Enable easy installation on a reference platform

[kerel-fs]

Since the ognconfig tool will be discontinued, we need a new reference setup which doesn't require any prior knowledge of Linux.

An idea is to use pi-init2 and a (debian-)packaged version of rtlsdr-ogn for raspbian (for easy updating). The installation procedure would be like this:

1. Download raspbian and write it to an SD Card (this is rather easy with etcher).
2. Download a zip-file ("ognpi distribution") and unzip it inside the /boot partition on the SD card.
3. Remove the SD card and put it in your Pi.
   The Raspberry Pi boots into a full screen web browser where you can edit your configuration.
   For a headless setup the configuration website could be available via (local) network.

Required steps:

• Package rtlsdr-ogn (only a binary package is possible :/ ).
• Write a local web configuration tool to edit the receiver configuration (like a local version of Mel's ognconfig).
• Build the zip file ("ognpi distribution") based on pi-init2 containing rtlsdr-ogn and the local web config tool.

[Romeo-Golf]

Hi,

I am a contributor from the ADSB Receiver project which is a set of script which run on Debian/Raspian to automate the installation and configuration of various software which captures, decodes and shares ADS-B data received from passing aircraft:

https://www.adsbreceiver.net/

Following the below request we have been working to integrate support for the RTL-SDR OGN code as an optional additional decoder which can be installed as part of the ADSB Receiver setup:

https://github.com/jprochazka/adsb-receiver/issues/129

This work is ongoing with the installation script now producing a working install and my test Pi has received signals from a couple of gliders that passed within 5km of the stock RTL-SDR dongle antenna..

I am currently finishing up the config generation to integrate with the install script and avoid having to ask the user to confirm the LAT/LON if already known, but I am hopeful this will be completed and made available as part of the 2.6.0 release.

Please note that we are not proposing any integration or data sharing between ADSB and OGN data at the receiver level, but would be pleased to support any efforts by the OGN project to share their overall view of the OGN derived data with the various aircraft tracking projects such as ADSB Exchange.

Sorry for the long winded answer, but to bring it back to your question would having the OGN receiver software available as an option to install via the ADSB Receiver project, either on top of a Debian derived distribution or from the pre-build Raspbian images that accompany each release, go some way towards making it easier for a user without linux experience to turn a Raspberry Pi into an OGN receiver?

Regards,

[Romeo-Golf]

Its worth noting that our installation steps were taken from some of the many guides and scripts as there is a distinct lack of clear and definitive instructions on how to obtain a working installation..

And while there was lots of good ideas and functionality in the web based configuration system, this appeared to be too closely tied to running an increasingly complex set of scripts on the receiver that made is hard for the software to coexist with other functionality... perhaps a victim of its own success!

Also a Debian package would be useful as we currently rely on detecting the architecture locally and fetching one of the following tarballs:

http://download.glidernet.org/rpi-gpu/rtlsdr-ogn-bin-RPI-GPU-latest.tgz
http://download.glidernet.org/arm/rtlsdr-ogn-bin-ARM-latest.tgz
http://download.glidernet.org/x64/rtlsdr-ogn-bin-x64-latest.tgz
http://download.glidernet.org/x86/rtlsdr-ogn-bin-x86-latest.tgz

Whereas if the OGN project was able to offer Debian packages and potentially even a repository it would be much easier to ensure that as many of the receivers as possible were running the latest code, which from the coverage maps appears to be far from the case :(

[snip]

@kerel-fs: as discussed yesterday, configuration can be done before removing the SD card:

• unzip ("ognpi distribution")
• run ognpi-config binary from the sd card on not Pi host
• unmount the sd card

ognpi-config can be written in Go to ease portability and to be self contained.
ognpi-config can be CLI interface and/or web server. It can launch a web browser by itself targeting localhost url on correct port.

If this binary is not run the Pi can launch web browser to present the config interface.

[kerel-fs]

Update: Packaging of rtlsdr-ogn is done for x64 and the raspberry pi, see https://github.com/kerel-fs/pkg-rtlsdr-ogn/releases.
Feel free to test this pre-release and report issue via the usual channels (e.g. IRC/matrix).

[matburnham]

I tried out the Debian packages this weekend. They seemed to work well so I forked pi-init2 to create ogn-init, which also seems to work at far as it goes. Installation documented on the OGN wiki along with limitations:

• There is no way to find the IP address easily at present. TODO: Find a way (like Mel's old image) to identify the IP of the Pi or maybe advertise the hostname so it's resolvable somehow?
• Configuration still involves SSH'ing in or modifying the config file on the SD card. TODO: Make a web interface to configure things like password, configuration settings, etc.
• There is very limited feedback when things go wrong at present. A web interface would help that.
• Password remains as default.
• The Jessie built-in disk expansion is currently disabled as it is normally triggered from cmdline.txt which we replace.

It would also be nice if the Debian packages could go into a proper repository so that we can automatically update to new versions.

[snip]

Thanks. things are going good :)
For IP & config, this is why i was suggesting (see #16 (comment)) to use Golang to have a binary which can be run from PC or at boot time of the Pi.

Maybe we can have receiver config file in /boot filesystem so it can be also easily updated even from Windows.

Configuring root FS as read only maybe a good idea to get stability (see https://groups.google.com/d/msg/openglidernetwork/PzwBRqZLJb8/0P9Mv1XqCgAJ)