The concept of a read only file system may not suit all users so here are the instructions how to change the pi-star configuration so the file system is always in RW mode.
Note: Some of the files modified in this procedure may be overwritten during future Pi-Star upgradates.
Step 1 - mount file...
Continue reading...There are plenty of articles on the installation of a DS1307 RTC module.
There are equally as many articles listing various installation/configuration problems.
The basic hardware issues relates to signal voltage difference on I2C bus, the Pi uses 3.3V whereas the DS1307 module uses 5V. You may...
Continue reading...The Official Raspberry Pi 7" Touchscreen is very cost effective device which can turn a RaPi into a very sophisticated GUI for all sorts of home projects.
This article is about using the touchscreen as a dedicated interface to home-brew code on a head-less RaPi, that is, a Pi which does not utilis...
Continue reading...A selection of commands to manage services from Raspian/Debian Jessie onwards:
Print active services:
sudo systemctl list-units -t service
Print all services:
sudo systemctl list-units -t service --all
Print status of a single service:
sudo systemctl status cron
Start/Stop/Restart/Relo...
Continue reading...It has been a few years since the last G4KLX update and whilst there are a couple of yahoo groups (pcrepeatercontroller and ircDDBGateway) the latest information is not easy to find.
It appears that Jonathan Naylor's (G4KLX) good work is being carried on by Hans Barthen (DL5DI) and the source...
Continue reading...The Pi 3 comes with on-board Bluetooth and WiFi interfaces. If these interfaces are not required they can be switched off by editing the boot configuration:
sudo nano /boot/config.txt
Add the following lines to the end of the file:
# wifi offContinue reading...
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi
#bluetooth off
dtoverlay...
Many of my RaPi's are configured for a daily reboot to increase reliability. Despite many precautions and care being taken during coding some programs (including mine) suffer from [minor] memory leaks. Whilst these leaks don't cause any immediate issues, if the are run for months/years without resta...
Continue reading...This recipe describes how to cook up a Raspberry Pi as a VPN server to provide secure access to your network via a public internet connection.
The ingredients are:
Terminal login can be performed without the need to enter a password every login session.
You need to generate a RSA key pair and then place the public key into the servers "authorized_keys" file.
First check if the RSA key pair is already present in the users ~/.ssh directory. The default names...
Continue reading...Keeping the Raspberry Pi up-to-date with the latest version OS and installed software is quite easy.
It requires your Pi to have a network connection to the internet.
These commands will update raspian and perform a cleanup:
sudo apt-get updateContinue reading...
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo...
Git code repository is required by other installation procedures:
sudo apt-get install git
Apple File Protocol to provide file access via network:
sudo apt-get install netatalk
Continue reading...
Connecting the PN532 to the Raspberry Pi can be challenging unless you follow the required steps.
The easiest way to get up and running quickly is to use libnfc.
Here is the link to the nfc library source
https://github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc.git
And here are the instructions how to build...
Continue reading...Information for this article sourced from this site.
File sharing between Mac OS X and the Raspberry Pi is easier than I thought.
FIrst make sure you have a working internet connection on your RaPi, then start a terminal screen, enter "sudo su -" and follow the procedure below:
apt-get update...Continue reading...
Instructions to convert a simplex hotspot to a duplex repeater using a GMSK modem:
The Moencomm Star*board configuration needs to be changed to allow for duplex operation:
Once that is done proceed to the G4KLX software (e.g. on your Raspberry Pi).
Before changing configurations you need to...
Continue reading...After downloading the RaPi image from my download page you should follow these steps to get your Hotspot operational:
If you have installed a downloaded image the file system size normally doesn't match the size of your SD card.
This article describes the process of expanding the file system to take up the full size of your SD card.
Step 1: VNC into your Raspberry Pi and double click the terminal application (...
Continue reading...Copying the SD card contents to disk is easy done, but it takes up storage space of the same size as the memory card. Although it compresses down to a reasonable size once it is expanded the OS has to handle a rather large file. Resizing the image makes it much easier to handle.
For this process I...
Continue reading...I've managed to lock myself out of the RaPi - for example, by changing the network address (in /etc/network/interfaces) to one which I can't access.
