[amsat-bb] How to tame gr-satellites?

Mon Sep 16 17:09:43 UTC 2019

That is a good interim step, but note that gr-satellites does not currently
operate with GNU Radio 3.8.

73,

Paul, N8HM

On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 1:05 PM Alex Free - N7AGF via AMSAT-BB <
amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> It sounds like the perfect application to containerize.  Forking the
> available gnuradio-3.8 docker to include gr-satellites should be doable.
>
> https://gitlab.com/theseus-cores/theseus-docker/tree/master/gnuradio-3.8
>
> On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 8:12 AM Doug Phelps via AMSAT-BB <
> amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Suggestion. how about if somebody who knows what they're doing set it up
> > on a raspberry pi and then others can just copy the SD card and be off.
> >
> > Sent from ProtonMail mobile
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > On Sep 16, 2019, 9:52 AM, Paul Stoetzer via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> >
> > > It took me about 6 hours of work to get gr-satellites going on my
> Fedora
> > > handheld computer I used for portable LO-90 operations (and hope to use
> > for
> > > portable Taurus-1 ops soon as well). I have some Linux familiarity,
> but,
> > > yes you do end up running into wrong versions of dependencies and
> missing
> > > dependencies and having to look up a lot of things to get things
> working.
> > >
> > > Until recently, I would have suggested that Arch or Manjaro make it
> > really
> > > easy to run gr-satellites because it's a very simple process to build
> it
> > > from the Arch User Repository. I was able to get it running on an Arch
> > > laptop in about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, gr-satellites does not work
> > with
> > > GNU Radio 3.8 yet and Arch and Manjaro both ship GNU Radio 3.8 by
> > default,
> > > so I can't really suggest that as an "easy solution" any more.
> > >
> > > gr-satellites is a great tool and Dani deserves a lot of credit for the
> > > work he has done to support so many different satellites. What would be
> > > great is for someone to develop a method to make it simple to package
> for
> > > various distributions and a good front-end for using it. That would not
> > be
> > > an easy task, but it would go a long way towards making it friendly for
> > > less experienced Linux users.
> > >
> > > 73,
> > >
> > > Paul, N8HM
> > >
> > > On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 10:35 AM Hans BX2ABT via AMSAT-BB <
> > > amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
> > >
> > >> I was going to write a rant about gr-satellites, but then again that
> > >> would only help me release some of my chagrin and not help met get
> > >> going, so instead the question in the general interes of this
> list......
> > >>
> > >> "How can mere mortals start to get going with gr-satellites?"
> > >>
> > >> Been a Linux end-user for 20 years now, so I know my way around,
> > >> although I can not claim to be an expert. Usually with a quick search
> > >> online I can find enough info to get going or solve a problem. Even
> the
> > >> odd alteration in some source code is not something I am strange to,
> > >> although a programmer I am not. And then there is GNU
> Radio.......which
> > >> almost seems like it comes from another planet. Installing it, no
> > >> problem with the package manager. I even had success with PyBOMBS,
> until
> > >> that wasn't updated anymore. But then, once you get past the basics
> > >> installation trouble start with OOT modules, dependencies that can't
> be
> > >> met, and flow graphs that won't compile. My biggest gripe is that
> > >> documentation is very minimalist and often tells you how, not why,
> which
> > >> doesn't help you in understanding the troubles that you ran into.
> > >> gr-satellites is a good example of that, because Daniel writes these
> > >> bare bones flow graphs and then what? There is no view-able output,
> not
> > >> many hints on what blocks do, or how to implement them if they are
> > missing.
> > >>
> > >> In short, it seems you first need a four year university course in GNU
> > >> Radio and Python before you can start using it. That seems silly and a
> > >> waste of resources, because even I can see the potential of GNU
> > >> Radio/gr-satellites, especially with this new Taurus-1 sat with
> Codec-2
> > >> transponder around.
> > >>
> > >> So if you please, share your experience in how beginners can set up
> and
> > >> use gr-satellites. What are necessary steps? What are pitfalls to
> avoid?
> > >> And please also the "why", not only the "what". I guess that apart
> from
> > >> me others will also be grateful for this.
> > >>
> > >> On my shack computer I run the latest Kubuntu version with GNU Radio
> > >> 3.7.13.4 and I guess that is a reasonable starting point because of
> the
> > >> popularity of Ubuntu and because it is Debian based. Although since a
> > >> lot of GNU Radio needs to be compiled by hand is probably won't matter
> > >> that much.
> > >>
> > >> Reading the above it still does sound a bit like a rant, but it was
> not
> > >> written as such, believe me. Cheers for the replies and 73 de Hans
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> > >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
> > Opinions
> > >> expressed
> > >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views
> of
> > >> AMSAT-NA.
> > >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
> > program!
> > >> Subscription settings:
> https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
> > >>
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
> > Opinions expressed
> > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views
> of
> > AMSAT-NA.
> > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
> > program!
> > > Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
> > _______________________________________________
> > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
> Opinions
> > expressed
> > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> > AMSAT-NA.
> > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
> program!
> > Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions
> expressed
> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> AMSAT-NA.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
> Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>