DXLab Does Not Support SmartSDR v 3

Lawrence Libsch

     On Apr 2 Dave, AA6YQ,reported that DXLab does not support SmartSDR v3. This is of great concern for those of us who use DXLab and would otherwise wish to upgrade to SmartSDR v3.

Larry, K4KGG

Pat N6PAT

Bill -VA3WTB

DXLab will never support V3? in the future? Seems strange, this is something all 3rd party developers are needing to address.

Dave AA6YQ

Mike VE3CKO

Bob N7ZO

Dave AA6YQ

The "issues I am having with spots" are the result of a defect in SmartSDR 2.4.9 that Flex has ignored for months. The correction has yet to appear in a SmartSDR release.

The Flex documentation for using SmartLink to connect to a remote 6XXX radio says "read our source code". When a Flex engineer can find 15 minutes to provide actual documentation, I'll consider supporting it. 

What's really sad is the increasingly sloppy approach to software engineering that Flex has been taking of late.

Mike VE3CKO

I do not mean to speak against the software at all, but as I mentioned in a previous thread when this topic came up, I use SliceMaster to display spots when I want to and do not experience any of the audio issues, I'll have to search an re-read to re-educate myself about the topic.  From my perspective it seems you are being nasty towards Flex for not holding your hand to guide you through these issues, while others have figured it out.

ctate243

Dave I put a shoutout on the alpha reflector on this.  Thanks for your wonderful application I have been using for years now.

Tom N5MOA

Pat N6PAT

Dave AA6YQ

The "display or delete too many spots causes audio perturbations" is an acknowledged SmartSDR defect. Yes,one can minimize the adverse effect by reducing the rate at which new spots are displayed, but that should not be necessary. 

API documentation is "hand-holding"? Are you the Flex poster child for sloppy software engineering?

Pat N6PAT

Mike,

How is this situation any different than Flex asking Microsoft for assistance in solving the Windows update hosing DAX problem? It seems to me that Flex is hoping for some hand holding of it's own as Microsoft is under no obligation to help Flex and the DAX issue.

Bill -VA3WTB

Dave, you are not in any position to call Flex sloppy. You are not even close to their level.   I too use 3rd party software for spots without any problems at all.

After you spending time insulting the Flex software engineering I would be surprised they would try and help you at all. Perhaps that is the reason they have not helped you so much in the past.

Bill -VA3WTB

Flex has not been asking Microsoft for help, they have asked questions to understand how their updates work,,but Flex knows as far as Windows goes it is what it is and Flex works around it.

Pat N6PAT

Bill -VA3WTB

Then let the release come out, let things settle and see what can be done, insulting Flex and trashing them really does not help as much some think it does.

KY6LA_Howard

@Bill VA3WTB. As much as I disagree with Dave on many political and transaction al things, Dave is one of the most brilliant programmers I have ever run into in my life If Dave says there is a backwards compatibility issue then I can assure you that there is , that Flex is listening to Dave and will work to fix it. You owe Dave an apology

Bill -VA3WTB

I oplogize to Dave for my comments, you are correct that Flex has been very sloppy in their approach to software engeneering and Flex has not been kind to you.

Dave AA6YQ

I did not accuse Flex of being "unkind", nor have they been. Eric KE5DTO has been very helpful over the years. When the SmartSDR API first appeared, it was essentially undocumented; Eric answered my questions, and I reciprocated by populating the Flex API Wiki with the information he provided. I deemed that a worthy use of time, as it accelerated access to the SmartSDR API for DXLab as well as for other applications wishing to use the API.

SmartSDR 3 is without question non-upward-compatible with SmartSDR 2; Flex has written a "migration guide" to explain the changes that API clients must make. Of course a client application that aspires to support users running both SmartSDR 2 and SmartSDR 3 must be capable of invoking both flavors of the API. Bluntly, there is no excuse for this. As I posted above, one augments an API by providing new data types and new operations, not by modifying the existing operations. This approach enables existing client applications to run without modification, and enables those applications seeking to exploit the new functionality to do so by simply invoking the new operations using the new data types. This has been standard practice since the early 1990s; even the ARRL gets it right with its LoTW API.

Had I known that Flex was contemplating making the SmartSDR v3 API non-upward-compatible with v2, I'd have immediately engaged and pointed out the downsides of that approach.

Larry Benoit

mlstutler

I have been using DXLab since 2014.   I don't need the features in 3.0 but would have upgraded it to support Flex.  Now that I hear that DXLab will not support 3.0 I will not upgrade.  I assume this came out with the Alpha testing of the code.  Maybe Flex is rewriting their api's to address this hence the delay of 3.0.  This deflates any excitement I have regarding 3.0 at this point. 

Pat N6PAT

Mike VE3CKO

mlstutler

Mike,

I am not sure how many other 3rd party programs are as robust  as DXLab.  One of the great things I liked about DXLabs is that I could interface to SMartSDR using the API's socket other radios using CAT.  Dave has a tremendous application and from what I have seen he brings up very valid points.   I now have a conundrum as our club will upgrade it's 6400 to V3.0 and I wont be able log contacts using DXLab.   Since I don't want to walk away from DXLab I probably wont be using our club 6400 much after the upgrade.  

Since  3.0 is mainly for contesters I am thinking N1MM may have the same issue.  

Dave AA6YQ

Bill -VA3WTB

Gene - K3GC

Dave AA6YQ

KC9EI - Dave

Mike VE3CKO