Asus Tinker Board

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Asus Tinker Board

Postby administrator » Sun May 14, 2017 12:00 am

Hi All,

There is a much faster SBC from ASUS called the tinker Board available which will be a drop in replacement for the Rpi3, the advantages are Gigabit ethernet support and double the processing power.

https://www.asus.com/us/Single-Board-Co ... ker-Board/

John, myself and possibly a few others have the v1.3 code working on the tinker board, no problems with 384Khz sampling rates!

Please note that official support for the board (Software) may take some time,

73,
Abhi
w5rcq
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby w5rcq » Mon May 22, 2017 2:59 pm

I bought one of the Tinker boards for my piHPSDR project and it doesn't work. Put together a memory card per instructions on the ASUS site and the board does not start up. Tried several times with different memory cards and different revs of the firmware. This is the 2nd bad board I have gotten from ASUS in the past few months. The first bad board was a new mother board for the computer project I put together for my SDR stuff. I sure hope this isn't a trend.
W5RCQ
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby w5rcq » Tue May 23, 2017 11:51 pm

I finally got my Tinker board up and running Debian v1.8 from ASUS. It seems that the board is a little picky about the micro SD card you use. I finally got mine going with a 32 GB PNY HC card. Have not figured out how to configure and load piHPSDR yet. I am not using the encoders just using the mouse for control. I have a Flex knob that I use with DDutil and my 200D that works great if you need a knob to tune and its only $100. It would be really neat if the Flex knob could work with the piHPSDR program, the single knob and the 3 switches would be all I need. Thanks for all the great work the ANAN support people do.
73 W5RCQ
Lyle_KK7P
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby Lyle_KK7P » Fri May 26, 2017 10:23 pm

I have piHPSDR running on a Pi3 using touchscreen and mouse, no encoders or buttons, etc.

I saw that piHPSDR 1.13 was running on a Tinker board, so I also obtained a Tinker board but the piHPSDR application will not load - claims a gpio library is missing.

Where may I obtain a copy of piHPSDR that will load on the Tinker that does not require the gpio library (encoders and buttons) which I understand will be income future release?

Thank you,

Lyle KK7P
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k2ue
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby k2ue » Sat May 27, 2017 4:06 am

Are other graphics options besides the 7" touch display supported by PiHPSDR with the Tinker board?
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby w-u-2-o » Mon May 29, 2017 1:32 pm

John has posted a version of the code for the ASUS Tinker board on github and also a version of the install document for the tinker board.

You can download the install document from:

https://github.com/g0orx/pihpsdr/blob/m ... nstall.pdf

John writes: "Note that the only difference with this version is the use of the wiringPi library directly rather than pigpio so that it will work with the Tinker board."
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k2ue
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby k2ue » Fri Jun 02, 2017 10:31 am

I also have Tinker PiHPSDR running with just display, mouse and keyboard (while waiting for the kit). I added a little USB headphone/mic device, and it was straighforward to get headset audio, but I haven't figured out how to get mic input from the USB device to the radio (an 8000) -- how is that done?
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Mike, K0JTA
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby Mike, K0JTA » Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:42 pm

by k2ue » Fri Jun 02, 2017 4:31 am
I also have Tinker PiHPSDR running... but I haven't figured out how to get mic input from the USB device to the radio (an 8000) -- how is that done?

You have accomplished "the hard part," by installing the piHPSDR app into your Tinker! Open the menus in the piHPSDR window, and look for the MENU button; -Click on this and then on the TX button at the top-center. (Then experiment by selecting your USB sound-card.)

Having said that, I am also unable to get SSB TX audio! I have tried two different USB audio dongles, same no-results. This works well for the RX, but the TX shows no TX audio, your same result.

73 from Mike-K0JTA
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Mike, K0JTA
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby Mike, K0JTA » Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:54 am

I have recently completed the Tinker-Board project, but only as far as getting the OS installed, and getting the Tinker's HDSDR app to function.

I have discovered that if I open the MENU / EQUALIZER, then tap on any of the sliders, the (pi)HPSDR app quits! (This is a consistent, repeatable
result.) This same action is seen with both the RX and the TX EQ-sliders. I can select RX or TX, and I can enable or disable both the RX and the TX
equalizer, with no troubles. But as soon as I touch any of the sliders, the app quits. Anyone have a suggestion, please?

Good evening from Mike, K0JTA
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John-G0ORX
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby John-G0ORX » Mon Jun 12, 2017 6:20 am

Mike, the Tinker code is based on my development branch and there are a couple of bugs in the code that will be fixed soon with the next release which includes PureSignal among other enhancements.

I have not had a lot of time for ham radio recently due to my daughter's wedding and several visitors coming over from California and now some building work on the house requiring a move of the antennas.

-- John
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Mike, K0JTA
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby Mike, K0JTA » Thu Jul 20, 2017 4:39 am

Good day;

I have a Tinker Board installed in a raspberry PI case that also holds the standard 7" touch screen. All works well, but the display is upside-down.

I had this same issue with an earlier case, in which I had mounted a Raspberry PI, and the resolution was to add a line to the "config' file. I have not located a similar file in the Raspbian OS that is now running John's super-FINE piHPSDR app.

Is there a way that I can modify some unknown file in the Tinker-OS?

