SDR++

[rocky28965]

Firstly, can anyone confirm if a SDRplay RSP1A will run on SDR++ software.

I have SDRuno running mine it on a Windows desktop.
Would like to get it running portable but my old laptop struggles to run SDRuno.
It will run a RTL-SDR ok on GQRX on linux.
So, I'm thinking if I can get SDR++ to run on linux, that might be my best option.
I currently have Windows 10 & Zorin OS 15 lite duel booted on my laptop.

Thanks

 

[lwvmobile]

So, I'm thinking if I can get SDR++ to run on linux, that might be my best option.
I currently have Windows 10 & Zorin OS 15 lite duel booted on my laptop.

Well, I was going to say you should be just be able to head to the releases section and download the install the deb file for the Ubuntu code name you needed, but I see that 18.04 isn't' available, just for Focal (20.04 LTS) and onward. Zorin 15 Lite uses the 18.04 Ubuntu base so I don't know if you would be able to install the deb for another version or not, so you might end up having to compile the software from the github instead. At least they have build instructions. It would probably take longer to compile than it would to follow the instructions, so atleast they appear to have it well documented. Give compiling it a shot and see how that works out. I switched my main over to Arch based so I might give compiling it a shot myself, see how it goes.

GitHub - AlexandreRouma/SDRPlusPlus: Cross-Platform SDR Software

Cross-Platform SDR Software. Contribute to AlexandreRouma/SDRPlusPlus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[lwvmobile]

I switched my main over to Arch based so I might give compiling it a shot myself, see how it goes.

Just a quick follow up, the answer to that was a big NO. Cmake complained about me not having gflw or gflw3 dependencies when I did have them, just in another package name glfw-x11. I did find it in the AUR and was able to install, but that version was last updated on 2021-04-26 so I'm certainly using an older version of it. It does have OpenGL Hardware Acceleration though, which is nice, but I'll have to give it further testing to see if I would use it over GQRX, I've really come to rely on that UDP out feature in GQRX.

Firstly, can anyone confirm if a SDRplay RSP1A will run on SDR++ software.

Well, according to their readme, that would appear to be the case, but I guess you never know for sure until you try it but if you compile it, sounds like you'll need SDRplay API packages installed and use the OPT_BUILD_SDRPLAY_SOURCE to compile with that support enabled.

Name	Stage	Dependencies	Option	Built by default​	Built in Release​	Enabled in SDR++ by default​
sdrplay_source	Working	SDRplay API	OPT_BUILD_SDRPLAY_SOURCE

 

[rocky28965]

Thanks for looking at that for me.
Sounds a bit complicated for me.
I cant even get SDR++ to run on Windows.
Comes up with "VCRUNTIME140_1.dll was not found"
SDRSharp & SDRuno run just fine.

 

[lwvmobile]

Comes up with "VCRUNTIME140_1.dll was not found"

Not quite sure, but sounds like you need one of those Visual Basic C++ Redistributables installed. The github page doesn't mention it as a requirement, but probably because the author didn't think to mention it since its pretty common install and many people already have it. Googling it led me down the path to the 2015 version, so maybe its worth a shot to install it, see if that fixes the VCRuntime error.

Download Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 from Official Microsoft Download Center

The Visual C++ Redistributable Packages install run-time components that are required to run C++ applications built using Visual Studio 2015.

www.microsoft.com

Not going to lie though, seems like a bare bones SDR# clone to me, interface wise, not that I use SDR#, but I didn't get too far into it other than listening briefly to some analog and what not. Not sure if it supports hardware that other software doesn't, but for me, seems like GQRX works just as well, unless anybody knows any features it has that you can't get from anywhere else. Seems like there are more robust software packages out there, such as Cubic SDR and SDRAngel, but I never cared much for the fancy stuff, although, having multiple 'modems' in CubicSDR is a nice feature, I never could get over the clunky interface on some of those.

