#24 Icon/launcher for osmocom_fft

[drwsrwx]

osmocom_fft is a GUI application without a desktop launcher. This is a proposal to add one to make the application more accessible and application menu more accurate.

Another idea is to add fosphor version osmocom_fft -F as well. There aren't many ways to run it anyhow.

[Cemaxecuter]

Hello again, funny you mention this. I was just doing some changes to gr-osmosdr to make the -F and GUI work correctly with GNU Radio 3.10. I've tested it here locally with my Nvidia and it works well.

For the current DragonOS Focal, it should contain osmocom_fft and fosphor, however, you'd have to configure the GPU drivers etc to use it. I actually used it to capture DJI Drone ID, because without the fosphor display the burst was so fast I just couldn't see it.

I wasn't aware of the desktop launcher though, as it seems there's a bunch of command line arguments needed passed to it.

[drwsrwx]

I see there's no OpenCL runtimes in current version, which is indeed a major problem for fosphor. A general-purpose solution that works everywhere is Intel OpenCL Runtime. It's a CPU implementation that runs on any x86_64 CPU. This is the only way to run fosphor even with certain GPUs. It should work flawlessly with Focal.

GPU implementations are a mess. NVIDIA has a single solution, but it's proprietary and it's NVIDIA. Older Intel GPUs are supported through proprietary Intel OpenCL GPU driver while newer generations need Intel Compute Runtime. AMD has three different proprietary drivers that partly support older and partly newer hardware, while some GPUs are also supported by the open-source Mesa driver and corresponding OpenCL implementation. This is also the easiest GPU option to support where hardware is available.

AMD also has a CPU implementation that works only with AMD CPUs IIRC and it also provides less performance in fosphor than the Intel one.

You're right that osmocom_fft accepts more arguments than available in the GUI, but it can also launch with default settings, find a device and still offer majority of options in the GUI. Launcher can still provide a quick way to run and an indication of the program in the GUI (menu).

[Cemaxecuter]

I went ahead and put desktop shortcut, but.. after seeing it's going to take up a bunch for all required package and then some, might have to leave the OpenCL/Nvidia/AMD on the user depending on what hardware they have. Then the desktop launcher can be adjusted with the -F option.

[drwsrwx]

I agree for GPUs, but not CPUs, where we have a one-size-fits-all solution in the form of the Intel OpenCL CPU Runtime. Please include this standard solution that runs everywhere and definitely works with 20.04. The correct download link is [this one](http://registrationcenter-download.intel.com/akdlm/irc_nas/vcp/15532/l_opencl_p_18.1.0.015.tgz

Installation is pretty straightforward. You unpack the RPM with bsdtar and create the /etc/OpenCL/vendors/intel-cpu.icd - which contains a single line. No compilation. Here is an example. And it just works everywhere, from Ubuntu 16.04 to latest Kali rolling.

[Cemaxecuter]

I'll give this a try on 22.04. I can only think of two remaining things that could be a problem,

1. Size, but I haven't check the tgz unzipped (takes no other dependencies?)
2. I could be overlooking it, but I see no way to tell osmocom_fft which device to use with -F. So say someone has Nvidia setup, but there's also intel support. Can you select between?

[drwsrwx]

Sorry, missed that one before.

1. It does have some dependencies, but not much.

2. Unfortunately osmocom_fft doesn't have this option. I think it chooses the first matching .icd from /etc/OpenCL/vendors/. One workaround is to manually move unwanted .icd files elsewhere (/etc/OpenCL/vendors/disabled/ for example).

[Cemaxecuter]

150M unpacked, have to think about this. I also see there's an end user agreement (similiar situation with SDRPlay api). This may also be an issue to have setup by default with agreement bypassed. I'll still test and maybe the solution is to have it available zipped in the ISO and a post install process that's able to be completed without internet.