Feedback on Gqrz 2.6 - mising icon quirks, mouse over text color, not seeing lowered CPU benefits

[David Ranch]

Hello Everyone,

So I started playing around with Gqrx 2.6 on Centos6 today and have noticed a few things:

1. No icons in main display window or the AFSK1200 decoder window
2. Mouse over text on the bookmark labels is in all black (hard to read)
3. Not seeing the lower CPU loading


For Item #1 and #2, please see the attached screen shot

All of the buttons are there and function as I can see the mouse-overs and they DO work.  It's just strange this is happening and I didn't see this with Gqrx 2.5.3 with Qt-4.8.  Any ideas how to resolve this?   There are no errors on STDOUT when Gqrx loads.


3., Performance... Here are the specifics on my machine and though Gqrx decodes things just fine (yes, there are occasional slowdowns every 5 minutes or so), it's working fine.  The point here is that this is the same loading I saw in Gqrx 2.5.3.  One thing that does seem to be different is that Airspy USB packing now seems to save CPU cycles where as before with 2.5.3, it cost cycles more cycles.

Maybe this is to be expected on X86 platforms and the loading benefits were mostly focused on ARM platforms (Raspberri Pi)?


Intel i5 2430 @ 2.4Ghz w/ 4GB RAM -

Gqrx configuration:
--
Device: Airspy v2
airspy=0,bias=0,pack=0
Input rate: 10Mhz
Decimation: none
Bandwidth: 2.5Mhz

Audio Output:
Device: Default
Sample Rate: 48khz

Main window settings:
--
FFT size: 131072
17 FPS

/usr/bin/gqrx
linux; GNU C++ version 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-4); Boost_105400; UHD_003.005.003-0-unknown

gr-osmosdr v0.1.x-xxx-xunknown (0.1.5git) gnuradio 3.7.9.2
built-in source types: file fcd rtl rtl_tcp uhd rfspace airspy redpitaya
Using Volk machine: avx_64_mmx_orc
BookmarksFile is /home/dranch/.config/gqrx/bookmarks.csv
gr-osmosdr v0.1.x-xxx-xunknown (0.1.5git) gnuradio 3.7.9.2
built-in source types: file fcd rtl rtl_tcp uhd rfspace airspy redpitaya
Using AirSpy NOS v1.0.0-rc9-0-ga56adfd 2016-06-12, samplerates: 2.5M 10M



#With Airtspy USB packing
hampacket2:~$ w
 09:55:55 up 11 days, 21:32, 11 users,  load average: 4.20, 2.75, 1.41
USER     TTY      FROM              LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT


#Without Airspy USB packing
hampacket2:~$ w
 10:11:11 up 11 days, 21:47, 11 users,  load average: 5.26, 4.87, 3.59
USER     TTY      FROM              LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT


This is the same GnuRadio packages used with 2.5.3 and I did previously run a VOLK optimization pass back when I first built GnuRadio.  I don't beleive I have to re-run it with the new Gqrx but please correct me if I'm wrong here.

--David
KI6ZHD

[Alexandru Csete]

On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 8:51 PM, David Ranch <dra...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 1. No icons in main display window or the AFSK1200 decoder window

Hi David,

You need to install the QtSvg component.

> 2. Mouse over text on the bookmark labels is in all black (hard to read)

I have seen that too using the "fusion" theme, but gqrx uses default
theme, so I guess your desktop uses fusion as theme. I wil llook into
this later, but Ihave no idea why it is the way it is. Basically, the
text is a tooltip so it should have the same color as the tooltips on
the other widgets.

> 3. Not seeing the lower CPU loading

What did you expect? The only improvement I announced was "Input
decimator performance" but you are not using any decimation, so...

> Device: Airspy v2
> airspy=0,bias=0,pack=0
> Input rate: 10Mhz
> Decimation: none
> Bandwidth: 2.5Mhz

The Airspy does not have bandwidth setting, so if you are using 10
Msps rate you will get 10 MHz bandwidth.

Alex

[David Ranch]

Hey Alex,

You need to install the QtSvg component.

Ah.. I see it now and have installed it.  Will test tonight.  Thanks!

 

I have seen that too using the "fusion" theme, but gqrx uses default
theme, so I guess your desktop uses fusion as theme.

To be honest, I'm not sure what KDE theme I'm using.  I'll report back tonight but I imagine it's the stock Centos6 KDE theme which might be "based" on the "fusion" theme.

 

I will look into
this later, but  Ihave no idea why it is the way it is. Basically, the
text is a tooltip so it should have the same color as the tooltips on
the other widgets.

I'll have to look and see what other KDE applications do.  Maybe the mouse-over text in those apps are ok as the usual application backgrounds are a light color.  Here in Gqrx's FFT area, most of the background is a dark color.  Maybe specific colors can be overridden in a Gqrx configuration setting?

 

What did you expect? The only improvement I announced was "Input
decimator performance" but you are not using any decimation, so...

Oh.. I guess I missed that!  Just so I understand the work that was done here, on a Rpi3 (I have one as well) with a Airspy v2, what would you recommend the base AirSpy sample rate and Decimator value be set to?


 

> Device: Airspy v2
> airspy=0,bias=0,pack=0
> Input rate: 10Mhz
> Decimation: none
> Bandwidth: 2.5Mhz

The Airspy does not have bandwidth setting, so if you are using 10
Msps rate you will get 10 MHz bandwidth.

Oh.. interesting.. so though Gqrx has a field for this, the specific AirSpy HW doesn't support this value?  I would have sworn I've been able to run the AirSpy in 2.5Mhz BW before.  No?   Maybe it's the Input rate: I should set to 2.5Mhz to get the lower sampling rate to low the CPU loading?
 
--David
KI6ZHD

[Alexandru Csete]

>>
>> What did you expect? The only improvement I announced was "Input
>> decimator performance" but you are not using any decimation, so...
>
>
> Oh.. I guess I missed that! Just so I understand the work that was done
> here, on a Rpi3 (I have one as well) with a Airspy v2, what would you
> recommend the base AirSpy sample rate and Decimator value be set to?

You can see the tested configurations here:
http://gqrx.dk/download/gqrx-sdr-for-the-raspberry-pi

You will have to use 2.5 MHz sample rate and decimation 4 or more.

>> > Device: Airspy v2
>> > airspy=0,bias=0,pack=0
>> > Input rate: 10Mhz
>> > Decimation: none
>> > Bandwidth: 2.5Mhz
>>
>> The Airspy does not have bandwidth setting, so if you are using 10
>> Msps rate you will get 10 MHz bandwidth.
>
> Oh.. interesting.. so though Gqrx has a field for this, the specific AirSpy
> HW doesn't support this value? I would have sworn I've been able to run the
> AirSpy in 2.5Mhz BW before. No? Maybe it's the Input rate: I should set
> to 2.5Mhz to get the lower sampling rate to low the CPU loading?

The terminology is a bit confusing :-)

"Input rate" is the sample rate delivered by the device. As per
sampling theory, this will put an upper limit on your bandwidth, in
this case it will be 10 MHz.

Some devices have a tunable analog filter in front of the ADC and this
can be adjusted using the "Bandwidth" setting. It is useful when
sampling at higher rate than what is needed. A similar effect can be
accomplished using decimation, except that it will filter in the
digital domain. The Airspy does not have analog bandwidth setting and
so it will be ignored.

The Airspy can also run at 2.5 Msps rate. This will have significantly
lower CPU load than 10 Msps but only give you 2.5 MHz bandwidth. You
can decimate further down to reduce the CPU load further, although I
think it first becomes noticeable at decimation 8 or more.

Alex