Dump 1090 mutability - installation on Pi

[puffin]

I hope I'm posting this in the right place.  I am a long term SBS1 user who has invested in a Pi and a blue ProStick Plus dongle, but I don't want to feed Flightaware.  Bear with me, the Pi is a new toy, Linux is a new experience, and I'm worn out after spending a week getting the Pi to the state where I can do anything with it - now I can finally use VNC on my laptop to control the thing life is much easier.  I found some nice clear instructions in the Flightaware forum which said it was simple to set up the ProStick to bypass Flightaware, using the -mutability version of dump 1090:
https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/can-i-use-prostick-without-piaware/28748/3.  Alas, you've guessed it, I hit a blank wall.  All went well for the first two commands, then here is a pasted copy of what happened next :

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cd ~/
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo mkdir build-dump
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cd install-dump
bash: cd: install-dump: No such file or directory

A log of the entire process is attached, it's was a pleasant surprise to be able to select and copy the contents of the command window via VNC.

Should the mkdir make install-dump, or should the cd change directory to build-dump ?  Or have I got the wrong end of the stick ?  It's a long, long time since I did any amount of command line programming and that was in DOS, but it seems to me that I am expected to create a directory and then move to that directory, but different names are specified so maybe that's why it doesn't work.  I don't yet understand Linux enough to do anything except type what I'm told, and if that doesn't work, I'm stuck.  And I don't want to mess up my Pi.  I have checked using the GUI file manager and I do indeed have the install-dump directory I made.

So, a long story, but in the end I hope it's a simple question for the experts.  Please ask if you need more info.
Thanks for any help you can give .
Puffin

[attachment deleted reduce file load]

[Anmer]

Welcome.

What do you plan to use to track your local aircraft?

[puffin]

Thanks.  I'm taking it one small step at a time, I gather I can feed the data through ModeSDeco and hopefully into BaseStation and FR24, with the Pi etc in the loft and BaseStation on a laptop downstairs.  If at all possible I want the data to feed into my sqb as I have a couple of self-written programs which compile flight data from it.  Doubtless there will be a lot of questions to come.

I have tried PlanePlotter in the past and just couldn't get on with it, my laptop at the time seemed to lose all the settings, drop network connections etc, and my patience ran out before I could get it set up to work in any consistent way.

I'll be thinking more about it when I hopefully get past the problem I'm asking about.

Puffin

[Anmer]

Thanks.

If you run FlightAware's PiAware, it's a one-step install.

From there you can run ModeSMixer and feed FR24.

But you will automatically feed FlightAware.  What's the objection to sharing data with FlifhtAware?:

[puffin]

What's the objection to sharing data with FlightAware?

I don't use FlightAware.    Even they accept that my way is an option, it's just that the script on their Forum I linked to doesn't work, and that's what I'm looking for an answer to.

[abcd567]

Should the mkdir make install-dump, or should the cd change directory to build-dump ?  Or have I got the wrong end of the stick ? 

Thanks for pointing out the mistake.
Following is wrong (sorry for it):

Code Select Expand


sudo mkdir build-dump
cd install-dump


Correct commands are

Code Select Expand


sudo mkdir build-dump
cd build-dump


[puffin]

Well thank you, abcd567, (a) for answering the question, and (b) for confirming what I guessed about the error in the code.  I was thinking that surely, after all this time, if it was wrong somebody with more knowledge of Linux than I have would have noticed 

I would have asked direct in the FA Forum, but for some reason it allocated me a password which it would not then accept. I was not having a good day.

Eventually I gave up, installed the full FA download and can see what's happening, but as there doesn't seem to be any way to get aircraft registrations showing on the radar screen in Skyview, I have linked up to Virtual Radar Server and use that instead.  The Pi is now in the loft with the antenna on a classic biscuit tin at the very top, and I have to say the reception is awesome compared with my downstairs SBS1 - whose antenna is blocked by concrete walls in the interesting directions.  There are various reasons why I couldn't get an antenna up outside on the roof, but I may be able to do that now the downlead can take a short and sensible route into the loft and not have to snake around a very awkwardly-built house.

