Linux Mint20 (ubuntu20.04LTS libs ) GQRX2.12.1-52 and the orrible SDRPlay RSP1A

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Richard Bown

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Jul 10, 2020, 10:41:21 AM7/10/20
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Hi

Fun time has started !

it looks like the SoapySDR use is not going to work as a git clone does
not load the soapy config cmake files , no manifest either

so

build gr-osmosdr from the link on the gqrx hardware (sdrplay) link

https://gqrx.dk/supported-hardware#sdrplay

which now points at

https://github.com/willcode/gr-osmosdr

So I git cloned and built

I found when trying to build gqrx-2.11.5 to errors stopped the
build,first it was not a git file and second gnuradio-runtime was missing

.libgunradio-runtime was installed

looking at the readme.md file with the source code I found

$ git clone https://github.com/csete/gqrx.git gqrx.git
$ cd gqrx.git
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ qmake ..
$ make

So I did just that and gqrx built no errors, hence the use of 2.12.1-52

starting gqrx  I've use in the config:   other soapy=0 driver=sdrplay

Gqrx starts , but the input controls for the RSP1A( gain IF & RF ) are
not shown, and the waterfall is just white

When starting gqrx

richard@richard-Inspiron-3580:~/gqrx.git/build$ gqrx
qt5ct: using qt5ct plugin
qt5ct: D-Bus global menu: no
gr-osmosdr 0.2.0.0 (0.2.0) gnuradio 3.8.1.0
built-in source types: file rtl_tcp rfspace redpitaya
gr::log :WARN: file_source0 - file size is not a multiple of item size
Resampling audio 96000 -> 48000
BookmarksFile is /home/richard/.config/gqrx/bookmarks.csv
gr-osmosdr 0.2.0.0 (0.2.0) gnuradio 3.8.1.0
built-in source types: file rtl_tcp rfspace redpitaya
gr-osmosdr 0.2.0.0 (0.2.0) gnuradio 3.8.1.0
built-in source types: file rtl_tcp rfspace redpitaya
gr::log :WARN: file_source0 - file size is not a multiple of item size
WARNING: Overriding original sample rate of 96000 with 2e+06

no mention of sdrplay

I suspect gr-osmosdr  doesn't have sdrplay support on the git branch the
link on the gqrx hardware page now points to.

I'm beginning to smell a rat, the sdrplay forum has been dumped , the
linux api is ancient and the soapysdr git files look old

Going back to the gqrx harware page

under sdrplay


"One can use it through the SoapySDR backend using device string
*soapy=0,driver=sdrplay* or using the recent gr-osmosdr updates by Jeff
Long <https://github.com/willcode/gr-osmosdr> (recommended and included
in the .tar.xz binaries for Linux)"

the gr-osmosdr updates , are they separately available as a tgz file  ???

I could do with some useful pointers, as others when they upgrade to any
of the distros using the ubuntu20.04LTS libs with a RSP1a are going to
have similar problems .

TIA



--
Best wishes /73
Richard Bown

Email : ric...@g8jvm.com

HTTP : http://www.g8jvm.com

######################################################################

Ham Call: G8JVM . QRV: 50-432 MHz + Microwave
Maidenhead QRA: IO82SP38, LAT. 52 39.720' N LONG. 2 28.171 W
QRV 6mtrs 200W, 4mtrs 150W, 2mtrs 300W, 70cms 200W,
Microwave 1296MHz 110W, 2320MHz 100W, 5760MHz 10W & 10368MHz 5W
OS: Linux Mint 19.3 x86_64 Tricia, on a Dell Inspiron 3580 laptop
######################################################################

Richard Bown

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Jul 10, 2020, 1:40:28 PM7/10/20
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I have now have this sorted , I'll scribble out a mini-howto on getting
a SDRPlay RSP1a  working on GQRX 2.12.1

on Ubuntu20.04 LTS and Linux Mint 20 , and upload it  on my website .

https://g8jvm.com/gqrx  . I'll see if I can create a .deb to simplify
the install for Linux Mint 20/ Ubuntu20 users with a RSP1a ,

if I can figure out exactly which libs are used at run time

Alexandru Csete

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Jul 11, 2020, 7:10:06 PM7/11/20
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Hi Richard,

If you make a web page with this info I can link to it from the Gqrx
hardware page. Otherwise, we could also use the wiki on Github, but we
haven't used it for anything so far, so perhaps it is best to use web
pages.

Cheers
Alex
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Richard Bown

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Jul 12, 2020, 5:15:38 AM7/12/20
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Anyone thinking of upgrading to Linux Mint 20, hang on a while there are
some strange features

Mike Bott

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Jul 12, 2020, 5:02:21 PM7/12/20
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Maybe if someone was working on a new Linux-based SDR program, this
would be the perfect time to let us know.  :)

I already made the upgrade to LM20 in order to fix some audio issues I
was having with 19.3 and I do miss the ability to access my Airrspy HF+
from the laptop.  But I do have plenty of Windows options at the moment,
but sometimes I just don't want to fire up the desktop pc.  I also have
the KiwiSDR option.

--
Mike

Richard Bown

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Jul 12, 2020, 5:15:43 PM7/12/20
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Hi Mike

I'm finding something very screwy with the way dynamic linking works ,
like it depends what installed it whether it works or not.

