Raspberry Pi type B + DVB-T Dongle to feed FR24

[peterhr]

B+ has four USBs, better USB power regulator, has moved away from the fragile SD card slot to micro SD card, has more pins to connect things to and a neater layout

Processor / memory wise - it's the same. Power consumption the B+ is 3w against 3.5w for the B.

If I was buying now I'd get the B+, but I wouldn't see getting a B+ as an upgrade for a B unless the USB or extra GPIO ports were needed.

Virtual radar server on the Pi ... is that possible?

If buying, get a couple of extra memory cards - then you can experiment with different software without destroying what you have that works.

I'd also suggest you try to follow the guide to build from scratch rather than use the image - it takes maybe 2 hours but you learn lots from it and will be more comfortable making changes later.

---

Just seen VRS is available for Pi - you'd have to see how it runs with your number of planes.

I usually have 150-250 planes in range and my Pi is fairly busy at 75%-80%. I don't think it would run VRS as well - but it does have dump1090 that covers many of the same bases (try the t-egbb19 link in my footer). If I a want a range chart I run up VRS on te PC for a few hours getting data from dump1090.

[peterhr]

I'm also using the same dongle + Pi to feed FlightAware ... eventually my main rig should end up at position 20 on their world wide ranking, and the rig I use to do test builds (with the dongle mag mount antenna on the window cill) will end up at position 170ish (if I leave it connected). THough I'm fortunately placed with many many flights in range every day, the big difference is in the antenna used. Many of the people I'll be passing will have spent much more on buying a nice looking car (for the prestige of owning a merc) then they run it on kerosene and get awful performance (by the way, that's an analogy )

[Harrie45]

@peterhr

I tried to also feed flightaware. But did not succeed.
"apt-get install -fy" removed PiAware. Running "dpkg -i piaware_1.8.deb" again shows that 2 dependencies could not be found: raspi-copies-and-fills and itcl3.
Any ideas? I tried "apt-get install raspi-copies-and-fills" but it returns that the package is not available.
(I am a novice linux user. I have Wheezy installed on the Pi)

[peterhr]

Hmm, probably depends on the raspberian version you have.

try

wget http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debia....4-1_armhf.deb

then

sudo dpkg raspi-copies-and-fills_0.4-1_armhf.deb (if you log in as root, you don't need sudo)

itcl3 mustbe a new one ... google has found it here (wget and dpkg)

http://ftp.acc.umu.se/mirror/raspbian/raspbian/pool/main/i/itcl3/itcl3_3.4.1-2_armhf.deb

queies like these should go on the flight aware forums so the people there benefit.

[Harrie45]

queies like these should go on the flight aware forums so the people there benefit.

Did that. Someone suggested rpi-update. I think I have a bricked Pi now...

[peterhr]

Did that. Someone suggested rpi-update. I think I have a bricked Pi now...

Yep, saw that - I's only the SD card image that's corrupt, easy to recover

look at it as an opportunity to get latest version everything

[Harrie45]

Yep, saw that - I's only the SD card image that's corrupt, easy to recover

look at it as an opportunity to get latest version everything

It is feeding FR24 again. But I had other plans for today....

[Mutt08]

I cheated

I did

sudo update-rc.d -f piaware remove

to stop the service starting at boot.

Then in the fr24.sh added

"sudo service piaware stop" before the 'killall' statements

and

"sudo service piaware start" after restarting the fr24feed

Peter,

I appreciate that we may be going off topic a little, but just a quick question!

Using the code above I've noticed over the last few days that I'm seeing a second instance of piaware starting, after rebooting the pi all is well until the following day & then it appears again.
Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

3700 pi 20 0 15780 6052 908 R 41.0 1.4 204:44.17 dump1090
3701 pi 20 0 47300 4084 1392 R 5.6 0.9 39:32.61 fr24feed_arm-rp
2182 root 20 0 19096 6656 3104 S 0.7 1.5 12:02.02 piaware
3716 root 20 0 19096 6652 3104 S 0.7 1.5 3:27.53 piaware
3725 root 20 0 2788 1100 772 S 0.7 0.2 3:34.55 faup1090

[HermanZA]

I recall some members saying the Pi is a bit light to do all what should be done, or to handle high traffic volumes.
Yesterday I found this interesting device, seemingly capable of running most distro's of Linux, and it comes at a reasonable price as well, with options in which CPU you want.
http://www.solid-run.com/products/hummingboard/

