Re: What is the tlf future?

[Csahok Zoltan]

Hi Martin,

You have probably experienced the Pyhton 2-to-3 switchover that caused a number 
of troubles.
Since 2020 version 3 is the only active one and as far as see it's reasonable 
stable.
Of course things can change, but I see no future issues at the moment.

Regarding the development of TLF I can only give my point of view.
For me a big pro that is can run in a single terminal without any
desktop environment involved. It also fits in my unix-like approach:
"do one thing and do it well". A loggers task is to allow logging QSOs
(meaning also helping sending the right messages) and as a bonus
it does score calculation, a bandmap view, and can save the log ready to be 
submitted.
It can also control the rig, but the actual low level control is done via 
Hamlib.
Same for keying: any cwdaemon compatible program can be used.
Or for voice messages: we let external tools play or record them.
All these are just as loosely coupled as neccessary.
As I use mostly the same rig+keyer rigctld and cwdaemon are
both started automatically at system boot. No need to touch them later on.

Configuration is typically a one time task, normally done before the contest.
I'm quite OK with editing some text files, see no benefit of a GUI.
Nevertheless it could be added even as a companion tool,
just as it was done for a graphical bandmap 
(https://github.com/zcsahok/tlf_bandmap)
The very first step would be to come up with a usable design.
Who and when implements it depends on the priorities and resources available
to the involved parties, as always.

In the last few years the somewhat rusty code base was considerably improved.
My goal was to be able to add new contests reasonably easily and also
to be able to run a contest end-to-end until generating a Cabrillo file.
We still have a number of open topics and broken features (like networking)
that will need considerable efforts. But all in all I see a remarkable progress.
What is vital is the user feedback as it help us stay on the right track.


73,
Zoli