Santa Clara County ARES®/RACES
Home Services Operations Data Credentials Training & Events Reference About

Packet Client Software

Overview     |     General Release     |     Pre-Release     |     About


Overview

Outpost and PackItForms are the standard client software used in Santa Clara County ARES/RACES.  Outpost provides an easy to use, e-mail-like user interface for sending, receiving and managing packet messages.  PackItForms provides an HTML representation of many standard county forms and optimizes the sending and receiving of forms-based information over a packet network. 

Version Info:  To check the installed version of all components: Windows Start Menu > SCCo Packet > SCCo Version

General Release vs Pre-Release versions:
Pre-Release software has been thoroughly tested by both the developers and the Packet Committee. It has undergone comprehensive testing and any identified problems have been addressed or documented. This is NOT BETA software. The Packet Committee believes this software is ready for use by most users to help finalize it's testing. This software can be installed on most systems where it is easy to reinstall the General Release if any significant issues occur, however this is unlikely. In some locations where access to install software is limited due to security concerns by the served agency making it more difficult to install in a timely manner, we would recommended you stay with the General Release. While no software is ever 100% bug free, the Packet Committee believes most users should have no issues with the Pre-Release version.

General Release software has been in use by a wider user base for several months and should be installed by all users at the first opportunity.


General Release Version

This version is for use by all Santa Clara County packet BBS service users.

Prerequisites:

Key New Features:

Release Notes:

Known Issues:

[Top]


Instructions: 

Step 1: Download the installer to your hard drive and save it where you can find it again later. In an emergency, you'll be able to provide the installer to others.

  • Most users should click on the link below
  • ECs/AECs and Hospital Net users only:  To download the installer with additional PacItForms for EOCs and hospitals, go to the Training and Events database, log in, look near the bottom of the left column and select "SCCo Packet Installer".

Step 2: Run the installer

An important note when installing Outpost is the location of the Outpost data directory.

  • For new (clean) installs, Outpost will automatically create and use the 'C:\SCCo Packet' directory for all Outpost data. This is an unrestricted directory so different operators and logins can access it.
  • For installs over existing systems, Outpost will use the directory selected during the last time the SCCo installer was run. If it worked for you with the previous release, there is no need to move the data to the new 'C:\SCCo Packet' directory for this release.

Step 3: Perform initial set up and testing

Download the SCCo Packet Installer v162M   21-Sep-2023 (.EXE - 152.3 MB)

[Top]


Pre-Release Version

None at this time

[Top]


About Outpost, PackItForms, and PacFORMS

About Outpost
Outpost Packet Message Manager software is written by Jim Oberhofer, KN6PE, and is available at http://www.outpostpm.org. The generic version of Outpost can be installed on the same machine as the above combined installer. 

Outpost User Manual and other documentation on Outpost website
Getting Started with Outpost (01/07/09), 652kb Acrobat
An Introduction to Outpost Packet Message Manager (03/14/09), 747kb Acrobat
Additional Presentations can be found at:  http://www.outpostpm.org/#Presentations

About PackItForms
PackItForms was developed by John Kristian, W6JMK, Peter Amidon, KJ6PUN, and Keith Amidon, KJ6PUO. The connection to Outpost was developed in coordination with Jim Oberhofer, KN6PE, who developed the Outpost API. For more information about PackItForms, go here.

About PacFORMS (Legacy: no longer supported in menu)
PacFORMS is written by Phil Henderson, KF6ZSQ.  For more information about PacFORMS, go here.

[Top]


Web Site Home Page

This page was last updated on 29-Jan-2024