If you have a HDMI device, keyboard and mouse to hand the problem is easily solved but if you don't you would be looking for a way to correct your mi...
Continue reading...I decided to publish an image for the Raspberry Pi B+ to help other amateurs. The image contains the following software:
Credit for this article goes to K6JM.
If you want the two programs (dstarrepeater and ircddbgateway) to start up without the console and GUI, G4KLX provides daemon versions of his programs, in this case, dstarrepeaterd and ircddbgatewayd. To have these launched at startup rather than the GUI...
Continue reading...After you have configured your hotspot and you RaPi is up and running you may want to change the hostname of the Pi. The hostname is what you see when you log in by command line, at the top of your VNC window, in network connections and many other places. The default name is normally "raspberry" o...
Continue reading...Once you have the RaPi configured you may want to access your WiFi network. A word of warning: not all WiFi dongles work with the RaPi, before you attempt to configure your adapter look at this website to check compatibility.
The perquisite for this procedure is that you have access to the gui d...
Continue reading...Us Mac users are lucky, VNC comes with the operating system, we don't need to install any additional software as the technology underlying macOS screen share is VNC.
To use VNC click on the finder Icon (in your dock), go to the menu at the top and click on "Go" and select "Connect to Server ..."....
Continue reading...This is a brief "How To" tether your Raspberry Pi to an iPhone5 for the purpose of providing an internet connection to the RaPi:
Power Considerations (Important!):
The iPhone draws considerable power and the current available at the RaPi USB port is limited. My experience has shown that I can co...
Continue reading...How to tether your Raspberry Pi to an Android phone for the purpose of providing an internet connection to the RaPi:
Firstly you should consider a high current (2A or more) USB hub as some phones draw a lot of current when they start charging (as soon as you connect to USB). The RaPi may not be ab...
Continue reading...Mid 2014 saw the latest Raspberry Pi model B+ released and everyone received emails advertising this new beauty.
Amongst the new features is an extended GPIO connector, 2 extra USB ports, microSD and reduced power consumption.
Apart from the new features my propellor hea...
Continue reading...Once you have the G4KLX D-Star hotspot/repeater commissioned on the Raspberry Pi you should back up your configuration files.
If you have access to the Desktop this process is not difficult:
Based on Raspbian (Debian Wheezy):
1) become root
sudo su -
2) Install x11vnc:
apt-get update apt-get install x11vnc
3) set password
x11vnc -storepasswd
enter a password of your choice
4) download startup script
cd /etc/init.d/
wget http://www.vk3erw.com/download/vncboot
5) make...
Continue reading...If you are looking for G4KLX hotspot setup instructions they are located in this article.
Here are some notes on minor items which I found valuable while setting up the G4KLX image on the RaspberryPi:
After connecting a Raspberry Pi to t he network the acquired IP address may not be apparent.
To find the RaPi's IP address on OS X you can use "arp -a" for a list of subnet ip addresses. This list can be updated by pinging the subnet's broadcast address (e.g. ping 192.168.2.255).
Continue reading...After downloading and installing noip2 you need to take a few more steps.
The noip2 binary is installed in the correct directory (/usr/local/bin) but the noip2.sh file is not, it remains in the installation directory.
1) move noip2.sh to /etc/init.d/
2) rename noip2.sh to noip2
3) add the fo...
Continue reading...The G4KLX software image from Western D-Star comes preconfigured with 2 desktops. Operating through VNC I experience lots of unintended desktop switching which is very cumbersome, particularly since I don't need multiple desktops.
The number of desktops can be reduced in a number of ways:
After downloading a RaPi image the image must be transferred to a memory card.
The memory card must be a class 10 (fast card) for any of the D-Star hotspot / repeater images.
On an Mac you can use Terminal to perform the transfer.
Start with this command to discover all disks (the memory card...
Continue reading...This author of the following article is Ted B Hale. The article is reproduced from this website for the purpose of grouping radio related RaPi articles together on this site. Although the article refers to MySQL server, the situation is very similar for a RaPi used as repeater controller if the u...
Continue reading...