[peterhr]

I recall some members saying the Pi is a bit light to do all what should be done, or to handle high traffic volumes.
Yesterday I found this interesting device, seemingly capable of running most distro's of Linux, and it comes at a reasonable price as well, with options in which CPU you want.
http://www.solid-run.com/products/hummingboard/

There are lots of similar boards, many of them from far east distributors. The problem with buying there is that the boards are maybe $60, then they add $30 for delivery - so you have $90 value - this is what is used to calculate customs duty and VAT as the board is imported - so the cost is much higher than it appears. If you are in Europe it certainly pays to try to source from a european distributor. I like the look of the Banana Pi.

(PS. I know Herman is in ZA)

[peterhr]

Peter,

I appreciate that we may be going off topic a little, but just a quick question!

Using the code above I've noticed over the last few days that I'm seeing a second instance of piaware starting, after rebooting the pi all is well until the following day & then it appears again.
Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

3700 pi 20 0 15780 6052 908 R 41.0 1.4 204:44.17 dump1090
3701 pi 20 0 47300 4084 1392 R 5.6 0.9 39:32.61 fr24feed_arm-rp
2182 root 20 0 19096 6656 3104 S 0.7 1.5 12:02.02 piaware
3716 root 20 0 19096 6652 3104 S 0.7 1.5 3:27.53 piaware
3725 root 20 0 2788 1100 772 S 0.7 0.2 3:34.55 faup1090

My guess is that the service is not disabled and two PiAwares are starting up close enough to each other that the second is bot detecting the first. Certainly if you do try to start a second PiAware normally it says it's already running an doesn't start

[Mutt08]

My guess is that the service is not disabled and two PiAwares are starting up close enough to each other that the second is bot detecting the first. Certainly if you do try to start a second PiAware normally it says it's already running an doesn't start

Seems to be happening daily, I didnt do a reboot yesterday just to see what would happen & today three piawares are running!


PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
6994 pi 20 0 15780 6052 908 R 43.7 1.4 192:42.37 dump1090
6995 pi 20 0 48324 4088 1392 R 6.9 0.9 38:34.28 fr24feed_arm-rp
2182 root 20 0 19096 6656 3104 S 1.0 1.5 20:52.61 piaware
3716 root 20 0 19096 6656 3104 S 1.0 1.5 12:15.74 piaware
7010 root 20 0 19096 6652 3104 S 1.0 1.5 3:28.26 piaware
7019 root 20 0 2788 1100 772 S 1.0 0.2 3:21.93 faup1090
8071 pi 20 0 4672 1352 1024 R 1.0 0.3 0:00.26 top

[peterhr]

Seems to be happening daily, I didnt do a reboot yesterday just to see what would happen & today three piawares are running!


PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
6994 pi 20 0 15780 6052 908 R 43.7 1.4 192:42.37 dump1090
6995 pi 20 0 48324 4088 1392 R 6.9 0.9 38:34.28 fr24feed_arm-rp
2182 root 20 0 19096 6656 3104 S 1.0 1.5 20:52.61 piaware
3716 root 20 0 19096 6656 3104 S 1.0 1.5 12:15.74 piaware
7010 root 20 0 19096 6652 3104 S 1.0 1.5 3:28.26 piaware
7019 root 20 0 2788 1100 772 S 1.0 0.2 3:21.93 faup1090
8071 pi 20 0 4672 1352 1024 R 1.0 0.3 0:00.26 top

weird - is this v1.8 PiAware?

[Mutt08]

It is version 1.8, certainly is weird.

I also tried the same as you, issuing the command to start piaware again & got the same result that piaware was already running!

I gave the command 'sudo service piaware stop' & then restarted with 'sudo service piaware start' & this worked. These commands are in fr24.sh as you suggested so not sure whats happening?

[peterhr]

It is version 1.8, certainly is weird.

I also tried the same as you, issuing the command to start piaware again & got the same result that piaware was already running!

I gave the command 'sudo service piaware stop' & then restarted with 'sudo service piaware start' & this worked. These commands are in fr24.sh as you suggested so not sure whats happening?

Maybe just remove it from the fr24.sh script and run it as a service like they say.

I have one pi tiat does the stop and start fine. I have another it will not restart on.

This discussion should really really take place in the flightaware forum.