I’m considering building my ADS-B receiver to start feeding data to FA. However, with the current shortage of RPi hardware, I’m wondering if it’s possible to use any other hardware? For example, I have a spare Intel NUC (currently running Linux Mint) which I could use
I’m not sure about the NUC, but the Raspberry Pi Zero W will work and is still commonly available at a lot of places for only $10. You will need a USB adapter cable to plug in the SDR dongle however.
the NUC will be fine there are plenty of posts in the forum about getting the software bits you need installed especially for Linux.
YES, because Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, which is in turn based on Debian.
STEP-1: First install Install dump1090-fa
Skip this step if you have already installed dump1090-mutability
Copy-paste following bash command into terminal of Linux Mint
NOTE: This command is a long single line command, but it may be displayed in two lines due to wrapping. Copy-paste entire command.
sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/abcd567a/piaware-ubuntu-debian-amd64/master/install-dump1090-fa.sh)"
The above script builds dump1090-fa from source-code from Flightaware. It installs lot of build tools and dependency packages and takes considerable time. Please be patient.
After installation of dump1090-fa is completed, REBOOT the computer.
STEP-2: Next install piaware data feeder
Copy-paste following bash command into terminal of Linux Mint
NOTE: This command is a long single line command, but it may be displayed in two lines due to wrapping. Copy-paste entire command.
sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/abcd567a/piaware-ubuntu-debian-amd64/master/install-piaware.sh)"
The above script builds piaware from source-code from Flightaware. It installs lot of build tools and dependency packages and takes considerable time. Please be patient.
STEP-3: Next install Performance Graphs by @wiedehopf
sudo bash -c "$(wget -q -O - https://github.com/wiedehopf/graphs1090/raw/master/install.sh)"
STEP-4: Next install fr24feed
First determine your Machine’s Architecture / OS by output of following command
uname -m
If output of above command shows your Machine / OS is i386, use OPTION (1) below.
If output of above command shows your Machine / OS is x86_64 OR amd64, use OPTION (2) below.
OPTION (1): If your Machine / OS is i386
wget https://repo-feed.flightradar24.com/linux_x86_binaries/fr24feed_1.0.25-3_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i fr24feed_1.0.25-3_i386.deb
sudo fr24feed --signup
NOTE:
When running command “sudo fr24feed --signup”, after entering your details, you will see following message. Please say yes to autoconfig option
We have detected that you already have a dump1090 instance running. We can therefore automatically configure the FR24 feeder to use existing receiver configuration, or you can manually configure all the parameters.
Would you like to use autoconfig (yes/no)$: yes
sudo systemctl restart fr24feed
sudo fr24feed-status
# To check/modify configuration, edit this file
sudo nano /etc/fr24feed.ini
OPTION (2): If your Machine / OS is x86_64 OR amd64
wget https://repo-feed.flightradar24.com/linux_x86_64_binaries/fr24feed_1.0.25-3_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i fr24feed_1.0.25-3_amd64.deb
sudo fr24feed --signup
NOTE:
When running command “sudo fr24feed --signup”, after entering your details, you will see following message. Please say yes to autoconfig option
We have detected that you already have a dump1090 instance running. We can therefore automatically configure the FR24 feeder to use existing receiver configuration, or you can manually configure all the parameters.
Would you like to use autoconfig (yes/no)$: yes
sudo systemctl restart fr24feed
sudo fr24feed-status
# To check/modify configuration, edit this file
sudo nano /etc/fr24feed.ini
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@abcd567 Looking at this, Step 4 relates to flightradar24, not FlightAware? I know you answered a similar question to me on the FR forum, perhaps your instructions have gotten mixed up? 
There is no mixup.
On a computer or RPi, one can have both Flightaware & FR24 feeders, using only one dongle and one decoder (i.e. either dump1090-fa or dump1090-mutability).
-
The STEP-1 is for decoder “dump1090-fa” (NOT required if you have already installed decoder dump1090-mutability along with FR24 feeder)
-
The STEP-2 is for FlightAware Feeder “piaware”
-
The STEP-3 is for a useful utility called Performance Graphs
-
The STEP-4 is for FlightRadar24 feeder “fr24feed”.
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Ahhhh OK, I see now
So how do I verify that the FA Feeder is working? I have run the sudo systemctl status piaware command, and it’s running. However, how do I now link to my account?
STEP-1: First install “piaware-web”
sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/abcd567a/piaware-ubuntu-debian-amd64/master/install-piaware-web.sh)"
STEP-2: Next Claim your piaware
IMPORTANT: You must be logged-in to your Flightaware account while performing the Claim procedure given below.
