LONESTAR SEMICONDUCTOR DESIGNS LLC
We are back and presently shipping only SIMPLEX boards. The DUPLEX boards sold out quickly. Keep following for updates on the next DUPLEX build.
It is hard to keep the website in sync with actual inventory. If anything appears to be out of stock please click "notify when available" on the product page.
Questions:
If you don't see an answer to your question here feel free to contact me at dave@n5boc.com
I updated PI-STAR now MY OLED is Blank
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
How do I adjust the BER to a minimum?
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 this tutorial.
https://www.george-smart.co.uk/2020/06/getting-the-best-bit-error-rate-ber-from-your-pi-star-mmdvm/
I am having an issue with XXX, have you seen this before?
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
Discord Server
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/hECgS3b9
As with the google groups, if you have any issues joining please email me.
Where are my instructions for the board.
All of the boards are somewhat standard. So rather than producing an inferior set of instructions 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.