM, Dan Smith wrote:
> Hi Dave,
>
>    
>> AGWPE is working fine... I can, for instance, use AGWTerm successfully
>> with it, in addition to some Winlink related software.  And the event
>> log for D-RATs indicates a successful "connection" to AGWPE (configured
>> for "localhost" and port 8000).  But no audio leaves the sound card when
>> I attempt to communicate with D-RATS.
>>
>> So... is it possible to use AGWPE with D-RATS when AGWPE is configured
>> to be a software TNC?  If so... any suggestions on what I may be doing
>> wrong?
>>      
> D-RATS shouldn't know whether it's in soundcard mode or not, for what
> its worth.
>
> I must, however, admit that I don't do my AGW testing with the real
> AGWPE, but rather a Linux clone of it.  Maybe it's my limited Windows
> skills, but I've not been able to get the free Windows version of AGWPE
> to work on my system (even with a hardware TNC).  As has been mentioned
> here before, the free version seems pretty crusty at this point and is
> quite flaky for me.
>
> If you could send me your D-RATS debug log, I'll look to see if anything
> obvious stands out.
>
>    
Thanks for the response.  I don't know which version of Windows you are 
using... I have used AGWPE on Win98, Win2K, and WinXP, but thus far 
haven't had occasion to try it on Vista or Win7.  The only issue I have 
had was with an older computer where AGWPE didn't like the particular 
sound card (or perhaps its driver).  I have heard there is potential 
problem with some newer sound cards as well.

And like a LOT of programs... AGWPE violates one of Windows' rules... 
"users shall not write to the Program Files directory or 
subdirectories".  That rule dates back at least as far as WinXP, but is 
much more rigorously enforced in Vista and Windows 7.  Unfortunately, 
AGWE follows a convention MUCH older... and stores configuration info in 
INI files in the program directory.  That MAY be the source of some of 
your problems.  The simplest thing is to make sure your user account has 
administrative privileges... or install AGWPE in a directory outside of 
Program Files (like C:\AGWPE).  In any event, I'd be glad to give you a 
hand on getting it to work so that you can more adequately test it.  
Also, check out http://www.kc2rlm.info/soundcardpacket/vista.htm for 
good info on AGWPE (you may already be aware of this site).

I'll get you the debug log when I get a chance.

In the meanwhile... I wasn't aware that there was an AGWPE clone for 
Linux.  As we have at least one Linux user in our ARES group, I'd 
appreciate knowing where I can get that.  We also have a MAC user.  I'm 
not very familiar with OS X, but I understand it is similar to Linux 
under the hood (or is it BSD?).  Any chance you know of an AGWPE clone 
that would work on a MAC?

Thanks

Dave