Skylark 5.7 for Dreamcatcher 3

Othernet Software
41

What about the LED inside the wifi usb dongle? Any activity there?

42

@kenbarbi

Is it possible, then, for Othernet to provide a listing of available tested (reliable) cables (brand names and catalog numbers) that work, and the sources where these may be purchased, so that perhaps we can list that in the User’s Manual?

And referencing your reply “Most non-technical people won’t know where to even start looking for a barrel-plug power unit.”, I agree, and can sympathize 100 percent. I am a technical person, and I haven’t the foggiest idea where to find a good heavy-duty USB cable! I would add that my first success was using a RaspberryPi power supply, which has a heavy cable.

43

I was just typing that myself. The official Rpi power supply is probably the easiest to find guaranteed-working power unit out there. Maybe we can mention that in the user manual, @kenbarbi? Also - while I don’t have a list of working cables and adapters, its a good idea - if people can chime in with their known-good brands and links, maybe they can be added to the wiki and/or the use manual.

1 Like
44

Success!! I used the 64 Gb micro SD card. It verified successfully after flashing with Win32DiskIImager. I’m able to logon fine, so will now continue with the settings. The original 16 Gb card is in the trash bin!

I’m using an Anker USB cable.

4 Likes
45

Now receiving packets from SES-2 and will let it run for the day while I’m away from home. Still need to do the network configuration but will do that tonight.
Thanks for everyone’s help.

1 Like
46

Looking for documents on settings for Astra 3B in tuner app.
I have switched my dreamcatcher v3.03 to

47

For Europe, you should be using the “Othernet Dual Band” setting with the universal LNB. Be sure to click the “apply” button when changing this.

1 Like
48

OK, will have to wait for that LNB to arrive, I currently have the Maverick.

49

How long did you have your unit running ? It appears you may have received some data. However, dated Jan 1 usually refers to startup events until actual streaming is achieved. With a 70cm dish, the pointing could be very critical, and I would encourage you to keep trying. You may not get best performance with the Maverick 1 on the Europe bird.
Incidentally, you can paste screenshots and quotes directly to this forum.

1 Like
50

where do you see me with rx packets?
I start it up and leave it running when I can has been up for maybe 10hrs.
(edit)thanks maxboysdad, in looking now!

51

I was just noticing in your uploaded page that there were recent packets showing in your diagnostic screen.
It is noted that they say “from file service”, so likely were not received, but from the boot up.

You may look at mine at 136.36.137.45, login as othernet with pw of j7m*2

1 Like
53

This release, Skylark 5.7 is the most stable yet. Up for 12 days! On both a Dreamcatcher v3.03 and a Dreamcatcher v3.05. Ken

54

While I have a copy of the PDF for HW v3.03 it might be nice for others to have an archive folder on the FTP for older hardware revs.
Will you offer a plug-in touch screen in the future as an accessory?
Is that even an option, it looks like there is where to add the risers on the 3.05 PCB.

55

I had a lockup yesterday after about 3 days of uptime. Nothing of note in the logs, the Nov 16 was the last messages in /var/log/messages and then the beginning of the Jan 1 restart before the time was set:

