Visual Studio rabbit hole

[James Hall]

Well, since I needed a project for the weekend (what’s left of it) I decided to tackle a Windows module (DLL) for the Funcube Dongle Pro Plus (FCDPP) for SoapySDR, part of SkyRoof. Already installed modules include RTL-SDR, AirSpy, HackRF, and SDRPlay. But it was brought up yesterday the need for a module for the FC, which I also have.

So, I went down the proverbial rabbit hole !! This wet-behind-the-ears, complete newb simple asked AI Google how to do it ! Right away, it threw me a curveball - it says I’ll need Visual Studio - not the newest, but 2015 ! Yikes ! Microsoft naturally has mostly purged the WWW of VS2015 … but, I did find an ISO for it and got it installed. (Discovered later that I needed to modify the installation to include things like a compiler !) So, I was able to clone the GitHub files to my computer that was said to be for the FCDPP. Then comes a deeper rabbit hole ! CMake is then required configure the ‘solution’ - a file used in VS. But which one - which version ? There were a bazillion versions ! Finally, after a few hours of YouTube watching, I got something going and it compiled to a point … and then it said I need the SoapySDR source file directory. Yikes ! A deeper hole.

That’s where I am right now. It seems I have to first build SoapySDR on Windows and then it “might” let me build the FCDPP module. Sigh …

If anyone has any helpful advice on this, I would appreciate it much !

73, Jamie
WB4YDL


Sent from my iPad

[Alex VE3NEA]

Hi Jamie,

Install Pothosware, it has all SoapySDR files needed to compile a plugin. 

I built several plugins for SoapySDR, the procedure was always the same:

- install Pothosware first

- clone the repository

- create a sub-folder called 'build' and cd to it

- run "cmake .."

- this creates a .sln file, a Visual Studio solution. Double-click to open in VS

- click on Build Solution in the menu.

I always use the latest version of Visual Studio and CMake, even if AI recommends otherwise.

[James Hall]

Alex:

Thanks so much for this ! You saved my weekend ! HI I was about to throw in the towel as the hole got deeper - wanting HIDAPI and ALSA. 

I’ll get rid of all the old stuff and start over. I don’t ‘think’ you can cd to the build folder in Windows (at least not since DOS) - I may be wrong on that. It’s definitely easier on Linux though.

I’ll give it the ol’ college try …

73, Jamie

WB4YDL

Sent from my iPad

On Aug 17, 2025, at 3:47 PM, Alex VE3NEA <ve3...@gmail.com> wrote:



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