SDR's vs. Hardware Scanners/Receivers

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corbintechboy

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The bash script(setup_env.sh) gets written to the target directory when you execute the pybombs sub command ./pybombs env

It's up to you to run it..

But does this install everything needed everything done?

The script could be written to apt-get all the software that is pre needed. Then do what your saying, pause (or auto execute) and then install all the rtl-sdr stuff. The script could test the install with an if command. Even as far as having the digital decoder installed and done. All steps finished.

I have done this in the past to automate installs. I at one time used debian and wrote a scrips to automate the install of debian and shared it with the world. Here is that script:

Code:
#!/bin/sh

#Script to install all your personal software after a base Debian install!
#Comes with no warranty
#You assume all risks!

echo "Please review this file and be sure to make any changes you may need"
echo "You will need to be running as root in order for this to work"
 
 if [ $( whoami ) == "root" ]; then
  echo "You are root, let's get started"
   else
     echo "You are not root! Please run sudo sh script.sh or su and start over!"
  exit 0
  fi
   
#If you have any special repositories that need added in order 
#for you to get extra software, uncomment these lines
#below and add them below. There will be a backup of
#your sources.list placed in /etc/apt/sources.list.back.
#If you are going to use this feature, please uncomment
#the line below in case of mistakes!

#cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.back

#This next line can be repeated as many times as 
#needed. Just simply copy and paste a new line with
#the new info!

#echo "<put your source here with removed brackets>" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

#In order for apt not to error, you will need to download keyring files for above

#wget "<enter url to download keyring here remove brackets>"

#Then dpkgk the keyrings you download

#dpkg -i <filenames here remove brackets>
	    
{	    
echo "Would you like to run apt-get update now y/n?"
read a
 case "$a" in
  y|yes)apt-get update;;
  n|no)exit 0;;
 esac
}
 
echo "This next portion of the script will install your packages"

{
echo "Are we ready to install your programs y/n?"
read b
  case "$b" in
   y|yes)echo "Lets get to work";;
   n|no)exit 0;;
 esac
} 

#This portion needs to be edited to suit your needs, add whatever you like 

apt-get install x-window-system hal fluxbox alsa conky nedit iceweasel synaptic mesa-utils audacious alsa-utils alsamixergui


#If you use a light desktop that does not come with a login manager,
#you may use this line below to generate your .xinitrc file so when 
#you startx you are dropped to your desktop!

#touch .xinitrc
#echo "exec <put command here remove brackets>" > .xinitrc
	    
exit 0

This could even be edited and used.
 

PiccoIntegra

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I'm sure your method has merit, but with the pybombs process, it eliminates the need to manually install everything. All of the recipe files that come with pybombs have dependency requirements that must be met prior to installing a gnuradio module. Whether it comes from the gnuradio tree, or "out of tree" modules from other sources. They've really dumbed it down for us dummies! ;)

Scott, is it possible you installed everything from outside your home directory? If you did, you may run into some permission issues by doing that. This is something I never considered. Just for clarity, you should not be below the /home/scott/ directory when pulling in a repository and installing.

Go to your pybombs directory and issue the following command: ./pybombs list
Save the output to a text file and attach it so I can compare it to what my install looks like. All this does is list all known modules and dependencies. We should be able to determine if this is a configuration issue, or a failed module/dep issue.
 

KC1UA

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Scott, is it possible you installed everything from outside your home directory? If you did, you may run into some permission issues by doing that. This is something I never considered. Just for clarity, you should not be below the /home/scott/ directory when pulling in a repository and installing.

Go to your pybombs directory and issue the following command: ./pybombs list
Save the output to a text file and attach it so I can compare it to what my install looks like. All this does is list all known modules and dependencies. We should be able to determine if this is a configuration issue, or a failed module/dep issue.

It was from my home directory. To confirm, both pybombs and op25 are sub-directories of my home directory. As is this "target" directory as well.

Attached is the .txt file per your request. Thanks.
 

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PiccoIntegra

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Before I get into the differences of our installs(it's stuff that probably isn't needed, otherwise PyBombs would have taken care of them)

Let's do this.. from a prompt, type: cd /usr/local/bin
Do an ls command.. do you see any programs listed? You should see a bunch of programs that begin with "gr_", and "osmocom_" among others.

