Install SatMe PC

Installing SatMe-PC on Linux

Version française · On Windows: below · What SatMe-PC does: SatMe-PC

SatMe-PC is the whole station in a browser. It is one package, satme-pc.tar, for Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Raspberry Pi OS… Nothing to compile.

The quickest: the guided install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/f4ioz/SatMe/main/installe-satme.sh -o installe-satme.sh
bash installe-satme.sh

It looks at what is plugged in (rig or rotator adapters, RTL-SDR dongle, MiniTiouner) and ticks what goes with it; you choose, it installs, then starts SatMe-PC and opens the page. Run it again to update. bash installe-satme.sh --oui takes what it detected without asking.

• The box Page ouverte aux autres machines du réseau (page open to the other machines of the network) writes reseau=true in SatMe-PC's startup file, no longer on its command line: Réglages › Démarrage can change it later. Unticked, the file is left as it is.
• The launcher ~/satme/lance-satme.sh (the shortcut's) reads the page's port from that same file (8090 otherwise): a port changed in Réglages › Démarrage is opened at the right place.
• A launcher made by an older version of the script put --reseau on the command line, which wins over the page's settings: run bash installe-satme.sh again to make the launchers anew (lance-satme.sh, and satme-pc.service when Start SatMe-PC with the session is ticked).

The steps below do the same by hand.

1. Java

SatMe-PC needs Java 17 or later:

sudo apt install default-jre
java -version

2. Download and start

cd ~
curl -LO https://github.com/f4ioz/SatMe/releases/latest/download/satme-pc.tar
curl -LO https://github.com/f4ioz/SatMe/releases/latest/download/SHA256SUMS
sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS
tar xf satme-pc.tar
~/satme/bin/satme

Then open http://localhost:8090/ in your browser. The first start downloads the orbital elements (from gp.f4ioz.fr), which takes a few seconds.

sha256sum must say satme-pc.tar: OK; otherwise download again.

Option	Effect
--port 8090	the page's port
--reseau	the page open to the other machines of your network; without it, this PC only
--dossier DIR	where settings, log, journal and recordings are kept (~/.satme by default)
--local	this PC only, even when the startup file says reseau=true
--version	the version installed

At the first start, the quick setup opens in the page (callsign, locator, time, language, network and port); see Getting around.

The startup options: command line, file, settings

--reseau, --port and --dossier can also be set from the page, Réglages › Démarrage, which writes them in a startup file read at launch:

• ~/.config/satme/satme-pc.properties (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/satme/satme-pc.properties when XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set) on Linux and macOS;
• %APPDATA%\SatMe\satme-pc.properties on Windows.

Lines port=8090, reseau=true, dossier=/path, editable by hand while SatMe-PC is stopped. The order: the command line wins over the file, the file over the defaults (this PC only, port 8090, ~/.satme). An option left in a launcher therefore wins over the page: remove it for Réglages › Démarrage to count. The details: Startup options.

3. What each function needs

Install only what you use.

For	Install
Rig (CAT) or rotator on a serial/USB port	be in the dialout group: sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER, then log out and in again
Videos, GIFs, the phone's recordings, DATV pictures	sudo apt install ffmpeg
RTL-SDR dongle (SDR, radiosondes, METEOR, QO-100 panorama)	sudo apt install rtl-sdr (SatMe-PC starts rtl_tcp itself)
DATV with a MiniTiouner plugged into this PC	LongMynd and its udev rule, below — or a SatMe-Node by the antenna
The phone joined by QR code	your firewall must let the page's port + 1 through: sudo ufw allow from 192.168.0.0/16 to any port 8091 proto tcp (only if ufw is active)

Nothing opens by itself: a serial port opens only once chosen and "Connect" clicked, RTS/DTR stay low, and no transmit command is ever sent. Start with the simulated rig and rotator.

DATV on this PC

sudo apt install build-essential libusb-1.0-0-dev libasound2-dev
cd ~ && curl -L https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/longmynd/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz | tar xz
make -C longmynd-master && mkdir -p ~/longmynd && cp longmynd-master/longmynd ~/longmynd/
echo 'SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6010", ATTRS{product}=="MiniTiouner*", MODE:="0666"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-satme-minitiouner.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

Unplug and plug the MiniTiouner in again. SatMe-PC finds LongMynd in ~/longmynd/ (or in the PATH). Plugged in, the MiniTiouner also shows as two serial ports (/dev/ttyUSB…): never choose them as the rig's or the rotator's port.

