Portsdown software

The core software for the Portsdown transmitter has been written by Evariste, F5OEO. Other contributions have been made by numerous developers and it is a great example of an open-source project. Most of the source code is available on the BATC GitHub repository, but some of the code is downloaded from other sources.

The potential capabilities of the hardware and software combination are very diverse and maintenance of the totality of the software is beyond the resources of the project team, so only a subset of capabilities will be actively supported. As most of us are TV enthusiasts rather than software enthusiasts, every effort has been made to make the configuration menu-driven.

Micro-SD cards with the latest software will be made available from the BATC Shop, and if you buy one of the cards you can skip this step and go straight back to initial setup section of the user guide.

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However, a number of members may want to build their own and the process is not difficult. There are a few operations that require the use of the Linux Command Line. Do not be alarmed – these are simple cut and paste exercises, and full instructions will be provided. The detail will be posted on the BATC GitHub (Git Hub is an open-source software collaboration website), with the latest software. The BATC GitHub can be found at https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/rpidatv

You will require an application to check the IP address of your RPi when it first boots up, such as Advanced IP Scanner and an SSH Terminal application such as Putty.

Downloading and Installing the Latest Software

• You will need another computer with a means of writing an image to a Micro-SD Card. The use of Win32DiskImager is recommended for writing to the card.

• First download the supported Raspbian Jessie Lite (that’s the operating system) image from the raspberrypi.org website. This may not always be the latest version, as each new version needs compatibility testing. At the time of writing the required version is dated 2016-11-25. You will then need to unzip the file, and you will end up with a file with a .img file extension.

• Use Win32DiskImager, or a similar program, to write the file to your Micro-SD card. To enable you to log-n when you first start your RPi, you need to create an empty file in the \boot directory. To do this, open the Micro-SD card for viewing in Windows Explorer and open the \boot directory. Create a new empty file called ssh by right-clicking, selecting New, Text Document, and then change the name to ssh (not ssh.txt). You should get a window warning about changing the filename extension. Click OK. If you do not get this warning, you have created a file called ssh.txt and you need to rename it ssh.

• Now eject the Micro-SD card from your PC and put it into your RPi. Connect the RPi to the same network as your PC, and turn it on. After it has booted up, use the IP Scanner to find the IP address of your RPi.

• Open Putty (or another ssh terminal application), enter the IP address of your RPi and open a connection. At the logon prompt enter the default username of pi and the default password of raspberry. You may be prompted to change the password at this stage – even if you are not prompted, now is a good time to do it by typing “passwd” and enter.

• Now you need to download the rpidatv installer, modify it to be an executable program and then run it. These 3 lines can be cut and pasted from the GitHub instructions. The installation will take a few minutes and should offer you a reboot when it has finished.

• After the reboot, log-in again and the console menu will start automatically.

You are now at the same stage as if you had purchased a Micro-SD card from the BATC Shop.