If you don't see them, I don't know how to fix this. Obviously you'd have a failed install process somewhere.
 

KC1UA

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And apparently there is the problem....the only files and directories within are: add-apt-repository, gnome-help, search, yelp, apt, highlight, software-properties-gtk, apt-add-repository mint-md5sum, and softare-properties-kde.

"Turn out the lights....the party's over..." - Don Meredith, Monday Night Football

:(
 

KC1UA

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I'm looking in the /usr/bin file and seeing them. Interesting....

scott@RADIOSERVER /usr/bin $ dir gr_*
gr_constellation_plot gr_plot_int gr_psd_plot_f gr_time_plot_b
gr_filter_design gr_plot_iq gr_psd_plot_i gr_time_plot_c
gr_modtool gr_plot_psd gr_psd_plot_s gr_time_plot_f
gr_plot_char gr_plot_psd_c gr_read_file_metadata gr_time_plot_i
gr_plot_const gr_plot_psd_f gr_spectrogram_plot_b gr_time_plot_s
gr_plot_fft gr_plot_qt gr_spectrogram_plot_c gr_time_raster_b
gr_plot_fft_c gr_plot_short gr_spectrogram_plot_f gr_time_raster_f
gr_plot_fft_f gr_psd_plot_b gr_spectrogram_plot_i
gr_plot_float gr_psd_plot_c gr_spectrogram_plot_s
 

PiccoIntegra

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"Turn out the lights....the party's over for you..." - Tesla, Rock-n-Roll Band

Well, maybe not... I just checked the dates of these files on my machine, and they are all from when I manually compiled everything from sources.

Navigate to your target/bin directory: cd /home/scott/target/bin
Do an ls command there and see if there are any "rtl_" files listed. can you run the the rtl_fm program that the other guy suggested. Did it work?
 

KC1UA

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I did find those files in the /home/scott/target/bin directory already and ironically tried to run rtl_fm. Same result unfortunately.

rtl_fm: command not found

Confounding!
 

KC1UA

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Here is the entire contents of the /home/scott/target/bin directory. I think everything we're looking for is there, but there must be some type of pathing issue to what makes rtl_fm et al run. I tried osmocom_fft as well, same error.

scott@RADIOSERVER ~/target/bin $ dir
dumpdb gr_spectrogram_plot_b rtl_eeprom
glacier2router gr_spectrogram_plot_c rtl_fm
gnuradio-companion gr_spectrogram_plot_f rtl_power
gnuradio-config-info gr_spectrogram_plot_i rtl_sdr
grcc gr_spectrogram_plot_s rtl_tcp
gr_constellation_plot gr_time_plot_b rtl_test
gr-ctrlport-curses gr_time_plot_c slice2cpp
gr-ctrlport-cursesc gr_time_plot_f slice2cs
gr-ctrlport-curseso gr_time_plot_i slice2freeze
gr-ctrlport-monitor gr_time_plot_s slice2freezej
gr-ctrlport-monitorc gr_time_raster_b slice2html
gr-ctrlport-monitoro gr_time_raster_f slice2java
gr_filter_design hackrf_cpldjtag slice2php
gr_modtool hackrf_info slice2py
gr-perf-monitorx hackrf_max2837 slice2rb
gr-perf-monitorxc hackrf_rffc5071 transformdb
gr-perf-monitorxo hackrf_si5351c uhd_cal_rx_iq_balance
gr_plot_char hackrf_spiflash uhd_cal_tx_dc_offset
gr_plot_const hackrf_transfer uhd_cal_tx_iq_balance
gr_plot_fft icebox uhd_fft
gr_plot_fft_c iceboxadmin uhd_find_devices
gr_plot_fft_f iceca uhd_images_downloader
gr_plot_float icegridadmin uhd_rx_cfile
gr_plot_int icegridnode uhd_rx_nogui
gr_plot_iq icegridregistry uhd_siggen
gr_plot_psd icepatch2calc uhd_siggen_gui
gr_plot_psd_c icepatch2client uhd_usrp_probe
gr_plot_psd_f icepatch2server usrp2_card_burner
gr_plot_qt icestormadmin usrp_flex
gr_plot_short icestormmigrate usrp_flex_all
gr_psd_plot_b osmocom_fft usrp_flex_band
gr_psd_plot_c osmocom_siggen usrp_n2xx_simple_net_burner
gr_psd_plot_f osmocom_siggen_nogui volk-config-info
gr_psd_plot_i osmocom_spectrum_sense volk_modtool
gr_psd_plot_s osmo_sdr volk_profile
gr_read_file_metadata rtl_adsb
 

