Operating System & Platform

Will EmComm Tools run Windows?

No. EmComm Tools is designed as a fully customized version of Linux. In order for it to be a turnkey solution, I need to have full control of the operating system. This is not easily done with Windows. However, since EmComm Tools is Linux-based, you can dual boot both Windows and EmComm Tools. This is an advanced topic and will not be addressed here.

Why are you using Ubuntu Linux instead of another distribution?

My goal with EmComm Tools was to make a communications appliance. Every Linux distribution has its pros and cons. I required the following features based on the goals of the project:

Good touch integration to support the reference hardware (Panasonic CF-20, FZ-M1 and FZ-G1)
Simple user interface that works well on small screens
Supports hardware required by the project
Runs well on older hardware
Ability to customize the OS for field expedient communications
Provides tools for easily creating customized installation media
Supports all the software packages required by the project

I tried various Linux distributions and found Ubuntu 22.10 (non LTS) to meet all these goals.

Why are using Ubuntu 22.10? It is not an LTS build.

While I would have preferred Long Term Support (LTS), I encountered many issues in earlier and later builds of Ubuntu that where LTS builds. Version 22.10 was the sweet spot.
I already managed to patch areas of the operating system that caused issues. Once fixed, there was little value in attempting to re-apply these changes in newer builds. Newer version of Ubuntu introduced new issues. This will be the case with every new version of Ubuntu.
All of the software packages for carrying out offgrid communication work well on this build.
A lot of work was put into addressing kernel issues impacting the ARDOP modem as addressing a brightness issue on the Panasonic hardware.
I have no plans on updating EmComm Tools once it is complete. This will be an appliance.
EmComm Tools is designed to be an offline-first platform. This build will work 20 years from now if re-installed on the reference hardware. The physics of radio propagation will not change.

If you are looking for an operating system and software ecosystem that is constantly evolving, this project is not for you.

Why are you not using ATAK as the platform?

I evaluated ATAK early on as it would have been nice to run everything on a small phone or Android tablet. However, EmComm Tools builds on top of a variety of open-source communications software that is not available on Android. This project would never be released if I had to port JS8Call, fldigi, Dire Wolf, Pat Winlink, AX.25, VOACAP, etc. The power of the EmComm Tools integration is in how it attempts to leverage these capabilities, add field expedient user interfaces on top of them, and modify them if needed to make them easy and practical to use in the field.

Secondly, EmComm Tools is designed to also serve as a Cyberdeck (i.e. offgrid compute system). This is much better suited on a full computer.