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VARA FM: New app#2982

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joltcan:vara-fm
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VARA FM: New app#2982
joltcan wants to merge 4 commits into
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joltcan:vara-fm

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@joltcan
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@joltcan joltcan commented May 31, 2026

Adds VARA FM, the shareware FM software modem for amateur radio messaging (companion to the existing VARA HF app).

Implementation

  • Installs Wine via the Pi-Apps Wine installer (x86/x64), then vb6run pdh_nt4 sound=alsa via winetricks.
  • Downloads the installer from winlink.org and extracts the program files with innoextract (no GUI installer needed), then registers the VB6 OCX/DLLs with regsvr32. Same proven approach as VARA HF.
  • The version is detected dynamically from the winlink.org directory listing, so it tracks upstream releases automatically rather than being hardcoded.

Dependencies installed: innoextract, libsdl2-2.0-0, libxkbregistry0 (plus Wine).

Includes install, uninstall, description, credits, website, and icons.

joltcan added 3 commits May 31, 2026 22:28
(cherry picked from commit 8993027)
(cherry picked from commit d27f0d2)
(cherry picked from commit a247b59)
@Crilum
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Crilum commented Jun 3, 2026

The reason for using a hardcoded version variable, is so that pi-apps can trigger updates to the app. (There is a github action that periodically checks for new app versions). With your current implementation the user won't receive updates to the app... (unless the app updates itself)
You should create an update file in .github/workflows/updates/.

take a look at one of those files for a reference (e.g. .github/workflows/updates/PyChess.sh)

@Crilum
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Crilum commented Jun 3, 2026

For example:

#!/bin/bash

webVer="$(wget -qO- 'https://downloads.winlink.org/VARA%20Products/' | grep -oP 'VARA%20FM%20\Kv\d+\.\d+\.\d+' | sort -V | tail -1)"

all_url="https://downloads.winlink.org/VARA%20Products/VARA%20FM%20${webVer}%20setup.zip"

source $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.github/workflows/update_github_script.sh

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2 participants