no pihpsdr icon on G2

[KI4P]

received my G2 with no front panel, hooked up a monitor and keyboard and mouse, came right up, no pihpsdr icon on screen, only place i can find anything about it was in programs, i think, anyway clicked and got error message, seems i read somewhere how to type a command line to get that installed, can someone point me to it or any help appreciated.
Rick

[w-u-2-o]

My understanding is that the non-front panel units were shipped with only the p2app preinstalled and set to run on boot. The assumption was that these units would be used with Thetis.

The user manual,

https://community.apache-labs.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2340

does not cover installation of piHPSDR. Read carefullly, the user manual implies that the N1GP version of piHPSDR is necessary.

https://github.com/n1gp/pihpsdr/tree/master

If you look at the bottom of that page it discusses where to find instructions to build and install it (on any Linux machine, including a G2).

[KI4P]

Well, if you didn't have to use that to change the mic input I wouldn't need it either. But if you have to flash PI for update or revision you still need it.

[Trucker]

Scott,
Section 3.4 of the manual makes it sound like if you connect a monitor , mouse and keyboard to the radio it should boot up a Linux OS screen ( probably Raspbian) and double click on an icon on the desktop to start PiHPSDR. It also states that p2app automatically loads for connecting to Thetis over the network as well.
James
WD5GWY

[w-u-2-o]

It's likely there are many things in the manual that probably need revision or updates based on the configurations Apache is actually shipping.

I believe Laurence is the author of the manual.

[Trucker]

It's likely there are many things in the manual that probably need revision or updates based on the configurations Apache is actually shipping.

I believe Laurence is the author of the manual.

As I understand it, Laurance did write the manual. In an earlier section of the manual it does state that the user only needs to attach a monitor, keyboard and mouse to "operate in full standalone mode". And that there is a shortcut on the desktop that you can double click to start PiHPSDR in the CM4 module. P2app loads on startup and Thetis can connect to the radio over the network. But, currently, PiHPSDR cannot be running at the same time.
Lots of new things to learn about these new radios!
James
WD5GWY

[Trucker]

I forgot to mention, that several people on the Apache Labs Facebook page have received their new radios. Some with the front panel and a couple without it. One with the front panel was DOA. Others seem to be working fine. Just having to learn to navigate the Linux desktop and PiHPSDR.
James
WD5GWY

[laurencebarker]

I have written the manual based on my understanding of what software would be loaded when. It seems I didn't ask "is there a desktop icon for piHPSDR" and apparently there isn't. I haven't seen a factory spec radio so it's hard for me to know that snippet.

I did also add to a recent update to the manual how to recreate the desktop icon

7.4.2 Icon for piHPSDR
1. Open a file editor. Your Raspberry pi will have several, and an editor called “geany” can be loaded from the programming menu.
2. Enter (or paste) the text below into your editor window
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name[eb_GB]=piHPSDR
Exec=/home/pi/github/pihpsdr/pihpsdr
Icon=/home/pi/pihpsdr/hpsdr_icon.png
Name=piHPSDR
3. Use "save as" to save it to your desktop with filename p2app.desktop
4. Using your file browser, open your /home/pi/Desktop folder
5. Select file p2app.desktop (may shows as p2app with no extension)
6. Right click and select properties
7. Select the Permissions tab
a. Set View Content: to Anyone
b. Set Change content: to Only owner
c. Set Execute: to Anyone
8. Press OK


If you have a radio with NO front panel: I'm told that p2app loads automatically. There will be no visible indication; but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. The acid test is to see if a process is running.

plug in a display, mouse and keyboard and type ps -ax | grep p2app
on my prototype I get a response like this, telling me that ./p2app is process number 741 (the exact number will vary from run to run)
741 ? Sl 30.00 ./p2app

[laurencebarker]

You can also run pihpsdr from a command line:

cd github/n1gp/pihpsdr
./pihpsdr

[KI4P]

You can also run pihpsdr from a command line:

cd github/n1gp/pihpsdr
./pihpsdr

thank you! that is what im hunting, i think.
at least mine didnt have the pihpsdr icon,
Rick

[KI4P]

I forgot to mention, that several people on the Apache Labs Facebook page have received their new radios. Some with the front panel and a couple without it. One with the front panel was DOA. Others seem to be working fine. Just having to learn to navigate the Linux desktop and PiHPSDR.
James
WD5GWY

I wasn't going to mention it, but my G2 no front is kinda DOA. got it to come on and usable for about 15 minutes, unit comes on but no receive period, and high swr. Got it to come on once and work, actually talked on it. Turned off, came in last night and never came up at all. In contact with Apache. We'll see.

[wevets@gmail.com]

I forgot to mention, that several people on the Apache Labs Facebook page have received their new radios. Some with the front panel and a couple without it. One with the front panel was DOA. Others seem to be working fine. Just having to learn to navigate the Linux desktop and PiHPSDR.
James
WD5GWY

I wasn't going to mention it, but my G2 no front is kinda DOA. got it to come on and usable for about 15 minutes, unit comes on but no receive period, and high swr. Got it to come on once and work, actually talked on it. Turned off, came in last night and never came up at all. In contact with Apache. We'll see.

So- maybe the radio hardware is locked up? With my Andromeda (and Red pitaya too!) Sometimes if things are talking - and I restart the GUI - the Hardware doesn't resynch - but rather says its busy. This is solved by really powering down everything, i.e. halt Raspian, then do a real power cycle - the power button should be sufficient.

