RPi900 Packages

This repository hosts packages for Arch Linux ARM when used with Raspberry Pi and the RPi900 long-range radio board:

• The rpirtscts package installs the rpirtscts flow-control utility.
• The rpi900-rtc package adds a startup service to synchronise system time with the RPi900's built-in PCF8523 real-time clock.
• The rpi900 package installs the DNT900 line discipline kernel module, and a systemd service for automatically attaching the line discipline to the Raspberry Pi's ttyAMA0 serial port at startup.
• The rpi900-ppp package provides a set of udev rules and systemd services for starting a PPP connection over the DNT900 radio link. Collectively, these files automatically configure an RPi900 system to provide or obtain an internet connection using the radio.
• The rpi900-pacman package provides a wrapper for the pacman package manager, configured specifically for RPi900 remote stations connected via PPP to an RPi900 base station.

The packages are simple to build and install with the pacman package manager. Minimal editing of configuration files is all that is needed to achieve a working system.

Refer to the rpirtscts, rpi900-rtc, rpi900 and rpi900-ppp directories for detailed instructions on use of the respective packages.

Building Packages

Building and installing packages is very simple. First, be sure you have an up-to-date Arch Linux system, then install some tools:

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git linux-raspberrypi-headers

Next, use git to clone the RPi900 package files:

git clone https://github.com/rpi900/packages.git

For each package you wish to install, move into the directory, build the package with makepkg and install it with pacman. For example:

cd packages/rpirtscts
makepkg --clean
sudo pacman -U rpirtscts-1.0-1-armv6h.pkg.tar.xz

(Some packages will require a reboot before they come into effect.)

Quick-Start Guide

For RPi900 users wishing to get started quickly with their radios, the following commands should be sufficient to have the radio accessible on the command-line:

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git linux-raspberrypi-headers
git clone https://github.com/rpi900/packages.git
cd packages/rpirtscts
makepkg --clean
sudo pacman -U rpirtscts-1.0-1-armv6h.pkg.tar.xz
cd ../rpi900
makepkg --clean
sudo pacman -U rpi900-3.18.7-4-armv6h.pkg.tar.xz
sudo nano /etc/rpi900.conf  # if necessary

Then, check the system log, and examine some radio registers:

sudo reboot
dmesg | grep dnt900
cat /sys/devices/virtual/dnt900/ttyAMA0/0x....../MacAddress

Be sure to read to documentation more closely as you familiarise yourself with RPi900 and the radios!

Releases

I intend that the master branch always have the latest stable packages, with any new work in a development branch. With any new features I will bump the package version or release number of the package (pkgver and pkgrel respectively in the PKGBUILD file). The exception is the rpi900 package, which tracks the kernel version. Find your current package version and release numbers as follows:

pacman -Q rpirtscts     # => rpirtscts 1.0-1
pacman -Q rpi900        # => rpi900 3.18.7-4
pacman -Q rpi900-ppp    # => rpi900-ppp 0.1-2