开云体育

Ok, so, NanoVNA-saver works under Ubuntu, RedHat/RHEL/CentOS, whatever.
Instructions are available, which is nice if they fit your needs.

But I don't use those distros, for a lot of reasons but mainly because
of the, "this way might be old-fashioned, but it just works" phenomenon.

When and where I can put up with that nasty kludge known as "systemd," I
have been using OpenSuse (currently Leap 42.3) for a long time now.
(Yes, 42.3 is EOL now, and deprecated, but their new version crashes
this old laptop almost instantly when I try to install it.) So, staying
with something not-so-cutting-edge gets me hardware compatibility with
older systems, like this Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 which I use
constantly as my main communication and portable system. (What Leap 15
does to the touchpad and touchscreen on this old thing shouldn't happen
to Sodom and Gomorrah. Yes, it's old, not too speedy, and can't be
upgraded much, but if I drop it off a tower it will probably still work
when I climb down and dust it off.)

ANYWAY, with quite a bit of frustration, more than a little
consternation, and eventually the loss of my entire /home directory (and
all my ebook files, recipes, and everything else you can imagine - the
backups were almost two weeks old - I lost quite a bit) I managed to
install Python3.7.5, PyQt5, and all of the other requirements to build
and run NanoVNA on an OpenSuse Leap 42.3 system. It will likely work
(with some tuning up) on about any other "old piece of junk" that can't
handle the newest, latest, and (putatively) 'greatest' distro of Linux.

No more carping, here is how:

Item the first: This is all done on a terminal command line. I am
going to assume that you know to hit the enter key at the end of a
command, and can make your way around the directory structure of your
Linux system.

The configure and compile (make) items may be done as the root user, or
any normal user, but the 'make install' invocations need to be done as
root. You can fool yourself that you're being "more secure" and use the
'sudo' utility if you like, or you can just log in as the root user and
be done with all the fiddling about. (You can screw up a system just as
fast using 'sudo' as you can if you're logged in as the root user.
Maybe faster, if you've bought into the B.S. from various distros that
'sudo' is 'safer.')

On to the install.

Download and install the other requirements listed in the NanoVNA README
instructions, particularly the python3-serial, python3-pyqt5, and numpy
packages. If they are available from your distro repositories, and they
are for Python version 3.7 or higher, use them. If not, then
Python3-serial can probably be found in one of the package repositories
for Debian and RedHat systems, such as rpmfind.org or pkgs.org. Find
one that matches your distro and install it.

Numpy likewise is almost universally available these days. Shouldn't be
difficult, but if you get stuck, email me off list. Likewise for any
other missing bits in these instructions. I've had decades to perfect
my 'being wrong and admitting it' skills. Don't hesitate to ask, and I
will try to clear things up. Back to the installation.

The PyQt5 part can be particularly problematical on older systems and
its installation will be covered below, after the base Python
installation is finished.

One more aside. About the most annoying issue is the change from the
historically normal directory structure for system software from

/usr/bin and /usr/sbin

to a /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/sbin tree. The pathnames and
environment variables in Linux can become well and truly scrambled by
this. Some distros use the /usr/local directory, others still use /usr/
tree. RedHat and OpenSuse happen to use the /usr/local version, and the
programmers of Python default to the /usr/ one.

The other minor nightmare is the directory dichotomy between older
32-bit (and 16- and 8-bit, if you go back far enough) back-compatibility
library files, and the new default 64-bit architecture libraries.
Rather than staying with the directory name "lib," adding a
"compatibility" subdirectory under that longstanding directory name, and
getting on with things, the new crop of kids writing the Linux software
decided to add a completely new directory, "lib64," to the mix and
thoroughly bollocks things up. Of course there are both /usr/lib64 and
/usr/local/lib64 variants to make it even more delightful.

Maddening. Can be dealt with, but -maddening- nonetheless. Those items
caused me half the headaches in getting this to work.

To be certain which your system is, determine where your distro puts
system packages, /usr or /usr/local. You need to know for the configure
script. If /usr, you can just invoke configure without any 'prefix'
information. (If /usr/local, you'll need to add in the prefix data, as
shown in the commands below.)

Use your preferred text editor and open the .bashrc file in the user
home directory. (If you use another shell, open the similar file which
contains your user settings, aliases, and environment variables.) Add
these variables to the user settings -

export PYTHONHOME=/usr/local
export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib64/python3.7/lib-dynload

Modify the syntax to match your shell if it is not a Bourne derivative.
If your system uses the /usr tree instead of the /usr/local tree, delete
the /local part of the path names above.

Next, download the current newest tarball of Python (version 3.7.5 at
this writing) -

wget

Unpack it somewhere in a build directory -

tar -xvzf Python-3.7.5.tgz

Move into the Python-3.7.5 directory that is created -

cd Python-3.7.5

Now configure the Python system to match your current setup -

./configure --enable-optimizations --with-ensurepip=install
--prefix=/usr/local/bin --with-hash-algorithm=siphash24

Note the --prefix part. If your system uses /usr/local instead of just
/usr, you will need to add this piece of the command. If you're in a
/usr environment, don't use the --prefix part of the command. (Most
distros will require it.)

Wait for the configure process to finish. If there are errors, usually
missing software or libraries, you will have to install whatever is
found to be wanting, and then re-run the configure script.

Once configure completes without errors, compile the software -

make

If during configure or make it complains about some crypto libraries not
being available, check to see if the utility libffi (and the required
package libffi-devel) are installed. Install them if they are missing,
and try configure and make again. OpenSuse Leap 42.3 required
libffi-devel be added; the base package libffi was already installed by
default. Both are absolute requirements for this installation.

If make completes without errors, then install the Python binaries and
libraries -

make install

This will give you a working Python-3.7.5 installation in the
/usr/local/bin/python3.7.5 directory. The pip facility and the setup
tools should be installed as well, and it will be so noted in the last
lines of the install invocation results.

Next, to add in the PyQt5 requirement, download the most current version
of PyQt5 -

wget



Unpack it in your build directory -

tar -xvzf PyQt5_gpl-5.13.1.tar.gz

Change to the PyQt5 directory created when you unpack the tarball -

cd PyQt5_gpl-5.13.1

in the case of the version current when I did this. The command in the
README file in that directory should be sufficient to install PyQt5 -

pip install PyQt5

Let it finish; it shouldn't have any errors. That should fulfill all
the NanoVNA prerequisites. Change to your base build directory, and get
the current NanoVNA-saver files by using the github repository system -

git clone

Once it is all downloaded, cd to the nanovna-saver directory which the
git utility should have created -

cd nanovna-saver

Then compile and install it -

python3.7 -m pip install .

(Note the dot at the end there. It's not a fly-speck on the monitor;
that period is necessary.)

Allow this to finish. It needs an internet connection to get everything
it wants, so be sure you're still on-line when you invoke this.

That's it. You're done. The installer should have put NanoVNASaver in
your /usr/local/bin or /usr/bin directory, whichever your system uses.
That makes it available system-wide for all (normal and root) users.

You can create a launcher in your favourite window manager (KDE, Gnome,
LXFE, whatever), pointing to the "NanoVNASaver" file in your system bin
directory. Or just open a terminal and type "NanoVNASaver &" to launch
the program.

(Remember to plug the USB cable in somewhere in all this...)

--
Wes Will
N9KDY