SatNOGS Configured IMG Files

SatNOGS Software
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Hello, everyone I’m Eduardo, a.k.a XE1SPE,

Since I began working with SatNOGS, around two years ago, I realised that despite the fact that I have knowledge on Linux and how to work with it, along with the patience to read and understand all the required instructions to install the software, configure it, upate and upgrade all the required items that are not always mentioned in the instructions, and configure the LNA, I don’t really have the will to do these procedures every time I want to buid a new station, and that I want to be prepared, in case my SD gets corrupted (it happened to me once), it needs to have the OS reinstalled or it gets filled with data and becomes unoperable ( as it also happened once).

That’s why, when I made sure, a newer version of the software was working fine, I cloned the SD with my configurations to a new .img file, so I can use it everytime I need it, and since I have never found a img version of an already configured station, I decided to sahare mines, in case you want to avoid doing all the procedures needed to create one from scratch (if you are as impatient as me xd), and avoid losing time traying to troubleshoot any problem that might present.

I have older versions of the client here (I think they are 1.1 to 1.4):
Older images from 2020

And the newest ones (1.5.1 and 1.6):
Newer Images. From 1.5.1

It is already configured to be used with:
-RTL-SDR V3 radio
-RTL-SDR LNA with bias-tee, therefore the pre-obervation and post-observation scripts are already configured.
-An omidirectional antenna is recommended, since I did not configure any rotator.
-Raspberry Pi 3B+ is the most recommended, but it will also work for RPi 3+, 4 and Zero W, jjust consider that you will need to configure the WiFi connection on the Pi4, for the RPi 3 you will need to reduce the sampling rate to 1.024e6 and for the Zero W, it will always give failed observations, since it cannot configure a correct sampling rate. I’m not sure about the RPi Zero 2W.

You can download them and use them if you want, just take into consideration that you will need a SD card with at least 8GB of memory and you will need to change:
-Basic information, such as the API Key, Location, altitude and your user and station specifications…
-The Radio gain is set to 19.7 dB and soapy-device “driver=rtlsdr”, in case you want to know beforehand.
-Your sample rate, just in case, I currenlty use 2.048e6 (for RPi 4 and RPi 3B+) or you can change it to 1.024e6 (for RPi 3 and RPI Zero 2W)
-Any other thing you consider.

I hope you find these resources useful and you avoid configuring your stations again if you don’t want to.

Saludos desde México/Greetings from Mexico :mexico: :taco: :burrito: :tamale: :rocket:
73, XE1SPE.
:slight_smile:

P.S. If you want, I can reate a manual o how to change the configurations, so you can work it more easily.

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Hey @eddyosp,

SatNOGS is providing an official pre-built image for the Rasperry Pi platform. Its usage is described on the wiki page “Install a Raspberry Pi”. There is no need for multiple images, as the configuration and update is all managed by the satnogs-setup tool, see “SatNOGS Client Setup”.

Thus, I genuinely do not understand the problem you are trying to solve here. Can you elaborate which steps you mean with “all the procedures needed to create one from scratch”? Even using your images, I there is configuration to be done as you said yourself. Nothing else is required when using the official image. Except two workarounds at the moment related to the latest Debian release. Are you referring to those?

To facilitate a possible re-installation of your station (in case it is needed e.g. due to a corrupted SD card), you can view the complete configuration via sudo satnogs-setup (select “Show” option). Take a note of all the variables listed there. When re-installing with a fresh official SatNOGS Image use those notes to quickly get to the same configuration.

Sincerely,
kerel

Disclaimer: While I am assuming that you provide the images above with good intentions, but they are a security issue for everyone using them as they can’t be validated to not contain any malware (e.g. some backdoor).
The official images are distributed through gitlab and built using a transparent Continuous Deployment Pipeline to reduce this risk.

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I understand that there is an official image, but have you ever tried to configure one from scratch. It takes at least two hours, because it is necesarry to udpate, upgrade and the instructions are not completely clear on that,or on how to troubleshoot any kind of issue. And if I want to install a LNA, there is not a direct link on how to configure it.

I simply see a disrespectul response from you and the community, I commited a mistake assunimg that something I did would be helpful. I only a disrespect for my work, myself, and I will asume that you are saying that I am a threat or a security issue, based on my nationality.
Finally I see that there is no point on helping others, since you will be judging and attacking.

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@eddyosp I know many persons (online or offline) in SatNOGS community and let me be clear on this, there is NO intention to be offensive or disrespectful. As a community we move forward by following the libre space manifesto and we don’t judge based on any nationality, race, gender, age or whatever else, If someone does then it is better to leave this community right now.-

On our subject now, I understand that the process you followed is done more or less for backup reasons and for setting up new stations more quickly if they have the same hardware and software configuration, right?

It’s a good practice in these cases to share/describe the process you created these images. This will allow people learn more and create their own images, which may have different configuration than the one you provided. So, double profit for sharing the process.

Sharing images is common practice around the internet lately, however the process how these are created needs to be clear and open in order to limit any security and/or privacy issues. Don’t take it personal, this is how it is done on several big or small projects for example linux distributions and how they handle software packages and updates. It is not the person we question but the process and I’m saying that because I have seen several cases in the past where the process was breached without the person who ran the process finding out.

Again there is no intention to be disrespectful or offensive, unfortunately there isn’t an easy way to express this from a post as written language doesn’t help.

This is something we need to solve, maybe by providing more often updated images so no need for too many updates, also we need to make configuration part easier. For both of them there will be people working on this for the next year. Anyway this doesn’t necessarily eliminates the need for a backup image process.

I know that currently the wiki isn’t in the best condition and can be confusing in several cases. So, first it would be great if you can document this configuration process, even in a new page in the wiki in order to have this direct link to share and not losing this piece of information. Let us know if you need any help on this.

On the second stage we definitely need to organize the wiki, this is not a weekend project but it should be up on priorities and believe me I have it continuously in my mind, I just need to find some time to devote on this.

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