SDRAngel Rx & Tx

Marty, are you getting any permission problems for /dev/bus/usb coming up in the terminal window just before sdrangel window comes up ? If so, you will need to set device permissions. I had this problem and once I changed permissions, LimeSDR showed up in sdrangel and it is working fine…TX and RX with less than 1/2 second delay (70cm NFM test only so far)

2 Likes

This would be my thought also.

@martywittrock, what does dmesg say when you plug the device in?

@F4EXB - Edouard,

In Ubuntu 16.04 when I try to unpackage the sdrangel_3.5.5.-1_amd64.deb file that I downloaded into my Home subdirectory I get the following:

dpkg: error processing archive sdrangel_3.5.5.-1_amd64.deb (–install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
sdrangel_3.5.5.-1_amd64.deb

…and again, this is when I can actually see this file in my Home directory and perform that dpkg there.

Please let me know what I’m doing wrong here…I’m stumped.

73 de Marty, KN0CK

@brendanthebig / @gerryk

When I do a dmesg I’m not really seeing anything that tells me that the Lime is there, but a lot of what gets spooled out is cryptic. I see devices that are attached to USB 3.0 (and the Lime is the only thing) but I’m not seeing anything clear that says ‘LimeSDR’ or the like.

Anything you can add here will be greatly appreciated.

73 de Marty, KN0CK

Hello Marty,

looks like a problem with the package manager. Maybe you can try to do this before:

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

And if it complains about dependencies after the dpkg command:

sudo apt-get -f install

Best regards, Edouard.

1 Like

Beware the ‘-f’. Through this way leads madness. One forced dependency in one place could lead to a tangled mess everywhere.
‘apt-get dist-upgrade’ is as far as you can safely go without forcing things.

It should still be safe if you do it after a clean upgrade that is in sequence:

  • sudo apt-get upgrade or (for the brave) sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
  • make sure there are no dependency problems at this stage
  • sudo dpkg -i sdrangel…deb
  • sudo apt-get -f install

Thus you make sure that dependencies are only those of the package. I still wonder why dpkg would not pull the dependencies of the package automatically though.

I think you are perhaps confusing this, which is the same as –fix-broken and pulls in any missing dependencies — e.g. say you installed a package via dpkg -i PACKAGE which had unresolved dependencies — with –force-yes, which is indeed a wormhole to packaging system hell.

dpkg just installs/manages packages. apt-get and aptitude build on this to resolve dependencies and pull them in from online repos etc.

@andrewback,
Yes, you are right. Thanks.

@F4EXB - Edouard,

Yeah - that’s what I thought, too, when I saw the dpkg error message but I didn’t have any time to resolve it because I had to haul into work this morning. I’m going to retry 16.04 as a clean install and then do as you suggest. My first installation of 17.04 acted irradically - things like Firefox would not let me click on the forum topics, SDRAngel not launching properly, ect. So I’m going to stick with 16.04 since that’s what it’s built on and go from there. I’ll try this tonight when I get back from work - please stay tuned…

73 de Marty, KN0CK

Note that starting with apt 1.1 (available in xenial(16.04), stretch) apt install also allows local files.

So “sudo apt install ./sdrangel_3.5.5-1_amd64.deb” works also and should walk you around the fear of “-f” option since apt install will install dependencies automatically. Do not forget the “./” if the .deb file is in the same directory.

Note: I confirm that sudo apt install with local .deb file works and finds and install all dependencies automatically. I will update the documentation with this. You need the “universe” repository enabled.

@gerryk / @brendanthebig

What’s a good fool-proof (since I’m a fool at Linux) way of checking USB without ‘dmesg’? When I did that one I get A LOT of cryptic information and I don’t see anything ‘Lime like’ in the results. Is there an app I can use under Ubuntu 16.04 that can check USB and see this a little more clearly. Frankly, I’m shocked that my Ubuntu 16.04 install and other dependencies that I loaded on (LimeSuite, SoapySDRUtil, etc) didn’t find the Lime. Even when I did a check with LimeSuite it didn’t see my Lime - yet I can pull the USB cabled, twirl around in the chair, plug it onto my Windows box, and fire-up SDRConsole V3.0 and lo and behold there my Lime will be playing nice. So it’s not a hardware thing - I have to think this is a setup issue and somehow Stella has lost her groove (meaning I’ve lost the knack for setting up the Lime on Ubuntu).