 

[rocky28965]

I already had Visual C installed, both x32 & x64 versions
Tried uninstalling, reinstalling plus other suggestions from online.
Tried on office system & my laptop, no go.
Just gave it a try on my gaming system & it worked straight off.
Problem now is, SDRplay is not in the source list.

I can run GQRX on my laptop but it dosent support SDRplay

Cant seem to win.

 

[lwvmobile]

I can run GQRX on my laptop but it dosent support SDRplay

You might be able to get GQRX to run your SDRPlay if you use the SoapySDR library.
Everything I see when I look into this shows you need to do some compiling, as best as I can tell, and requires downloading the SDRPlay API for Linux, and compiling either SoapySDR to use software like GQRX, or building SDR++ using the API and specifying that you want it build as a module. Kind of sucks they can't have a pre-built application with SDRPlay support, but I'm willing to bet its probably because that API isn't open source, or doesn't have a license that allows it to be freely redistributed.

We support API 3 on Linux. Most SDR software on Linux requires some level of building so check out our video on how to build CubicSDR. CubicSDR is a general purpose SDR application.

Other software is available from our GitHub repository and Gnu Radio has support for RSPs through specific source blocks

Thing is, I feel like there is some missing instructions for building the optional modules, including SDRPlay, in SDR++. It has a table of what OPT codes to use, but doesn't really tell you how to go about compiling them. I feel like I'm missing something here to figure out how to compile this sh**. I'm kind of surprised that there aren't more clear instructions, seems like there would be quite a few people usng SDRPlay on Linux.

 

[lwvmobile]

Just took a second peak at this, and on the SDRPlay site under downloads, you can download the API for Ubuntu for your device, its just a set of scripts, and those scripts seem to include doing most all the leg work (I think) for downloading and installing all dependencies, and compiling the API as well as SoapySDR, so that should theoretically get SoapySDR with SDRPlay working, and you should be able to use SDRPlay with GQRX as well as compile SDR++ with the SDRPlay module. You can go as far as having it build Cubic SDR for you as well among other software like dump1090. Worth a shot at this point if you have the time to nurse a compile script for an indeterminate amount of time.

Software - SDRplay

Copyright (c) 2014-2023 SDRplay Ltd – SDRplay®,SDRuno® and SDRconnect® are registered trademarks belonging to SDRplay LtdRegistered UK company 09035244, 21 Lenten Street, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 1HG, UKRegistered Ireland company 3591295EH, The Black Church, St Mary’s Place, Co. Dublin, D07 P4AX...

www.sdrplay.com

 

[rocky28965]

I had already downloaded those files & tried to put it all together but my brain just wouldn't handle it.
I even watched a tutorial video made by Kevin Loughin but that confused me even more.
It reminded me of trying to install a device driver in window 3.1

 

[rocky28965]

I eventually got the SDRplay to run on SDR++ on my gaming system.
After unpluging & repluging the usb cable several times it showed up on the list.
As you say it is a very basic program.

 

[lwvmobile]

As you say it is a very basic program.

I will give credit where it is due though, SDR++ does seem to play with rtl_tcp much better than GQRX does. In GQRX, I would get lag when tuning the rtl_tcp source and streaming it in, but SDR++ seems to handle that kind of instance a lot better, tuning appears to be instantaneous and no perceived lag when doing things like adjusting squelch, gain, or anything like that.

Sadly though, SDR++ does seem to stutter on my little underpowered celeron dual core ultrabook, had audio stuttering and delay, especially when I had hoped the OpenGL hardware acceleration would take the workload off of the CPU and let that handle the audio. GQRX on my ultrabook works like a charm though.

