Hi Ed,
Good Morning, I tried the windows XP box and there is no selection for the Yaesu 857D so I picked several other models and got instant errors,
That's because the version you're using on Windows is a week old or so. Please install the latest version (like 02252012) and give it another shot. I just loaded it up and verified that the model shows up there.
I use linux ubuntu of this laptop and installed the latest build on here and get the exact same error on this machine as on the desktop running the same os. The menories in the radio were set using the windows Yaesu software by a friend, maybe there is a problem with the one memory block on the radio, the download is almost complete when the error shows. here id a screensot.
There's nothing wrong with the radio, so don't worry about that. I'm trying to rule out a timing issue, which is why I wanted you to try it on Windows just to be sure.
I'm copying Kurt on this, who I believe has what we expect is the exact same radio as you, an 857D US version. It works for him, but it looks like you may have a slightly different final block. Can the two of you exchange exact model numbers (like from the label on the bottom of the radio) to make sure that we're not dealing with a variant here. Are either of your radios hard-modded?
I'm also copying Marco, as he wrote the bulk of that driver and may have some ideas on how best to address the situation. Perhaps I should send Ed a special build with the proper final block length so that we can capture the image and have a look at it.
This is how things go when reverse engineering things in the dark. With everyone's help and patience, I'm sure we'll get it figured out.