Installing GNU Radio¶
Most users don't really need to think about this. There are Debian and Ubuntu packages available in the standard repositories, and many other distros also have packages available, so you can simply do an apt-get install gnuradio or whatever the package management command on your distro is (if you don't know how that works, see the section below on pre-compiled binaries).
Current binary packages for Windows, Ubuntu and Fedora are also available courtesy of Ettus Research, ready for installation.
So, only read on if you have special requirements, and the binary packages are not working for you.
Ways to install GNU Radio¶
There are two ways to install GNU Radio: either by using pre-compiled binary packages, or manually compiling it from source. The development of GNU Radio is extremely fast-paced, however, and binaries provided by your favorite distribution might be outdated.
If you want any of the following:- ...the most up-to-date code
- ...to closely follow the development of GNU Radio
- ...to modify GNU Radio yourself.
... you will most likely want to install GNU Radio from source (see the next section). For Fedora and Ubuntu users, there is a script which does all the heavy lifting. For other distributions, you will have to run through the install process manually.
If you just want to start playing around with GNU Radio, the binaries might be enough. Make sure the binary package you're installing is not much older than the most current release.
Using the build-gnuradio script¶
The build-gnuradio is an install script for recent Fedora and Ubuntu systems provided by Marcus Leech. For most users, this is the recommended way.
For the impatient: open a terminal window, move to the directory you would like the source files to be stored (e.g. 'cd src/'), and run this command:
$ wget http://www.sbrac.org/files/build-gnuradio && chmod a+x ./build-gnuradio && ./build-gnuradio
This downloads the installer (build-gnuradio) and makes it executable. It then downloads and installs all dependencies, downloads both UHD and GNU Radio from Git (which means it will automatically install the latest version from the 'master' branch), runs the make process, and installs it on your system (a lot of this is done silently, so if there's a lot to do for the script, don't be surprised if it doesn't say anything for a while). In most cases, simply running the script will do all you need to get a running GNU Radio system built from source. Also, you will have all the source code lying on your hard disk and therefore available for future modifications. It combines the flexibility of installing from source with the ease of using binaries and is recommended for most users of Ubuntu and Fedora.
Thanks to Marcus Leech for putting this together and hosting it.
Using Pre-compiled Binaries¶
NOTE: Using pre-compiled binaries is fine, but do check if the version you're installing is up to date! Sometimes old versions slip into the packaging systems. If you're using an outdated version, don't expect any help on the mailing list!
Pre-compiled binaries come packaged with your distribution, or you can use the binaries provided by Ettus Research. On Ubuntu and Debian, installing GNU Radio from binaries is as easy as calling
$ apt-get install gnuradio
On Fedora, run
$ yum install gnuradio
Make sure the version shipped with your distro is not much older than the current GNU Radio release (it should be at least the same minor release, i.e. the second digit should be the same).
Using pre-compiled binaries from Ettus Research¶
Pre-compiled binaries for UHD and GnuRadio can be found at files.ettus.com.
These include packages for Ubuntu, Fedora and Windows
Download UHD
Download GnuRadio
Example Ubuntu(11.04) Installation
Install the required dependencies as mentioned at Install-Dependencies
Download UHD/GnuRadio Pakages
Users can install these packages using Ubuntu Software Center or 'dpkg' or 'synaptic'
After installation set the PYTHONPATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables
Default installation uses following paths /usr/bin and /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages
Export the paths as
$ export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages $ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/bin
Note:: For above mentioned GnuRadio binary, UHD is a must dependency so, install UHD binary before installing GnuRadio
Installing manually from source¶
If you choose this route, you have slightly more work to do. First, you need to download the code. You can get the code as a tarball or check it out from the git repository.
To build GNU Radio, refer to the build guide.
If you want to be able to use USRP devices, you need to install UHD before installing GNU Radio.
Windows users¶
If you want to install from pre-compiled binaries see above Using pre-compiled binaries from Ettus Research.
If you need to install GNU Radio from source refer to the windows install guide.
OK, it's installed, what now?¶
If the installation worked without any trouble, you're ready to use GNU Radio. If you have no idea how to do that, read the page on how to use GNU Radio. You probably want to connect some Hardware to your computer to try and receive or transmit stuff. If you or your group would like to get a professional jump start on using GNU Radio and the USRP, Corgan Labs http://corganlabs.com offers a 3-day, hands-on training class that can be held at your own location.