Gnuradio,Soapysdr, help

[mt....@gmail.com]

Hi everyone.

Im really stuck regarding getting my Sdrplay RSP1 to work on my windows setup.

I need the Gnuradio companion and people recommend Soapysdr+soapysdrplay for getting this to work.

So I tried everything in my power, but still get some errors. I installed python, Pothos and I got my

cubic ang gqrx to work. 

Is it correct that installing photos also installs Gnuradio and along with Pothos there should be

Soapysdr? When I run the Gnuradio, it starts the helper script and just gives alot of errors. So

Im quite stuck.

Anyone have any ideas? :-)

Thanks

[mt....@gmail.com]

Just an update to my original post;

I got the gnuradiohelper script to update the various things but -

1) when I run gnuradio companion (.exe) it starts the helper script over and over with 1 error (grc block path)

2) when I run the .py it just fails

3) if I rund the helperscript from cmd as administrator, it runs clean with no errors and says "gnuradio-companion is

ready for use"

feels like Im so close, but still a long way from getting it to work.

Any ideas? :-)

[mt....@gmail.com]

Den fredag den 24. februar 2017 kl. 13.46.33 UTC+1 skrev mt....@gmail.com:

[Josh Blum]

On 02/24/2017 07:33 AM, mt....@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EZHqDagEFnE/WLBSTpRBCFI/AAAAAAAAAAM/05CVHMb_hgMI_9X3raXnh-o9rmhr6pSZwCLcB/s1600/scrnshot.JPG>
>

I think the error surrounding GRC_BLOCKS_PATH is a problem that my
helper script is not properly handling the multiple paths with the
separator ";" I need to fix that, but I don't think its the problem
because the env var looks to be properly set.

Are you able to run from the command line the following:

c:\python27\python.exe c:\program files\PothosSDR\bin\gnuradio-companion.py

I think there is another error that is not being magically fixed by the
helper script and dependencies. Running the python script directly in
the terminal should give a helpful message so we can figure this out.

Looking forward to your reply,
-josh

[mt....@gmail.com]

Hi Josh

Thanks for looking into it.

When running the .py - I get a windows error popup "Python.exe stopped working"

when installing the "standard" gnuradio installer, Im able to run this just fine (only this doesnt have

the soapy and sdrplay support etc.)

So I think its related to the pothos-gnuradio bundled setup. Seems weird that the helper script keeps

running the same thing over and over?

Thanks again :-)

[Josh Blum]

On 02/25/2017 03:45 AM, mt....@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi Josh
>
> Thanks for looking into it.
>
> When running the .py - I get a windows error popup "Python.exe stopped
> working"

So just to confirm, you are not double clicking on gnuradio-companion.py
from explorer, but you executed this gnuradio-companion.py in the
windows command prompt and it caused this pop-up? And nothing was printed?

>
> when installing the "standard" gnuradio installer, Im able to run this just
> fine (only this doesnt have
> the soapy and sdrplay support etc.)
>
> So I think its related to the pothos-gnuradio bundled setup. Seems weird

Its the same gnuradio, only gr-osmosdr is compiled with some additional
blocks. The main difference is that the installer does not include the
python dependencies. The python modules are only required for GRC and
not the other applications, so we have this helper script to install them.

> that the helper script keeps
> running the same thing over and over?

gnuradio-companion.exe calls gnuradio-companion.py internally and then
executes the helper script runs when gnuradio-companion.py exits with
error. The helper script only knows how to sanity check and install
missing dependencies.

In this case, it has no idea what the problem is, so nothing can be
fixed. Hence it errors every time. But if we can find out what is
missing, or what circumstance causes this, I will add it to the
gnuradio-companion.exe launcher.

-josh

[mt....@gmail.com]

hi again

It all seems a bit weird.

I ran it thru cmd as administrator (the py) and I can briefly see a bar of some sort and then the error message and it halts completely.

the helper script starts everytime time I click the icon (grc) in the menu, and shows the block path error. This loops constantly

But if I run the helperscript in cmd, it passes on everything and tells to run again

To start with, after initial installation there was a problem with a pip (?) And the helper script couldnt fix anything. Installed this seperately (and gtk) and the helper script then continued fixing other things :-)

[Josh Blum]

On 02/25/2017 08:21 AM, mt....@gmail.com wrote:
> hi again
>
> It all seems a bit weird.
>
> I ran it thru cmd as administrator (the py) and I can briefly see a
> bar of some sort and then the error message and it halts completely.