PiccoIntegra

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Ok, I think you have a path problem... try it this way for now

./rtl_fm -f 99.5e6 -W -s 200000 -r 48000 - | aplay -r 48k -f S16_LE
 

KC1UA

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scott@RADIOSERVER / $ ./rtl_fm -f 102.9e6 -W -s 200000 -r 48000 - | aplay -r 48k -f S16_LE
bash: ./rtl_fm: No such file or directory
aplay: playback:2715: read error

Drat.

Wonder if I should just blow it out and start over. I know one thing, if a manual is to ever be built we've got plenty of reference material, both positive and negative, to support it in this thread.

Wonder if a different flavor of Linux might be in order. I know Arch was suggested at one point but it appears to be significantly more difficult to install. I don't want to cop out, but as suggested I'm trying to look at Linux as a tool. Meaning the only reason I would probably use it is for gnuradio/op25. This makes me wonder if I should just try your 12.04 LTS and duplicate what you've done, Scott. Maybe Mint isn't being kind with the pybombs? I know this is a pretty new version of Mint. This is a 64 bit version of the OS as well, not sure why that would make any difference but just thinking out loud. Also, not knowing how the world of Linux works, is there a conceivable point where future releases of gnuradio may not be compatible with an older version of Ubuntu? I know I should stick to just simply getting it working first but I also like to think of down the road too.

Thanks for hanging in there with me on this, and thanks to everyone for their patience with this thread, but as stated if we are to ever build a simple way for people to get this running, these notes, consolidated in one place, are likely going to be helpful in the long run.
 

corbintechboy

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scott@RADIOSERVER / $ ./rtl_fm -f 102.9e6 -W -s 200000 -r 48000 - | aplay -r 48k -f S16_LE
bash: ./rtl_fm: No such file or directory
aplay: playback:2715: read error

Drat.

Wonder if I should just blow it out and start over. I know one thing, if a manual is to ever be built we've got plenty of reference material, both positive and negative, to support it in this thread.

Wonder if a different flavor of Linux might be in order. I know Arch was suggested at one point but it appears to be significantly more difficult to install. I don't want to cop out, but as suggested I'm trying to look at Linux as a tool. Meaning the only reason I would probably use it is for gnuradio/op25. This makes me wonder if I should just try your 12.04 LTS and duplicate what you've done, Scott. Maybe Mint isn't being kind with the pybombs? I know this is a pretty new version of Mint. This is a 64 bit version of the OS as well, not sure why that would make any difference but just thinking out loud. Also, not knowing how the world of Linux works, is there a conceivable point where future releases of gnuradio may not be compatible with an older version of Ubuntu? I know I should stick to just simply getting it working first but I also like to think of down the road too.

Thanks for hanging in there with me on this, and thanks to everyone for their patience with this thread, but as stated if we are to ever build a simple way for people to get this running, these notes, consolidated in one place, are likely going to be helpful in the long run.

Don't do Arch, do Manjaro instead Arch core easy as Mint.

Install and do an:

sudo pacman -Syu

This will update you.

Then do:

Sudo pacman -Syu octopi

This will install a package manager.

I got it working in Manjaro in minutes (I didnt mess with the 25 decoding thing but got GNU radio and rtl-sdr all working).
 

KC1UA

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Well this is a bit of a conundrum, but I think I've made my decision with all due respects.

ArchInstall - GNU Radio - gnuradio.org

What we're trying to do here though is to create a definite way to get through a setup successfully that will be able to be handled by "end users". In a Windows environment I can do things with my eyes closed, hands behind my back, intoxicated, overtired, cranky, obnoxious, etc, and not have to think twice about it.

