Ryde Software

Introduction

The Ryde uses a number of open-source software components:

• LongMynd. A specific version of LongMynd is used to control the MiniTiouner.
• RydePlayer. RydePlayer controls LongMynd, responds to remote control commands, manages the on-screen menus and controls the VLC video player.
• Pydispmanx. Pydispmanx is a utility to manage the layers (overlays) on the display.
• Ryde-Build. Ryde-build provides an installer, updater, console menu and currently manages selection of remote controls and display output.
• VLC. VLC is the video player used to display video and output audio from the received transport stream.

Unusually for a BATC Project, the Ryde software has been released long before it has been finished. The early releases had very limited functionality but were so useful that it was decided that they should be released. New features are being released in updates about every 2 weeks. A full list of features that are intended to be added to the Ryde software can be found on the GitHub issues list: https://github.com/eclispe/rydeplayer/issues

Current Status

The main limitation of the current build is that it is not possible to make permanent changes (ie changes that survive a reboot) from the Remote Control menus. However, permanent changes can be made from the "SSH Console Menu".

Getting Started

During normal operation, the Ryde will boot up and try to receive on the default preset when powered-on. New SD Cards are programmed to receive the QO-100 beacon as the default preset. New builds can then be controlled from the front panel buttons (if used) or the ssh console menu (see below). Once the correct remote control has been selected from the ssh console menu, the receiver can be controlled from the remote control.

Shutting down Safely

Although every effort has been made to make the Ryde as robust as possible, like any computer, there is a chance that it wil be damaged if not properly shut down. There are a number of ways to easily shut it down:

1. Use the on-screen menu (from the front panel buttons or the remote), select "Power" and then select "System Shutdown".
2. Enable the hardware shutdown in the SSH Console Menu (Advanced Settings, Hardware Shutdown). Then wire a push button between GPIO pin 26 and ground, with a 10K pull-up to 3v3 (pin 1 or pin 17). The push button can then be used to initiate a safe shutdown.
3. Use the Shutdown Option on the SSH Console Menu
4. Issue the command "sudo shutdown now" from the ssh command line.

Accidental power-offs without shutdown do not normally cause system corruption, but better to be safe than sorry.

The SSH Console Menu

To change the default settings, such as Remote Control Type, Start-up Preset, LNB LO Frequency, LNB Power or tuner input socket, you will need to use the ssh console menu using an external PC from a terminal application such as KiTTY.

1. Download KiTTY from: https://www.fosshub.com/KiTTY.html/kitty.exe

2. Using a network lead connect the RPi to the same network as your PC, insert the SD card and turn the RPi on.

3. Now you will need to find the IP address of your Ryde rxr. Download and run the IP Scanner program on your PC - download it from Advanced IP Scanner and scan for devices and after a few seconds it will list all the devices on your network including one from the Raspberry Pi foundation - this is your RPi so note down the IP address listed against it. You can now close the IP scanner program.

3. Open KiTTY and enter “raspberrypi” (no quotes, no spaces) in the Host Name box and open a connection. The first time that you do this, you will get a security warning; accept it. At the logon prompt enter the default username of “pi” and the password “raspberry” (again no quotes). You will see the command prompt. At the command prompt, type menu and press enter. This will stop the receiver and bring up the ssh console menu:

4. In the menus press the up and down PC keyboard arrows to highlight the menu item that you require and then press enter. In some menus after highlighting the choice required you will need to press the space the space bar to select it (don’t forget this!). Then press Enter to make the changes and return to the main menu. You can restart the receiver from the console, or reboot to start normally.

Configuration using the SSH Console Menu

The SSH Console Menu defines 8 bands. Each band has a defined local oscillator frequency (set to 0 if direct reception is required for 146, 437, 1255 and 2400), a defined LO configuration (low or high side difference mixing, or sum mixing), a defined LNB voltage, a selected Tuner port (top - A, or bottom - B), and a GPIO setting. The band names are fixed, but all the parameters can be changed.

There are 10 Presets defined. The names of the presets are fixed, but each preset has a selectable band, up to 4 (scanning) frequencies and up to 4 (scanning) symbol rates. You can set a single frequency and SR if you just want the preset to look at one signal.

The scan rate is normally 5 seconds per setting. So if you have one frequency and 4 SRs, each SR is checked every 20 seconds. If you have 4 frequencies and 4 SRs, all combinations are looked at, but only once every 80 seconds. The scan time (Tuner Timeout) can be set in the Advanced Settings. Note that a Tuner Timeout of 10 seconds is normally required for the reseption of 66kS signals as they take longer to lock.

The preset that is tuned to at start-up can be defined. By default it is the QO-100 beacon.

Setting LNB Offsets on the Bands

Eight bands are defined for use. Within each band you can set the LNB offset if you are using an LNB, upconverter or downconverter. If you are receiving directly (for the bands 146 - 2.4 GHz) simply enter 0 for the offset. If you enter an LNB local oscillator frequency, you will then be asked to enter an "LO side". there are 3 options:

LOW:  Tuner Frequency = Signal Frequency - LO Frequency  (Such as a QO-100 LNB)
HIGH: Tuner Frequency = LO Frequency - Signal Frequency  (Such as a C-Band LNB)
SUM:  Tuner Frequency = LO Frequency + Signal Frequency  (Such as a 50 MHz or 70 MHz upconverter)

Note that if you are directly editing the config file (ie not using the ssh console menu) you must set the loside to SUM if the offset is 0.

You can also set the tuner input (A or B) and the GPIO switching lines that are activated for each band.

Manually Editing the Presets

The Ryde configuration, bands and presets are defined in a single text file (/home/pi/ryde/config.yaml) on the Ryde SD Card. You can manually edit this file in 2 ways:

• Log in to the Raspberry Pi ssh Command line and use a text editor
• Connect to the Ryde from a Windows computer and use a remote file editor

The format of the file is defined by the spaces in front of each line. Do not insert any tabs in the file - this will cause the Ryde to fail to start up. In the event of problems, you can revert back to the default by opening the ssh menu (type menu and pressenter from the command line), select Settings, and Revert to Factory Settings.

There are enough examples in the config file to allow you to make changes from example. The "default" line sets which preset the receiver starts up on. Full details of the config file can be found here Ryde Player GitHub page.

Command Line Editing

To edit from the ssh command line, enter the command

nano /home/pi/ryde/config.yaml

The use the arrow and page up/down keys to move the cursor around and edit the file. When you have finished, press ctrl-x, y, enter to save your changes, or ctrl-x, n, enter to discard them. You can then start the receiver by typing ryde and enter at the command line.

Remote File Editor

You can use a remote file editor such as the free WinSCP to edit the file. This is the editor that is used in all Portsdown development.