Is there an alternative to spending $120+ on a Raspberry Pi to build a feeder? There are variants of the Orange Pi and Banana Pi in the $25-$30 range. Will these reliably run ADSBx? Is there something else out there?
You'll have to run whatever linux flavor they typically run with. Then use this guide to install the decoder / feed client: https://github.com/wiedehopf/adsb-wiki/wiki/Raspbian-Lite:-ADS-B-receiver I'd expect it to work just fine and have seen one or two reports of it working fine. But without more data i don't know how the USB interface is and if there could be longer term issues. Doubt it though.
Try to get something Armbian or Debian compatible. OrangePi / PINE / ROCK and a few others have been around a few years and seem to be reliable. https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Pi-Allwinner-Computer-Support/dp/B09TQZH4GJ/ https://www.gearbest.com/motherboards/pp_3007118408674018.html Prices are elevated even on crap PCB. If you have a real use case, tower install, etc. Contact us to see what we can do. If ADSBx funds a device, you agree to let us manage it remotely. It does not feed FA FR24 or any other commercial site. All you need to do is provide power and Internet with a proper antenna install. https://www.adsbexchange.com/contact/
I Just bought an Orange-Pi Allwiner, latest version with a case, PS and heatsink for $60. Should be here Thursday/ Will I have to roll my own from Mr. W's repositories or can I use the ADSB-X image and transfer it to the EMMC storage?
Probably need to install whatever linux to the EMMC and try to install via scripts. Hopefully their os is Debian based. readsb tar1090 ADSBx software
Yup it says it supports Debian, not sure of the flavor though. We'll soon see. Amazon works in mysterious ways. I'm in HI and according to the tracking data, they shipped my package as origination in HNL to the west coast and its on the way back here? Wednesday, November 16 2:05 PM Package left the carrier facility. Ontario, CA US 1:48 PM Package left an Amazon facility. Ontario, CA US 12:19 PM Package arrived at an Amazon facility. Ontario, CA US 12:28 AM Package arrived at an Amazon facility. Mira Loma, CA US Tuesday, November 15 11:25 PM Package left the carrier facility. Mira Loma, CA US 11:06 PM Package left an Amazon facility. Mira Loma, CA US 1:07 PM Package arrived at an Amazon facility. Mira Loma, CA US 12:01 PM Package left the carrier facility. San Bernardino, CA US 11:42 AM Package left an Amazon facility. San Bernardino, CALIFORNIA US Monday, November 14 11:29 PM Package arrived at an Amazon facility. San Bernardino, CALIFORNIA US 9:35 AM Package left the carrier facility. Honolulu, HI US Carrier picked up the package.
The Orange Pi Google drive has Buster and Bullseye versions for server and desktop variants. Debian - Google Drive which should I use?
Hi, with near impossible chance to getting a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, can I use the Orange Pi 5 hardware instead? Anyone have steps on how to set it up with Orange Pi? Thank you....i am a real newbie!
Yes, but you can't use the ADSB-X image to make a feeder. I'm working on an Orange Pi 3LTS feeder. Basics are - Install the Orange Pi Debian based operating system, tweak the hardware settings then install the feed software using the scripts. One I get mine running, I'll get back to you.
Which hardware can I use? Can I use FlightAware Pro Stick? AirNav RadarBox FlightStick? Nooelec NESDR Mini USB RTL-SDR & ADS-B Receiver? FlightAware's USB ADS-B and MLAT receiver?
Any of the dongles work, but I'd recommend the ADSB-X Blue stick. It's available at the ADSB-Exchange store,
Aloha Ahsan, a few observations: if you just want an adsbx feeder appliance (not a computer for general purposes), the Orange Pi5 is overkill, and the pre-order promotional price is set to end soon, and eventually get to $93 base price in January 2023. In this thread above I mentioned I got an Orange Pi 3 LTS with a case, power supply and heat sink for $60, for just making an appliance feeder. I got it last Thursday. It's now feeding on the bench with a crap antenna (actually a paperclip just to make sure the sdr was working). Here is what I did: 1. Burned the Orange Pi3 LTS Debian Desktop install to a TF card. I used the standard Raspi Burner rather than Balena Etcher. James recommended the server version of the Debian Orange Pi, but I decided to try the desktop first, since memory capacity did not seem to be an issue and I wanted to copy and paste from the web by using the Firefox browser built into the desktop version of the OS. 2. Tested the OP3LTS hardware with the Android OS built into the emmc memory by connecting a monitor, KBD and mouse. 3. I decided to leave the final install on the SD card so I could boot from droid in the future for hardware checking. 4. I used the wiedehopf auto install scripts at: https://github.com/wiedehopf/adsb-wiki/wiki/Raspbian-Lite:-ADS-B-receiver , including the ADSB Exchange Feeder, the statistics package, the graphs package, etc. You just run the scripts from the command line or via SSH if you are remoting into a headless (no KVM) computer if you are using the server version of the Debian Orange Pi version, or in My case, I opened a command line from the desktop version of the Debian OS using the built in Terminal Emulator app. 5. It did take one reboot to get going, and it did download some additional files from Orange Pi and funnily enough some files from Tsinghua University's repositories. That like China's version of MIT and Harvard rolled together. Hmmmm. 5. I'll burn this in for a day or so and look for errors, monitor CPU temperature etc. before I deploy this feeder, but I'm calling this a win for now. Stay Tuned! and Good Luck! and PLEASE FEED ADSB-X!
