soapysdr-tools¶
Command-line tools for the SoapySDR hardware abstraction layer
- Version recorded: 0.8.1
- Categories:
sdr-hardware - Upstream: https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR/wiki
What it does¶
Carries SoapySDRUtil, which enumerates every SDR the system can see through SoapySDR, prints its capabilities -- sample rates, gain stages, antenna ports, tuning ranges -- and runs a rate test against it. SoapySDR itself is the abstraction layer; this is how you interrogate it.
Why you would want it¶
SoapySDRUtil --find is the first command to run when an SDR is not working, and it answers a question nothing else does cleanly: does the software layer see the device at all. It separates a USB or permissions problem from a driver problem from an application problem, which is three evenings saved.
Before it will work¶
A per-device SoapySDR module for whatever hardware you have. This catalog carries them separately -- soapysdr-module-rtlsdr, -hackrf, -airspy and the rest -- because a user needs the one matching their device, not all twelve (D-020). Device access usually means a udev rule and the plugdev group.
How it installs¶
- apt:
soapysdr-tools
Known problems¶
An empty --find with the device plugged in almost always means the matching module is not installed, or that permissions stop the process opening the USB device -- and the output is the same silence in both cases. Check lsusb first, then whether the module package is present, then the permissions.
Keeping it current¶
- probe: apt policy
- strategy: apt_upgrade
Where to get help with the software itself¶
The Pothosware project. GitHub issues and the wiki.