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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">I think I'm now ready to find some
permanent enclosure for the hardware - RPi, powered USB hub,
USB/RS232 device and wifi dongle. The project has outgrown the
cardboard box <span class="moz-smiley-s1"><span> :-) </span></span><br>
<br>
I didn't mention in my original posting that the two USB ports on
the RPi can only supply 100mA and, thus, some hardware might cause
excessive loading. The accepted solution is to use a powered hub.
In my case I have a 7 port hub that came with a 2A switch mode
plug pack. I think it cost me $20 at Big W about four years ago.
To avoid two plug packs I power the RPi from the hub and run a
separate USB cable for the data. The power socket on the RPI is
power only, no data.<br>
<br>
Ray vk2tv<br>
<br>
On 03/09/12 21:59, roxbyplus wrote:<br>
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<div>I had it running a while back and seems ok. Like yourself I
have yet to add the radio port but I think I will soon. Thanks
for reviving my interest.</div>
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<div style="font-size:75%;color:#575757">Sent from my Telstra
Next G device</div>
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<br>
Ray Wells <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:vk2tv@exemail.com.au"><vk2tv@exemail.com.au></a> wrote:<br>
All,<br>
<br>
For somewhere around two years or so I'd been searching for a
computer <br>
with low input energy requirements to use as a gateway machine to
<br>
replace a conventional desktop system. And then I moved location
quite <br>
suddenly which threw my plans into chaos. I'm now in a position to
<br>
reestablish gateway facilities with 2m, 30m and satgate
facilities, as <br>
per my original gateway.<br>
<br>
Although I'd looked at the RPi (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/">http://www.raspberrypi.org/</a>) as a
<br>
suitable computer, it was Bernard F6BVP (maintainer of xfbb and
fpac) <br>
reporting that he had compiled a kernel with ax25 support that got
me <br>
really interested. The latest Debian kernel - <br>
2012-08-16-wheezy-raspbian.img -has kernel ax25 included.<br>
<br>
The RPi is a single board computer using a 700MHz ARM processor.
It runs <br>
from a single 5V supply. The PCB is about the size of a credit
card, has <br>
HDMI and composite video out, audio out, one ethernet port and 2 x
USB <br>
ports. They are available from Element 14 (rebadged Farnell) and
RS <br>
Components for about $38. See the wiki at <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi</a><br>
<br>
My original intent was to run soundmodem to provide two 1k2 ports
but I <br>
found soundmodem unstable and unpredictable on both the RPi and my
<br>
desktop environment. In addition, the RPi failed to boot with a
Sound <br>
Blaster Play USB dongle plugged in. The dongle is supposed to work
OOTB <br>
on the RPi. Other users have reported similar boot problems.<br>
<br>
Given that I still have a number of MFJ1270B TNCs I decided that a
<br>
hardware approach might be more feasible in the short term. They
can <br>
always be replaced by more efficient newer options (TNCX, TT4,
etc) in <br>
the fullness of time. In order to run hardware TNCs I needed RS232
ports <br>
so a USB/RS232 adapter was needed. A recommendation from the
xastir <br>
mailing list suggested a 4 port FTDI adaptor from DigiKey, at this
<br>
address - <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/USB-COM232-PLUS4/768-1034-ND/2139296">http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/USB-COM232-PLUS4/768-1034-ND/2139296</a>
<br>
The unit cost about $76 with freight and arrived in four days from
the <br>
US. I plugged it into the RPi and it worked OOTB. The adapter
doesn't <br>
have a case, but neither does the RPi.<br>
<br>
Because the gateway system will be away from the house I needed
wifi for <br>
Internet access - too difficult to get Cat5 to the shed. I bought
a <br>
TP-LINK TL-WN721N USB dongle and it almost worked OOTB. I needed
to <br>
install wicd to be able to configure it but it works a treat. In
the end <br>
I decided to use my Realtek 8189 equivalent wifi modem for the RPi
<br>
because it has an external antenna. It just worked OOTB as well.<br>
<br>
The RPi reliably boots with both the USB/RS232 adapter and the
wifi <br>
dongle connected.<br>
<br>
The software I had previously used for the gateway machine is
xastir. <br>
It's always done the job and it's stable. The RPi will run
headless and <br>
even though I don't "really" need the graphical display of xastir
I was <br>
intent on giving it a try. Although there is now a deb package for
<br>
xastir (with a current version), I opted to compile xastir on the
RPi. I <br>
had already compiled the kernel ax25 surces for libax25, ax25apps
and <br>
ax25tools.<br>
<br>
Although the Raspian distribution is based on Debian Wheezy, not
all <br>
packages are available for the ARM processor - yet. This led to
some <br>
dependency conflicts that I eventually resolved by seeing what
libraries <br>
had been used in the deb package. I finally managed to compile
xastir <br>
with all options except festival sound, which I don't need. When I
<br>
booted xastir it reported being unable to find libax25.so.1, even
though <br>
it exists in /usr/local/lib. For whatever reason, xastir was
looking in <br>
/usr/lib so I created a symlink - problem solved.<br>
<br>
Xastir is understandably slow when loading raster maps (but lots
faster <br>
than xastir 1.4 on a P166 machine some years ago!). For my trial I
use <br>
just one map so speed is not an issue. A final installation may
have no <br>
map loaded. Xastir is now running as vk2tv-4 but without radio
ports at <br>
this stage until I assess reliability. I don't expect any issues.<br>
<br>
During my enquiries on the xastir mailing list it was suggested
that <br>
xastir is not ideal for a gateway machine (read that previously)
and <br>
that I should try aprx which works in a non-graphical environment.
I've <br>
also compiled a deb package for the ARM processor and it installed
just <br>
fine. aprx has some very flexible configuration options and it
reports <br>
lots of statistics on channel usage, etc, as telemetry beacons. It
<br>
appears worthy of a trial run s that's my next project.<br>
<br>
My goal is to have a solar powered gateway and the RPi has taken
me a <br>
lot closer to that goal.<br>
<br>
Ray vk2tv<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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