by Randy Rathbun NV0U (rathbun@spamcop.net)
Logman is partly my attempt at writing a logbook program for Linux and my attempt to learn Borland's Kylix.
Logman started off a long time ago way back in my MSDOS days - it was known as LARD, the Logging and Amateur Radio Database, and named after one of my favorite industrial bands. However, one thing led to another and I ended up dropping not only MSDOS, but pretty much got out of the ham radio hobby as well. All that ever existed of LARD is now on some 40 meg hard drive in a dump somewhere.
Fast forward to 2001. What started out as a conversation on the local 2 meter simplex frequency about "what programs are there for ham radio under Linux" soon turned into me getting back into the hobby. In March of 2001 I purchased an Elecraft K2 and have had a blast using it. Then it was announced that the K2 would soon have it's own computer interface. Since none of the existing logging apps supported the Kenwood interface which the K2 uses, I decided to see about hacking something using what was out there. However, most of those apps are written for the German speaking ham population, of which I am not. Some suggestions started to fly around the Elecraft reflector about this and lots of folks thought it was a good idea. Then along came the CQWW WPX CW contest. I have yet to see a contesting program for Linux, so I decided that instead of just having a normal run of the mill logging program, that it should handle contests as well. And, since this program was started in May 2001, the very first thing it should do is support ARRL Field Day.
Where it stands today:
Currently, Logman is in development. It has LOTS of work that needs to be done to it just to support Field Day - but it is progressing even faster than I had hoped.
Here is a screen shot showing what Logman looks like:
You can check the current status of Logman over at the main Logman page on Sourceforge.
You can also visit there to download the source code, post your comments, ask
questions, report bugs, etc. If you have a suggestion for a contest to
support, please post it as well! It may be a while before we can put it in
there, but you have our promise that it will be included.