nanovna-users@groups.io

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

Hi Nick , many thanks for your suggestion.
After installing the python 3.7 I modified the requirements.txt ( ptyq5==5.13.2) and the command
$ python3.7 -m pip install -r ./requirements.txt 
works ok installing all the modules.
Now I'm able to use nanovna-saver on my LINUX distro that is :
Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS 
Best regards
73 de IZ1MDJ Maurizio

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

#9758

Hi Bob,
I develop using Python 3.7 - I'm keeping back from upgrading to 3.8, even
though I probably should, because of all the problems of particularly Linux
distributions not keeping up with stable versions of Python. Python 3.7 is
over 18 months old by now. So 3.7 it is, though it might work with 3.6 - I
just don't test it with that. :-)

In recent releases, Python has added a number of features which makes it
more of a "grown up" language, such as types. For development, I consider
these to be essential features.

I hope you enjoy using NanoVNA-Saver in any case!
-- 
Rune / 5Q5R

Show quoted text

On Thu, 16 Jan 2020 at 18:36, Bob Larkin <bob@...> wrote:

I am running Python 3.6 with 32-bit Ubuntu 18.04 and it does direct Python
interpret (not compiled) of nanoVNA-saver version 0.2.1 without problems,
as best I can see.  In playing with this, it appears that Python 3.5 would
be OK, but not anything earlier.  This used direct apt downloads using the
Synaptic package manager.  I am not sure of what you can get with 64-bit
packages, but for 32-bit, the latest available is Python 3.6.

To use Synaptic, you need to search on python3.6, numpy, scipy, PyQt5,
serial and be sure you don't grab a Python2 package as they will usually
show up first!  Details like pyserial vs serial will be taken care of in
the search.

Does anyone know of a reason to need 3.7 (or 3.8) instead of the readily
available Python 3.6?

My goal is to use an old dusty IBM 32-bit laptop as a dedicated front
panel for the nanoVNA.  It has USB ports and an adequate display, so it
appears to be ideal to give it a new life.  I am also playing with doing
this with Tahr Puppy Linux that would cut back on memory requirements  as
well as providing a live-boot capability that could help others.  This is
progressing pretty well, so far.

Bob  W7PUA

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

#9757

Hello Nick,

I went back and re-read your post and sure enough explicitly adding the version number to PyQt5 in the requirements.txt file fixed the issue for me. Many thanks for taking the time to sort this out and I am now a happy 0.2.2 user. My thanks to all the others who posted as collectively I gained a lot of information.

73, Graeme ZL2APV

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

#9756

Hello to all who have replied and all the hints have been really helpful.

I have installed python3.7 using the deadsnakes ppa with no problems there and have loaded pip3 from the Linux Mint repository. I upgraded numpy, scipy and pyserial using the command ...
pip3 install numpy

and the same for the others but when I came to install pyqt5 I get the following message

gvj@GVJ-Lap /opt/nanovna-saver-0.2.2 $ pip3 install pyqt5
Collecting pyqt5
  Using cached 
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
      File "/usr/lib/python3.6/tokenize.py", line 452, in open
        buffer = _builtin_open(filename, 'rb')
    FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/tmp/pip-build-eq4tkoh9/pyqt5/setup.py'

    ----------------------------------------
Command "python setup.py egg_info" failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-eq4tkoh9/pyqt5/
gvj@GVJ-Lap /opt/nanovna-saver-0.2.2 $

I have removed the distro installed PyQt5 but it still would not install with pip3 so from here I am lost.

