Re: An update to the sbitx software - v 3.02
Hi - can you share the contents of your build script?? The build script that's been part of the distribution does not call the make program.
When the make program does not find any source files that need to be built, it will report "Nothing to be done for 'all'. " This is only for information - it does not imply that an error has occurred.
73; Steve, N3SB
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test message from WW8LA.tom
Dave, Where is the ¡°BOOT_ORDER¡± parameter within the code. I would like to try booting from external media but am not that familiar with where to find it.? --Tom WW8LA
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On Jan 22, 2024, at 10:59?AM, Dave, N1AI <n1ai@...> wrote:
?On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 10:16 AM, Ken N2VIP wrote:
Also, Dave mentioned it, but I want to highlight the need to remove the microSD card from the RPi 4 - I suspect (but do not know for certain) that the RPi 4 boot order will have the RPi 4 boot from the microSD no mater what is attached to the USB ports.
All good points, and more on the topic of booting: There is a boot order variable the Pi firmware supports.? Its documentation is?.? You can google BOOT_ORDER to learn more about it.? I don't know what the resulting boot order will be by following the Tom's Hardware procedure I linked earlier, maybe someone will report it. You can see it via the command 'rpi-eeprom-config'. Some of my non-sbitx Pi devices have a NVMe board that is buried under the Pi and I don't want to open the box and disconnect it so I let the other things have priority in the boot order: <dummyfile.0.part> Note the hex digits are read low-order first so '1' is the first thing it tries not 'f'. For the factory sbitx box the sdcard is buried inside the box by default and it's a pain to get to, so you probably want any external devices to have priority. That makes booting slower since it takes it time to look for USB devices but IMO it's worth the tradeoff of not having to pry open the box. Someone here posted??for a sdcard extension and ran the ribbon cable to the outside of the box and taped down the card holder. I haven't tried that, but I plan to. I have been USB-booting my Pi 5 with a USB hub then a USB-to-NVMe adapter.? I often see timeouts during reboot.? One 'fix' is to power-cycle the Pi and the hub together which is easy for me since they are on the same power strip.? ?The same document above describes some bootloader USB settings that can be used to make the timeouts longer, but I haven't messed with these since I intend to replace that USB-to-NVMe adapter with PCIe direct.? Yet the odd thing to me is that the same USB-to-NVMe adapter and the same NVMe device worked without timeouts on the Pi 4 so I suspect they have changed something on the Pi 5 with regard to USB timeouts.? It'd be interesting to know if others notice something similar. ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
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Mike,
I understand. A few things work interestingly with ft8 autosave.
When I turn on the device, the first connection says twice that it has been logged. Actually once.
If the double logging is not visible on the display, it is worth pressing the manual log entry, because it is not in the log.
It only does this the first time you turn it on.
Before that, I look at the log file, close it, and then leave until the data is in the LOG window on the GTK screen.
It happens that you end the connection earlier and then delete it from the LOG window. You have to pay attention to the operation.
So for the first QSO, I always press a PrtSc i.e. Print Screen button, you can find the picture in the /home/pi folder.
Because if you don't save it in the log file, then I have data for later input.
I'm writing these things because that's what I'm currently doing in order to function well.
There are more things, but so far no one has responded to my entries. Everything remains the same.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
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On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 10:16 AM, Ken N2VIP wrote:
Also, Dave mentioned it, but I want to highlight the need to remove the microSD card from the RPi 4 - I suspect (but do not know for certain) that the RPi 4 boot order will have the RPi 4 boot from the microSD no mater what is attached to the USB ports.
