best light weight distro for gqrx

[Richard Didd]

I was wondering if anyone can help.

I am looking for the best light weight distro of linux that will run gqrx on an old netbook.
so screen size is an issue (1024 x 600) and processing power is low.

I tried the latest ubuntu with gqrx and had a lot of issues trying to get gqrx working then gave up.
The only distro that comes close to working is Kali linux. seems to be light weight and running from a live USB pen it works.
however the installed version is quite different from the live distro and gqrx will not install even if I add the repository in.

Shame as I have had the most luck with this distro running live.

I tried Mint linux but there appears to be too much overhead of the operating system slowing gqrx down.
I will try XFCE Mint next and report back.

I was just wondering if there are any other distros that have worked well for other people out there ?

thanks

Rich

[Richard Didd]

Looks like I may have some luck with XFCE mint.
I tried on a virtual machine and could easily install and get running GQRX after a fresh install of XFCE.
I will try on my netbook tonight and report back.

So far, just getting GQRX to install and run has been a chore on the latest Ubuntu release.
No problems with Mint Linux

[Alexandru Csete]

Hi Richard,

That's a little strange because Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu...

I have been using Xubuntu on all my desktops and laptops over the last
few years and it has been working well for me.

Alex

[Richard Didd]

Just a problem with some install library in Ubuntu var apt cache that is damaged.
I downloaded the latest Ubuntu, installed and then added the repository for gqrx
then apt-update, upgrade and then installed gqrx

I cant remember the exact error message last night but it was related to apt-cache with a library needed for gqrx.
I tried to work around it by deleting the file and then re-installing gqrx but this did not work.

to be honest I would rather not use ubuntu (in its default flavour) as I don't like the menu system or the online searching stuff and Amazon built in stuff.
I know I can remove it but why do I have to fight with an operating system.
Within reason, I just want something that works
Mint Linux comes very close to that

[Robin Gape]

Richard,

if you don't have any joy otherwise, you might try Lubuntu. I'm running Lubuntu 14.04 on an old eeePC 4G edition, but have never been brave/stupid enough to try to add GQRX, since there is only 4G of SSD. It is possible to add more flash memory in the SD slot—I've had to do that on a friend's 2G eeePC to fit everything in—but the installation gets fragile!

Depending on the processor you may find that, after all that, the CPU can't cope, depending on what you're using as the front-end.

But, ignoring those problems for the moment, with Lubuntu 14.04 all the libraries &c. should match those in Alex's GQRX repository, and Lubuntu is very lightweight (probably more so than Xubuntu or XFCE Mint 17).

Cheers,

Robin, G8DQX

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[Richard Didd]

Thanks Robin.

I will remember this.

If XFCE mint does not work, I will look into this.

I know that my netbook can run gqrx and I have had it working on a live version of Kali Linux.
The only time it struggled was with FM Stereo but I am not too bothered about that.

[Richard Didd]

hmm gqrx doesn't work on a fresh install of XFCE Mint

the error message I get on running up GQRX :-

Using device #0 Realtek RTL2838UHIDIR SN: 00000001

Kernel driver is active, or device is claimed by second instance of librtlsdr.
In the first case, please either detach or blacklist the kernel module
(dvb_usb_rtl28xxu), or enable automatic detaching at compile time.

usb_claim_interface error -6

FATAL: Failed to open rtlsdr device.

Trying to fill up 1 missing channel(s) with null source(s).
This is being done to prevent the application from crashing
due to gnuradio bug #528.

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'boost::exception_detail::clone_impl<boost::exception_detail::error_info_injector<boost::math::rounding_error> >'
  what():  Error in function boost::math::round<f>(f): Value -inf can not be represented in the target integer type.

Any ideas or shall I try Lubuntu ?

[Simon Kennedy]

Blacklisting the driver should do the trick, search the archives of this group for information on how to do it.

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[Richard Didd]

Cracked it.

thanks for the tip.

The following steps were performed to get working :-

Open a terminal and type:

cd /etc/modprobe.d
sudo nano no-rtl.conf

Add the following lines to the new file:

blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu
blacklist rtl2832
blacklist rtl2830

Save and exit using CTRL+X then reboot the computer.

I guess it is documented but it would have been nice to have known upfront. ho hum

Gqrx now works correctly and seems to run well on an old Asus aspire d250 netbook
brilliant work. thanks everyone

[Ian Board]

FWIW - I have ubuntu 14.04 and use openbox (I *hate*  unity) and have been  happy with it as it's demands are minimal. Once you get used to the clean desktop/floating menu paradigm it's productive and fast.  I also try to avoid certain apps like chrome that suck up  resources and don't start unnecessary services. . My laptop is an old T61P thinkpad that still works fine.

- Ian

[Den Eckert]

There is also a ham radio distro with an older version of GQRX on it. Also comes with GNU Radio, but see previous info here about uninstalling other packages before installing GQRX. http://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/ Andy stripped down Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Also uses icewm as windows manager. I did not like icewm and put MATE on it. Old Gateway laptop 4 gigs RAM, Intel due core (2 cores) 2.2 gHz. With only htop running, about 260 MB of RAM used. With MATE, about 445 MB RAM.

[Ian Board]

Thanks,

I'll take a look at that. I think in general you can go a long way with most distros by just using a lightweight window mgr and shutting down services you don't actually use. I'm curious about MATE.

- Ian

On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 2:31 PM, Den Eckert <denha...@gmail.com> wrote:

There is also a ham radio distro with an older version of GQRX on it. Also comes with GNU Radio, but see previous info here about uninstalling other packages before installing GQRX.  http://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/  Andy stripped down Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Also uses icewm as windows manager. I did not like icewm and put MATE on it. Old Gateway laptop 4 gigs RAM, Intel due core (2 cores) 2.2 gHz. With only htop running, about 260 MB of RAM used. With MATE, about 445 MB RAM.

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