Nov 16 16:14:06 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/d763-messages-2019-11-16_16_11.txt.tbz2
Nov 16 16:23:35 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/f363-wikipedia-Wikipedia.html.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 16:23:35 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/f363-wikipedia-Wikipedia.html.tbz2
Nov 16 16:24:06 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/e701-messages-2019-11-16_16_21.txt.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 16:24:07 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/e701-messages-2019-11-16_16_21.txt.tbz2
Nov 16 16:34:06 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/3ad7-messages-2019-11-16_16_31.txt.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 16:34:06 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/3ad7-messages-2019-11-16_16_31.txt.tbz2
Nov 16 16:44:07 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/cc85-messages-2019-11-16_16_41.txt.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 16:44:07 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/cc85-messages-2019-11-16_16_41.txt.tbz2
Nov 16 16:46:24 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/c974-news-pack.2019-11-16_1643.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 16:46:24 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/c974-news-pack.2019-11-16_1643.tbz2
Nov 16 16:54:06 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/d8b6-messages-2019-11-16_16_51.txt.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 16:54:06 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/d8b6-messages-2019-11-16_16_51.txt.tbz2
Nov 16 16:57:53 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/09ff-wikipedia-Wikipedia.html.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 16:57:53 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/09ff-wikipedia-Wikipedia.html.tbz2
Nov 16 16:59:44 othernet user.notice cleanup: Starting cleanup
Nov 16 16:59:44 othernet user.notice cleanup: Needs 409600 KiB, but there is already 13775412 KiB, nothing to do
Nov 16 17:03:39 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/d212-messages-2019-11-16_17_00.txt.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 17:03:39 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/d212-messages-2019-11-16_17_00.txt.tbz2
Nov 16 17:07:40 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/a92c-messages-2019-11-16_17_05.txt.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 17:07:40 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/a92c-messages-2019-11-16_17_05.txt.tbz2
Nov 16 17:14:07 othernet user.notice root: Discovered /mnt/downloads/opaks/904c-messages-2019-11-16_17_11.txt.tbz2, extracting…
Nov 16 17:14:07 othernet user.info ondd[459]: [carousel] completed: opaks/904c-messages-2019-11-16_17_11.txt.tbz2
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet syslog.info syslogd started: BusyBox v1.24.1
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.000000] NR_IRQS:16 nr_irqs:16 16
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.000021] sched_clock: 32 bits at 24MHz, resolution 41ns, wraps every 89478484971ns
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.000042] clocksource: timer: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 79635851949 ns
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.000215] clocksource: timer: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6370868154 ns
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.000486] Console: colour dummy device 80x30
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.000517] Calibrating delay loop… 1001.88 BogoMIPS (lpj=5009408)
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.090090] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.090195] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.090204] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.090886] CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.091200] CPU0: thread -1, cpu 0, socket -1, mpidr 0
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.091507] Setting up static identity map for 0x40100000 - 0x40100058
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.092116] smp: Bringing up secondary CPUs …
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.092127] smp: Brought up 1 node, 1 CPU
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.092136] SMP: Total of 1 processors activated (1001.88 BogoMIPS).
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.092142] CPU: All CPU(s) started in SVC mode.
Jan 1 00:00:04 othernet user.info kernel: [ 0.092530] devtmpfs: initialized

Signal lock is good, with SNR usually around -11.5. I wasn’t sure if this could be related to a WiFi dropout and am going to try with a USB Ethernet adapter. I tried a Trendnet TU3-ETG earlier which didn’t work, but I have an old Linksys USB100TX which I think will work.
I am using a 2.5A power adapter, so I don’t think it’s power.

56

It could still be a power issue. Usb voltage spec is 5v, +0.25, -0.6. So a range of 4.40v to 5.25v. I dont know the specifics of this board but a lot of sbcs dont like voltage below 4.8v. Anything lower than that cause problems. Check the voltage coming into the board.

I’ve been experiencing a similar problem, I just haven’t had time to diagnose.

57

Many of us went through these same problems two years ago when first starting up the version 3.02Q boards. After going through much the same trials you are seeing here, those of us who were monitoring the voltage to the device found that if the voltage drops below 4.95, these odd symptoms begin to present themselves. In almost every case, providing a good power supply that was capable of keeping the voltage from 5.0 to 5.2 consistently without “sags” below 4.95 solved the problems. The official Raspberry Pi power supply was found to be among the better solutions. Many of the inexpensive power supplies that provide “5.0” volts will show a sag to as low as 4.5 within a few hours time of beginning operation. Aside from that, a good USB A to Micro USB cable (not the one that came with your phone) of sufficient wire size also will help.

1 Like
58

The following would be useful:
*When to choose active vs passive antenna
*EU vs Americas seems pretty straightforward
*custom :frequency and beamtype settings probably publishing in an appendix in the guide how much offset for each LNB as well as common user tested LNBs
*a guide to using a common offset dish with angles tech drawings describing how the offset works and how to make a plumb line & protractor measuring tool.

