Today I ordered a new server for aprs.fi. Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600 2.4 GHz, single CPU with 4 CPU cores), 4GB of ram initially (will probably upgrade to 8GB later this year), 2*320G SATA disks (16 MB cache, NCQ, 5-year warranty). 1155 EUR, about 1700 USD. 1U rack case, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces (Intel). This should help performance a little bit, but I'll probably have to get another one later this year. This one should arrive in about a week.
I've also ordered a 4GB memory upgrade for the current server, which is 183 EUR (270 USD) - fully buffered ECC memory is a bit pricey, and that's what the server requires. The new one eats unbuffered, which is only around 100 EUR for 4GB now.
In case you're wondering, my paypal account is hessu@hes.iki.fi. Using aprs.fi is free, and will remain so.
The news of https://aprs.fi/ - new features and interesting attractions found in the APRS and AIS worlds.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Portuguese translation and a little more colour on the map
CT1AKV spent hours last night and today translating all of the strings to Portuguese! Obrigado!
I spent a couple hours and made the callsign labels on the map change colour depending on the type of the tracking target. APRS items get blue labels, APRS objects get red labels, weather stations get yellow labels and AIS ships now have green labels. Normal APRS stations still have a white label.
The bulletin page now shows empty categories (the "local" category is empty for most of you, since it only shows bulletins and announcements sent by stations within 500 kilometers of your location).
I spent a couple hours and made the callsign labels on the map change colour depending on the type of the tracking target. APRS items get blue labels, APRS objects get red labels, weather stations get yellow labels and AIS ships now have green labels. Normal APRS stations still have a white label.
The bulletin page now shows empty categories (the "local" category is empty for most of you, since it only shows bulletins and announcements sent by stations within 500 kilometers of your location).
Monday, January 14, 2008
APRS bulletins and announcements
Bulletins and announcements can now be viewed on the new APRS bulletin board page.
The APRS bulletin format doesn't really scale up on the Internet, but the page tries to show local announcements (within 500 km of your location) first. If your location is not guessed correctly, use the Save current map view as default view Option to tell the site where you're located.
The APRS bulletin format doesn't really scale up on the Internet, but the page tries to show local announcements (within 500 km of your location) first. If your location is not guessed correctly, use the Save current map view as default view Option to tell the site where you're located.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Saving default view + beacon lookup speedup
You can now save the current map view as the default view by selecting the Save current map view as default view option. The map's center point (or tracked target callsign), zoom level and map type will be saved in the settings cookie, and recalled when you next visit the site (unless another specific location or callsign is requested).
The beacon list view gained a lot of speed after an optimization. Looking up beacons sent by a callsign now takes milliseconds instead of seconds. I had to recreate a database table to do this, though, and some history was lost, but hey, they were only beacon packets. We'll get new ones for free!
The beacon list view gained a lot of speed after an optimization. Looking up beacons sent by a callsign now takes milliseconds instead of seconds. I had to recreate a database table to do this, though, and some history was lost, but hey, they were only beacon packets. We'll get new ones for free!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Français and language subdomains
The French translation is now nearly complete, thanks to F4EIR, HB9HFD and HB3YKO. Thanks!
Last night I added per-language subdomains, so that the translations can be easily sampled and indexed by web spiders like Google. So, to try out APRS maps in any of the 9 different languages, you can simply add the two-letter ISO 639-1 country code to the URL:
The translations have been made by volunteers.
Last night I added per-language subdomains, so that the translations can be easily sampled and indexed by web spiders like Google. So, to try out APRS maps in any of the 9 different languages, you can simply add the two-letter ISO 639-1 country code to the URL:
- Deutsch - German
- English
- Suomi - Finnish
- Français - French
- 日本語 - Japanese
- Norsk - Norwegian
- Nederlands - Dutch
- Polszczyzna - Polish
- Svenska - Swedish
The translations have been made by volunteers.
Friday, January 4, 2008
APRS digipeater path adviser
The station info page now gives some feedback and advice on APRS digipeater path settings. It approves paths which request less than 4 digipeaters and suggests paths which have 2 digipeaters (WIDE2-2 or WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 or TRACE2-2). It also gives advice on invalid usage of RELAY and WIDE1-1 when they're not the first component of the path, and suggests replacing RELAY with WIDE.
