All good points. Apple does include Python but it's not been updated in years and way too old for Chirp. I'm not sure it it is a default install either.

We all go through some learning curves to perfect our experience with Chirp. Most are cable oriented from my observation. And it can be a bit of a shock for some to see all those numbers and box ticks when you do succeed to download your temp and sit there and wonder what to do with it. That's where these guides come in. When written properly they can walk you with little effort through the programming process. And usually it only takes one or two successful reads and writes and you feel like you are the king of the hill and what to get into to the list like me and blab your butt off even though you still know very little :-)

Good luck, Milton

________________________________ From: Dave Nathanson KG6ZJO@nathanson.org To: Discussion of CHIRP chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 10:12 PM Subject: Re: [chirp_users] Beginner's guide and a loaner radio

As a newbie, [] I found it odd that I needed to install the Python runtime even though I'd heard that Mac OSX includes Python. [] I was initially baffled about transfer errors, until someone pointed out the trick for getting my radio into the correct mode for transfers. [] And of course getting the correct cable driver was a little scattered even with the FTDI cable, because the factory site has more than I needed.

Best, Dave Nathanson KG6ZJO

On Nov 26, 2013, at 5:51 PM, Mike Agner ka3jjz@comcast.net wrote:

Today, Bruce MacAllister wrote:

Yes, I will. I did technical writing for pay and will do it as a volunteer now-retired engineer.  I have a Kenwood TM-D700 and TH-F6A and the the MPC FX and Chirp files for them.  I am new to Chirp and so see it from a newbie perspective with all the confusion inherent in just starting. ===============================

Thanks vy much for the offer, Bruce - however please hold off for now. I have to set up a mailbox to keep your radio from being stolen (around here that's not an uncommon occurrence). Once I have that done, I'll email you off-list.

Since you mentioned that you are a newbie to Chirp (me too) I wonder if you would discuss what you found difficult in using the software for the first time. That way as the Guide gets built, we can at least try to address at least some of these so that others don't run into the same issues.

Here's one that had me stumped - I know you can use the stored configuration files to load certain freq ranges into the radio (if it supports them). But here's a question I never found the answer for - How can you append that data at the end of data you've already loaded, or perhaps put the configuration file in first, then the unloaded contents of your radio? Does it simply overlay the data, or push it down further in the editor?

Mike

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Yes, that's what I did. Since I've seen lots of Ubuntu wiki and questions about this, I think this symptom and solution should be a part of Chirp documentation or a least links to Ubuntu wikis about it. It's complexity is that USB is not a separate connection but a subset of serial which is still called TTY (remember teletype?) in Linux. The "dialout" permission solution is not what I'd call an obvious solution to a USB connection problem.

The real solution is for Ubuntu to make "connected permission" the default. We all have USB devices to connect so we'll all run into the problem. Windows and OSX arrive with connection-on as a default.