Let me know your thoughts on all this - I’m going to try Edouard’s suggestions and try it again tonight after work…Stay tuned…

73 de Marty, KN0CK

Try lsusb Marty. You should see the vendor id and device name in the output, if it’s plugged in.

Something like this…

gerryk@erdos:~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 18a5:0400 Verbatim, Ltd 
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0cf3:9271 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR9271 802.11n
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0603:00f2 Novatek Microelectronics Corp. Keyboard (Labtec Ultra Flat Keyboard)
gerryk@erdos:~ $
1 Like

@gerryk,

Can you send me the same listing with the Lime plugged in so I can see if I even have that? Looking in this list it doesn’t appear to be present until it’s a Linux Foundation item. Let me know - 73,

de Marty, KN0CK

Hey Marty,

this is how it looks for me (see fifth entry):

[asdf@arch ~]$ lsusb                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
Bus 004 Device 004: ID 041e:0401 Creative Technology, Ltd                                                                                                                                                                                          
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 05e3:0716 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 Multislot Card Reader/Writer                                                                                                                                                          
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub                                                                                                                                                                          
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub                                                                                                                                                                                     
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1d50:6108 OpenMoko, Inc. Myriad-RF LimeSDR                                                                                                                                                                                  
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub                                                                                                                                                                                     
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub                                                                                                                                                                     
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f9:004a Brother Industries, Ltd                                                                                                                                                                                           
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub                                                                                                                                                                          
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Same…
gerkav@elxa10t7k32:~/Development/sdr/sdrangel/build⟫ dregs
[844399.951037] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[844399.951561] sd 39:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[844399.951564] sd 39:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[844399.951567] sd 39:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 Add. Sense: Medium not present
[844399.951569] sd 39:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00
[844399.951570] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdc, sector 0
[844399.951572] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[844399.951578] ldm_validate_partition_table(): Disk read failed.
[844399.952094] sd 39:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
.
.
.
[881882.898757] usb 4-5: new SuperSpeed USB device number 56 using xhci_hcd
[881882.915444] usb 4-5: LPM exit latency is zeroed, disabling LPM.
[881882.916312] usb 4-5: New USB device found, idVendor=1d50, idProduct=6108
[881882.916314] usb 4-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[881882.916316] usb 4-5: Product: LimeSDR-USB
[881882.916317] usb 4-5: Manufacturer: Myriad-RF
[881882.916318] usb 4-5: SerialNumber: 0009060B0047381A

egerkav@elxa10t7k32:~/Development/sdr/sdrangel/build⟫ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 8087:07da Intel Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0c45:64d0 Microdia 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8008 Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 056: ID 1d50:6108 OpenMoko, Inc. 
Bus 004 Device 055: ID 0781:5583 SanDisk Corp. 
Bus 004 Device 048: ID 05dc:a83a Lexar Media, Inc. 
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
egerkav@elxa10t7k32:~/Development/sdr/sdrangel/build⟫

I am no guru at Linux by any means but I managed to get mine going ok. The errors I was getting in the terminal window when I ran sdrangel are as follows :-
libusb: error [_get_usbfs_fd] libusb couldn’t open USB device /dev/bus/usb/004/002: Permission denied
libusb: error [_get_usbfs_fd] libusb requires write access to USB device nodes.
libusb: error [_get_usbfs_fd] libusb couldn’t open USB device /dev/bus/usb/004/002: Permission denied
libusb: error [_get_usbfs_fd] libusb requires write access to USB device nodes.

I fixed it by issuing the following command :-

sudo chmod -R 777 /dev/bus/usb/004/002

After this, the errors no longer appear when I run sdrangel and LimeSDR is available to select in the list of devices.

I’m not sure if this is the correct way to do things but it has worked for me with one little problem. It does not seem to be a permanent change and I have to re-issue the chmod command after a reboot…Perhaps some else can suggest a more permanent method.

Hopefully this helps,
Kindest regards,
Brendan Jenkins,
VK3WWB.

I wondering if it is possible to add a keyboard shortcut to swap between RX and TX…For example, press and hold space bar, R0 stops and T1 starts. Release space bar, T1 stops and R0 starts. Perhaps even add an output on one of the gpio pins to control a sequencer. Any chance of adding these features in the future ?

Just did a TX test on 23cm…All working fine…I can’t wait for the lna’s and pa’s that I’ve ordered to turn up now…
Time to build some filters too…Don’t want to be causing any problems with harmonics etc once I’ve got more power going to the antennas…

1 Like