Many thanks again.

Puffin

[Anmer]

but as there doesn't seem to be any way to get aircraft registrations showing on the radar screen in Skyview,

Skyview isn't too configurable but if you place the mouse over an aircraft icon, you should get a popup window showing the registration.

Another drawback is the "database" can't be updated and is shipped with each PiAware update.  I'm adding 20 new registrations a day to my BaseStation.sqb file (which goes back to 2005) so you may have lots of aircraft for which there is no registratioin.

Using VRS is your best option, which you've discovered.

[puffin]

I had noticed the pop-up registrations, also the sad number that are wrong !  I am just too busy using another computer to be constantly clicking on the screen and  scrolling the aircraft list up and down trying to work out what I need to watch out for (when the weather's good enough). 

I still prefer the uncluttered and completely configurable BaseStation display, with ADPro to update the database and tell me with a sound alert when there is something up there worth watching for.

Puffin

[Anmer]

I still prefer the uncluttered and completely configurable BaseStation display, with ADPro to update the database and tell me with a sound alert when there is something up there worth watching for.

I fully agree.  But FlightAware doesn't believe in Windows, or the tens of thousands of aviation enthusiasts who like the highly configurable BaseStation and associated, editable aircraft database.  Consequently they don't get their data.

The good news is you can run BaseStation off an RPi with PiAware.

[abcd567]

Old posts, but may provide some guidance:


(1)  Feeding data from Piaware into Basestation


(2)  Dump1090 and Basestation



.

[puffin]

Thanks very much abcd567...  This is the sort of thing I was steering towards when I wanted to install Dump 1090 mutability and started this thread, as I did not know if the Flightaware software would work, but knew that it could be done in a non-FA world.

These posts seem to suggest it can be managed from PiAware, now all I have to do is establish that the provided info works with the version of the Pi and its software that I'm using (the latest of each, as far as I'm aware).  Watch this space, but my advice would be don't hold your breath 

[abcd567]

@puffin
The method in the link I have posted uses dump1090-fa or dump1090-mutability.
It has nothing to do with Piaware Data feeder (except for MLAT feed back which works when you install Piaware Data feeder).

Have you seen the new thread "Bake A Pi" which I have created about half an hour ago?
Option-1, which is for installation of dump1090-mutability on Raspbian, may be of interest to you.

Other options & data feeder installation will be posted shortly.

[puffin]

I've been blundering around in a fog of unfamiliar strange new terms for some months now, and it only seems to ever get more complicated with an ever-increasing number of options that may or may not lead to what I need and I get more confused.

I didn't know there was such a thing as a "Piaware Data Feeder" that wasn't part of dump1090-fa.  I just downloaded the FA "software" and transferred it to the SD card, as per the instructions. All I know is what little has sunk in and stuck so far.  Thank you for explaining things so clearly in good English, and well set out - it helps a good deal, much better than the scrappy notes others call "guides".   I'm afraid the old grey cells have deteriorated since I wrote a database program for my old non-PC computer in Z80 machine code, and I need a lot more clarity than I used to !

I have fed FR24 for many years from my PC/SBS-1 setup, but of course there is no MLAT data in return from them apart from what you see online and that excludes details for certain aircraft many of us are interested in. I have a feeling that Flightaware doesn't return blocked or military traffic, is that right ?  So maybe if I shared my Pi data with Planefinder or ADSBExchange I could eventually end up seeing all the traffic I actually detect  plotting on my BaseStation radar screen, which would be ideal.  Well a start anyway, some clear sky has to be part of the the ideal package !

Thanks again,

Puffin

[Anmer]

I have a feeling that Flightaware doesn't return blocked or military traffic, is that right ?

I can understand the feeling but FlightAware returns all MLAT calculated positions to PiAware and FlightFeeder hosts:

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/multilateration-mlat-data/20136?u=mikepwc