There are different opinions on "good" settings, and there are regional differences too. I believe the settings offered are good for most environments. It doesn't really matter so much if one uses TRACE or WIDE, as long as the total amount of digipeaters isn't very large. 2 is good in areas with good coverage digipeaters and igates, 3 is usually good elsewhere. 5, 6 or 7 is, well, not good.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Holidays, Norwegian, and relaxed callsign rules
I'm back from the Christmas holidays, and looking forward to fixing some bugs and doing a little new development. I spent Christmas in the Åland islands and worked some HF digital modes as OH0/OH7LZB. It was a lot of fun, I've never really felt like being a DX before. Had a sort of a pile-up on 14 MHz RTTY for quite a while!
New year was spent a bit further away... can you recognize the place from these photos? :) It was a lot of fun, a very nice town with very nice people. The hostel was awful, though, and not very cheap either.
Now, let's get back to business:
I installed the new Ham::APRS::FAP version 1.01 on the production server. It relaxes APRS-IS source callsign validation rules so that any alphanumeric 'callsign' (including a variable amount of '-' characters) with a maximum of 9 characters is accepted. Things like OH7AA-A (D-STAR DPRS) and aprsdOEZ will now get in the database, too. Welcome!
There is a new complete translation in Norwegian, thanks to LA4RT, LA9UI, and LA4DNA. The site is now available in 8 languages (counting complete or almost complete translations)!
There have also been significant new contributions to the French, Japanese, Polish, German and Dutch translations. Thanks go to HB3YKO, HB9HFD, JA7UDE, JO2VTM, SQ6NTI, SQ3EYC, HB9TQJ, Dl7JP, DO1GVT, DK7IN, PG1G and PA3BWE.
I'd like to remind everyone doing translations about two little things:
- Remember consistency. Please try to use a single word for a certain feature everywhere. For example, always use your preferred translation of Options when referring to the Options pop-up window. Please avoid using a mix of Options, Preferences and Selections. It's OK if your preferred translation actually is closer to Preferences, just use the same word everywhere. :)
- If you're uncertain about a translation for a term, please double-check (use Wikipedia or something). For example, Course, Heading and Bearing are all different things and have different translations, which are easy to mix.
After saying that, I'd like to repeat my thanks to everyone involved in the translation project. The translations seem to be of good quality, and they do make the site more accessible. I'll improve the translation tool in the future, and add more strings (the Options window and help texts should appear soon).
Happy new year, everyone!
New year was spent a bit further away... can you recognize the place from these photos? :) It was a lot of fun, a very nice town with very nice people. The hostel was awful, though, and not very cheap either.
Now, let's get back to business:
I installed the new Ham::APRS::FAP version 1.01 on the production server. It relaxes APRS-IS source callsign validation rules so that any alphanumeric 'callsign' (including a variable amount of '-' characters) with a maximum of 9 characters is accepted. Things like OH7AA-A (D-STAR DPRS) and aprsdOEZ will now get in the database, too. Welcome!
There is a new complete translation in Norwegian, thanks to LA4RT, LA9UI, and LA4DNA. The site is now available in 8 languages (counting complete or almost complete translations)!
There have also been significant new contributions to the French, Japanese, Polish, German and Dutch translations. Thanks go to HB3YKO, HB9HFD, JA7UDE, JO2VTM, SQ6NTI, SQ3EYC, HB9TQJ, Dl7JP, DO1GVT, DK7IN, PG1G and PA3BWE.
I'd like to remind everyone doing translations about two little things:
- Remember consistency. Please try to use a single word for a certain feature everywhere. For example, always use your preferred translation of Options when referring to the Options pop-up window. Please avoid using a mix of Options, Preferences and Selections. It's OK if your preferred translation actually is closer to Preferences, just use the same word everywhere. :)
- If you're uncertain about a translation for a term, please double-check (use Wikipedia or something). For example, Course, Heading and Bearing are all different things and have different translations, which are easy to mix.
After saying that, I'd like to repeat my thanks to everyone involved in the translation project. The translations seem to be of good quality, and they do make the site more accessible. I'll improve the translation tool in the future, and add more strings (the Options window and help texts should appear soon).
Happy new year, everyone!
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