SDRConnect: The Linux Installation

There's a lot of chatter at the moment about how Windows 11 is forcing everyone towards a 'forever rent' model i.e. paying every month for cloud-based computing that you previously ran locally. It's being called 'the end of personal computing' by some.

Whether through use of Raspberry Pi SBCs or more concerted efforts in replacing a computer's OS, most amateur radio operators will have something answering to the Linux label in their shacks.

And so it has long been with me. But I'm no Linux expert - at all. I do enjoy the more interactive aspects of delving into the terminal and actually entering real commands from time to time. But it can also be a bit difficult and frustrating to get to grips with.

I'd tried to install SDRConnect on Linux Mint a few months ago, but I hadn't really gone to much effort to overcome the hurdles I met. Last night, I wiped my 12 year-old HP laptop clear of Windows and Zorin OS, installing only Ubuntu. What follows, though, also applies to Linux, which I tested this morning.

Most of what you need to know is actually on the SDRPlay website, but isn't really that obvious a place to hit during a stressed visit, trying to figure-out how to get the damned software running! It's on a PowerPoint-type page:

The commands are: cd Desktop (or cd Downloads, depending on where you have the downloaded SDRConnect .run file) Note that the directory names are case-sensitive.

Type ls to list the files in the relevant directory. Somewhere, you will see the SDRConnect file with a '.run' at the end. You can highlight and copy this filename to the clipboard to paste it when it comes to the commands.

Now type chmod 755 SDRConnect.[whatever the rest of the filename].run You can paste the filename from the clipboard.

Now type ./SDRConnect[rest of filename].run  Note there is no space between the ./ and the filename.

The user agreement and installation now goes ahead. But if you are missing some files, it will tell you to run the installation of SDRConnect again after downloading and installing the missing ones; it's usually very simple and just one file.  Just go back to the ./SDRConnect[etc] instruction, above, when the missing files are sorted.

You should now find SDRConnect installed and an icon and/or listing for the software.

Easy! Works for Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi and Linux.