On May 10, 2022, at 9:19 AM, The Greene Family <cvgreene@...> wrote:

I'll toss in my results. YMMV, etc...

I changed over from using an Asus Chromebook. The BIOS was reflashed in order to run GalliumOS. That worked pretty well, but was underpowered. Slow, in other words. Great solution otherwise.

About a year ago, I switched to an M1 MacBook Air. This computer is entirely dedicated to ham radio use. For logging, I use RUMlogNG. The latest version of WSJT-X is used primarily for FT8 and FT4 operation.

Yes, you have to run a terminal command to set the memory allocation properly. That is really a cut and paste job from the documentation provided in the WSJT-X bundle that you download. But, once that's done, it's done until the next operating system upgrade.

There's basically three bugs in WSJT-X for the Mac that I've encountered.

One is that the buttons for actions like "Erase" aren't properly scaled when you turn off Menus. That's a cosmetic thing. I leave the Menus button clicked.

A second is that the "OK" button in the Log QSO window intermittently is grayed out. No idea why. But, the button still works properly.

The third is that the Pwr slider is flaky. Sometimes it works backwards. Sometimes it jumps from one extreme to the other. But, this only happens for me when I try to adjust the slider. Once it's set and saved, that doesn't matter.

Keep in mind that WSJT-X currently isn't a native Apple Silicon application. Instead, it runs using Rosetta 2 Intel emulation. In practice, you won't notice this.

The results have been magnificent. Decoding is really, really fast. As Apple used to say about things before they screwed it up some, "It just works." No random audio problems as found in some other systems. (Same for GalliumOS, I'd add).

One other note: I don't use the internal audio converters for WSJT-X use. I found quite a while back, as others have, that almost all internal A/D and D/A converters in computers work pretty well for what they are intended, but not for WSJT-X on a crowded band. For weak signal operation and few stations in the passband, the internal converters work perfectly fine. But, they usually introduce way too much intermodulation distortion to perform well when the FT8 bands are full. It's hard to make good measurements on this without having a real exotic test set-up that emulates a band with 60+ FT8 signals, but my comparison of on-air signals has found that I can decode roughly double the number of FT8 signals using a higher quality external D/A-A/D compared to the internal converters. That's based on a couple computers - admittedly not a thorough test. So, I found a really good converter that was on sale for about $60. It interfaces perfectly through the computer USB port - comes right up in WSJT-X. Since I'd already invested over a thousand dollars on the computer, another $60 for better performance seemed totally appropriate.

On May 10, 2022, at 5:14 AM, William Smith <w_smith@...> wrote:

What Jim said, I’m in the middle of a move, and using a laptop has really made me appreciate my desktop (Mac) with multiple large screens, especially with my aging eyes.

At the end of the day, you can make WSJT-x work on any major system, Ive used Mac, Windows, Linux (Raspberry Pi OS nee Debian), and a real Frankenstein kludge [Mac mini, running Windows 10 under BootCamp, with WSL (Windows Subsystem, for Linux) running under Windows, and Debian running in WSL]. Don’t ask, but it worked.

If you are familiar with the Mac and it’s your preferred platform, I’d use that. There’s a fiddly thing you have to do _once_ to get the memory working right, but that’s an RTFM moment, and isn’t any harder than telling Windows 11 that you want to release the security locks on the microphone, for instance.

Enjoy!

73, Willie N1JBJ

On May 10, 2022, at 2:07 AM, Jim Shepherd <nvjims@...> wrote:

Laptops or desktops should be able to use dual monitors, which will allow
you to have the 'big picture' with multiple windows open.

On May 10, 2022, at 2:07 AM, Jim Shepherd <nvjims@...> wrote:

Laptops or desktops should be able to use dual monitors, which will allow
you to have the 'big picture' with multiple windows open.

Hello everyone. I am new to digital modes and WSJT-X. I have used
FT8 a bit on a MacBook laptop and have had A LOT of problems. It's
time to buy a new computer and I think I want a desk top rather than a
laptop. One problem I had with the laptop (with a 16 inch screen) is
that my 62 year old eyes had trouble seeing much of the waterfall if I
fit most of it on the screen.
I have heard that the newest release of WSJT-X has issues with Macs.
Is this true (that would fit with my experiences)? I'm thinking I
want a PC this time. Does Windows 11 works good with the various
modes in WSJT-X, especially FT8? Also, do most of you use a desk top
computer rather than a laptop? Many thanks.
Robert KI5TPC

Hello everyone. I am new to digital modes and WSJT-X. I have used FT8 a bit on a MacBook laptop and have had A LOT of problems. It's time to buy a new computer and I think I want a desk top rather than a laptop. One problem I had with the laptop (with a 16 inch screen) is that my 62 year old eyes had trouble seeing much of the waterfall if I fit most of it on the screen.

I have heard that the newest release of WSJT-X has issues with Macs. Is this true (that would fit with my experiences)? I'm thinking I want a PC this time. Does Windows 11 works good with the various modes in WSJT-X, especially FT8? Also, do most of you use a desk top computer rather than a laptop? Many thanks.

Robert KI5TPC

On May 9, 2022, at 11:22 PM, Jim Nuytens via groups.io <jim.kj3n@...> wrote:

😂😂

On 5/10/2022 03:04, Pierre FK8IH wrote:
Instead of Windows 11, why not use Linux Debian?
73 - Pierre - FK8IH

Instead of Windows 11, why not use Linux Debian?
73 - Pierre - FK8IH