There seems to be little Linux support for SDRplay devices outside of the convenient images from SDRplay with preinstalled software. That software was limited and out of date as of this writing. I have spent quite a bit of time getting an up to date system on which to install the latest Linux SDR software. I have added support for the HackRF One. This procedure uses Linux Mint. I hope this helps you. These procedures may work for other SDR hardware except for the drivers and device specific items.
This prodecure is based on my installation in VirtualBox, which on my system, is inadequate. I hope that your system is better, preferably not in a virtual machine. If you do not use a virtual machine, ingnore those instructions.
I suggest turning off power saving features as they will halt your SDR reception. There are several places where this should be done. There are details near the end of this section.
I basically included prerequisites that were not found on my system. However, there may be a few packages listed that are already installed. This is OK.
Note: I have included support for the SDRplay RSP1A, HackRF One and RTL-SDR. You will only need to install support for the device(s) that you have.
mkdir ~/.config/gtk-3.0
xed ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
# Insert the following into the file:
[Settings]
gtk-primary-button-warps-slider = false
# Save the file and open a new one:
xed ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css
# Insert the following into the file:
.scrollbar {
-GtkScrollbar-has-backward-stepper: true;
-GtkScrollbar-has-forward-stepper: true;
-GtkRange-slider-width: 10;
-GtkRange-stepper-size: 10;
}
scrollbar slider {
/* Size of the slider */
min-width: 14px;
min-height: 14px;
border-radius: 5px;
/* Padding around the slider */
border: 2px solid transparent;
}
# Save the file.
sudo apt install python3.10-dbg python3.10-dev pyqt5-dev python3-sip python3-pyqt5.sip python3-pyqt5 python3-venv python3-pip sudo apt install man git usbutils libudev-dev xarchiver lxterminal
sudo apt-get install cmake
sudo apt-get install libpulse0 pulseaudio pavucontrol paprefs pulseaudio-utils libpulse-dev
sudo apt-get install libqt5core5a
sudo apt install qt5-qmake qtbase5-dev qtmultimedia5-dev libqt5multimediawidgets5 libqt5multimedia5-plugins qtgstreamer-plugins-qt5 qtcreator libqt5svg5-dev libqt5serialport5-dev qttools5-dev libqwt-qt5-6 libqwt-qt5-dev sudo apt install libqt5websockets5-dev libqt5charts5-dev qml-module-qtlocation qml-module-qtpositioning qml-module-qtquick-dialogs qml-module-qtquick-controls qml-module-qtquick-controls2 qtdeclarative5-dev qtpositioning5-dev qtlocation5-dev libqt5texttospeech5-dev
sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev libfftw3-3 libfftw3-dev sudo service udev restart
cd ~/Downloads # or wherever you downloaded the file chmod 755 SDRplay_RSP_API-Linux-3.07.1.run sudo ./SDRplay_RSP_API-Linux-3.07.1.run sudo ldconfig
sudo systemctl stop sdrplay sudo systemctl start sdrplay
sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev usbutils libfftw3-3 libfftw3-dev
cd ~/ git clone https://github.com/greatscottgadgets/hackrf cd hackrf/host mkdir build cd build cmake .. make -j 4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig
hackrf_info
# Transfer rate test: hackrf_transfer -r /dev/null -s 20000000 # Connect an antenna and test sending data: hackrf_transfer -t /dev/zero
cd ~/hackrf/firmware-bin # To update the firmware on a working HackRF One, use the hackrf_spiflash program: hackrf_spiflash -w hackrf_one_usb.bin # Press the reset button on the HackRF. hackrf_info # The new firmware version should now displayed.
sudo xed /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-dvb.conf
sudo apt-get install rtl-sdr librtlsdr-dev
sudo apt install g++ libcodec2-dev libvolk2-bin libvolk2-dev build-essential libgtk-3-dev sudo apt install libboost-all-dev libgmp-dev swig python3-requests python3-ruamel.yaml python3-setuptools python3-numpy python3-mako python3-sphinx python3-lxml doxygen libsdl1.2-dev libgsl-dev libzmq3-dev cppzmq-dev python3-yaml python3-click python3-click-plugins python3-zmq python3-scipy python3-docutils liborc-0.4-0 liborc-0.4-dev python3-gi-cairo python3-waitress liblog4cpp5-dev liblog4cpp5v5 sudo apt install libsndfile1-dev osspd osspd-pulseaudio sudo osspd-alsa libcppunit-dev libqt5opengl5-dev libpthread-stubs0-dev libudev-dev sudo apt install pybind11-dev python3-pybind11 pybind11-json-dev libspdlog-dev libspdlog1 pip install pygccxml
sudo apt install python3-matplotlib python3-networkx python3-pyqt5.qwt libeigen3-dev python3-json-pointer python3-rfc3987 python3-uritemplate python3-webcolors python3-pyqt5.qtopengl
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends libuhd4.1.0 libuhd-dev sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnuradio gnuradio-dev # Show version gnuradio-config-info -v # With LightDM, put PYTHONPATH in ~/.xsessionrc instead of ~/.profile xed ~/.xsessionrc #add this export command to the end of the file or to any existing PYTHONPATH line. Save changes to make the variables permanent. export PYTHONPATH=/usr/lib/python3.10/dist-packages:/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages:/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages:$PYTHONPATH
sudo xed /etc/ld.so.conf.d/gnuradio.conf # insert the line: /usr/lib # Save the file sudo ldconfig
volk_profile
cd ~/ git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR.git cd SoapySDR mkdir build cd build cmake .. make -j4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig
cd ~/ git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDRPlay3.git cd SoapySDRPlay3 mkdir build cd build cmake .. make -j4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig # Type these commands. If your SDR is listed, the hardest work is done! SoapySDRUtil --info SoapySDRUtil --probe="driver=sdrplay"
cd ~/ git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapyHackRF.git cd SoapyHackRF mkdir build cd build cmake .. make -j4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig # Type this command. Check that your SDR is listed and the details are correct. SoapySDRUtil --probe="driver=hackrf"
cd ~/ git clone --branch new-gain-controls --single-branch https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDRPlay3.git cd SoapySDRPlay3 mkdir build cd build cmake .. make -j4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig
cd ~/ git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapyRTLSDR.git cd SoapyRTLSDR mkdir build cd build cmake .. make -j4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig # Type this command. Check that your SDR is listed and the details are correct. SoapySDRUtil --probe="driver=rtlsdr"
cd ~/ git clone https://github.com/fventuri/gr-osmosdr.git cd gr-osmosdr/ mkdir build cd build cmake .. -DENABLE_NONFREE=TRUE
make -j4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig
cd ~/ git clone https://github.com/fventuri/gr-sdrplay3.git cd gr-sdrplay3 mkdir build cd build cmake .. make -j4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig
sudo xed /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/profile-sets/default.conf
sudo xed /etc/asound.conf # Add these lines to the file defaults.pcm.card 1 defaults.ctl.card 1Save the file and close.