4. Start it with the session (optional)

The simplest: Réglages › Sauvegarde › Déploiement › ⤓ satme-pc.service (Linux) gives the unit ready made, with the commands to install it at the top of the file (see Starting SatMe-PC with the session). Or by hand:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cat > ~/.config/systemd/user/satme-pc.service <<'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=SatMe-PC

[Service]
ExecStart=%h/satme/bin/satme
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now satme-pc

The options come from the startup file (Réglages › Démarrage): no need for --reseau on the ExecStart line. Optional, loginctl enable-linger $USER: started at power-on, without opening a session. After a change in Réglages › Démarrage: systemctl --user restart satme-pc (the Redémarrer SatMe-PC button is not offered under systemd).

5. Update, remove

• Update: run bash installe-satme.sh again, or the same commands as in step 2 (stop SatMe-PC first). Settings, log, journal and recordings stay in ~/.satme. SatMe-PC itself says when a newer version is published: a ⬆ 2026.10.NN badge in the header (see A new version); it downloads and installs nothing by itself.
• Remove: rm -rf ~/satme (and ~/.satme to remove your data too).

On Windows: your data kept safe

On Windows, SatMe-PC comes all in one (Java, ffmpeg, rtl_tcp): satme-pc-windows.msi, the installer (for your account, no administrator rights), or satme-pc-windows.zip, the same without installing. The steps: Installing SatMe-PC on Windows.

• Installed by the MSI, SatMe-PC keeps its data in %APPDATA%\SatMe (settings, log, journal, recordings, satme-pc.log) — never in the program's folder, which the installer replaces at each update.
• An update no longer deletes any of your files (since 2026.10.34): the installer removes only its own files. Quit SatMe-PC (icon by the clock → Quit), then install the new .msi.
• Before installing 2026.10.34 over 2026.10.33 or older: if you had put a donnees folder inside the program's folder, copy it elsewhere first — the old installer still empties it one last time as it goes.
• A donnees folder found in the program's folder is copied at start into %APPDATA%\SatMe (or %APPDATA%\SatMe-portable-<date> if that one is already in use), checked, then used; the original is kept and a window says where your data is. Réglages › Démarrage refuses a data folder inside the program's.
• Portable mode is the ZIP's (a USB stick), not the installer's: see below.
• Uninstall: Settings → Apps → SatMe-PC → Uninstall; also delete %APPDATA%\SatMe to erase your data.

Portable SatMe-PC (on a USB stick)

A donnees folder beside the program, and SatMe-PC keeps all its settings and files there (log, journal, recordings, pictures, startup options); nothing is written elsewhere on the PC. Ideal on a USB stick. The page's header then shows Portable (hover: the data folder).

• Linux: unpack satme-pc.tar on the stick, then make satme/donnees, beside bin and lib; start satme/bin/satme. The PC needs Java (step 1).

  tar xf satme-pc.tar -C /media/$USER/MYSTICK
  mkdir /media/$USER/MYSTICK/satme/donnees
  /media/$USER/MYSTICK/satme/bin/satme
  

• Windows: unzip satme-pc-windows.zip (Java and ffmpeg inside), make the donnees folder in SatMe-PC, beside SatMe-PC.exe, and start SatMe-PC.exe — the ZIP only: the MSI installation keeps its data in %APPDATA%\SatMe (see above). See on Windows.

Without a donnees folder, SatMe-PC does as usual (~/.satme, %APPDATA%\SatMe).

Building it yourself

git clone https://github.com/f4ioz/SatMe.git && cd SatMe
./gradlew :pc:installDist
pc/build/install/satme/bin/satme

Building needs a JDK 17 or later and the Android SDK (the project also holds the phone app).

For maintainers: publishing a release

The release notes are in the repository's pc/NOUVEAUTES.md: SatMe-PC bundles them into its Quoi de neuf window at build time, and the GitHub release takes its version's section.

1. As changes come, write under ## Prochaine version, in two parts ### fr and ### en: short lists, what the user sees and where to click (plain Markdown).
2. Before tagging, rename ## Prochaine version to ## AAAA.MM.NN (the version number, for example ## 2026.10.28), put an empty ## Prochaine version section above it, and commit.
3. Push the annotated tag satme-pc-AAAA.MM.NN:

   git tag -a satme-pc-2026.10.28 -m "SatMe-PC 2026.10.28"
   git push origin satme-pc-2026.10.28
   

   The satme-pc-release.yml workflow builds satme-pc.tar, satme-pc-windows.msi and SHA256SUMS, and puts the ## AAAA.MM.NN section of pc/NOUVEAUTES.md (its fr and en parts) into the GitHub release text, after the downloads — the text SatMe-PC's Nouvelle version window shows. Without that section, a warning in the workflow and no notes. The Quoi de neuf window skips the ## Prochaine version section while it is empty.