All good points, and more on the topic of booting: There is a boot order variable the Pi firmware supports.? Its documentation is?.? You can google BOOT_ORDER to learn more about it.? I don't know what the resulting boot order will be by following the Tom's Hardware procedure I linked earlier, maybe someone will report it. You can see it via the command 'rpi-eeprom-config'. Some of my non-sbitx Pi devices have a NVMe board that is buried under the Pi and I don't want to open the box and disconnect it so I let the other things have priority in the boot order:  Note the hex digits are read low-order first so '1' is the first thing it tries not 'f'. For the factory sbitx box the sdcard is buried inside the box by default and it's a pain to get to, so you probably want any external devices to have priority. That makes booting slower since it takes it time to look for USB devices but IMO it's worth the tradeoff of not having to pry open the box. Someone here posted??for a sdcard extension and ran the ribbon cable to the outside of the box and taped down the card holder. I haven't tried that, but I plan to. I have been USB-booting my Pi 5 with a USB hub then a USB-to-NVMe adapter.? I often see timeouts during reboot.? One 'fix' is to power-cycle the Pi and the hub together which is easy for me since they are on the same power strip.? ?The same document above describes some bootloader USB settings that can be used to make the timeouts longer, but I haven't messed with these since I intend to replace that USB-to-NVMe adapter with PCIe direct.? Yet the odd thing to me is that the same USB-to-NVMe adapter and the same NVMe device worked without timeouts on the Pi 4 so I suspect they have changed something on the Pi 5 with regard to USB timeouts.? It'd be interesting to know if others notice something similar. ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
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Re: V3 versus V2 SBITX Board - What are the differences?
Re-reading over the "sbitxv3 PA changes and measurements" doc* I see this item, but I don't recall reading of anyone making the changes (nor the other 2 changes preceding this).
3. The standing current in the diodes that switch the LPFs was found insufficient on 3.5 MHz, hence, the resistors R201, R202, R203 and R204 are changed from 470 ohms to 330 ohms.
Just how "insufficient" was the current, and is it recommended? I have V2 hardware.
Thanks,
Mike
*
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David Saylors WK4DS recently offered to make available for sale working SDs with versions 2 and 3.01 software on them.? They are copies of his operating system.? He did mention that some of the macros had been changed, as he apparently does quite a bit of POTA & some of his macros reflect this.? (I will be ordering some.)? For those who have seen FLDIGI, you know that it is possible to set up 4 banks of messages and select any bank of 12 messages at any time.? Is there any interest in something like this for the standard sBIT software?? Alternatively, make the macros a separate file, and have separate files with the ability to select the desired macro set from multiple files at run time. I haven't actually used my sBIT yet, and don't know if I would use this feature, but perhaps it's something to think about.
Gerry Sherman
Sent by the Windows 11 Thunderbird
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Hi Gyula,? I did a reinstall after upgrading my v2 folder to v3.02.? I had v3 operating fine in a separate folder.? The problem was with FT-8 and some repeat transmits the macros as well as showing "logged" twice.?? I did a clean install again last night and ran ./build.? So far on my tests this morning it is operating normally again.? I did foece a few manual log entries too so that may have started the autologging up again.
--
Mike WB5LLI
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Re: An update to the sbitx software - v 3.02
?
I would like to get a sd-card with version 3.0
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73, Jens / HB9JOI
?
?
+++
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From: WK4DS
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2024 12:05 AM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] An update to the sbitx software - v
3.02
?
With all this talk about pull requests and stable versions and so on, I
want to offer the following. I have my original v2 card that came with my radio,
then I made a spare of that and now a spare of the v3.01. The card currently in
my radio is also version 3.01 at this time so all these in the photo are my
spares.
?
If anyone needs any of these versions let me know and for the cost of the
memory card and mailing it to you, I will copy any one of these for you. Cards
seem to ran about 8$ and it will fit in an envelope so freight will be cheap.
?
All of these are tested cards so I know they all work and they are made
with the disk copy program on the sBitx. You will get my custom macro I made for
POTA and it will have my callsign and grid by default since I copied my radio
(these are easy to change).
?
Just wanted to offer it upto the group.
?
de WK4DS
David
?
?
On Sun, Jan 21, 2024 at 17:28 Jeff Duce
<jefe_de_estado@...> wrote:
I
tried to run an update by running ./update and ran into this error:
Sun 21 Jan 2024 03:25:06 PM MST Updating 7abd77d..a60313c error: Your
local changes to the following files would be overwritten by
merge:???????? sbitx Please commit
your changes or stash them before you merge. Aborting
I also tried sudo
./update, and same result.? I'm running v3.0
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Re: #sBitx Using Raspberry OS ARM64-bit (Debian 12)
#sBitx
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 09:56 AM, JerryP wrote:
It would be nice if the Raspberry Pi Org put these things on their documentation.
