Suggestions for my second OP25 build.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Falcon4

Member
Joined
May 5, 2017
Messages
117
Location
West Chester,PA
Hello everyone! So last month I undertook my first OP25 build and after 2 weeks and some serious help from @boatbod and others it was a success. I am a firm believer of if it isn't broke dont fix it...IE op25 runs. However,Bluetooth is doesn't work, I have another issue where I have to turn it on on my wife's TV and then plug it into my TV. I don't want to break the build trying to fix some of these issues so I went and bought another SD card and want to start from the top. This build is using Ubuntu Server 14.04.4 with ubuntu mate as the gui on a Raspberry Pi 4 4gig.

I want to try another flavor of linux that may fix the other issues. I open to any suggestions Raspian maybe? Do your builds completely work? From experience what has worked for you guys?
 

nick0909

Antenna flicker
Feed Provider
Joined
Jan 4, 2003
Messages
137
If you are using a Pi then Raspian is the way to go, it has all the tools built in to manage the device. If you don't need the GUI for anything then just install the server version for a lighter setup.
Otherwise, why use Ubuntu 14.04, that release started over 6 years ago and is now out of support? Try out a newer one, the latest LTS would be a good start.
And I don't really understand what turning on and off different TVs has to do with this but I guess I'll just ignore that bit...

I have multiple OP25s running on Pi4s and streaming to broadcastify and it works great.
And I have one larger desktop running Trunk-Recorder ingesting 2 trunk systems on 2 different SDRs with a total of about 24 recorders that also works pretty well, most issues come from my reception of the second system isn't too great at my location.
 

Falcon4

Member
Joined
May 5, 2017
Messages
117
Location
West Chester,PA
Just wanted to report back....got my Raspian build up and running and everything works. There were so many tutorials talking about using Ubuntu that wasn't the way to go with PI. I copied my trunk.tsv and my tags.tsv file to the new build and I was running. It runs great sounds great. Only difference is im using about 40-50% cpu vs. 20-30% but I'm using less memory. If you have a pi4 and trying to do op25 I highly recommend Raspian. Now im going to see if I can get GQRX up and running and dabble in liquidsoap.
 

boatbod

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
3,316
Location
Talbot Co, MD
Just wanted to report back....got my Raspian build up and running and everything works. There were so many tutorials talking about using Ubuntu that wasn't the way to go with PI. I copied my trunk.tsv and my tags.tsv file to the new build and I was running. It runs great sounds great. Only difference is im using about 40-50% cpu vs. 20-30% but I'm using less memory. If you have a pi4 and trying to do op25 I highly recommend Raspian. Now im going to see if I can get GQRX up and running and dabble in liquidsoap.
Most of the online tutorials are out of date and frankly incorrect. Best bet is look at the READMEs included with op25.
 

sallen07

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Messages
1,163
Location
Rochester, NY

So the 8 gig version of the Raspberry Pi 4 was released a few days ago, along with a beta version of 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS. I received one today, and of course the first thing I did was build OP25 on it ... and it works great!

The "sudo apt-get build-dep gnuradio" command failed (even after I modified /etc/apt/sources.list.d/raspi.list and did another sudo apt-get update) but that didn't seem to break anything.

Just thought you might want to know ....

Oh, and no, one does NOT need an 8 gig Pi to run OP25. I just checked and I have over 7 gig free. The 64-bit part was what I was interested in!
 

boatbod

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
3,316
Location
Talbot Co, MD
So the 8 gig version of the Raspberry Pi 4 was released a few days ago, along with a beta version of 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS. I received one today, and of course the first thing I did was build OP25 on it ... and it works great!

The "sudo apt-get build-dep gnuradio" command failed (even after I modified /etc/apt/sources.list.d/raspi.list and did another sudo apt-get update) but that didn't seem to break anything.

Just thought you might want to know ....

Oh, and no, one does NOT need an 8 gig Pi to run OP25. I just checked and I have over 7 gig free. The 64-bit part was what I was interested in!
build-dep gnuradio only works if you have configured source repositories
 

maus92

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 23, 2004
Messages
7,984
Location
The OP
Just wanted to report back....got my Raspian build up and running and everything works. There were so many tutorials talking about using Ubuntu that wasn't the way to go with PI. I copied my trunk.tsv and my tags.tsv file to the new build and I was running. It runs great sounds great. Only difference is im using about 40-50% cpu vs. 20-30% but I'm using less memory. If you have a pi4 and trying to do op25 I highly recommend Raspian. Now im going to see if I can get GQRX up and running and dabble in liquidsoap.
There is a lot of noise out there as far has tutorials go, lol. I currently have OP25 running on a RPi3, RPi4 x2, and an old Intel i5 NUC. I can say that the RPi4 4GB version works better than the 1GB version. Weirdly, the RPi3 works better than the RPi4 1 GB version as well. The Pis use Raspian, whatever the newest version is.
 

boatbod

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
3,316
Location
Talbot Co, MD
There is a lot of noise out there as far has tutorials go, lol. I currently have OP25 running on a RPi3, RPi4 x2, and an old Intel i5 NUC. I can say that the RPi4 4GB version works better than the 1GB version. Weirdly, the RPi3 works better than the RPi4 1 GB version as well. The Pis use Raspian, whatever the newest version is.
op25 is not exactly optimized for minimal memory use so I'm not surprised by your findings. There is also the issue that RPi4 is still running on a 32bit o/s if you are using Raspbian. That may change as I know that Debian and it's derivatives are all beginning to support 64bit ARM on the RPi platform.