I will report though, that I did find DragonOS in my search for getting an RSP1A to work in Linux. If you care to try out YET ANOTHER Linux distro via live usb, I think this guy has managed to put together a lot of SDR applications including SDR++ and SoapySDR, RSP1A and all that stuff all ready to go out of the box into a custom Lubuntu 20.04 respin. Might be worth a download and testing on a live USB. Kind of sounds a bit like Skywave Linux, but maybe a more useful assortment of things, I'm going to give it a download and test it myself a bit tater on today, see if its any good.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9U2kaqhE716J2WNSTcOghg/videos

DragonOS_Focal

Download DragonOS_Focal for free. *Until you install the operating system, the default user = live / no password. DragonOS FocalX (22.04) and DragonOS Focal (20.04) are out-of-the-box Lubuntu based x86_64 operating systems for anyone interested in software defined radios.

sourceforge.net

 

[logan437]

Thanks for looking at that for me.
Sounds a bit complicated for me.
I cant even get SDR++ to run on Windows.
Comes up with "VCRUNTIME140_1.dll was not found"
SDRSharp & SDRuno run just fine.

You can Google and find a downloadable VCRUNTIME140_1.dll and just put it in the SDR++ folder. Then it works fine. That dll is usually found in most windows systems, BUT it's Windows, so anything goes....

 

[lwvmobile]

Well, this might be promising for you.

 

[AM909]

You can Google and find a downloadable VCRUNTIME140_1.dll and just put it in the SDR++ folder. ...

...and end up with malware if you're not careful. If you want the authentic redistributable, get it from Microsoft (for free): The latest supported Visual C++ downloads . Get the vc_redist.x64.exe download under "Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019" (I think; Microsoft marketeers and development managers continue to be allowed to use different version numbers ).

 

[rocky28965]

I downloaded dragon os & ran it on my laptop from a usb.
It was a bit slow, so I installed it alongside zorin & windows.
I tried all the sdr programs & gqrx was the only one that would run my rsp1a.
But it was struggling with it, just like it does running from sdruno in windows. It would run a rtl-sdr ok.
So I've come to the conclusion, my old laptop is not up to running the rsp1a.

Thanks for the help anyway.

 

[lwvmobile]

But it was struggling with it, just like it does running from sdruno in windows. It would run a rtl-sdr ok.

Just out of curiosity, what are the specs on your laptop, and was it struggling with the rsp1a when you were running the full 10 Mhz, or did you try a lower sample rate like 2Mhz and still see it struggle.

 

[rocky28965]

It's a Toshiba Satellite L300, Celeron 550 @ 2.0 GHz, 2.0 GHz Ram

Not sure how to alter the sample rate, most likely at default.
If I turn off the waterfall & most of the panels it runs with broken audio & the CPU gauge at max.

 

[lwvmobile]

It's a Toshiba Satellite L300, Celeron 550 @ 2.0 GHz, 2.0 GHz Ram

Wow, if my googling is correct, that laptop came out around 2010. Does that machine still have a Windows Vista sticker on it . I'm only joking of course, I have a few older machines as well, but to be honest, that Celeron I think is killing you more than anything, 1 Core, 1 Thread. It does speak to the longevity of Toshiba Satellite laptops though, I've sold and serviced a few of those things, and they just flat out refuse to die. Might be worth it to look into getting a nice certified refurbished laptop with warranty if those can be had for a decent price in New Zealand.

 

[mbott]

Just started playing with SDR++ here. I really like installs that only require moving a folder into the Program directory. Working with the Airspys, the SDRplay RSP2 and RSPduo.

 

[rocky28965]

Wow, if my googling is correct, that laptop came out around 2010. Does that machine still have a Windows Vista sticker on it . I'm only joking of course, I have a few older machines as well, but to be honest, that Celeron I think is killing you more than anything, 1 Core, 1 Thread. It does speak to the longevity of Toshiba Satellite laptops though, I've sold and serviced a few of those things, and they just flat out refuse to die. Might be worth it to look into getting a nice certified refurbished laptop with warranty if those can be had for a decent price in New Zealand.

This is my wife old laptop.
I bought her a new one last year, which I am allowed to use.
So will probably be setting that up with SDRuno.
I just prefer the old one. It has bigger keys for my fat fumbling old fingers.