I'm not a programmer, developer, hacker, etc. I can use Linux all day long to surf the web, get email, word processing, spreadsheets, etc. I can get around the command line pretty well and I've learned a few tricks along the way, but when it comes to installing something like this, all bets are off. I've installed a lot of stuff in Linux in the times I've used it, largely from following the instructions of others before me, and those instructions were largely based on the flavor of Linux I was using, Ubuntu or Mint specifically, or at the very least Debian based. GNURadio is without a doubt the biggest and most involved piece of software I have ever messed with in Linux.

We have a very recent and confirmed success story in what Scott has done, using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, which is apparently supported by Ubuntu through 2017. I probably should not have tried the newest whiz bang version of Mint for this and stuck with the same version he's using. I get sucked in by new software, it is logical to me to install the newest in most cases. But if we are going to develop a means to an end for this, I think it has to be done with a certain version of Linux and we need to stipulate that while there are no guarantees it's going to work at all, there are REALLY no guarantees if you (the end-user) tries to install it with a different version of Linux. Who knows, we may never get to that point at all; perhaps there are just too many versions of everything to make it all work for any period of time. That is one of the things that drives me NUTS about Linux; so many different flavors, so many different ways to do things.

For now though I will start again, and try Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. If that doesn't work? I guess I'll respectfully wave the white flag...
 

corbintechboy

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I can understand what your saying, and buntu type distros are probably always going to be more popular then Arch types.

I would suggest what you are doing, it makes perfect sense. It was easy for me to get working but with the rolling nature of Manjaro/Arch I could be one update away from complete breakage and never ending research for a fix. I am good at managing Linux, but at times it can become like an unruly child as any seasoned user will tell you.

Good luck to you and if I can help in any way I will try.
 
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PiccoIntegra

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I really don't think you need a reinstall. I think it's a simple configuration issue that needs to be found.

I now realize I may be running from a hybrid install of two different sources. Maybe I need to do the wipe and reload to figure this out? Hmm..
 

KC1UA

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Well I'm not going to start tonight on a reinstall anyway, but it seems to me to be the most logical thing to do. If you get it working and then I get it working using the same method....that's a good sign. :)

Hopefully your's isn't working BECAUSE you have a hybrid install. I don't want you to lose out on anything because of my "pet project", Scott, so don't go to any drastic measures unless you want to go through the learning experience again. I'll leave that up to you but believe me, either way your effort and assistance is greatly appreciated.
 

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scott@RADIOSERVER / $ ./rtl_fm -f 102.9e6 -W -s 200000 -r 48000 - | aplay -r 48k -f S16_LE

Hi Scott

The above command line suggests a few different things. First make sure you've set up the environment properly by running ./pybombs env, noting the name of the resulting file that produces, and sourcing that result file using the 'source' command of the shell. Once this has been done you should then do

echo $PATH

echo $PWD

to confirm what's in your path and what your current directory is.

Another issue with the above command is that according to the shell prompt you've cd'ed to the root directory ( / ). Yet another issue is you've put a 'dot-slash' at the beginning of the command ( ./ ) and as a result it will look only in the current directory for that command. If your current directory really is / it's not likely to be found - so you get the error. You should remove the leading dot-slash and then the shell will look for the executable in the PATH. Also not sure why there are copies in /usr/bin - but the ones in /home/.../target are probably the 'right' ones...

HTH

Max
 

KC1UA

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Well I'll be damned....

I just did that again, and it is the same thing I did the first time. I may have been confused on what directory I was in.

This time I just made sure I ran rtl_fm from the home directory. As I type this I'm listening to "Photograph" by Def Leppard.

:)
 

KC1UA

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Done for the night, still some issues I think.

On a positive note I was able to figure out parameters in rtl_fm and get my local NOAA weather up and running. Whoopie...well it was a small victory for me anyway.

osmocom_fft craps out with a RuntimeError: unknown exception, ***Error in '/usr/bin/python2': free(): invalid pointer: 0x00000000056326b8 *** ====== Backtrace: ====== followed by lines and lines of paths, hex #'s, etc. Hell, I thought WINDOWS errors were bad! :)
 
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