So what exactly won't start would be a good first question. Does PiHPSDR find the radio - or are you stuck with it saying the radio is busy as implied above? Also - the current version of PiHPSDR might be different from what I'm familiar with, i.e. does it come up and give you a chance to chose the radio - or does it just boot straight into the GUI? Do you see the Raspian screen? Can you start a terminal on that?

Steve KA6S

[KI4P]

When you start radio it comes up with screen, I'm trying to start pihpsdr but the icon is greyed out. I understand since its a no screen model you have to kill the p2app that's running by default. I'm not a pi guy so I don't understand the command to kill the p2app running and starting pihpsdr. That way I could at least eleminate the PC and related hardware.
Thanks
Richard

So what exactly won't start would be a good first question. Does PiHPSDR find the radio - or are you stuck with it saying the radio is busy as implied above? Also - the current version of PiHPSDR might be different from what I'm familiar with, i.e. does it come up and give you a chance to chose the radio - or does it just boot straight into the GUI? Do you see the Raspian screen? Can you start a terminal on that?

Steve KA6S[/quote]

[ka1sdr]

i am having same issue pihpsdr icon seems greyed out and when i double click it it go to small screen where i can execute it when i due that an error comes up it does not go to screen where it sees radio and i can click start.thetis works perfect

[Trucker]

I believe the icon for PiHPSDR is grayed out because P2APP is still running. You have to close P2APP first then you should be able to click on the PiHPSDR icon and run PiHPSDR.
You cannot have both P2APP and PiHPSDR running at the same time.
James
WD5GWY

there should be some information about this in the manual.

[SM3PZG]

Could someone try to explain the logic in replacing a NUC Windows PC with a Raspberry Pi besides making the ANAN-G2 cheaper? Why not make the ANAN-G2 with a NUC PC alterative for those who don't want to learn Linux and avoid all the headaches?

[w-u-2-o]

Could someone try to explain the logic in replacing a NUC Windows PC with a Raspberry Pi besides making the ANAN-G2 cheaper? Why not make the ANAN-G2 with a NUC PC alterative for those who don't want to learn Linux and avoid all the headaches?

The intent was not to make it cheaper. Laurence will undoubtedly correct me where I go wrong, but the primary intent was to lower the complexity of the firmware.

One of the biggest challenges in previous designs was achieving a workable GigE interface in the firmware. This proved extremely difficult using the free version of the Quartus IDE. Rick, N1GP, worked extremely hard to obtain success with Protocol 2 firmware using that IDE. Success would have proved a lot easier using a paid-for seat of Quartus, since the paid version allowed for FPGA floor-planning/incremental builds, something the free version does not. Similarly, proprietary firmware IP libraries for the GigE interface would have also helped. However, it was felt that either approach was not in keeping with the desire to keep the firmware fully open source.

In the G2 design, a switch from ADI (nee Altera) FPGAs to Xilinx made available open source PCIE firmware IP that could be built with high reliability and good timing closure using the free Xilinx IDE. It also solved some obsolescence and supply chain issues. With the data transferred to the Pi compute module over PCIE, the tried and true Linux network kernel on the Pi provided an extremely reliable and proven GigE interface.

Understanding that the rest of my post is somewhat speculative because I was not part of the design team, with the Pi compute module being part of the design, previous experience with the Andromeda, and a keen desire on the part of the key developers to design a more "conventional" radio experience, it was pretty much irresistible to revisit piHPSDR and a front panel as part of the design. However, realizing that customer demographic was divided, with some (most?) desiring a black box to use with Thetis, and the rest desiring a more conventional user experience, both options were made available, albeit with the Pi compute module at the heart of the design.

I'd like to add that as soon as I became aware of the new design I recommended to the dev's that the Pi part of it boot out of a read-only partition and run in a RAM disk. This would provide substantially more stability. It would necessitate the publishing of new read-only images for upgrades, but that seemed simpler for both dev's and users IMHO. For better or worse, that is obviously not the current approach.

[laurencebarker]

That's a fair summary, Scott.

I would explain the difference not as replacing a NUC PC by a pi, but replacing protocol code and GigE by PCI Express.

There is some work happening to see if we can have a simple configuration program that looks for code updates. I suspect treating the radio as more of an appliance rather than a desktop computer would have made some users' experience easier, and that could still happen if anyone knows how to do that.

[w-u-2-o]

Laurence--there are plenty of excellent web resources that discuss booting and running a Pi from a read-only partition. As you might imagine, there are many embedded applications where stability is paramount. People also do it to reduce wear and tear on the SD card media.

The SD card would need to be formatted with an additional read/write partition in order to hold piHPSDR and network settings data. Again, this is a standard part of the read-only boot configuration and is well discussed on the internet.

A larger issue, however, is that people who wish to install other app's to run with piHPSDR, for example WSJT-X, would not be able to unless those app's were made part of the read-only image.

[ka1sdr]

could someone please explain how to shut down p2app so i can run pihpsdr

[Trucker]

Protocol 2 App. press 'x <enter>' ( from a attached keyboard) in the console to close P2APP.
James
WD5GWY

hopefully this makes sense.

[Trucker]

If that doesn't work try this. It will force the application to close.

To close a console application in Linux, you can usually press Ctrl + C in the terminal window, which sends a signal to interrupt the running process; alternatively, you can use the command "exit" to close the terminal window itself, or identify the process name and use the "pkill" command to specifically terminate that application. 

Key points:

Ctrl + C: This is the most common way to quickly stop a running console application. 

"exit" command: To close the terminal window itself, type "exit" and press Enter.