For completeness here are the install messages for the ones that worked.

gvj@GVJ-Lap /opt/nanovna-saver-0.2.2 $ pip3 install scipy
Collecting scipy
  Downloading  (26.1MB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 26.1MB 60kB/s 
Collecting numpy>=1.13.3 (from scipy)
  Downloading  (20.1MB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 20.2MB 79kB/s 
Installing collected packages: numpy, scipy
Successfully installed numpy-1.18.1 scipy-1.4.1
gvj@GVJ-Lap /opt/nanovna-saver-0.2.2 $ pip3 install pyserial
Collecting pyserial
  Downloading  (193kB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 194kB 4.9MB/s 
Installing collected packages: pyserial
Successfully installed pyserial-3.4

73, Graeme ZL2APV

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

#9755

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 01:16 AM, Graeme Jury wrote:

Alberto, are you a member of the dialout group? If not this is likely to be
the reason for needing root access.

Graeme
=============================

Graeme, you are perfectly right ! Adding my user to the dialout group eliminated the need of running under sudo.

TNX

Alberto

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

#9754

Nick

Thanks for posting. Your suggestion to edit requirements.txt worked perfectly for me on LM19.2!

First a quick look at pip3 version....

den@den-ThinkPad-T520 ~/nanovna-saver $ pip3 -V
pip 19.3.1 from /usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/pip (python 3.6)

Then edited requirements.txt as per Nick's posting and issued the following command.....

den@den-ThinkPad-T520 ~/nanovna-saver $ python3.7 -m pip install -r ./requirements.txt
Collecting scipy (from -r ./requirements.txt (line 1))
  Downloading  (26.1MB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 26.1MB 50kB/s 
Collecting pyqt5==5.13.2 (from -r ./requirements.txt (line 2))
  Downloading  (62.2MB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 62.2MB 23kB/s 
Collecting pyserial (from -r ./requirements.txt (line 3))
  Downloading  (193kB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 194kB 4.6MB/s 
Collecting numpy (from -r ./requirements.txt (line 4))
  Downloading  (20.1MB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 20.1MB 43kB/s 
Collecting PyQt5_sip<13,>=4.19.19 (from pyqt5==5.13.2->-r ./requirements.txt (line 2))
  Downloading  (261kB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 266kB 1.3MB/s 
Installing collected packages: numpy, scipy, PyQt5-sip, pyqt5, pyserial
Successfully installed PyQt5-sip-12.7.0 numpy-1.18.1 pyqt5-5.13.2 pyserial-3.4 scipy-1.4.1
den@den-ThinkPad-T520 ~/nanovna-saver $ python3.7 nanovna-saver.py
NanoVNASaver 0.2.2
Copyright (C) 2019 Rune B. Broberg
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
This program is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3

See  for further details
Settings: /home/den/.config/NanoVNASaver/NanoVNASaver.ini

Add FAQ document to the Wiki or Files section #faq

#9753

Larry and Oristo have put in a lot of time and effort assembling information in the Files and Wiki sections of this group.  For whatever reason the same "What is the correct calibration procedure", "How do I install …", "What is the difference .." questions continue to be asked by new comers.  It may be because a lot users are used to having some type of FAQ available when learning a new device or software and get lost without one.

    I noticed there are at least a couple of technical writers in our group who might be willing to format a FAQ page that members could contribute to so as not to put the burden of providing content on any one person.  We all have different areas of expertise and could provide some pretty diverse content.  Some of the FAQ content would probably be no more than links to the appropriate material already in the Files and Wiki section.

    - Herb

Re: Nano VNA

#9752

No - freq range is 50KHz to 1.5GHz on ALL NanoVNA units, except some cheap Chinese copies that were not built well or had shields.
Read the hardware section of the Wiki.
ALL NanoVNAs sold were a redesign by hugen.The original designer, edy555, asked hugen to change the name of his re-design, so he added the -H after the name.hugen also made some minor imporvements.
Use the resources on the forum - you will find A LOT of answers to what you're looking for.
Refer to the links in the Wiki to various User Guides as well for additional model info.
...Larry

Show quoted text

On Thursday, January 16, 2020, 2:15:58 p.m. GMT-5, SUNIL A R <sunilar85@...> wrote:  
 
 ok .only frequency range is different 
nano vna 50khz-900mhz
nano vna-h 50khz -1.9ghz

