ParkWatch is a Chrome extension plus a small local helper, and both are cross-platform. On Linux the split between them is what matters, so here's what to expect.
What works everywhere
The extension itself runs in any Chromium-based browser on Linux — Chrome, Chromium, Brave, Vivaldi, Edge — with no changes at all. Spot watching across POTA, WWFF, LLOTA and IOTA, needed-park flags, alerts, the log and everything you click run inside the browser. You can load it right now: unzip the Linux build, open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, and Load unpacked.
What needs the helper
WSJT-X logging, rig control and the DX-cluster reader use a small Python helper that the browser launches through Chrome's native-messaging system. The included Install (Linux) script sets that up. Whether the browser is allowed to launch it depends less on your distribution and more on how the browser is packaged.
The one real gotcha: snap & Flatpak
Native-package browsers — Google Chrome's .deb, or Chromium/Brave from .deb/.rpm — register and launch the helper cleanly. But Ubuntu ships its default Chromium as a snap, and snap's sandbox generally blocks native-messaging hosts.
If your Chromium is a snap, the helper features won't run — install a native-package browser for those.
Flatpak browsers are similarly sandboxed and may need extra permission. The installer detects a snap browser and tells you plainly. Spot watching and alerts still work under snap — only the helper features are affected. The fix is simple: install Google Chrome's .deb from google.com/chrome, or a non-snap Chromium where your distro packages one natively, then re-run the installer.
Rig control on Linux
Linux is well served here. Hamlib (rigctld) is the native Linux rig-control standard and works directly, as do TCI (SunSDR / Station Master Pro) and FLRig. Install Hamlib with your package manager — for example sudo apt install libhamlib-utils — then start rigctld for your rig. The only backend that isn't available is OmniRig, which is Windows-only.
Does the distribution matter?
Barely. The extension is browser code, and the helper is standard-library Python 3, which ships on essentially every desktop distribution — Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Mint and the rest run the same code. The only per-distro difference is the command you use to install packages (apt vs dnf vs pacman). What actually varies is the browser packaging described above.
Installing
Download the Linux build, unzip it, and from a terminal in that folder run:
bash install-parkwatch.sh
It installs the helper, registers it with each Chrome-family browser it finds, warns you if it sees a snap browser, and prints the final steps. Then load the folder as an unpacked extension. Keep the folder where it is — the browser loads ParkWatch from there, and updates land there too.