Another aid video showing a Dreamcatcher from boot to acquisition of signal inclusing scanning the sky as Syed has described while watching for the RX packet LED(and the tuner web app), both with dish and bare LNB; as well as using popular satellite finding phone and web apps.
I am assuming that one of those inline sat-finder gadgets would work inline between the Dreamcatcher and LNB to speed aiming for both bare LNB users and dish users, has anyone tried this?

59

@Abhishek …trouble… on one of the dreamcatchers
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.521947] 7ec0: cbf05a60 c01e00ec c016436c c6346000 00000078 c7a77000 cbdb9cc0 00000000
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.530289] 7ee0: c7a53480 c6347f88 00001000 b6fd6000 c6346000 00000000 b6eace00 c01d7c3c
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.538632] 7f00: 00001000 c634c000 ffffffff b6fd6000 00001000 00000001 00000000 00001000
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.546972] 7f20: c6347f0c 00000001 c7a53480 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.555314] 7f40: 00000000 00000000 c7a53480 c7a53480 00001000 00000000 c6347f88 c01d8e80
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.563657] 7f60: c7a53480 b6fd6000 00001000 c7a53480 c7a53481 b6fd6000 00001000 c0106b44
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.571998] 7f80: c6346000 c01d9a08 00000000 00000000 00001000 00001000 b6fd6000 b6400468
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.580341] 7fa0: 00000004 c01069a0 00001000 b6fd6000 00000006 b6fd6000 00001000 00000000
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.588683] 7fc0: 00001000 b6fd6000 b6400468 00000004 00000000 b6d7b470 00000900 b6eace00
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.597026] 7fe0: 00000000 b6d7ab70 00000000 b6e3cd14 800f0010 00000006 ffffffff ffffffff
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.605387] [] (arm_copy_from_user) from [] (__probe_kernel_read+0x30/0x8c)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.614264] [] (__probe_kernel_read) from [] (is_valid_bugaddr+0x14/0x3c)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.622959] [] (is_valid_bugaddr) from [] (report_bug+0x10/0xb4)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.630869] [] (report_bug) from [] (die+0xb0/0x3e0)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.637740] [] (die) from [] (do_undefinstr+0x88/0x178)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.644870] [] (do_undefinstr) from [] (__und_svc_finish+0x0/0x3c)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.652948] Exception stack(0xc6347e18 to 0xc6347e60)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.658167] 7e00: c9653000 b6fd6000
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.666509] 7e20: 00000f80 00000000 00001000 c605ac80 00000000 c9653000 00001000 c6347f14
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.674851] 7e40: c6347f0c b6fd6000 00000000 c6347e6c c0303010 c02eeedc 200f0013 ffffffff
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.683197] [] (__und_svc_finish) from [] (arm_copy_from_user+0x60/0x3a4)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.691895] [] (arm_copy_from_user) from [] (copy_page_from_iter+0x138/0x2a8)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.700941] [] (copy_page_from_iter) from [] (pipe_write+0x278/0x3bc)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.709293] [] (pipe_write) from [] (__vfs_write+0xe0/0x108)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.716861] [] (__vfs_write) from [] (vfs_write+0xb8/0x144)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.724339] [] (vfs_write) from [] (SyS_write+0x3c/0x74)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.731559] [] (SyS_write) from [] (ret_fast_syscall+0x0/0x34)
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.emerg kernel: [1190561.739295] Code: bad PC value
Nov 20 16:59:28 othernet2 user.warn kernel: [1190561.742524] —[ end trace 8e1bcbebc85401ec ]—
Nov 20 17:20:24 othernet2 user.notice cleanup: Starting cleanup
Nov 20 17:20:25 othernet2 user.notice cleanup: Needs 409600 KiB, but there is already 5957004 KiB, nothing to do

Edit: rebooted… seem to clear the “solid” led6 light…on 3.05 dreamcatcher

60

Hi Ken @kenbarbi ,
Maybe you can include these hints in your great tutorial?
Thank you

61

I’ve tried to include most that new users might need. What other things do you think need to be added? Ken