For people who have used Skylark earlier(with Dreamcatcher2, Lband), the only substantial change is the switch to a Kuband-specific tuner. Everything else should be entirely familiar.
If you have an sdcard with older versions of Skylark on it, its best to first format it completely (delete all partitions first) before burning Skylark 5.0.
The Tuner app now has a working “custom” tab. The image currently includes the correct beam configuration for the North American beam, but we may change the beam parameters over the next few days once we study the telemetry. If that happens, you will have to switch to the “custom” beam and manually enter the beamtype info. Any such change will be announced on the forum so please check regularly.
The content is currently same as the old L-band carousel, though it should come down significantly faster. After observation over the next few days, I should be able increase the frequency of weather updates, and bring back the twitter content request system, this time with more practical limits.
The first few DC3s are flying out to their destinations right now. I request the lucky first users to please checkin on this thread and report their observations/bugs/problems etc. Please also post your Tuner status screenshots.
Thank you for your support!
Known issues:
Display-related development is still ongoing - so LCD function is currently merely cosmetic.
PS: Please do not use this Skylark version with DC2!
PPS: On a semi-related note - Armbian for DC3 is also available: Dreamcatcher3 Armbian. Note that the Armbian image cannot be used to receive Outernet.
Edit: for the few people who downloaded the image earlier, if you downloaded anything older than skylark-dc-1803111619, please re-download.
Question on the --Busy-- light. the skylark readme says it is for --radio is operational-- Is this related to the tuner being --Locked-- on a signal ? Or what does – radio is operational-- ?
I can figure that pkct means a successful software decode of a ‘chirp’ lora or packet.
If I guess … the --Busy-- should be on after boot/initialization skylark. But in Armbian – the readme say it flashes --when the radio is busy–. I’m just a little confused.
It shows the radio is working and trying to receive. It may not be successfully receiving, it may not even be seeing an actual signal, just that its actively trying to receive.
Does the skylark 5.0 image boot to as an access point 10.0.0.1 or do you have to terminal mode connect then set the configuration? Is admim still outernet w/ password outernet, and guest available with no password?
Then --network-- available to get it “client mode”.
The usps is supposed to deliver mine this afternoon.
It all works exactly the way it used to with L-band - boots to access point, then you can use the UI to switch to wifi client mode, default passwords are all still the same.
Nothing has changed on that front, not even the wallpaper.
(do make sure you get the latest image once you get your hardware - I have been stealthily updating it over the weekend)
could it be possible to have on the display a cpu meter and what its currently downloading and the current SNR, sd card storage available and if the antenna has a lock or not? in a upcoming release?
yes, the LCD was added mainly for such use. It will take some time to get there, but eventually most of the administration information should be available on the LCD.
As far as antenna “lock” is concerned: the dedicated packet LED is the most reliable indicator of that. The RF side now doesn’t operate on a “lock” basis at all, its all on a packet-to-packet basis. The flashing of the packet LED is the fastest way to determine if the reception works. While eventually a similar indicator may be added to the LCD, the packet LED will remain the quickest, most reliable feedback point for signal “lock”.