[hpsdr] FYI: Skywave Linux

[Roger Rehr W3SZ]

Hi All,

I haven't tried this but thought others on the list might be interested 
in it but unaware of it.  Perhaps some list members have even 
contributed to this project.

It is a special build of Ubuntu 15.1 that comes with some pre-installed 
applications for multiple SDRs, including HPSDR hardware through QTRadio.

I know nothing about it but what is contained on the URL and the first 3 
pages of Google searches on the words "skywave linux" , and I 
specifically don't know enough to vouch for the source, even though its 
been around for at least a year.  The project URL is:

http://skywavelinux.com/

I haven't heard from a reputable source that it is malware-free, so if I 
were using it, at least initially I would play it safe and not use this 
distro for anything except running the SDRs.  And I would not do the 
initial download iso burn with a system containing any "private" 
information.  If someone on the list vouched for the source of this 
distro and the website from which it is available, one could consider 
relaxing this constraint, although I probably would not do so myself for 
quite some time.

I suspect that most folks on this list setting up a Linux installation 
would take the route of installing their own choice of linux distros and 
then installing themselves the various applications using either 
packages or source-and-then-compiling, which is what I do here.  But for 
someone wanting to "check out" what is available on Linux in the SDR 
sphere without exerting much effort, this is a relatively simple, 
painless way to do that.  I use the adjective "painless" assuming that 
the precautions I noted above will be taken.  If they are not followed, 
then it is possible that it might not be quite so painless.

For those interested in the origin of this info, it came to me via the 
Yahoo Odyssey-TRX list.

73,

Roger Rehr

W3SZ