Hey W, I got the feeder working under Orange Pi 3 LTS Debian Desktop with graphs stats, etc., but when I point a browser (Firefox) at the Orange Pi at its own IP address, I get a message saying this is a placeholder page and to install lighttpd with a link to the Deianian.org website. There are a bunch of versions there. Please advise which may work with this install, and what pitfalls if any.
Wow that is pretty technical! Thank you. My apologies for the dumb questions...what exactly is a feeder appliance? Basically I would like to monitor air traffic in my area and also perhaps in the process get a subscription to the global tracking like FR24 or Flightaware, etc. Can you use Raspbian OS on Orange hardware?
By appliance, I mean a feeder not used for any other task, that doesn't have a monitor, keyboard or mouse. It just sits there and runs and sends data to a service like ADSB Exchange. You really don't need FR24 or the rest with ADSB Exchange. It the best system there is as the data is not delayed and it is uncensored unlike FR24 and the rest. No, you cannot run Raspian on Orange hardware. The Orange hardware has its own OS software that you download from their website. You have to use one of the Orange Pi Debian OS packages they have.
Update on the Orange Pi 3 LTS. It runs hot even with a decent heatsink. I installed ZeroTier for remote access, OnBoard virtual keyboard for a 7" touch screen I already had, wedei's autogain script, did a general OS update using the orangepi-config utility, all on the TF card, and then I moved the whole setup onto the onboard eMMC. It all went well! and so far it is way quicker. I don't know where I read that an SD card would be faster than the onboard eMMC, but this is false. To combat the heat, I also popped off the cover of the cover that is there to allow access to the GPIO and other headers. CPU temps now running at 60 C vs near 80C before. And yes Ahsan Khan, you can feed FltRayDur Two 4 at the same time as ADSB-X too,
UPDATES: I've got an Orange Pi 3 LTS running a feed to ADSB-X. It's running the official latest Debian Desktop from them, with the most recent Kernel, and then updated, and installed to the onboard eMMC. Works Great! I got Graphs, local Tar maps, Zerotier, and a 7" touchscreen working too., with the OnBoard virtual KBD to boot. I even set up virtual keyboard macros to edit the config files and that works too. I did all this as a mobile feeder to leave in my truck and tried to add GPS so I could copy / paste coordinates into the config files from a GPS app. I use an obsolete Holux GR-213u usb connected receiver puck that takes NEMA data through a Prolific 2303 serial to USB converter. The Holux RX works, as I use it on a bit of recent portable instrumentation. What I have so far: the Orange Pi recognized the PL2303 chip and creates the TTYUSB0 port in /dev/ttyX; the OS kernal loads the usb serial module; the LSusb command shows that the Pi knows it's there; the DMESG command shows that the PL2303 is connected to TTYUSB0.; XGPS (which was installed as part on the Debian based GPSD package) or other probes do not show GPS data added to the TTY device. Any help out there? I'm surmising that I missed a software "patch cord" somewhere, or that there may be a better GPS package than GPSD. All Help appreciated. UPDATED again: Mahalo! will try both! UPDATE: Yup rate mismatch. Used Minicom to match the GPS puck. Was set at 115000, but the puck sends 4800 - 8-N-!. Bad news. Still no data received.. Update 2 -tried another minicom session - Apparently the 4800 setting did not "stick" on the first try - it found 9600, so I set 4800 again and it works! Mahalo TBG! It's all working and ready to put in my truck. Here's a photo of all the components on the bench. Thanks for the assist!
