Portsdown 2018 Stretch Software

The Portsdown 2018 Stretch software is based on the Raspbian Stretch operating system which was released during 2017. The original Portsdown software was based on the Raspbian Jessie operating system which has now been superseded. The first Portsdown 2018 Stretch release was dated 20180327 and was released the following day.

This software is required for the Raspberry Pi 3+ and works on the older Raspberry Pi 3. The previous Raspbian Jessie software will only work with the Raspberry Pi 3.

The latest release can be found here https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/portsdown

Changes from the Original Portsdown Software

The main improvement is that the boot-up time has been significantly reduced, and the IP address is not displayed at start-up. Othere recent improvements include:

• After initial build, the software automatically reboots to the touchscreen and is ready to use without needing configuration from a PC.
• Software updates can be initiated from the touchscreen (Menu 3).

Minor Problems

There are a few minor problems that have not been resolved:

• It is not possible to use any Webcam if the Raspberry Pi Camera is also connected to the Portsdown at boot-up. Not only will the webcam not work, the Raspberry Pi will not respond to shutdown or reboot commands. Simply disconnect the Pi Camera before boot-up if you want to use a webcam.

• The upgrade from the 20180327 version to the 201804021 version requires a series of commands to be entered at the Linux command line. These are detailed on the forum. Subsequent upgrades can be initiated from the touchscreen.