Frequently Asked Questions:

In Pi-Star the OLED is disabled by default.   You will see it read STARTUP when the board is powered but even that eventually goes away.    Originally it was enabled by default.   I really wish they had left it this way. 

In order to correct this you must go to CONFIGURATION / EXPERT / MMDVMhost / 

Scroll toward the bottom to the section labeled OLED

It should have the following settings:

Type = 3
Brightness = 0
Invert = 0
Scroll = 1
Rotate = 1
Cast = 0

LogoScreenSaver = 1
 

PI-STAR has a built in utility called MMDVMCAL

It must be run from the command line.  The easiest way to do that is to SSH into the PI.

I could go into much more detail here,  but it would be better if you follow one of these tutorials.

https://www.george-smart.co.uk/2020/06/getting-the-best-bit-error-rate-ber-from-your-pi-star-mmdvm/

https://www.k9npx.com/2019/02/hotspot-offset-calibration.html

 

There are a few issues that people consistently bump into mostly with PI-Star.    While I didn't write that software,  I have learned a few things about it in the process of supporting these boards.     I am starting to keep a list of issues and resolutions on the GOOGLE GROUPS page for LoneStar Semi.     I would try checking there first.    Just go to GROUPS.GOOGLE.COM and do a search there for ALL GROUPS and put in Lonestar Semiconductor.    That should be enough to find the group.     If you have issues joining please email me at   dave@N5BOC.com

( Sorry,  lately I have not been keeping up this google group ) 

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We have a discord server where you may be able to get an answer to your question.    It is in its early days so participation is not very good yet,  but I'd like to encourage you to join.   The more people we can have join the better it all becomes.    

Here is an invite to the server.
https://discord.gg/8GM4c4jjJ9  

I have hopefully fixed this INVITE link. 

As with the google groups,  if you have any issues joining please email me.  

All of the boards are somewhat standard.  So rather than duplicating poorly what has already been done,  I encourage you to look at one of these well written sites that cover the standard boards.   I do have some specific instructions I have written for installation of the DUPLEX and USB devices as they are a bit tougher to get going and the general sites don't address these permutations as much.   Most of the sites are centered around a SIMPLEX board.    But the information is applicable toward all boards.  

Other documentation can be found here...
https://n5boc.com/img/N5BOC_DOCS.htm

Here you will find links to the pages where they go over the setup of a standard MMDVM board.  

Please understand to make my boards work it is a combination of the hardware I build,  and PI-Star which is written by someone else.     I will try to support you in getting my boards working with PI-Star,  but using it daily as I do there is still much about it I don't understand.    I'm also not a D-Star person.   So while I can make my boards work with PI-Star in the D-Star mode my expertise is even more limited here.   But I will do my best to help you on D-Star as well.  
 

Rather and putting links for all of the firmware on my site,  I will instead point you to W0CHP's website.  I trust him to manage this aspect so there is no reason for me to replicate what he is doing so well. 

You can find the firmware on his site here: 
https://wpsd-swd.w0chp.net/WPSD-SWD/MMDVM_HS-Firmware_Latest-Compiled

Attention:  Please do not try to fix a non-responding board by updating the firmware.  The firmware is not your problem.    But by doing so and trying to update the firmware this adds one more unknown to the equation and makes it SO MUCH harder for me to help you.   If you update the firmware and the board isn't responding then you now don't know if it took the firmware upgrade.   You may have temporarily bricked the board and don't realize it.