Hmmm I wish it was giving a more helpful error message...

The best advice I have at the moment, is just to edit c:/Program
Files/PothosSDR/bin/gnuradio-companion.py and add some print()
statements.. Its just a plain text python file. If you put some prints
before the import statements and other functions, we will know pretty
quickly which lines are causing this crash. Again, running
gnuradio-companion.py in the terminal so we can see the outputs from the
print() statements.

>
> the helper script starts everytime time I click the icon (grc) in the
> menu, and shows the block path error. This loops constantly

This will be fixed in the next installer. This is the change:
https://github.com/pothosware/gnuradio-companion-exe/commit/ae0a1984daa672ca70fd545ed71cbb02d9de056f

>
> But if I run the helperscript in cmd, it passes on everything and
> tells to run again
>
> To start with, after initial installation there was a problem with a
> pip (?) And the helper script couldnt fix anything. Installed this
> seperately (and gtk) and the helper script then continued fixing
> other things :-)
>

Just for my information: was pip missing from the python2.7 installation?

-josh

[mt....@gmail.com]

I wish I could do a bit more to help
You out Josh :-) Im just a user and have
Absolutely no experience in python :-D

When the pip was misding, it was during
The very first run of the helper script after the installation of the pothos enviroment.

If there is anything I can do to help
You out, you are welcome to send files
For testing if that would do any good :-)

Is the helper script you linked to, edited
So it needs a trial run?

Thanks again for your time :-)

[Josh Blum]

On 02/25/2017 11:52 AM, mt....@gmail.com wrote:
> I wish I could do a bit more to help
> You out Josh :-) Im just a user and have
> Absolutely no experience in python :-D

I don't know how to solve this without error messages or knowing what is
crashing. I'm including a pastebin of what the typical verbose looks
like when you run the command line: http://pastebin.com/9mXZKTbf

>
> When the pip was misding, it was during
> The very first run of the helper script after the installation of the pothos enviroment.

ok cool

>
> If there is anything I can do to help
> You out, you are welcome to send files
> For testing if that would do any good :-)
>
> Is the helper script you linked to, edited
> So it needs a trial run?

No worries. I tested it here.

This is the result of the helper script:
http://pastebin.com/7BKuQdrX

I noticed that the python version from your earlier screenshot was a lot
older. You might want to try updating python to the latest python27
release - 2.7.13

>
> Thanks again for your time :-)
>

Np. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this :-)

-josh

[mt....@gmail.com]

Hi Josh

a little update :-)

tried the new helper script and its the same problem- when clicking the icon in the startmenu, the helper runs

over and over - the good news is that all items pass, so your script helped the issue with the block

After the scrift kept running over and over every time, I tried updating the python to 2.7.13 and I now got

the following issues:

1) when clicking the icon in the startmenu, the helper stopped comming up, instead I got a reg key issue

(screenshot)

2) in cmd, its the same (screenshot)

Best regards :-)

[Josh Blum]

On 02/26/2017 09:42 AM, mt....@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi Josh
>
> a little update :-)
>
> tried the new helper script and its the same problem- when clicking the
> icon in the startmenu, the helper runs
> over and over - the good news is that all items pass, so your script helped
> the issue with the block
>
> After the scrift kept running over and over every time, I tried updating
> the python to 2.7.13 and I now got
> the following issues:
>
> 1) when clicking the icon in the startmenu, the helper stopped comming up,
> instead I got a reg key issue
> (screenshot)
> 2) in cmd, its the same (screenshot)
>
> Best regards :-)
>

> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d-pnHX51940/WLMTbZkR3TI/AAAAAAAAAAc/YxmblRewu3Mz157LM9Hr3jhkGXZ8Hj2gACLcB/s1600/python.JPG>

My first guess is that you installed the 32 bit python installer, and
not the one for amd 64. I think they have different registry entries.
Can you make sure its 64-bit python installer and try again if not?

>
> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MtaLI-i34k0/WLMTgy-duUI/AAAAAAAAAAg/-JFb2yWCpu0ObeUBiqenDCznsq3gd4lsgCLcB/s1600/cmd.JPG>

The installer actually sets some registry keys for the python paths and
other things like that. I think this is also a result of the 32 bit
python and different registry sets. So I would see if this is fixed by
switching to 64-bit python. But if not -- then you might need to
reinstall PothosSDR installer.

