Linux software.

wsat is the Linux weathersatellite program. It is compiled under Redhat, gcc v2.7, for Intel PC using GTK

Sources are available; see download section.

Contents.

Back to weather satellite homepage

Short feature overview of version 2010.10:

Read, write and show following formats:
- PGM format (1 and 2 bytes per pixel)
- PPM format
- GIF format (read of pictures with big smooth areas doesn't work properly)
- HRPT1 format
- CHRPT1 format
- HRI1 format
Record using the FPGA-decoder:
- HRPT1
- CHRPT1
- HRI
- Raw
Linearize (C)HRPT pictures
Despeckle
Temperature mapping
Skip faulty lines
Auto calc. lum thresholds
Add grid (HRI)
Combine channels to get colorized pictures
Align channels of CHRPT pictures
Read and save NORAD 2-lines Kepler data
Auto save Kepler data after record
Add lon/lat lines in (C)HRPT picture
Conversion channels 3-5 into temperature (HRPT)
Batch (non-gui) mode for record
USB interface

Download.

Version	Type	Download	Download size	Sources available	Comment
2010.01	wsat compiled with Fedora 8	wsat.tgz	117k	Not yet	USB interface added
2.0	Needed GTK-libs	Is most likely already installed on your Linux OS		GTK

Installation

Download wsat.tgz
Untar: tar -zxf wsat.tgz
Copy wsat into (e,g.) $HOME/bin.

Download old versions.

Version	Type	Download	Download size	Sources available	Comment
2009.01	wsat compiled with Redhat 9	wsat.gz	117k	see next table	ID NOAA19 added
2005.05	(Previous version) wsat compiled with Redhat 9	wsat_2005.gz	117k	see next table	ID NOAA18 added
1.2 / 0.9.1 1.2 / 0.0.10	Needed GTK-libs	Is most likely already installed on your Linux OS		GTK

Version	Type	Download	Size
2005.05a	wsat code	wsat_src.zip	206k

Installation (old versions)

The program itself:

Download wsat.gz
gunzip wsat
chmod +x wsat

If you want to try wsat without actually recording you can put wsat where you like. However, if you want to record as normal user then wsat needs super-user privilege, to access the parallel port.
The next steps you have to do as super-user (under root):

Copy wsat to e.g. /usr/bin
chmod +s wsat

Now check if wsat runs. If you get an error message like:
wsat: can't load library 'libgtk-1.2.so.0'
you need to install the gtk libraries.

NOTE: It seems that the new gtk-libs don't allow to run programs with super-user privilege by non-root users. Which means that you need to be root to record with wsat. This issue has to be solved in a proper way...

Install libs:

Double-check if you have gtk-libs:

ls /usr/local/lib/libgtk*so*
ls /usr/local/lib/libgdk*so*
ls /usr/local/lib/libgmodule*so*
ls /usr/local/lib/libglib*so*

If they are there you probably need to add /usr/local/lib to the file /etc/ld.so.conf.
Otherwise install the gtk-libraries.

Download gtk_lib.tar.gz (you need to do this as 'root')
gunzip gtk_libs.tar
mv gtk_libs.tar to /usr/local
tar -xf gtk_libs.tar ==> the gtk-libs are now in directory /usr/local/lib
Check /etc/ld.so.conf. If the line: /usr/local/lib isn't present, add it using a text editor. In that case you have to activate it:
- /sbin/ldconfig
(Or reboot your system.)

NOTE:

To make sure that data transfer from the parallel port is reliable (especially for a long time) make sure that:

Power-saving feature of PC is Off
No printer driver is installed for the used parallel port

That's it!

Note on wsat installation.

The way described here to install wsat (with the chmod +s command) is not really nice because normal users have now super-user privilege via wsat. This has to be changed some day (using a driver, it shouldn't be necessary to give wsat super-user privilege).
For single-user systems the 'superuser-wsat' is not a real problem.

Reported bugs:

None (but of course, there are...)

Test version.

This is a test version of wsat.exe. It can be changed any time without notice and can show unexpected behaviour. For normal use download this version!

Version	Type	Download	Download size	Comment
BETA	wsat program	wsat_beta.gz	1188.776k	Ethernet interface.