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

[Alex Free - N7AGF]

Even better.  There appear to be several more "mature" docker gnuradio
3.7.x containers floating around from a couple years ago.  I'll get into it
when I find a spare moment.

On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 10:09 AM Paul Stoetzer <n8hm at arrl.net> wrote:

> 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
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> _______________________________________________
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>> > > _______________________________________________
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>> > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
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>> _______________________________________________
>> 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!
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>