[Hackrf-dev] Help Installing HackRF on Ubuntu for Linux Newbie

[Anon Lister]

"Unless you're capable of installing the latest software release

  https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf/releases

and updating the firmware if necessary - and possibly on occasion,
putting the device into the dfu mode when it appears dead, then you're
not ready to play with the big boys."

Hey man, this is a bit harsh. You were a (Linux) noob once too, after all!
It's not his fault if the Ubuntu packages are broken, all he did was buy a
hackrf, heh.

Jerry, try copying the mentioned udev rule, which can be downloaded from
here:

https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf/tree/master/host/libhackrf

into /etc/udev.d/ and run

sudo udevadm reload-rules

Or just reboot. The file should have been placed there when you installed
the driver, but perhaps it was not.

It would appear you did not use pybombs to install, you used the Ubuntu
packages. Pybombs is the gnuradio package management system, which allows
developers to keep many copies of different versions of gnuradio installed,
without conflicting. It can also be used to just install a copy of gnuradio
using the latest source code. I believe it is the officially recommended
way to install gnuradio and friends.

People in the gnuradio and SDR community almost never recommend using the
Ubuntu packages because they tend to be fairly old compared to the bleeding
edge. I'm unsure why, but I would venture that the LTS releases of Ubuntu
(attempt to?) maintain package ABI over the duration of the LTS release,
and only pull bugfixes into their repositories. This is somewhat at odds
with most SDR projects, where they tend to follow a more rolling release,
that includes both features and bugfixes.

-Anon


On Jul 16, 2017 2:26 PM, "Cinaed Simson" <cinaed.simson at gmail.com> wrote:

On 07/15/2017 11:01 AM, Jerry wrote:
> I have my new HackRF working with GNU radio in Windows 7.  I updated the
> firmware and clpd to latest I want to learn to use SDR in a Linux
> environment so I installed the Ubuntu package 16.04.2 LTS onto a
> dedicated HP i5 M520 Quad core laptop.  I tried to install pip then
> PyBOMBS to use to install GNU radio but there are many slightly
> different instructions that I encountered error messages along the way.
> I wiped my drive/partition and reinstalled Ubuntu 16.04.2 and then used
> the recommended approach on
> https://wiki.gnuradio.org/index.php/InstallingGR

https://wiki.gnuradio.org/index.php/InstallingGR

Evidently you didn't read it. From the quote in bold fonts:

"Do check if the version you're installing is up to date! Sometimes old
versions slip into the packaging systems. If you're using an outdated
version, don't expect any help on the mailing list!"

In other words, file a bug report with Ubuntu.

Post your gnuradio radio questions on

  https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio

This is the HackRF mailing list.

>
>
>
> $ apt-get install gnuradio
>
>
>
> This ran for a while installing and it seems to have installed OK.
>
>
>
> I next queried my HackRF with
>
>
>
> $ hackrf_info
>
>
>
> and got a message to install it with $ apt-get install hackrf, which I
did.
>
>
>
> Now when I run $ hackrf_info I get the apparently notorious:

The same thing applies for the HackRF mailing list as for the gnuradio
mailing list. If you have trouble with distro version, and you can't
find some to help you with distro problems, try filing a bug report with
Ubuntu.

>
>
>
> Found HackRF board 0
>
> hackrf_open() failed: HACKRF_ERROR_LIBUSB (-1000)
>
>
>
> I checked the FAQ’s and ran hackrf_info as root but got same message.  I
> also ran it a few times with same result, so it doesn’t seem to be a
> permission problem.
>
>
>
> I read that if the install was with PyBOMBS that udev rules need
> updating but I don’t know if the install procedure I followed used pybombs
>
>
>
> Any advice appreciated.

The HackRF is research instrument.

Unless you're capable of installing the latest software release

  https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf/releases

and updating the firmware if necessary - and possibly on occasion,
putting the device into the dfu mode when it appears dead, then you're
not ready to play with the big boys.

The people on this mailing list will help with problems related to the
HackRF.

Unless you state the version of the libhackrf library and the firmware
on the HackRF, then don't expect any help - as far as I know nobody on
this mailing list is capable of mind reading.

It's most likely missing the file

  /etc/udev/rules.d/53-hackrf.rules

If it's missing you can find it in the source file.

And then take that as a red flag that the people porting the software
don't know the first thing about the HackRF.

Post the output of

 hackrf_info

-- Cinaed





>
>
>
> Jerry NY2KW
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> HackRF-dev mailing list
> HackRF-dev at greatscottgadgets.com
> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/hackrf-dev
>

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