The first version of GUI for DSD+ is finally released. It's open source so anyone can improve or customize it. Also it can be easily configured to fit your screen and to work with out DSD+ setup.
It's a touch-friendly UI made specifically for tablets in order to turn them into something similar to a radio scanner.
github.com
Basically all it can do is to control the control channel (input frequency, change step, make step in either direction, change bandwidth, change gain).
However, it finally makes a tablet useful for DSD+ making it a mobile digital speech decoder.
I've tried running it without a power bank (so that the tablet powers the RTL-SDR dongles) and it worked fine. The tablet estimated that it can work in this mode for 1.5-2 hours, which means powerbank is required for prolonged use (use a powered USB hub to connect a power bank).
Tested on a 8" tablet with Windows 10 with DSD+ 2.212
IMPORTANT: the application relies on existence of certain windows (FMP24 CC spectrum window in particular). On a tablet Windows normally uses scaling and it makes screen size for the FMP24 too small to open the Spectrum window. To fix this you have to set properties of FMP24 executable:
In File Explorer, tap and hold (or right-click) the app’s executable (.exe) file and select Properties.
Select the Compatibility tab.
In the Settings section, select Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.
Click OK and check with the results.
IMPORTANT:
First run the FMP24 and DSD+
Once they are running as they should, run the UI (DSD-GUI-0.1a.exe)
There are two ways running the UI - you can just run the executable file, or you can install AutoIt and make it execute ui.au3 script.
The UI is missing some functions (like start/stop Scan), they are going to be added later.
Everyone is welcome to customize/improve the UI and make pull requests if you feel they should be included into the main version.
AutoIt is not very flexible language, but pretty simple to use. It should be easy to add some functionality when you have a working application where you can just add tabs/buttons/labels and make them do what you want.
Note: the UI sends keystrokes to FMPx/DSD windows in a funny way - it focuses the window where it wants to send keystrokes, sends the keystrokes, and then focuses the UI window again. It means that you might see some window flickering on some actions - it's not a bug.
I've tried to make it work in a more elegant way (using ControlSend()) but it didn't work for me (I've tried multiple ways doing that). Still the current approach works well unless you press buttons so fast that it interferes with keystrokes sending.
I've tested the UI using the startup script posted by @Annunaki
Then I started the UI.
The UI is looking for a particular window by title. Currently it's looking for "FMP24 CC" but this can be easily changed by editing config.ini
There are also other things that can be changed by editing the config.ini:
- button font size
- "screen" font size
- "screen" font face
"Screen" is the area where the frequency is being displayed.
Button font size is also used for UI labels used for gain/bandwidth/step display
I'm going to test it with freeware DSD+ when I have time, but everyone is welcome to do that end post the results before I do.
Any feedback is appreciated.
It's a touch-friendly UI made specifically for tablets in order to turn them into something similar to a radio scanner.
scriptguru/dsdplus-gui
GUI for DSD+ digital voice decoder for RTL-SDR dongles - scriptguru/dsdplus-gui
github.com
Basically all it can do is to control the control channel (input frequency, change step, make step in either direction, change bandwidth, change gain).
However, it finally makes a tablet useful for DSD+ making it a mobile digital speech decoder.
I've tried running it without a power bank (so that the tablet powers the RTL-SDR dongles) and it worked fine. The tablet estimated that it can work in this mode for 1.5-2 hours, which means powerbank is required for prolonged use (use a powered USB hub to connect a power bank).
Tested on a 8" tablet with Windows 10 with DSD+ 2.212
IMPORTANT: the application relies on existence of certain windows (FMP24 CC spectrum window in particular). On a tablet Windows normally uses scaling and it makes screen size for the FMP24 too small to open the Spectrum window. To fix this you have to set properties of FMP24 executable:
In File Explorer, tap and hold (or right-click) the app’s executable (.exe) file and select Properties.
Select the Compatibility tab.
In the Settings section, select Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.
Click OK and check with the results.
IMPORTANT:
First run the FMP24 and DSD+
Once they are running as they should, run the UI (DSD-GUI-0.1a.exe)
There are two ways running the UI - you can just run the executable file, or you can install AutoIt and make it execute ui.au3 script.
The UI is missing some functions (like start/stop Scan), they are going to be added later.
Everyone is welcome to customize/improve the UI and make pull requests if you feel they should be included into the main version.
AutoIt is not very flexible language, but pretty simple to use. It should be easy to add some functionality when you have a working application where you can just add tabs/buttons/labels and make them do what you want.
Note: the UI sends keystrokes to FMPx/DSD windows in a funny way - it focuses the window where it wants to send keystrokes, sends the keystrokes, and then focuses the UI window again. It means that you might see some window flickering on some actions - it's not a bug.
I've tried to make it work in a more elegant way (using ControlSend()) but it didn't work for me (I've tried multiple ways doing that). Still the current approach works well unless you press buttons so fast that it interferes with keystrokes sending.
I've tested the UI using the startup script posted by @Annunaki
Code:
START FMP24 -rc -i1 -o20001 -P0.0 -f851.0375
timeout /t 1
START FMP24 -rv -i2 -o20002 -P0.0
timeout /t 1
START DSDPlus -rc -fa -E -i20001 -v4 -O NUL
timeout /t 1
START DSDPlus -rv -fa -E -i20002 -v4 -O NULThen I started the UI.
The UI is looking for a particular window by title. Currently it's looking for "FMP24 CC" but this can be easily changed by editing config.ini
There are also other things that can be changed by editing the config.ini:
- button font size
- "screen" font size
- "screen" font face
"Screen" is the area where the frequency is being displayed.
Button font size is also used for UI labels used for gain/bandwidth/step display
I'm going to test it with freeware DSD+ when I have time, but everyone is welcome to do that end post the results before I do.
Any feedback is appreciated.
