My Raspberry Pi RTL Dongle server cards run the server as a service under systemd. This has several benefits including a better-defined start and the facility to stop/restart a service gracefully. One of my customer recently asked if it was[…]Click to read more..
Windows 10 Backup and Restore
Windows 10 still includes the Backup and Restore facility from Windows 7 but it’s been hidden! Here’s how to find it: In the Windows search box (bottom left of screen) enter: control panel Open the control panel and in the[…]Click to read more..
PiFace on the Raspberry Pi – Problem Solved!
Introduction I recently wasted many hours trying to get the PiFace board to work with Python. I eventually discovered the root cause of the problem, so have documented it here, both for my own reference, and for anyone else who might[…]Click to read more..
Raspberry Pi – Running Spy Server as a service
Updated 8th March to clarify the requirement for Spy Server to be pre-installed. Updated 8th Aug 2018 to add a start-up delay to the rtlsdr.service file. This is to ensure that an IP address has been allocated before the Spy[…]Click to read more..
Raspberry Pi – Update to WSJT-X v2.0.0
Version 2.0.0 of WSJT-X brings several new enhancements but is incompatible with previous versions of WSJT-X. As a result, all users must update to version 2.0.0. The update process shown below can also be used for a new installation. In[…]Click to read more..
Repairing Corrupt System Files in Windows 10
** Updated 3rd Jan 2019 – To add extra DISM commands and recovery options. Windows includes a number of tools to get you out of a fix if your computer starts misbehaving. In this post, I’ll run through the repair[…]Click to read more..
RTL-SDR Server as a service on Raspberry Pi
NB: Updated 21st Aug 2018: Changes to the rtlsdr.service file to add a start-up delay to ensure an IP address has been allocated before starting the server. NB: This post assumes that you have already installed the RTL-SDR server on[…]Click to read more..
Raspberry Pi – Running a Python program after the desktop starts
To automatically run a python program when the LDXE environment loads, you need to add a command to the lxsession autostart file. Here’s the process: Open the autostart file: sudo nano /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart Add this new line: @python yourscript.py NB: Obviously, you replace[…]Click to read more..
Raspberry Pi 3+ & Ubuntu Mate – WARNING
Having just wasted time trying to get this going, I’ve discovered that the Ubuntu Mate download on the official Raspberry Pi site doesn’t work on the Pi3B+! This has been known about since March but has not been resolved! The supplied[…]Click to read more..
Raspberry Pi Stretch – GPS Dongle as a time source with Chrony & Timedatectl
The latest release of Raspbian Stretch for the Pi has replaced the familiar NTP application with a lightweight solution using timedatectl. As a result many of the online tutorials for adding a GPS USB dongle are out of date. After some[…]Click to read more..
Red Pitaya – Buyer Beware
My Red Pitaya failed recently after about 2 years of occasional use. It’s probably a 3.3V power regulator fault but the Red Pitaya team won’t supply component details and don’t have a repair option! So that’s £250 gone and not[…]Click to read more..
Raspberry Pi – Fixing a slow mouse
I recently changed my keyboard/mouse combo to a Perixx Periduo-712. When I restarted the Pi, I found that my mouse pointer had become very slow. A quick look around the Internet revealed a fix as follows: To speed-up the mouse,[…]Click to read more..