F6KGL OS

Yet another arch linux distro for ham radio purposes... But for x86_64 archs.

This distro includes the main tools for digital modes, SDR, hamnet and more!

It features the basics amateur radio preconfigured software packages:

• hamlib: Basic CLI tools to control your rig
• direwolf: For all APRS stuff (client not included, recommend installing xastir)
• qsstv: A simple SSTV/DRM image encoder/decoder
• wsjtx: Weak signals HF digital modes
• js8call: Weak Signals chat
• klog: QSO logger
• flrig: User friendy GUI to control hamlib compatible rigs
• SDR++: RX ready Plug'n'Play configuration for every SDR dongle (HackRF, RTL, FunCube, limeSDR...)
• And many more!

You can either download the ISO or build it yourself with the steps below.

Prerequisites

To compile the ISO, make sure archiso is already installed on your machine:

pacman -Sy archiso
git clone https://gitlab.com/F4IEY/f6kgl-os.git

Building the iso

Once the repo is cloned and AUR packages are imported, use the following commands and make sure to have the right permissions:

cd f6kgl-os/archlive
mkarchiso -v -w /path/to/your/working/folder -o /path/to/iso/destination ./

If something is wrong or broken (e.g you interrupted the process or packages are missing), make sure to clean your working folder before building the ISO again:

rm -rfv /path/to/your/working/folder

Flashing the ISO to a USB drive

For this operation, you can use any program you want. Although, using dd or Balena Etcher are the best way to do it as they both have been tested. You'll need at least 2GB of storage.

Booting up

BIOS/UEFI

Go to your machine boot menu and select the right drive to boot with.

For UEFI, make sure secure boot is disabled.

Virtual Machine

For testing in a virtual machine (VMWare/Virtualbox), create a new VM with at least generic Linux 5.10 on it and select the ISO as external boot drive.

Installing

Now that the installing feature works, you can either open the Install System in the launcher or simply type calamares in a terminal. You'll maybe need to enter the session password, which is the same as the default username.

Other screenshots