Weather Fax software for Apple OS X

I'm using fldigi. The user interface is homebrew and distinctly un-Macish, but the decoder works well and it does a ton of other protocols (including Navtex) too. You can set it to just throw the decoded images into a folder somewhere and then view them with something else. Oh, and it's free of course.

Wefax-File-Received.png
 
I've been trying out the FLDIGI app, and when it works, the output is good [pointing to DWD 3855(3853.1) KHz].

On Windows 7 (with SP1) the app is very unstable / unusable I'd say.

On OSX 10.6.8 sometimes it work, other times it crashes.
Here are the logs lines from the console:
03/02/2016 18:25:26 [0x0-0xce0ce].com.w1hkj.fldigi[1420] fldigi(1420,0xb0b4d000) malloc: *** error for object 0x1ed60310: pointer being freed was not allocated
03/02/2016 18:25:26 [0x0-0xce0ce].com.w1hkj.fldigi[1420] *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
03/02/2016 18:25:26 [0x0-0xce0ce].com.w1hkj.fldigi[1420] fldigi(1420,0xb0210000) malloc: *** error for object 0x1847200: pointer being freed was not allocated
03/02/2016 18:25:26 [0x0-0xce0ce].com.w1hkj.fldigi[1420] *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug

It seems to have some memory allocation (malloc) issues.
Shame, as the quality of the output is good ;((

Anybody else experiencing similar problem & have a work around?
Thanks.
 
Strolls said:
Lutus says his Java wefax decoder should work on Mac: http://arachnoid.com/JWX/
Click to expand...
I've just looked at that and looks interesting.

However his installation instructions are way beyond me :p
Here is a typical sequence in a JWX setup:

Linux/Macintosh:
Download the Java executable JAR file.
Install the JAR archive in any convenient directory.
Run JWX:
Under Linux, simply move to the install directory and type "java -jar JWX.jar".
This command can be placed in a clickable shell script:
#!/bin/sh

cd (JWX install directory)
java -jar JWX.jar
Click to expand...
I've downloaded the Java executable JAR file but am completely lost as what to do next.

Can anyone put the above in step-by-step layman terms that a numptie like me can follow?

I'm running OSX El Capitan (10.11.3)
 
Well, I've had a go and I'm getting JRE error when trying to fire up the JAR.
The only app which seems stable (at least on 10.6.8) is MultiMode Cocoa (thanks Tradewind for the pointer). Quite like the inclusion of satellite in the app (assuming your set can get to 137MHz).

Shame JWX does not run ... nice write up, but no work has occurred on this s/w since Feb 2013.

@Tradewinds : on OSX, you can just double click the JWX.jar file (say you've put in on your Desktop). If you observe nothing, it's most probably got a problem. Look at:
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Console ... scroll down to the bottom and you should see the error it encountered

OR

Launch Terminal and go to the directory where you have placed your [for example, say you've put the file on your Desktop, then type the following commands]:
1st step (this is to chance directory to your desktop) = cd Desktop <enter>
2nd step (this tells your JVM to run the JAR) = java -jar JWX.jar <enter>

If it errors, it will appear there and then at the command line ...
 
Last edited:
Many thanks for that.

Yup did as you said in Terminal, JWX doesn't run in El Capitan - "UnsupportedClassVersionError" etc etc. Shame.


h2opixels said:
Well, I've had a go and I'm getting JRE error when trying to fire up the JAR.
The only app which seems stable (at least on 10.6.8) is MultiMode Cocoa (thanks Tradewind for the pointer). Quite like the inclusion of satellite in the app (assuming your set can get to 137MHz).

Shame JWX does not run ... nice write up, but no work has occurred on this s/w since Feb 2013.

@Tradewinds : on OSX, you can just double click the JWX.jar file (say you've put in on your Desktop). If you observe nothing, it's most probably got a problem. Look at:
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Console ... scroll down to the bottom and you should see the error it encountered

OR

Launch Terminal and go to the directory where you have placed your [for example, say you've put the file on your Desktop, then type the following commands]:
1st step (this is to chance directory to your desktop) = cd Desktop <enter>
2nd step (this tells your JVM to run the JAR) = java -jar JWX.jar <enter>

If it errors, it will appear there and then at the command line ...
Click to expand...
 
Tradewinds said:
Many thanks for that.

Yup did as you said in Terminal, JWX doesn't run in El Capitan - "UnsupportedClassVersionError" etc etc. Shame.
Click to expand...

FWIW, on WIndows 7 with the following JRE it starts up ok:
java version "1.7.0_21"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_21-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.21-b01, mixed mode)

I'll have a go and see if I can force a JRE of 1.7 on the Mac and see if it works. Under OSX 10.6.8 I recall it being JRE 1.6.

Strange that on the latest OSX version it does not !
If you run the following command under Terminal, what does it say:
java -version <enter>
 
h2opixels said:
FWIW, on WIndows 7 with the following JRE it starts up ok:
java version "1.7.0_21"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_21-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.21-b01, mixed mode)

I'll have a go and see if I can force a JRE of 1.7 on the Mac and see if it works. Under OSX 10.6.8 I recall it being JRE 1.6.

Strange that on the latest OSX version it does not !
If you run the following command under Terminal, what does it say:
java -version <enter>
Click to expand...
java version "1.6.0_65"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_65-b14-468-11M4833)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.65-b04-468, mixed mode)
 
Ah ha ... I can only assume then, that the minimum requirement is JRE 1.7.x then ;)
Will explore further and advise what I discover.
Quite surprising to see Apple releasing their latest OSX version with such an early (of date) Java implementation !
 
h2opixels said:
Ah ha ... I can only assume then, that the minimum requirement is JRE 1.7.x then ;)
Will explore further and advise what I discover.
Quite surprising to see Apple releasing their latest OSX version with such an early (of date) Java implementation !
Click to expand...
While trying to get JWX to work I read somewhere that, apparently, Apple is not a big fan of Java - security worries.

Thanks for your efforts :encouragement:
 
Hi sailors -- I'm the author of JWX. The problem you're having is because my program requires a relatively new version of Java. Java 6 and earlier have been retired for excellent security-related concerns. To use my program, download a new, free Java version at http://java.com. And I just checked -- the JWX home page explains this issue.

To run JWX, in newer desktop environments you can simply click the program in a file browser, in other environments you have to be more explicit -- in a command shell or executable script, you can say:

java -jar JWX.jar

The above can be made part of an executable "shell script", details of which vary from platform to platform.

I hope this helps.
 
> While trying to get JWX to work I read somewhere that, apparently, Apple is not a big fan of Java - security worries.

By that reasoning, Apple should provide the latest Java version (it's much more secure), but it seems they don't. In any case, people who are trying to run my program should visit http://java.com and download the latest Java version available for their platform. My program won't run using Java versions earlier than 7.0 -- I made this decision to keep my program from being part of an open invitation to criminals to take over people's computers.

I hope this helps.
 
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