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.

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

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

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.

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

For UEFI, make sure secure boot is disabled.

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.

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.

Again, This Linux distro is meant to run on 64bits (x86_64) machines NOT built for ARM-based machines nor 32bits architectures.

Similar amateur radio distro projects are working on raspberry devices, such as hamPi

This OS is permanently tested and daily driven on a Thinkpad x220, which is a 10 year-old laptop.

Here are some well-running configuration examples, storage info does not apply in live mode:

Yes. yay is usable out of the box.

If this particular piece of software is not built, you may check the f6kgl-repo. In case it is not present, first have a look into the AUR. If you still cannot find it, please ask or push it to the AUR.

Again, the password is liveuser.

It is based on Arch Linux, the most popular rolling release distro.