---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Shane Morris <edgecomberts@gmail.com> Date: Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 6:57 PM Subject: Re: [App_rpt-users] Fwd: RE: Jim and Ramesh (chan_voter and RPi) To: "S. Scott" <8f27e956@gmail.com> And I have said I'd like to use a Cubieboard and included a link. It is comparable to an xM, as well as being far, far cheaper. If chan_voter works on RPi, it'll certainly work on anything. The intent here is to get a voting server to work, not a direct peripheral on an RPi or a Cubie or even an xM. I have listed all these factors in my original email, and for good reason. Sorry, I'm not trying to be a smart alec but I did go over all this with he intent it wouldn't be vexed again. So I'm going to point at my original post, and say "Ignore the reference to RPi, and read again." :) On 28/12/2012 6:44 PM, "S. Scott" <8f27e956@gmail.com> wrote:

While i understand the appeal of the rPi, the BeagleBone more likely has the needed horse power, and it can handle its USB and ethernet going at the same time. To modern O/S, the BEAGLE BONE "looks" like i real mobo, needing less custom shoehorning.

2¢

————— iThing: Big thumbs & little keys. Please excuse typo, spelling and grammar errors • Thought of the Day – "With all this manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere.”

On 2012-12-27, at 18:25, Shane Morris <edgecomberts@gmail.com> wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Shane Morris" <edgecomberts@gmail.com> Date: 28/12/2012 10:25 AM Subject: RE: [App_rpt-users] Jim and Ramesh (chan_voter and RPi) To: "Corey Dean" <n3fe@repeater.net>

Yes, but that function is handled by the DSPiC in the RTCM as far as I understand. I'm suggesting the RPi be a SIP/ IAX server. And merely that. No real need for a DSP in the RPi.

On 28/12/2012 10:22 AM, "Corey Dean" <n3fe@repeater.net> wrote:

...

My thought on this would be if it couldn't handle the DSP and had to rely on simple USB then it wouldn't be able to work as a voter because it wouldn't be able to read the RSSI of the discriminator audio. I may be way off on my thought, but I know it needs DSP for the discriminator audio.

Corey N3FE

-----Original Message----- From: app_rpt-users-bounces@ohnosec.org [mailto:app_rpt-users-bounces@ohnosec.org] On Behalf Of Shane Morris Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 2:56 PM To: app_rpt mailing list Subject: [App_rpt-users] Jim and Ramesh (chan_voter and RPi)

Hi all,

I was thinking, even though the RaspberryPi can't handle the audio stream from a URI due to the limitations of the USB bus, what is the ethernet performance like? I imagine it wouldn't be terribly good, due to the fact the ethernet swings off the USB, but hear me out...

chan_voter is a module that communicates via ethernet, am I correct? It uses an RTCM connected over an ethernet bus to communicate the voice data around, and I can imagine, at a low codec rate like GSM or even Speex, throughput wouldn't be as excessive as raw sound data coming from a fob.

So my proposal is, before Jim and Ramesh throw out the baby with the bathwater, and consign the RPi effort to the dust, why not take the work, which I believe involves getting Zaptel/ DAHDI to work with the RPi, and apply it to a purely chan_voter system? Yes, I know the chan_voter is dependant upon app_rpt, and in the future, someone, somewhere, is going to try to hook up a sound fob, and miserably complain it doesn't work, but we get the same questions about Asterisk 1.8 over and over too, right?

The advantages here are manyfold - again, low power consumption comes into the game, everyone knows I personally need as low a power consumption as I can get. The fact the RTCM data (ie, VoIP over ethernet) is much more suited to the infrastructure on the RPi is a good thing here too. The fact that normal Asterisk just runs, and runs well, on RPi is another motivating factor - my friend Andrew is running his house PABX on an RPi running Asterisk 1.8 I believe, there is an image for this. And yes, simply the cool factor - who else can say they run their voting repeater system off something the size of a credit card, with all the proprietary, messy, rack mounted stuff out there?

If Jim and Ramesh are unwilling, or unable, to help, due to the fact that the RPi is a bit of a letdown (I heard about the USB performance issues - ouch!), I would like to take their work, and apply it to a platform I think may have a bit better USB performance - its based on a Cortex-A8 (ARMv7) - the Cubieboard. For all you I/O junkies out there, what can YOU do with 96 I/Os? For $49, gets you something good, look it up, www.cubieboard.org - I got one for Christmas, and I thought it would be good for this. Its a Chinese Allwinnner A10 device.

Since I have gone beyond just simple URI systems since Jim introduced me to the RTCM, I would like to get this to work. I recognised the RTCM did something I was talking to Andrew about on the way home from Expedition in October of this year - "Wouldn't it be nice, Andrew, if we could have a voting system that allows us the flexibility to run an Expeditions communications in such a way that make it simply easy for us, and easy for the users?" Before, we've had users change channels in different places, this inevitably leads to confusion. With a chan_voter system, we can run the same UHF CB channel across the arena, and access it anywhere.

Andrew had said to me "Shane, do you know how much such a system would cost...?" Yes, Andrew, I had the Simoco, and I bought the RTCM for $250 second hand ^.^ Sorry for being a smart-alec, I know you meant how much would a PROPRIETARY system cost us?

Anyway, I hope I have Jim and Rameshes blessing on this one - they did some great work, and I know it must've been a letdown to find out the hardware simply wasn't up to the task. Believe me, this isn't the first story I've heard about the lacklustre I/O performance of the RPi, and it won't be the last. But by using their work on a much stronger (I hope!) platform that it still ARM Linux based, I hope to circumvent at least one problem with the RPi. And its only $11 more before shipping!

Looks like I'm going to be reading the Allwinnner A10 device spec sheet now, huh? =)

Thanks for putting up with my ramble everyone.

Shane. _______________________________________________ App_rpt-users mailing list App_rpt-users@ohnosec.org http://ohnosec.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users

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