I agree.? It would also be nice if the sbitx software was more mature and robust.? The config.txt change is not a solution, it is a workaround.? It's not like wanting to attach a HDMI monitor with speakers to a sbitx is a crazy idea.? You can't do that now because the sbitx code will crash if you do.? The problem has been described on this forum for months if not years already.? If we had a useful bug tracker and a community of developers updating it and the software, maybe this would have been fixed months ago.? If it had, maybe other people's concerns would also get addressed sooner.? I am hopeful that we will see an increase in the pace of improvement of the sbitx software in the near future.? ?We shall see if that happens or not. ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
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Dave makes many good comments, but I want to point out a couple things:
The need to update the RPi 4 firmware to support USB booting is an issue that impacts only very early RPi 4 boards as I recall. Indeed, the article from TomsHardware goes back to 2021, when an editor's note at the top of the article indicated they added info on booting the RPi 400 (The RPi in a keyboard model). No harm doing the update to be sure, but it may not be necessary.
Also, Dave mentioned it, but I want to highlight the need to remove the microSD card from the RPi 4 - I suspect (but do not know for certain) that the RPi 4 boot order will have the RPi 4 boot from the microSD no mater what is attached to the USB ports.
And just a note on the PCI Express interface on the RPi 5 - it is a PCI Gen 2.0 speed interface that is one lane (1X) wide. It's speed is 500 MB/sec (that's Megabyte, not Megabit per second) [1], and USB 3.0 is about the same speed, 5,000 Mb/second (that is megabits/second, not megabytes) [2], but the technical specification is the fastest it can theoretically handle, real-world results are typically lower when you factor in the reality/limitations of the USB 3.0 implementation on the computer, any cabling and hubs, the USB 3.0 to SATA or other storage interface chip and finally the actual speed of the storage device attached to the USB 3.0 adapter. By comparison, a PCI NVMe drive attached to a PCI Express port has no intervening devices to slow down the data transfer - the NVMe drive is limited only by its native access speed and the transfer speed of the interface it is attached to.
Bottom line - the NVMe board while having similar specs on paper to USB 3.0, in the real world the PCI Express Gen 2.0 1X interface will perform better.
[1]?
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On Jan 22, 2024, at 08:41, Dave, N1AI <n1ai@...> wrote:
?On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 05:27 AM, Gerald Sherman wrote:
Apparently it is possible to boot the Pi from a USB stick instead of the uSD card.? How is this done?? Sorry for my ignorance.
?is a user-friendly guide. These instructions show you how to use Imager (from the Pi itself or another computer) to write a bootable program to a spare sdcard that will update the Pi 4's firmware (in particular, its Bootloader) and its configuration so it can support USB boot, then boot that sdcard and it will silently update the firmware. Then you return to booting from the original Pi sdcard and get back to the Desktop which will take a bit longer because the Pi now searches for USB drives (which you have not yet added). Next, attach the new USB drive then use SD Card Copier to copy the contents of the sdcard onto the USB drive.? It will use all available space on the USB drive, which is what you typically want. Then when it finishes, shut down the Pi, take out the sdcard so it isn't used for booting, power up, and you should be running from the USB drive. Some important warnings first: 1) Make a backup of the sdcard first and put that backup aside.? You definitely want a way to go back to the old system if something goes wrong!? I typically use SD Card Copier to do this. 2) Be aware that many USB storage adapters (like USB-to-SATA and USB-to-NVMe devices) draw more power than the Pi can reliably provide.? When a Pi doesn't get enough power it just crashes and reboots with no warning at all and no log file entry to help you figure out what happened.? In the case of sbitx I find that it is worse than other Pi boards I've used because the Pi is drawing power from the sbitx motherboard via GPIO pins and the regulator on the sbitx seems to be limited.? Maybe this is because it doesn't want to abuse the GPIO pins by delivering too much current, I don't know.? Bottom line: if the sbitx Pi crashes a lot when booting from USB storage, make sure to use a powered USB hub between the Pi and the device.??? In general I've had to use a powered hub for any USB storage adapter other than a USB-to-sdcard adapter, because sooner or later it gets crashy, especially under load such as installing OS upgrades or building software.? Random crashes can corrupt the data on the device(s) so it really should be avoided.? In short I recommend you use a powered hub if you have any doubts.Having said all this, IMO using a USB to NVMe adapter with powered hub for sbitx makes so many things go much faster and is worth the effort.? I have a Pi 5 setup (which I'm not using in sbitx, yet) and am getting a PCIe to NVMe board today according to the delivery status updates, and I bet that thing will fly!? Unfortunately Pi 5 only has one lane PCIe.? Hopefully the next Pi will have more lanes for external PCIe devices. -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
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Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 08:24 AM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
People would like to see functionality of a program before they download and install it. For graphical programs, there is really no substitute for how easily people understand the usage of a program. Convincing people to download a program is a challenge. Watching a video is the easiest way to decide of you need or don't need a piece of software.