Never saw that behaviour in LM19.3, but its there in LM20

I wish there was some really good error loging

On 12/07/2020 22:02, Mike Bott wrote:
> Maybe if someone was working on a new Linux-based SDR program, this
> would be the perfect time to let us know.  :)
>
> I already made the upgrade to LM20 in order to fix some audio issues I
> was having with 19.3 and I do miss the ability to access my Airrspy
> HF+ from the laptop.  But I do have plenty of Windows options at the
> moment, but sometimes I just don't want to fire up the desktop pc.  I
> also have the KiwiSDR option.
>
--

Mike Bott

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Jul 12, 2020, 8:57:12 PM7/12/20
to gq...@googlegroups.com, Ian Brooks
Sorry Ian, I wasn't very clear.  I had originally used the GQRX binary
package for LTS versions of Ubuntu Linux when I was running LM19 since
it was based on Ubuntu 18.04.  When I moved the LM20, that was not an
option so no access to my Airspy HF+. The binary package is about as
deep as I want to get into the Linux OS.  Again, sorry for the confusion.

--
Mike

On 7/12/20 7:36 PM, Ian Brooks wrote:
> When you say that you can't access your Airspy HF+ from the laptop in
> LM20, do you mean that gqrx won't recognise it? Could this problem be
> due to missing library files? After I recently upgraded to Lubuntu
> 20.04 LTS, my Airspy dongles were not recognised by the build of gqrx
> supplied (2.12.1 build 1, if I remember correctly). After some
> searching on Google I followed a suggestion, from someone using a
> previous version, to install libairspy and libairspyhf using the
> package manager. This solved my problem.
>
> regards, Ian Brooks, Verwood, Dorset.
>
> On 12/07/2020 22:02, Mike Bott wrote:

Richard Bown

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Jul 13, 2020, 3:13:30 AM7/13/20
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If I can get the screwy problems on LM 20 sorted, I'll add Airspy HF+
support to the installer,

but someone will have to test it as I dont have an Airspy HF+

On 13/07/2020 01:57, Mike Bott wrote:
> Sorry Ian, I wasn't very clear.  I had originally used the GQRX binary
> package for LTS versions of Ubuntu Linux when I was running LM19 since
> it was based on Ubuntu 18.04.  When I moved the LM20, that was not an
> option so no access to my Airspy HF+. The binary package is about as
> deep as I want to get into the Linux OS. Again, sorry for the confusion.
>
--

Mike Bott

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Jul 13, 2020, 6:50:53 AM7/13/20
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Not a problem at all.

-- 
Mike

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Richard Bown

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Jul 13, 2020, 8:48:51 AM7/13/20
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The gqrx-sdrplay_amd64.deb file is here

https://www.g8jvm.com/Projects/Projects.html

When you install it run " sudo ldconfig -v"  do at least twice

For some reason just using sudo ldconfig  doesn't always work, dont ask
me why , I don't know

maybe something to do with the "2" in the OS version number

I'll just add the Airspy HF+ capability to it in a few days time, as
soon as I'm happy there are no problems

with the installer file I've missed. Fingers crossed .

Richard

On 13/07/2020 11:50, Mike Bott wrote:
> Not a problem at all.
>
> --
> Mike
>
> On Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 03:13 Richard Bown <ric...@g8jvm.com
> <mailto:ric...@g8jvm.com>> wrote:
>
> If I can get the screwy problems on LM 20 sorted, I'll add Airspy HF+
> support to the installer,
>
> but someone will have to test it as I dont have an Airspy HF+
>
> On 13/07/2020 01:57, Mike Bott wrote:
> > Sorry Ian, I wasn't very clear.  I had originally used the GQRX
> binary
> > package for LTS versions of Ubuntu Linux when I was running LM19
> since
> > it was based on Ubuntu 18.04.  When I moved the LM20, that was
> not an
> > option so no access to my Airspy HF+. The binary package is
> about as
> > deep as I want to get into the Linux OS. Again, sorry for the
> confusion.
> >
> --
>   Best wishes /73
>   Richard Bown
>
>   Email : ric...@g8jvm.com <mailto:ric...@g8jvm.com>
>
>   HTTP  : http://www.g8jvm.com
>
> ######################################################################
>
>   Ham Call: G8JVM . QRV: 50-432 MHz + Microwave
>   Maidenhead QRA: IO82SP38, LAT. 52 39.720' N LONG. 2 28.171 W
>   QRV 6mtrs 200W, 4mtrs 150W, 2mtrs 300W, 70cms 200W,
>   Microwave 1296MHz 110W, 2320MHz 100W, 5760MHz 10W & 10368MHz 5W
>   OS: Linux Mint 19.3 x86_64 Tricia, on a Dell Inspiron 3580 laptop
> ######################################################################
>
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> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gqrx/CAE0QNKcS0yMamWPaCtwe1FrKe2Mb19t65oRsxP%3D3%2B9zNxiodng%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

Richard Bown

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Jul 13, 2020, 12:03:22 PM7/13/20
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Wanted : Cavia porcellus for testing*
*

I didn't wait a few days,its on the same site *, *it doesn't break gqrx
, so it might work*
*

Richard*
*
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