Re: Nano VNA

#9751

ok .only frequency range is different 
nano vna 50khz-900mhz
nano vna-h 50khz -1.9ghz

Re: Nano VNA

#9750

Thank you,

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

#9749

I am running Python 3.6 with 32-bit Ubuntu 18.04 and it does direct Python interpret (not compiled) of nanoVNA-saver version 0.2.1 without problems, as best I can see.  In playing with this, it appears that Python 3.5 would be OK, but not anything earlier.  This used direct apt downloads using the Synaptic package manager.  I am not sure of what you can get with 64-bit packages, but for 32-bit, the latest available is Python 3.6.

To use Synaptic, you need to search on python3.6, numpy, scipy, PyQt5, serial and be sure you don't grab a Python2 package as they will usually show up first!  Details like pyserial vs serial will be taken care of in the search.

Does anyone know of a reason to need 3.7 (or 3.8) instead of the readily available Python 3.6?

My goal is to use an old dusty IBM 32-bit laptop as a dedicated front panel for the nanoVNA.  It has USB ports and an adequate display, so it appears to be ideal to give it a new life.  I am also playing with doing this with Tahr Puppy Linux that would cut back on memory requirements  as well as providing a live-boot capability that could help others.  This is progressing pretty well, so far.

Bob  W7PUA

Re: Why USB-C connector

#9748

USB4 uses the same connector and is backward compatible. It is essentially
a more open standard version of Thunderbolt 3, including that standard's
USB compatibility and use of the USB-C connector.

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 10:31 AM Kwacka via Groups.Io <kwacka2=
[email protected]> wrote:

Look on the bright side - USB4 is on the way!  :(

Re: Why USB-C connector

#9747

I was a pretty early purchaser.

The cable that came with mine has always been flakey. It's now become completely unusable.

 I finally went down to Target and bought a cheap replacement cable (I think it was less than $10) and the problem has completely disappeared...

M

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

#9746

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 12:12 AM, Graeme Jury wrote:


Ahh this is turning out to be more tricky than I thought. I am using Linux
Mint 19.3 which uses python 3.6. It was no problem to load the dependencies
which I listed for python 3.6 but they would not work when I used them with
python 3.7 which although it looked in the right place for the dist-packages
it could not load them so I guess that there are significant changes.
Unfortunately I can't simply unload python 3.6 and upgrade to python 3.7 as
3.6 is integrated into too many Mint packages and is really a system file.Hi Graeme

Sorry to hear that you cannot get nvna-s working on LM19.3.  Same setup works fine here.

 

At what point does this install process fail?  What are the error messages?

Nick
G3VNC

Re: Connectors on RF Test Board leads

#9745

Another problem with the demo board U.FL connectors is that they are surface mounted and unless you physically hold the connectors down while disconnecting cables can easily detach from the board.   This happened to me while I was demonstrating the board at my ham club.  Needless to say there were not many interested buyer's after seeing that. I also had to physically hold down the test cables during sweeps to maintain a good connection.

  As other members have said, the demo board is a good concept but poorly implemented with the U.FL connectors.  The demo board went into my bottom desk drawer with all the other Asian electronic devices that didn't live up to their billing.  If I had seen reviews like the recent ones on this board before my purchase, I would have went with the sdr-kits demo board.

- Herb

Re: Connectors on RF Test Board leads

#9744

I concur with these statements though I have managed to get the connectors
mated but with some great effort and care.
*Clyde K. Spencer*

Show quoted text

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 10:20 AM Dick <w1ksz@...> wrote:

I bought one also and I cannot connect the cables either.

Nice concept, but if it doesn't work, what good is it.