I agree with all the opinions being expressed.? Making videos is a PITA.? Using major corporate platforms has its down-sides for sure.? Yet these days the expectations are that videos exist.? If JJ doesn't make them, maybe someone else who likes to make videos will.? ? As for me personally, I am pretty willing to download open-source Linux software and give it a try if I understand its origins and intended functionality, but I understand why others are less willing.? ?I'm less willing to do it on other less-secure platforms. ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
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Re: #sBitx Using Raspberry OS ARM64-bit (Debian 12)
#sBitx
Dave,
Yes, 'dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio' solved the problem. It would be nice if the Raspberry Pi Org put these things on their documentation. I've added this as a issue to add this to their config.txt documentation.
On Sun, Jan 21, 2024 at 11:54?PM Dave, N1AI < n1ai@...> wrote: On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 11:44 PM, JerryP wrote:
I couldn't get dual HDMI monitors to work so I had to comment out the dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d line in config.txt. Otherwise, sbitx would not run because of the dreaded simple.c error from alsa sound. It probably has to do with HDMI audio being available on the monitor but I don't know enough about the alsa sound system to fix it.
On Wed, Jan 10, 2024 at 08:13 AM, Rafael Diniz wrote:
Use this, Jerry:
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio
I believe the problem is that the sbitx_sound.c code uses the generic device name 'hw:0,0' assuming that it is the sound card for the radio data input/output.? This means you can't let other sound devices that may appear earlier claim that name.? The video stack loads incredibly early so it wins.? The simple.c assertion happens because the sbitx code is trying to set up a mixer device on top of HDMI audio instead of our codec and that doesn't work.?
The change Rafael gave tell the video stack to not enable HDMI audio so it doesn't claim that name.? I have some code that uses specific names so we don't have to disable HDMI audio in the future.? I'll do a PR at some point in the future when things quiet down.? If someone else fixes it first, that's fine by me.
My /boot/config.txt also comments out?dtparam=audio=on which disables the headphone jack audio.? I forget if this is mandatory or if it is something I did when I was trying out various other things.?
I believe that what Rafael says is correct, these issues aren't specific to Bookworm.?
--
Regards,
Dave, N1AI
Jerry, AC9NM ÊÖÖеÄÄñÔÚ¹àľ´ÔÖÐÖµÁ½¸ö
--
Jerry Ponko, AC9NM
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Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 09:33 AM, JJ - W9JES wrote:
I intentionally used capitalization to avoid public confusion during the installation, management, or removal of the apps. This was to prevent accidental modification or deletion of files in the sbitx folder. Additionally, I selected a unique naming convention to clearly indicate that these apps are not part of the official release and are not supported by the HF Signals team.
I think that is sound reasoning. One thing: is the standalone Telnet app now super-ceded? I ask because I've updated our sBITX HowTo's page to point to this thread and list the programs:
- Telnet Companion App:?link
- sBITX Companion Apps:?link
- sBITX Manager: An application that can be used to store frequencies and provide auxiliary control of the transceiver.
- sBITX Scanner: An application that scans frequencies aiding in finding activity.
- sBITX ScreenControl ~ An application to change the default window size for better scrolling such as using WSJT-X and fldigi natively on the the transceiver.
- sBITX Backlight ~ An application to control the screen brightness for power conservation and eye comfort.
... and I don't know if the first line should be retained. ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
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On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 05:27 AM, Gerald Sherman wrote:
Apparently it is possible to boot the Pi from a USB stick instead of the uSD card.? How is this done?? Sorry for my ignorance.
