Portsdown 4 Langstone Integration

Background

The Portsdown 4 is designed to work alongsde the Langstone Microwave Transceiver, using common hardware. However, the 2 projects are separate with differing priorities.

Before trying to install the Langstone on your Portsdown hardware, check that you have:

• A Pluto SDR (with the extended frequency range modification) connected by USB (at least initially)
• The correct USB audio dongle. Non-supported USB dongles will not work.
• A USB mouse for use as a scrollwheel

Initial Installation

Your Portsdown must be connected to the internet (preferably with a wired connection) to install or update the Langstone Software.

It is recommended that you initiate a Portsdown Update ("Menu 3", "Check for Update" then "Update" or "Force Update") to update to the latest system files before installing Langstone.

Once updated, from Menu 3, select "Langstone Config", "Install Langstone Now". An "Installing Langstone Sofwtare" screen will be displayed while the extra sofwtare packages required by the Langstone are installed, and then the Langstone software itself is installed. Be patient, this will take 5 to 10 minutes (depending on the speed of your internet connection). At the end of the process, the Portsdown will reboot to Portsdown.

Once rebooted, you can select Langstone from "Menu 2", "Switch to Langstone". Sometimes the first attempt to start the Langstone will fail; if this happens, shut the system down, restart it and try again. For further troubleshhooting, please refer to this page https://wiki.microwavers.org.uk/Langstone_Project#Diagnostics .

Usage

The Langstone can be selected from "Menu 2", "Switch to Langstone". Portsdown will command the Pluto to reboot so that it is ready to work with Langstone and then, once it has detected that the Pluto has rebooted (usually after 22 seconds) it will start the Langstone application.

If you want to switch back to Portsdown, Select "Set" and "Exit to Portsdown". Again, the Pluto will be rebooted and Portsdown will start when this is complete. Alternatively you can shut the Raspberry Pi down directly by selecting "Set" and "Shutdown". On next start-up, by default, the Raspberry Pi will boot to the Portsdown.

Boot to Langstone

You can set the Portsdown to always boot to the Langstone rather than the Portsdown from "Menu 3", "System Config", "Start-up App".

Managing Pluto IP Addresses

By default the Portsdown looks for the Pluto on the IP address 192.168.2.1. By default the Langstone uses the name "pluto.local", rather than an IP address.

From the Langstone Configuration Menu ("Menu 3", "Langstone Config"), you can change either or both of these settings. They do not need to be the same. The Portsdown setting will only accept valid IP addresses, but the Langstone setting will also accept "pluto.local".

The "Pluto IP for Langstone" will need to be reset after a Langstone Update.

Updating the Langstone Software

You can update the Langstone software from the Langstone Configuration Menu ("Menu 3", "Langstone Config", "Update Langstone"). This action simply downloads a new version of the Langstone software, retaining your old "Langstone.conf" file which holds the Langstone settings.

If the format of the Langstone.conf file is updated, you will need to manually change or replace the file from the command line.

The Langstone update functionality does not update the packages on the system, so if a Langstone update requires the latest version of any packages, these would need to be updated by performing a normal Portsdown update (perhaps even a "Forced Update").