Caveat Emptor

73, Dick, W1KSZ
________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of
Christopher Pettitt via Groups.Io <g0eyo@...>
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 7:11 AM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: [nanovna-users] Connectors on RF Test Board leads

I have just tried to use the RF Demo Test board I purchased with  my
NanoVNA. I find it impossible to connect the leads supplied to the tiny
connectors on the test board. I assume I am not alone having discovered
this problem. The RF Demo Test board is a wonderful idea but not much use
if you can't connect to it.
Regards
Chris G0EYO

Re: Connectors on RF Test Board leads

#9743

You need a slit screw driver about 5 mm wide.
Hold with one hand the female connector of the cable centric over the male plug on the board, 
and press with the other hand the female plug with the screw driver down, parallel with the board.
The first time you connect it needs some force, but the next connections are easier.

To open the connection use a 1 mm wide slit screw driver.
With one hand hold the cable at the connector down, 
with the other hand lift with the screw driver the connecter at the crimping position up.

It works, but needs some learning.

To make U/FL cable female connector foolproof, solder the middle crimping,
see the picture at 

73, Rudi DL5FA

Re: Connectors on RF Test Board leads

#9742

Just be aware that the connectors used on the board are not made for repeated connect/disconnect and will not stand up to repeated connect/disconnect.  Cables need soldering to prevent breakage .

 

Re: Connectors on RF Test Board leads

[email protected]

#9741

Yes, those cheap U.FL plugs are a challenge to seat.  I use SMA to U.FL adapters.  Example is from Centric RF  C9917B - Adapter U.FL/Plug S<A-Female (U.FL/AMC compatible) S Steel 6GHz  VSWR 1.3   The adapters easily and reliably connect.
Regards,
John  N9JSA

Re: Re : NanoVNA-Saver Linux update procedure

Pierre Martel

#9740

I have a question, from what I see. the problem seem to com from debian
flavored distro.

Anyone can report what version and linux distro they are using where
NanoVNA-saver works right away?

I am willing to change distro if it comes that that.

Pierre
VE2PF

Show quoted text

Le jeu. 16 janv. 2020 à 10:37, Nick <g3vnc@...> a écrit :

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 08:26 AM, Rune Broberg wrote:

I'm a little confused as to the decision on the Linux Mint packagers to
release 19.3 late last year with Python 3.6, when 3.7 was already morethan
18 months old, and 3.8 had just been released as well. Going with aversion
that old is bound to cause problems for the users.Yes, we might even have got a newer version of python-pip3 - see below.

Anyway, getting near to the bottom of this now.  Following notes apply to
LM19.3.

As I understand it

$ python3.7 -m pip install .

parses ~/nanovna-saver/requirements.txt and installs the latest versions
of the required python distribution packages if they are not already
installed i.e.

scipy
pyqt5
pyserial
numpy

pip will always install the latest versions, not whatever (older) versions
happen to be available from the distro package management system - which is
good.

Since 15.12.19 when I installed nanovna-saver-0.2.2a there have been two
new versions of PyQt5...



The installation error reported arises when pip3 attempts to install
PyQt5==5.14.1.  We are not alone...



The pip3 version provided with the distro package python3-pip appears to
be too old.

$ pip3 -V
pip 9.0.1 from /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (python 3.6)

Having read more about it seems that using sudo with pip3 to overcome the
error (as suggested in my earlier post #9634 and elsewhere) is a bad idea;
if you need to use sudo you are probably trying to modify a distro file.

There is no easy way to upgrade the version of pip3 supplied by the distro
package python3-pip.  If the package manager advertises a new version then
you can install that as an update.  It's a distro file and you shouldn't
try to upgrade it any other way.  I managed to break (and fix) pip3 several
times in the attempt.

One way round this problem would be to install nanovna-saver in a python
virtual environment.

Another way is to modify ~/nanovna-saver/requirements.txt...

scipy
pyqt5==5.13.2
pyserial
numpy

then from ~/nanovna-saver/

$ python3.7 -m pip install -r ./requirements.txt .

This installs PyQt5==5.13.2 which is the version I used on 15.12.19.

I have tested this and it seems to work properly.

I do not understand why I had to explicitly specify the path to
requirements.txt though.

Nick

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