-josh

[mt....@gmail.com]

Hi Josh

Sorry for the late replay :-) been away

 

My first guess is that you installed the 32 bit python installer, and
not the one for amd 64. I think they have different registry entries.
Can you make sure its 64-bit python installer and try again if not?

I checked (and double checked :-) ) It was the 64 bit, and I Uninstalled the

whole thing, downloaded, and re-installed again. It gives me the same error

with the reg. key issue when trying to open GRC.

(Pothos was also uninstalled and re-installed)

Seems a bit weird? Python is installed in the main root, c:\
(this is correct right?)

basically, its still not working :-) 

Thanks

[Josh Blum]

The path actually should not matter. Every python install that I have
used puts entry into the registry. So we are simply checking the
registry to learn with python is installed.

Here is a screenshot of regedit: https://i.imgur.com/pErC3kl.png

So it checks:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Python\PythonCore\<version>\PythonPath

These are the docs I followed:
https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0514/

This is the name of the exact installer I used:
python-2.7.13.amd64.msi

This is where I downloaded it:
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-2713/

So I don't really understand whats going on, but I'm curious about what
you registry shows and the exact name of the python installer.

-josh

[mt....@gmail.com]

Hi again Josh :-)

>> My first guess is that you installed the 32 bit python installer, and
>> not the one for amd 64. I think they have different registry entries.
>> Can you make sure its 64-bit python installer and try again if not?

The installer is the same as you mentioned (python-2.7.13.amd64.msi) - it was

after this, that I began to get the reg key error.

 

The path actually should not matter. Every python install that I have
used puts entry into the registry. So we are simply checking the
registry to learn with python is installed.

Here is a screenshot of regedit: https://i.imgur.com/pErC3kl.png

So it checks:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Python\PythonCore\<version>\PythonPath

I have nothing under the above. There is only under HKEY_CURRENT_MACHINE (I will try and attach

a screenshot. my reg key is not exactly what you attached last time)

 

These are the docs I followed:
https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0514/

This is the name of the exact installer I used:
python-2.7.13.amd64.msi

This is where I downloaded it:
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-2713/

So I don't really understand whats going on, but I'm curious about what
you registry shows and the exact name of the python installer.

-josh

Seems very weird. Could my outdated version be causing a new version to do this?

Thanks Josh :-)

 

[Josh Blum]

>
> Seems very weird. Could my outdated version be causing a new version
> to do this?
>
> Thanks Josh :-)
>

> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--jW4pLKiK-o/WMY9E5Sj6wI/AAAAAAAAABI/ZcQWLMEaPL0oQi61KdYfYNoeuw1YZR9cACLcB/s1600/reg.JPG>
>
>
>

Aha... That's it, There is no install path in the registry.

I found this script in python that creates this install path entry:

https://opensourcehacker.com/2011/02/22/changing-the-active-python-interpreter-on-windows/

But upon reading this comment, it might be the case that the "register
extensions" option for python installer may *also* register the install
path as well. And this is an option for the python installer. So you
might try this [quote]:

> I recently did this by opening the add/remove programs control panel
> and selecting ‘change’ for the given python version. It allowed me to
> re-enable the ‘register extensions’ option that I left disabled
> during install (because I wanted another Python version to remain the
> default). After completing the installer actions the new Python had
> become the default.

So if that's the fix, I can at least mention it in the wiki. Python
installers should be consistent, so perhaps it was just an installation
option...

Thanks for testing, I appreciate it!
-josh

[mt....@gmail.com]

Hi again

Well, it seems like the problem has gone now :-D It was actually an installation option (not vivible because of the windows size)

So after installing again, I checked the box with the path option and now it starts the gnuradio 

Thank you so much for all tyhe support you have given. Also thanks for your work - the pothos sdrplay combo is a perfect solution
(if users like me doesnt screw it up :-D )

Best regards

[Josh Blum]

On 03/15/2017 05:56 AM, mt....@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi again
>
> Well, it seems like the problem has gone now :-D It was actually an
> installation option (not vivible because of the windows size)
> So after installing again, I checked the box with the path option and now
> it starts the gnuradio
>
> Thank you so much for all tyhe support you have given. Also thanks for your
> work - the pothos sdrplay combo is a perfect solution
> (if users like me doesnt screw it up :-D )
>
> Best regards
>

Great to hear, thanks for your patience. I added a note to the
documentation about the "register extensions":
https://github.com/pothosware/PothosSDR/wiki/GNURadio#installation-instructions

-josh