pages tagged dmrFeeding the Cloudhttps://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/tags/dmr/Feeding the Cloudikiwiki2022-01-01T04:14:57ZUpgrading a DMR hotspot to Pi-Star 4.1 RC-7https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/upgrade-dmr-hotspot-pistar-4_1/
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2021-06-11T20:43:57Z2020-03-01T18:30:00Z
<p>While the <a href="http://www.pistar.uk/">Pi-Star</a> DMR gateway has automatic
updates, the latest release (3.4.17) is still based on an old version of
Debian (<a href="https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/">Debian 8 jessie</a>) which is
no longer supported. It is however relatively easy to update to the latest
release candidate of Pi-Star 4.1 (based on <a href="https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/">Debian 10
buster</a>), as long as you have a
spare SD card (4 GB minimum).</p>
<h1 id="Download_the_required_files_and_copy_to_an_SD_card">Download the required files and copy to an SD card</h1>
<p>First of all, download the <a href="https://www.pistar.uk/beta/">latest RC image</a>
and your <a href="http://pi-star.local/admin/configure.php">local configuration</a>
(remember the default account name is <code>pi-star</code>). I like to also print a
copy of that settings page since it's much easier to refer to if things go
wrong.</p>
<p>Then unzip the image and <a href="https://askubuntu.com/questions/179437/how-can-i-burn-a-raspberry-pi-image-to-sd-card-from-ubuntu">"burn"
it</a>
to a new SD card (no need to format it ahead of time):</p>
<pre><code>sudo dd if=Pi-Star_RPi_V4.1.0-RC7_20-Dec-2019.img of=/dev/sdX status=progress bs=4M
sync
</code></pre>
<p>where <code>/dev/sdX</code> is the device name for the SD card, which you can find in
the <code>dmesg</code> output. <strong>Don't skip the <code>sync</code> command</strong> or you may eject the
card before your computer is done writing to it.</p>
<p>Then unmount the SD card and unplug it from your computer. Plug it back in.
You should see two drives mounted automatically on your desktop:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>pistar</code></li>
<li><code>boot</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Copy the configuration zip file you downloaded earlier onto the root of the
<code>boot</code> drive and then eject the drive.</p>
<p>Run <code>sync</code> again before actually unplugging the card.</p>
<h1 id="Boot_into_the_new_version">Boot into the new version</h1>
<p>In order to boot into the new version, start by turning off the Pi. Then
remove the old SD card and insert the new one that you just prepared. That
new card will become the new OS drive.</p>
<p>Boot the Pi and ideally connect a monitor to the HDMI port so that you can
see it boot up and reboot twice before dropping you to a login prompt.</p>
<p>Login using the default credentials:</p>
<ul>
<li>Username: <code>pi-star</code></li>
<li>Password: <code>raspberry</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Once logged in use <code>top</code> to see if the pi is busy doing anything. Mine was
in the process of upgrading Debian packages via <code>unattended-upgrades</code> which
made everything (including the web UI) very slow.</p>
<p>You should now be able to access the <a href="http://pi-star.local/">web UI</a> using
the above credentials.</p>
<h1 id="Update_to_the_latest_version">Update to the latest version</h1>
<p>From the command line, you can ensure that you are running the latest
version of Pi-Star by running the following command:</p>
<pre><code>sudo pistar-upgrade
</code></pre>
<p>This updated from <code>4.1.0-RC7</code> to <code>4.1.0-RC8</code> on my device.</p>
<p>You can also run the following:</p>
<pre><code>sudo pistar-update
</code></pre>
<p>to update the underlying Raspbian OS.</p>
<h1 id="Check_and_restore_your_settings">Check and restore your settings</h1>
<p>Once things have settled down, double-check the
<a href="http://pi-star.local/admin/configure.php">settings</a> and restore your admin
password since that was not part of the configuration backup you made earlier.</p>
<p>I had to restore the following settings since they got lost in the process:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>Auto AP</code>: <code>Off</code></li>
<li><code>uPNP</code>: <code>Off</code></li>
</ul>
<h1 id="Roll_back_to_the_previous_version">Roll back to the previous version</h1>
<p>If you run into problems, the best option is to roll back to the previous
version and then try again.</p>
<p>As long as you didn't reuse the original SD card for this upgrade, rolling
back to version 3.4.17 simply involves shutting down the pi and then
swapping the new SD card for the old one and then starting it up again.</p>
Programming an AnyTone AT-D878UV on Linux using Windows 10 and VirtualBoxhttps://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/programming-anytone-d878uv-on-linux-using-windows10-and-virtualbox/
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2022-01-01T04:14:57Z2019-04-17T05:15:00Z
<p>I recently acquired an <a href="https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/collections/amateur-handheld-radios/products/anytone-at-d878uv-dual-band-dmr-handheld-radio-w-gps-programming-cable">AnyTone AT-D878UV DMR
radio</a>
which is unfortunately not supported by
<a href="https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home">chirp</a>, my usual
go-to free software package for programming amateur radios.</p>
<p>Instead, I had to setup a Windows 10 virtual machine so that I could setup
the radio using the manufacturer's computer programming software (CPS).</p>
<h1 id="Install_VirtualBox">Install VirtualBox</h1>
<p>Install <a href="https://www.virtualbox.org">VirtualBox</a>:</p>
<pre><code>apt install virtualbox virtualbox-guest-additions-iso
</code></pre>
<p>and add your user account to the <code>vboxusers</code> group:</p>
<pre><code>adduser francois vboxusers
</code></pre>
<p>to make filesharing before the host and the guest work.</p>
<p>Finally, <strong>reboot</strong> to ensure that group membership and kernel modules are
all set.</p>
<h1 id="Create_a_Windows_10_virtual_machine">Create a Windows 10 virtual machine</h1>
<p>Create a new Windows 10 virtual machine within VirtualBox. Then, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10ISO">download Windows
10</a> from
Microsoft then start the virtual machine mounting the <code>.iso</code> file as an
optical drive.</p>
<p>Follow the instructions to install Windows 10, paying attention to the
<a href="https://askleo.com/setting-up-windows-10-for-privacy/">various privacy options you will be
offered</a>.</p>
<p>Once Windows is installed, mount the host's
<code>/usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso</code> as a virtual optical drive
and install the VirtualBox guest additions.</p>
<h1 id="Installing_the_CPS">Installing the CPS</h1>
<p>With Windows fully setup, it's time to download the latest version of the
<a href="https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/pages/anytone-at-d878uv-support-page">computer programming
software</a>.</p>
<p>Unpack the downloaded file and then install it as Admin (right-click on the
<code>.exe</code>).</p>
<p>Do NOT install the GD driver update or the USB driver, they do not appear to
be necessary.</p>
<h1 id="Program_the_radio">Program the radio</h1>
<p>First, you'll want to download from the radio to get a starting configuration
that you can change.</p>
<p>To do this:</p>
<ol>
<li>Turn the radio on and wait until it has finished booting.</li>
<li>Plug the USB programming cable onto the computer and the radio.</li>
<li>From the CPS menu choose "Set COM port".</li>
<li>From the CPS menu choose "Read from radio".</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Save this original codeplug to a file as a backup</strong> in case you need to
easily reset back to the factory settings.</p>
<p>To program the radio, follow this <a href="https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/blogs/bridgecom-tx-rx-blog/anytone-868-878-programming-guide-v1-33">handy third-party
guide</a>
since it's much better than the official manual.</p>
<p>You should be able to use the "Write to radio" menu option without any
problems once you're done creating your codeplug.</p>