Installation - jcfitzpatrick12/spectre GitHub Wiki

Supported Receivers
Supported Platforms
Quick Start

Supported Receivers

Spectre is powered by GNU Radio, and can support any receiver with a source block. If you have a receiver that isn't currently supported, raise an issue.

Receiver	Vendor	Supported
RSP1A	SDRplay	✅
RSPduo	SDRplay	✅
RSPdx	SDRplay	✅
USRP B200mini	Ettus Research	✅
RTL-SDR	RTL-SDR	❌
RSP1B	SDRplay	❌
RSPdx-R2	SDRplay	❌
USRP B200	Ettus Research	❌
USRP B210	Ettus Research	❌
USRP B205mini-i	Ettus Research	❌
USRP X310	Ettus Research	❌
AirspyHF	Airspy	❌
BladeRF	Nuand	❌
HackRF	Great Scott Gadgets	❌
LimeSDR	Lime Microsystems	❌
PLUTO	Analog Devices	❌

If you're new to Spectre and don't have a supported receiver yet, don't worry. You can explore the program using the built-in signal_generator receiver, which works without any extra hardware.

Note: SDRplay clones (i.e., unofficially produced copies of SDRplay receivers) will likely not work with Spectre as they are not compatible with the official SDRplay API.

Supported Platforms

Spectre is expected to be compatible with most Linux distributions and offers multi-arch support. The following platforms have been verified:

Architecture	OS
x86_64	Ubuntu Desktop (22.04)
arm64	Ubuntu Desktop (22.04)
arm64	Raspberry Pi OS (Desktop)
arm64	Raspberry Pi OS (Lite)

If you're having trouble on your platform or device, raise an issue.

Note: macOS compatibility will be explored in the future.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

To get going, you'll need the following installed on your machine:

Prerequisite	Do I Already Have It?
Docker Engine	Run `docker --version`
Docker Compose	Run `docker compose --help`
Git	Run `git --version`

Getting started

Clone the repository
Clone the GitHub repository and navigate to its root directory:
```
git clone https://github.com/jcfitzpatrick12/spectre.git && cd spectre
```
Configure your host
Set up targeted USB permissions for Spectre, and initialise environment variables, with sensible defaults:
```
chmod +x setup.sh && sudo ./setup.sh
```
This is required to run the spectre-server as a non-root user, which is the default behaviour.
Start the containers
Ensure any receivers are connected, then create and run the containers in the background:
```
docker compose up --detach
```
Optional: Omit the --detach flag, if you'd like to run them in the foreground. Everything works the same, but you'll have to open a new terminal tab for the next steps.
Create an alias for the CLI
In a new terminal tab, set up the following alias:
```
alias spectre='docker exec spectre-cli spectre'
```
This lets you run spectre-cli commands as if they were executed directly on the host.
Good to go!
Verify everything is up and running with:
```
spectre --help
```

Check your receiver is detected

If you have a physical receiver connected, it's a good idea to verify that the spectre-server can detect it.

For SDRplay receivers, run:

docker exec spectre-server sdrplay_find_devices

For USRP receivers, run:

docker exec spectre-server uhd_find_devices

If this is the first time you're running the containers since plugging in the device, it may not be detected. Ensure the receiver is still connected, then restart the spectre-server with:

docker restart spectre-server

Run the CLI without Docker

You can also run the CLI locally, without the spectre-cli container.

Create and activate a Python virtual environment
Create and activate a Python virtual environment dedicated for the spectre-cli:
```
python3 -m venv ./.venv && . ./.venv/bin/activate
```
Install the dependencies
Install the dependencies into the newly activated virtual environment.:
```
pip install ./cli
```
Remove the existing alias:
Remove any existing alias to prevent shadowing:
```
unalias spectre
```
Good to go!
Verify everything is up and running with:
```
spectre --help
```