?is a user-friendly guide. These instructions show you how to use Imager (from the Pi itself or another computer) to write a bootable program to a spare sdcard that will update the Pi 4's firmware (in particular, its Bootloader) and its configuration so it can support USB boot, then boot that sdcard and it will silently update the firmware. Then you return to booting from the original Pi sdcard and get back to the Desktop which will take a bit longer because the Pi now searches for USB drives (which you have not yet added). Next, attach the new USB drive then use SD Card Copier to copy the contents of the sdcard onto the USB drive.? It will use all available space on the USB drive, which is what you typically want. Then when it finishes, shut down the Pi, take out the sdcard so it isn't used for booting, power up, and you should be running from the USB drive. Some important warnings first: 1) Make a backup of the sdcard first and put that backup aside.? You definitely want a way to go back to the old system if something goes wrong!? I typically use SD Card Copier to do this. 2) Be aware that many USB storage adapters (like USB-to-SATA and USB-to-NVMe devices) draw more power than the Pi can reliably provide.? When a Pi doesn't get enough power it just crashes and reboots with no warning at all and no log file entry to help you figure out what happened.? In the case of sbitx I find that it is worse than other Pi boards I've used because the Pi is drawing power from the sbitx motherboard via GPIO pins and the regulator on the sbitx seems to be limited.? Maybe this is because it doesn't want to abuse the GPIO pins by delivering too much current, I don't know.? Bottom line: if the sbitx Pi crashes a lot when booting from USB storage, make sure to use a powered USB hub between the Pi and the device.??? In general I've had to use a powered hub for any USB storage adapter other than a USB-to-sdcard adapter, because sooner or later it gets crashy, especially under load such as installing OS upgrades or building software.? Random crashes can corrupt the data on the device(s) so it really should be avoided.? In short I recommend you use a powered hub if you have any doubts.Having said all this, IMO using a USB to NVMe adapter with powered hub for sbitx makes so many things go much faster and is worth the effort.? I have a Pi 5 setup (which I'm not using in sbitx, yet) and am getting a PCIe to NVMe board today according to the delivery status updates, and I bet that thing will fly!? Unfortunately Pi 5 only has one lane PCIe.? Hopefully the next Pi will have more lanes for external PCIe devices. -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
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Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
Just a thought about the naming.
When I want to launch it from the terminal, I always have a problem with where the CAPITAL LETTER is.
Finally, I renamed them all to small and use them like this
Thank you for your feedback. I intentionally used capitalization to avoid public confusion during the installation, management, or removal of the apps. This was to prevent accidental modification or deletion of files in the sbitx folder. Additionally, I selected a unique naming convention to clearly indicate that these apps are not part of the official release and are not supported by the HF Signals team.
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Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
I second that!
On 22/01/2024 6:53 PM, Ashhar Farhan
wrote:
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Show quoted text
People would like to see functionality of a program before
they download and install it. For graphical programs, there is
really no substitute for how easily people understand the
usage of a program. Convincing people to download a program is
a challenge. Watching a video is the easiest way to decide of
you need or don't need a piece of software.
- f
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 1:12
PM JJ - W9JES < w9jes@...>
wrote:
JJ,
Do you think you could make a video about it?
- f
I don't stream or publish videos anymore on major
platforms. I may show the install on my website at some
point. I guess I am not sure why a video needs to be
created since it is fairly simple to install and use the
apps.
- JJ
?
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Mint Sbitx v3 with all that comes from HF Signals.
Used for receive.
$350 plus ship. Conus only.
Jeff
K2SDR
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Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
People would like to see functionality of a program before they download and install it. For graphical programs, there is really no substitute for how easily people understand the usage of a program. Convincing people to download a program is a challenge. Watching a video is the easiest way to decide of you need or don't need a piece of software. - f
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 1:12 PM JJ - W9JES < w9jes@...> wrote: JJ,
Do you think you could make a video about it?
- f
I don't stream or publish videos anymore on major platforms. I may show the install on my website at some point. I guess I am not sure why a video needs to be created since it is fairly simple to install and use the apps.
- JJ
?
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Just write the image on the usb the same way that is done with the sd card. Use usb 3 drive otherwise it will be slow.
Wp3dn
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Apparently it is possible to boot the Pi from a USB stick instead of the uSD card.? How is this done?? Sorry for my ignorance.
Gerry Sherman
Sent by the Windows 11 Thunderbird
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HA3HZ
Dave, N1AI
Jens/HB9JOI
JerryP
Raj vu2zap
Jeff Kelly