ETA: The NUC family has way more horsepower and makes a better streaming server than the RPi4 probably ever will. That said, my NUC7 cost probably a factor of 10 more higher than my RPi4 4gb. It does run 3 broadcastify streams, a weewx weather station and a UniFi controller so it's not exactly underused.
 

sallen07

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Messages
1,163
Location
Rochester, NY
op25 is not exactly optimized for minimal memory use so I'm not surprised by your findings. There is also the issue that RPi4 is still running on a 32bit o/s if you are using Raspbian. That may change as I know that Debian and it's derivatives are all beginning to support 64bit ARM on the RPi platform.

You did see my post above, yes? Which probably should have been a new thread.
 

boatbod

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
3,316
Location
Talbot Co, MD
You did see my post above, yes? Which probably should have been a new thread.
Yes sir! The Pi4 is a great improvement over the Pi3, and now that it has 8Gb it'll probably be a bit speedier to build op25 than it is even on the 4gb version.
 

sallen07

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Messages
1,163
Location
Rochester, NY
Yes sir! The Pi4 is a great improvement over the Pi3, and now that it has 8Gb it'll probably be a bit speedier to build op25 than it is even on the 4gb version.
It did seem a bit faster ... but my point was that it runs fine on Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit version.

I guess I wasn't suprised, but I was *pleased*!
 

Falcon4

Member
Joined
May 5, 2017
Messages
117
Location
West Chester,PA
Hey quick note so others may avoid any headaches OP25 and GQRX CANNOT I repeat CANNOT work on the same build. GQRX requires pulseaudio which OP25 cannot stand.
 

boatbod

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
3,316
Location
Talbot Co, MD
Hey quick note so others may avoid any headaches OP25 and GQRX CANNOT I repeat CANNOT work on the same build. GQRX requires pulseaudio which OP25 cannot stand.
Sorry that is just plain incorrect. I happily run op25, gqrx and pulseaudio all on the same machine (amd64 linux mint) at the same time with multiple dongles. I believe what you meant to say was that *your* machine cannot run both on the same build.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot from 2020-06-10 13-00-47.png
    Screenshot from 2020-06-10 13-00-47.png
    111.7 KB · Views: 12
  • Screenshot from 2020-06-10 13-02-01.png
    Screenshot from 2020-06-10 13-02-01.png
    379.1 KB · Views: 12

Falcon4

Member
Joined
May 5, 2017
Messages
117
Location
West Chester,PA
Sorry that is just plain incorrect. I happily run op25, gqrx and pulseaudio all on the same machine (amd64 linux mint) at the same time with multiple dongles. I believe what you meant to say was that *your* machine cannot run both on the same build.
No it was more geared to OP25 and pulseaudio.
 

boatbod

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
3,316
Location
Talbot Co, MD
No it was more geared to OP25 and pulseaudio.
Again, factually incorrect. Look at the screenshot I posted showing op25 in running and actively connected to pulseaudio.

I won't dispute that you were unable to make it work, but to make capitalized blanket statements (in post #14) about what will and won't work together is misleading when I just demonstrated otherwise.

RPi hardware has some challenges when it come to sound systems under Raspbian. I know this because I own a couple and had no end of trouble getting with the RPi4. Strangely my RPi3 has far less issues and happily runs op25 + pulse, producing better audio than when it runs alsa. The RPi4 refused to run pulse right out of the box for reasons that were murky at best. Eventually I got it to work, but if you have a headless server with no X desktop it's going to be a problem unless you jump through hoops.
 

Falcon4

Member
Joined
May 5, 2017
Messages
117
Location
West Chester,PA
Again, factually incorrect. Look at the screenshot I posted showing op25 in running and actively connected to pulseaudio.

I won't dispute that you were unable to make it work, but to make capitalized blanket statements (in post #14) about what will and won't work together is misleading when I just demonstrated otherwise.

RPi hardware has some challenges when it come to sound systems under Raspbian. I know this because I own a couple and had no end of trouble getting with the RPi4. Strangely my RPi3 has far less issues and happily runs op25 + pulse, producing better audio than when it runs alsa. The RPi4 refused to run pulse right out of the box for reasons that were murky at best. Eventually I got it to work, but if you have a headless server with no X desktop it's going to be a problem unless you jump through hoops.
I was so adamant because I had the same problem on two separate builds. On my first Ubuntu build eliminating PulseAudio was the win. On my second raspian build I got OP25 running without a hitch. Installed GQRX (which uses PulseAudio)on the second build and it broke the audio on OP25. For the record I do have a PI4 and that might be the reason in itself. It can probably be fixed but in my experience PulseAudio has just been a PITA. I should've elaborated that yes, it could probably be done but tutorial,thread reading, low level of experience guys like myself probably should be warned at least thats what I was trying to convey.
 

maus92

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 23, 2004
Messages
7,984
Location
The OP
RPi are a bit flaky. I have three (RPi3+, RPi4 1GB, RPi4 4GB,) and they all need custom configs to get them to work reliably. The old Intel NUC i5 install I have works the best. I just purchased a Dell 3070 i5 Micro which is only slightly larger than a NUC. Might try to dual boot that machine to run op25.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top