W0CHP.net

In late 2022, my personal/pet project W0CHP-PiStar-Dash, went from hundreds of users, to thousands of users in less than 3 months. A few awesome users and fans/volunteers had setup official online communities for W0CHP-PiStar-Dash support and general discussion. As a result, many repeated questions and statements have surfaced…

This is a compiled list of the FAQs and FMS. Some are rather rudimentary, lazy, strange and silly; and some are merited.

You need to know/remember, that this software was derived (“forked”) from the original Pi-Star software, and has diverged & changed so much, it’s now quite different. Expect to learn and figure out these differences and nuances. It really has become, and continues to become, it’s “own” software.

How do I install/download W0CHP-PiStar-Dash?

I cannot even believe this is asked, I’m an not even going to answer it. 🤦‍♂️

Help!!! It doesn’t work!!!

Read this immediately.

I am trying to update, but I keep getting the error, “Cannot Reach W0CHP Update Server...”

The URLs for the update server changed a long time ago, and it’s been a long time since you have updated, or you’re using an old disk image. To address this minor issue, simply run the following from command line, and you will be able to update subsequently:

 sudo env NO_SELF_UPDATE=1 env NO_AC=1 WPSD-Installer -id

Do I have to use DMRGateway for various DMR Networks? I used to be able to select a single DMR master from a huge drop-down list!

You don’t have to, but it’s the only supported method; as DMR “direct mode” in MMDVMHost is the “old”, legacy way. You can always manually enter the information in your MMDVMHost config file yourself. DMRGateway is the preferred, supported method.

It is strongly suggested that you thoroughly read my DMR Operation & Functionality with W0CHP-PiStar-Dash document.

The dashboard is so slow! And my CPU utilization is very high on my Pi Zero!

As I’ve written in many other places, W0CHP-PiStar-Dash was never written for single-core, low-powered/weak hardware. You need a modern Raspberry Pi (or equivalent clone) with 4 cores; such as a Pi Zero 2, Pi 2, 3, 4, etc. to enjoy its full benefits. It will run on an older single-core Pi Zero, just very slowly. Caveat emptor.

I downloaded your RPi imaage, and when I go to the dashboard, I get a 502 Gateway Error

This is a known issue with 1st gen. Raspberry Pi Zero’s with a single core CPU. Just SSH into your hotpot with an SSH client, and run…

sudo pistar update

…then simply refresh your dashboard.

Can I change the colors of the Live Caller Screen?

There is no user interface facility that supports this. You can always hack the Live Caller Screen CSS yourself.

Do you have any disk images for other platforms other than Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi Zero and NanoPi Neo boards?

Unfortunately, I do not at this time (Raspberry Pi, OrangePi and NanoPi are the only platforms I currently possess/have access to). However, this is something I’d like to change. Once I and the few volunteer developers have access to other platforms and architectures, we plan on supporting and providing disk images for those platforms.

The Caller Details (and other) functions are disabled and grayed out!!! Help!!!"

Your hardware is too weak to support these (resource intensive) features. It clearly says this when you hover over the (disabled) option.

Do I need to use the 4/5/6/7/8/9/etc. DMR talkgroup prefixes for network X/Y/Z/etc?

You don’t have to, and you can manually change these prefixes (or remove them) in the DMRGateway config file, but you will likely lose the TG name lookup functionality if you enabled it.

The original Pi-Star software did/has/can do X/Y/Z, but this software doesn’t!!!???!"

You absolutely need to understand, that this software is very different. Please read the documentation; specifically the section entitled “Features, Enhancements and Omissions”.

I have my DMR codeplugs setup for no prefixes/prefix “N” and I don’t wanna change them! But I still want to use DMRGateway!!"

Don’t be a lazy ham. Either change your codeplugs, or hand-edit the DMRGateway config for your desired prefix (or no prefix).

What is the “Node Type Public/Private” option?

If you must ask, you should leave it set to private.

I run a repeater, and I’m trying to set it up for fully-open, public usage; but I can’t make it public unless I enter/whitelist every single DMR/CCS7 ID/Callsign?!?!

Not true; If you are a true repeater keeper/sysop/owner, you should be or become aware of MMDVMHost’s and dstarrepeater’s configuration file options to make them wide-open and fully-public. I will not cover them here. You will note, that this software is mainly geared toward personal hotspot management vs. public repeater management.

What’s the “DMR Roaming Beacon” option?

It’s for actual repeater (not hotspot) usage. And if you run a DMR repeater, and still don’t know what a DMR Roaming beacon is, you should probably leave it alone.

I enabled the “Display TG Names” toggle switch, but no DMR TG names seem to be appearing!!!

For this function to work, you will sometimes need to go into the Configuration page and simply click “apply”. Doing so ensures you have DMRGateway setup in a way that adds the prefixes, which in turn enables talkgroup name lookups.

The software update failed! Disk is in read-only mode, etc. Help!

Simply re-run the update.

How can I reinstall / reset my installation?!?! I broke stuff!

See the instructions here: https://w0chp.net/musings/reset-your-w0chp-pistar-dash-installation/

I want feature X/Y/Z!!!

Then roll up your sleeves and contribute the feature/code.

Hey can you do X/Y/Z for me?! / Can you add X feature???

No. I don’t do feature requests.

Hey I have this idea for W0CHP-PiStar-Dash / Hey I got W0CHP-PiStar-Dash to do X/Y/Z!!!

Cool. So go to submit code for everyone’s’ benefit. I embrace contributions/results.