The year 2020 is ended, and with it my first working year has also concluded. Among occasional gigs, small jobs, and my main occupation, I managed to use free software consistently, partly for ethical reasons and partly out of habit. Thus, inspired by the “unopercento” (One Percent) call promoted by Linux.it 1, I have decided to donate part of my earnings to the projects I use most.
In this page, I’d like to summarize the method I use to auto-generate a file with the current version data of the software. The system relies on git version control and GNU make. I primarily use this method for my C/C++ firmware for microcontrollers, but the same concepts can be adapted for other software or project workflows.
Last summer, together with IU5MOI and other friends, we had a trekking day on Mount Capanne (Elba Island). From the top of the mount we did some QRP (low-power radio operations). For this purpose we chose some low-cost handeld radios, a Baofeng UV-5R and a UV-3R, along with a homemade antenna for 144MHz. We started using the UV-5R. After making a QSO (radio contact) with IU5KHP, he informed us that other friends were listening from various areas of the main land, but we couldn’t hear them. Even more strangely, when we swapped the antennas with the default “rubber antenna”, the reception improved significantly, allowing us to hear the responses. Moreover, where the UV-5R had shown itself deaf, the cheaper UV-3R saved the day by not showing any problems even with the external antenna.
