New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Discussion about this major DATV Project. See https://wiki.batc.org.uk/The_Portsdown_Transmitter
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New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by G8GKQ » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:17 am

The Portsdown transmitter has been built around the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B computer. Today, (Pi Day) the Raspberry Pi foundation have launched the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ which has a slightly faster processor and other improvements. They have promised to continue production of the older Raspberry Pi 3 Model B for a number of years.

My current plans are to continue to support the original Raspberry Pi 3 Model B that everybody has purchased with new features in the Portsdown software. However, new video features are running at the limit of the existing hardware, so I do plan to experiment with the new Pi 3 B+ (I have ordered one this morning) to see if it can enable better capabilities.

Portsdown software that works with the older hardware that you have all invested in will continue to be available for download from the BATC website for many years.

Should you buy the new version or the old version if you are just starting a Portsdown? The answer is that I do not know until I get my hands on the new version and test it. Standby for updates!

Dave, G8GKQ

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14_3_2018 New Rpi released

Post by G1BVI » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:19 am

Hi all.
I dont know how the Portsdown will react to the new pi in terms of even better performance, but this is just a note to let you all know there is another pi released today.

Mines on order
Here is the spec
Taken from the pi hut

73

Nick
..............................................................................................................................................................................
The latest Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ has a faster 64-bit 1.4GHz quad core processor, 1GB of RAM, faster dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2, and significantly faster 300Mbit/s ethernet.

1.4GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU (BCM2837)
1GB RAM (LPDDR2 SDRAM)
On-board wireless LAN - dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac (CYW43455)
On-board Bluetooth 4.2 HS low-energy (BLE) (CYW43455)
4 x USB 2.0 ports
300Mbit/s Ethernet
40 GPIO pins
Full size HDMI 1.3a port
Combined 3.5mm analogue audio and composite video jack
Camera interface (CSI)
Display interface (DSI)
microSD slot
VideoCore IV multimedia/3D graphics core @ 400MHz/300MHz
..............................................................................................................................................................................

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Re: New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by G8GKQ » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:35 am

Nick - I think that we posted at the same time, so I have moved your post into this topic!

Dave

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Re: New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by G1BVI » Wed Mar 14, 2018 11:26 am

Thanks Dave
It looks like as far as video goes there is not much change.
The pi hut also gives warnings about adding Hats to the new Pi and the danger of s/c's.

Not an issue for the portsdown I suspect.

73

Nick

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Re: New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by G8GKQ » Mon Mar 19, 2018 8:35 pm

My Raspberry Pi 3+ has arrived and I have done some research.

The current build instructions do not work for the Raspberry Pi 3+, as to boot it needs the latest operating system (Raspbian Stretch). If you already have a Raspberry Pi 3, it would probably be possible to upgrade an existing Portsdown SD card to work in the new RPi 3+, but I do not intend to spend time researching what is required and testing the result.

Instead, my intention is to commence the long-overdue rebuild on Raspbian Stretch, which will work on both the existing Raspberry Pi 3 and the new Raspberry Pi 3+. Both models will continue to be supported. This could take a week or a month. I'll try to post progress reports here.

Dave, G8GKQ

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Re: New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by G8GKQ » Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:51 am

A Portsdown software build is now available for the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+.

The build starts with an SD Card that is loaded with the 2018-03-13 build of Raspbian Stretch Lite and is then installed in the same manner as previous Portsdown versions. Full details are here: https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevi ... /portsdown

There is no upgrade path from the old (Jessie) build to the new (Stretch) build. You can, however, export your settings to a USB stick from the old build and import them to the new build (in Advanced Settings on the Console Menu).

So, there are now 2 GitHub repositories, one named rpidatv for the Jessie build, and one named portsdown for the Stretch build.

Please note that I have not yet had time to test all corners of the new Stretch software build. It seems to work for all the important things, but please let me know if you have any problems. I have not been able to do any performance testing of the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ either.

Dave, G8GKQ

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Re: New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by G3UEQ » Tue Apr 03, 2018 1:01 pm

Hi Dave
Just installed your Stretch update on my 3 B+ and it's working. There are a couple of funnies, I do not see the IP address come up and the Wi-Fi says cannot connect due to RF kill message ?. It takes the info but will not connect to my router.
Loading is around 17 seconds to fully loaded, quite an improvement!
Well done on getting it up and running so quickly..
Kind regards
Andy G3UEQ

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Re: New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by G8GKQ » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:44 pm

Hi Andy

Pleased that you have it working.

1. The IP address is no longer displayed on boot-up. I was having to wait for it to appear, and decided that most users would prefer a faster boot. You can look up the first IP address (which is the wired one if both wired and wireless are connected) on the Info screen (Menu 2). The next release will display both IP addresses on the info screen.

2. I had wireless working on my original build, but will confirm it on a fresh build later today. Thanks for pointing this out.

Dave

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Re: New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by G3UEQ » Thu Apr 05, 2018 6:47 pm

Dave
Installed latest update OK, initially when I selected WiFi setup, it asked if I wanted to enable WiFi, I typed Y and it came up after entering the relevant details it said as before RF kill switch enabled and WiFi did not work. When I tried again, I ignored the y/n question, just hit return and it came up this time with list of SSIDs. When I entered my details it worked this time FB.
Thanks for the C270 input, I have one of those as well as the C920.
Best regards
Andy

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Re: New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Post by vk3gmz » Fri Apr 06, 2018 5:04 am

Evening all,
Ive just done the Stretch install with a view to using the project to stream our local repeater VK3RTV to BATC instead of using the old PC currently in service.

My question is... can I use one Pi with the Portsdown installed on it to stream two similtainious streams from our repeater ?
Does the Pi have enough grunt to do it and if so how do I go about setting up two USB ports on my Pi 3+ to stream video, happy to do this at 250k instead of 500 if need be.

Any feedback most welcome, BTW we are getting very close to having our beloved repeater back on air in its new location very soon.

Cheers phil 3gmz

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