How to install Linrad under Windows.
(Part of SM 5 BSZ home page)
(May 2 2016)

Where to get it.

Get the latest version from Linrad Home Page. or get the current development version with this command:
svn checkout https://svn.code.sf.net/p/linrad/code/trunk linrad-xxxx
The command will create a new subdirectory linrad-xxxx which should not already exist.

General.

The installation consists of three independent parts:

1) The Linrad executables linrad.exe linrad64.exe and the two text files help.lir and errors.lir have to be placed in the Linrad directory which may be created new or which may be an old directory. Possibly with a previous Linrad version in it. You can give your Linrad directory any name and place it anywhere in your system. In case you use the Windows installer the Linrad directory would become C:\Linrad\linrad-xx.yy. but if you want to experiment, copy that directory to perhaps C:\temp\experiment or whatever and make changes to your setup there. If it fails, the original would remain untouched.

2) Starting with version linrad-04.06 libraries (dll files) and other binary files that Linrad needs access to have to be placed in C:\Linrad\dll\
Here is info about libraries for old Linrad versions. Linrad-04.05 and earlier.

3) The hardware that Linrad will use has to be properly installed and configured in Windows. There are many problems with drive routines under Windows. Elderly hardware is not well (if at all) supported by modern Windows versions. There are often bugs of various kinds in soundcard drivers and the manufacturers might not supply drivers that are suitable for an SDR application like Linrad. There may also be compatibility problems with USB3 devices.

Step 1. Installing the executable under Windows.

  • Easiest is to download and execute the installer setup-linrad-xx.yy It will create the appropriate Linrad directory and put the necessary files in it. It will also create desktop icons and an uninstaller. (Do not try to use linrad64.exe on 32 bit Windows.) The file setup-linrad-xx.yy can be generated from linrad.exe, linrad64.exe, help.lir and errors.lir (contained in wlr0x.yy) by use of the inno setupsoftware.

  • Alternatively you may download wlrx-yy.zip and unzip it into a suitable directory. In that case you should right click on linrad.exe in Windows Explorer and send linrad.exe or linrad64.exe to the desktop to create an icon.

  • You may also decide to compile the executable yourself by downloading and extracting the Linrad source code into a suitable directory in Windows. You will need mingw32 and nasm to compile. First run configure.exe then make.bat (mingw has to reside in C:\mingw).

    configure.exe will check whether any user defined files are present and produce Makefile which will control the compilation and linking. (In old versions Makefile would also control which hardware would be supported but loading the different dll files for different hardware is now at run time.) On 64 bit Windows you may produce linrad64.exe by running make64.bat. (mingw-w64 must reside in C:\mingw64.)

    To install compilers the easiest way is to download and unpack this file mingw516nasmplus.zip (26 502 842 bytes, june 13 2015) directly under C:\. It will create C:\MinGW\ and install everything needed to compile new as well as old versions of Linrad with support for Portaudio and all the hardware. Here is info about the contents of mingw516nasmplus. To generate 64 bit code on a 64 bit platform you should also install 64 bit mingw-w64 into C:\mingw64\ Run the installer mingw-w64-install.exe from Sourceforge

  • You may also compile linrad.exe and/or linrad64.exe under Linux. The make linrad.exe command will tell you to install mingw32 and nasm if they are not already present.

Installing libraries and binaries under windows.

Here are the installation instructions

Installing drive routines under Windows.

This is not really a Linrad problem, it belongs to the manufacturer of your hardware and to Microsoft. There have been many problems in the past, but today with many SDR software on the market the problems are better understood. Here is a list of hardware that can be used together with Linrad and some hints on the driver installation.

Airspy. Automatic, but only on an updated Widows system.
BladeRF. Use Zadig to install WinUSB.
Excalibur. Use installer from http://winradio.com
Mirics, SDRplay. Use Zadig to install libusbK.
Net-Afedri. Automatic.
PCIe-9842. Use the installer from http://www.adlinktech.com.
Perseus. Use the device manager to install the driver from http://microtelecom.it
rtlsdr. Use Zadig to install WinUSB.
SDR-14. Use the device manager to install the driver from http://rfspace.com
SDR-IP. Automatic.

Soundcard + Afedri. USB Automatic.
Soundcard + Elektor Unknown.
Soundcard + FunCube Pro+ Automatic.
Soundcard + Si570 Use Zadig to install WinUSB or libusb-win32.
Soundcard + Soft66 Use Zadig to install libusb-win32 ????
Soundcard + WSE Automatic.


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