Thank you; Mike, K0JTA
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John-G0ORX
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby John-G0ORX » Thu Jul 20, 2017 7:22 am

You can rotate the display but creating the file .xsessionrc in your home directory containing the following:

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --output DSI-1 --rotate inverted


Then reboot the system.

-- John
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Mike, K0JTA
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby Mike, K0JTA » Fri Jul 21, 2017 1:21 am

WOW, THANK YOU, John!
I have no time at this moment, but I shall apply this as soon as I can.
You are so resourceful..!
I have been LOOKING and ASKING, but no response, until I came to the correct site. (And YOU, of course.!)
73; Mike, K0JTA
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Mike, K0JTA
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby Mike, K0JTA » Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:31 am

I am still unable to follow the procedure to rotate my Tinker's display on my 7" touch screen. At this point, I need the correct procedure to GENERATE A TEXT FILE; Once the text file is in place, the commands can be entered. (I think...) Following John's instructions, I was able to easily install the needed OS and the piHPSDR app into my Tinker Board. (piHPSDR runs reliably, with two operational areas that need attention: I cannot transmit SSB, and I cannot select or move the equalizer settings.)

My efforts are summarized as follows:

Tried the following:
---
- Boot Tinker Board to desktop
- Opened DOCUMENTS folder on the desktop
(/home/linaro/Documents)
- Changed path from "/home/linaro/Documents" to "/home"
- Right-click in window and select CREATE NEW / EMPTY FILE
- Entered “.xsessionrc.txt” as the new empty file name
“Error opening file ‘/home/.xsessionrc.txt’:permission denied”
- Tried “.xsessionrc” as the new empty file, same failure
---

Opened TERMINAL app;
- Entered “sudo nano .xsessionrc.txt”
Response is “Command not found”
- Entered “sudo nano .xsessionrc”
Response is “Command not found”
- Entered “nano .xsessionrc”
Response is “Command not found”
- Entered “sudo .xsessionrc”
Response is “Command not found”
- Entered “nano xsessionrc” (Removed the preceding PERIOD)
Response is “Command not found”

- Entered “help” to view commands;
- I could not find anything that looked like a way to create a file.

So far, I am unable to locate a command list, and the Linux commands for the Raspberry PI are not applicable to the Tinker Board, which is a surprise to me. Apparently, the Tinker's OS is different from what is used on the Raspberry PI, when running John's piHPSDR app.

Thank you and 73; Mike, K0JTA
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John-G0ORX
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby John-G0ORX » Wed Aug 02, 2017 6:16 am

Hi Mike,

sorry you are having problems, I should have given you more explicit details. First when I said "your home directory" I actually meant the home directory you log in to which is in this case /home/linaro. You were getting the permission error because you do not have permissions to wriite in the /home directory.

It also seems nano is not installed by default. I had not noticed this as I always use vi.

To install nano start the terminal app and run the command:

sudo apt-get install nano

Then from the same terminal app run the following command (note this is not using sudo):

nano .xsessionrc

Then enter the text:

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --output DSI-1 --rotate inverted

Then type Ctrl-X and answer Y to the question to save the file.

Now reboot the system.

-- John g0orx/n6lyt
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Mike, K0JTA
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby Mike, K0JTA » Fri Aug 04, 2017 12:19 am

No problem, and you have nothing to feel bad about. I (like others, maybe?) feel that my ignorance of Linux is the root cause of my confusion. Your explicit details are highly appreciated, and THANK YOU for your added effort!

Your revised instruction set worked nicely, as you might expect. While the OS/piHPSDR app works snappier than I had experienced with my Raspberry PI, I still am unable to get the radio to transmit in SSB mode, and the app will consistently quit if I touch any of the sliders in the EQ. Now, this is not unexpected, as this project is in the very early stages of Beta, and possibly Alpha. It is exciting to see even this much progress!

I am sensing that the Linux that the TINKER BOARD uses is quite different from what I have been trying to learn when dealing with the Linux that the Raspberry PI uses. (I have seen the term DEBIAN as well as LINUX, so I had the assumption that the OS commands and structure would be the same.) I discovered this incorrect assumption when I plugged a Raspberry PI SD-card (with the piHPSDR installed) into the Tinker, it just sat there; -I had no activity LED, and of course, no display, etc.

Lots to learn with any of these units. My hat is off to you for your past efforts. It must be hard to try to fit this kind of effort into your already active life, John! Your family is branching out, the house construction/expansion project... You have a lot that needs your attention, and this is fine. THANK YOU for your ongoing contributions!

73; Mike, K0JTA
N9HLL
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby N9HLL » Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:39 am

After a little fussing, I got a Tinker board to load Pihpsdr......However I can not for the life of me get it to connect to the radio (10E with proto1) directly connected, Works over the network fine. What am I missing ? It is currently back on the Pi board for now but I thought about it after the fact...Do I need to assign a static IP to the tinker in the 169.254.xxx.xxx range or am I thinking wrong ?

Rick
Life is too short for QRP and less than 4kc
3630 eSSB
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John-G0ORX
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby John-G0ORX » Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:09 am

The avahi-daemon is not installed by default. You can either install it or the simpler solution is to use a static IP address.

-- John g0orx/n6lyt
N9HLL
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Re: Asus Tinker Board

Postby N9HLL » Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:55 pm

Thanks John
Off the subject...Love the 1.2.2 on the Pi, Best yet ! Especially the analog Meter... :D

Rick (N9HLL)
Life is too short for QRP and less than 4kc
3630 eSSB

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