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Getting started: Mac OSX
This guide describes the process of building and installing the bladeRF host libraries and tool for a Mac OSX system, and quickly getting a device up and running using pre-built firmware and FPGA images.
Install XCode from Apple, as you will need a compiler. This is available in the App Store.
If you plan to use graphical tools (i.e., GNU Radio Companion), ensure you have X11 installed. See the XQuartz project for additional information and instructions.
Next, install a package management system, such as MacPorts or Homebrew.
With MacPorts, the bladeRF utilities can be installed with:
$ sudo port install bladeRF +tecla
Ensure that your shell configuration (e.g., .bashrc, .zshrc) contains the following items (adjusted accordingly):
export DISPLAY=:0.0
export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH
export MANPATH=/opt/local/share/man:$MANPATH
export PYTHONPATH=/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages:/opt/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages:${PYTHONPATH}
If you're using Homebrew, install the dependencies via the following command. Note that you want to select libusbx.
$ brew install libusbx pkgconfig cmake libtecla
If you've installed bladeRF items via a package manager, you can skip this section. However, if you're interested in diving into the host-side code, continue on!
Required dependencies include: libusb(x), CMake. libtecla is optional, but highly recommended for bladeRF-cli. MacPorts and Homebrew provide packages for all of these.
To obtain the latest source code for the first time, clone the Nuand git repository via:
$ git clone https://github.com/Nuand/bladeRF.git $ cd ./bladeRF
In the future, you can update the repository via:
$ git pull
First enter the directory containing the host source. Then create and enter a directory to perform the build in. By working out of the a 'build' directory, it's easy to later clean up, by simply removing 'build/'.
$ cd host/ $ mkdir build; cd build
Next, configure the build. In the below example, we:
- Set up a Debug build
- Specify that files should be installed into /opt/local
$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/local
Kick off the build and install to the location specified by CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX.
$ make $ sudo make install
Note that from this same directory, you can run the following to uninstall the files place on your system in the previous step.
sudo make uninstall
The install_manifest.txt file, created after running the install step successfully, lists all the files installed. It is a good idea to back up this file if you plan on removing this build directory later.
With the libraries and tools installed, we can now use the bladeRF-cli (command line interface) to probe for devices attached to the system.
First, take a look at the command-line options:
$ bladeRF-cli --help
- If you see the help text, you can skip ahead to the invocation with the -p option.
$ bladeRF-cli -p
Backend: libusb
Serial: f12ce1037830a1b27f3ceeba1f521413
USB Bus: 253
USB Address: 5
If you do not see any device listed:
- Double-check that device is plugged in and that the jumpers on J70 are populated correctly
- LED D1 should be illuminated
- Try looking in Command-Space 'System Information' to see your USB devices.
- Verify that you have libusb 1.0.17 (check with 'port installed | grep libusb')
- Try both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports
More information about the attached device can be viewed while running bladeRF-cli in interactive mode. Enter this mode and issue the help command to see a list of available command. Use the info command to print information about the device, and version to view version information, most notably, the firmware:
$ bladeRF-cli -i bladeRF> help ... (Help text shown here ) ... bladeRF> info Serial #: f12ce1037830a1b27f3ceeba1f521413 VCTCXO DAC calibration: 0x9857 FPGA size: 115 KLE FPGA loaded: yes USB bus: 253 USB address: 5 USB speed: Hi-Speed Backend: libusb Instance: 0 bladeRF> version bladeRF-cli version: 0.7.0-git-74980ad-dirty libbladeRF version: 0.9.0-git-74980ad-dirty Firmware version: 1.4.0 FPGA version: 0.0.0
Here we see the device's serial number, DAC calibration, FPGA information, and USB connection information. Take note of the FPGA size, as this will help determine which FPGA file to load.
If you've just received your bladeRF, note the firmware version installed on your device. If it looks older than what's available for download, see the this wiki page for more details on upgrading your device firmware.
Note that firmware and FPGA versions are tightly coupled. See the comments associated with the Firmware or FPGA images. (Generally, the latest of both are compatible.)
Support for loading the FPGA from flash automatically is currently supported and undergoing further testing. See the bladeRF-cli --help text for information on how to write an FPGA image to flash for autoloading.
For simplicity, this guide shows how to load the FPGA without storing it into flash for autoloading. (As a result, you'll have to load the FPGA each time the device is reset or plugged in.)
FPGA images can be obtained from the Nuand website or from a nightly build of "bleeding edge" images.
To load an image from the command line.
$ bladeRF-cli -l <path/to/fpga/file>
Or to load an image while in interactive mode:
bladeRF> load fpga <path/to/fpga/file>
After the FPGA loads, you should see LEDs on the board begin blinking. At this point, you're ready to start using your device!
The following command may be used to install GNU Radio via MacPorts, and any necessary dependencies.
$ sudo port install gnuradio +grc +swig +wxgui +qtgui +python27
After the installation completes (it may take quite some time), you can verify the installation by running gnuradio-companion. Note: XQuartz will automatically start if it is not already started.
To get support for the bladeRF source and sink in GnuRadio, you will need to install gr-osmosdr.
$ sudo port install gr-osmosdr
If you are having difficulty selecting a bladeRF source/sink, you can check a list of supported device types in osmosdr with the following command.
$ osmocom_fft 2>&1 | grep "source types" built-in source types: file fcd rtl rtl_tcp uhd hackrf bladerf netsdr
If you have a good graphics card in your mac that supports opencl + opengl concurrently (currently it seems Intel's Iris Pro doesn't?), you can also install the fosphor sinks for gnuradio with.
$ sudo port install gr-fosphor
The following is a bit vague, but it is assured to be workable. As of Jan 2014 it seems that that gnuradio is still not yet part of the supported tree for Homebrew. There are, however, several 3rd-party scripts. One of them by user "titanous." To use this, you need to run:
$ brew tap titanous/homebrew-gnuradiobut it is advisable to see the README at https://github.com/titanous/homebrew-gnuradio since there are several prerequisites and some options to consider. Subsequent steps are akin to those under "Building gr-osmosdr from source" (above).
See the Getting Started: Linux guide for some quick tests to verify device operation with GNU Radio.