You should wait about four or five minutes for your PiAware to start and then you can associate your FlightAware account with your PiAware device.
Claim your PiAware client on FlightAware
From a browser on the computer running piaware,
OR
From another computer on same local network as your computer running Piaware
Go to Claims page by clicking following link:
https://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/claim
Alternatively you can go to Claims page from the link on the piaware-web page as shown in screenshot below.
If after 5 minutes your device hasn’t displayed as claimed try restarting the device, if that still doesn’t work re-confirm the Wi-Fi settings (if using Wi-Fi) are correct. Lastly contact Flightaware at ADSBsupport@FlightAware.com. Check your stats page (link below) to confirm it was claimed.
https://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/user/
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Latte Panda or get some older PC104 even a 400 mhz celeron would be able to do whats needed here. They got quite affordable lately since we are talking of industrial computers here.
UPDATE - March 13, 2023:
Recently Flightradar24 has upgraded version from 1.0.25-3 to 1.0.34-0
Current instructions are as follows
STEP-4: Next install fr24feed
First determine your Machine’s Architecture / OS by output of following command
uname -m
If output of above command shows your Machine / OS is i386, use OPTION (1) below.
If output of above command shows your Machine / OS is x86_64 OR amd64, use OPTION (2) below.
OPTION (1): If your Machine / OS is i386
wget https://repo-feed.flightradar24.com/linux_x86_binaries/fr24feed_1.0.34-0_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i fr24feed_1.0.34-0_i386.deb
sudo fr24feed --signup
OPTION (2): If your Machine / OS is x86_64 OR amd64
wget https://repo-feed.flightradar24.com/linux_x86_64_binaries/fr24feed_1.0.34-0_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i fr24feed_1.0.34-0_amd64.deb
sudo fr24feed --signup
NOTE:
When running command “sudo fr24feed --signup”, after entering your details, you will see following message. Please say yes to autoconfig option
We have detected that you already have a dump1090 instance running. We can therefore automatically configure the FR24 feeder to use existing receiver configuration, or you can manually configure all the parameters.
Would you like to use autoconfig (yes/no)$: yes
sudo systemctl restart fr24feed
sudo fr24feed-status
# To check/modify configuration, edit this file
sudo nano /etc/fr24feed.ini
I posted an update to my original posting a year ago talking about alternatives to RPi. In summary:
To me, the HP thin clients (HP T520, HP T620, HP T630) still all represent a good value in this hobby considering the current status of RaspPi in the marketplace. Whichever one you can find (complete) at the best price will still run circles around the RaspPi in performance, at the cost of power use (8-9 watts) and size (bigger) - up to the individual to decide which of those (and any other perceived factors) are worth it.
It’s still ‘fun’ for me and a good distraction from things.
As alternatives to RPis (BTW we’re on March 14th, Pi Day ), I’d mention Orange Pis.
Even if their price has dramatically increased in the past dozen months, they remain to me an alternative to Pis, with the Zero in mind:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003510088478.html
pretty close to the Pi2 performance-wise, and totally software-compatible AFAIK (they can run Armbian, another Debian-based distro for Arm-based SBC).
I’m using one to feed for years.
The FR24 ver 1.0.37-0 is available for armhf (Rasberry Pi or similar) computers. It is NOT available for i386, amd64, x86_64 computers. For these computers currently only version 1.0.34-0 is available.
Hey, looking at completing these steps to run in a VM on my NAS (with plenty of cycles to spare).
How are updates handled? As in, can you update it through the GUI or would I need to wait for you to update the GitHub files/data?
Cheers.
You have to wait for Flightaware to update their source code of dump1090-fa, dump978-fa, and piaware.
Once the update is done by flightaware, you can update by running these scripts again. There is no action required on my part to update the scripts at my Github site. These scripts build whatever version of piaware, dump1090-fa, and dump978-fa available in Flightaware repository.
1 Like
Thanks for the fast reply.
Can you please confirm simply running the scripts again on top of a running system will simply update, or will you need to re-adopt the instance?
Running script will build new packages from latest version of Flightawsre source code, and install newly built package over existing package. If your existing install is an older version, then this will upgrade it to the latest version.
If your existing package is already latest version (8.2), then running the script will build & install latest ver (8.2) over existing latest ver (8.2), which is of no advantage. In this case wait till Flightaware releases new version.
you know your talking to a bot? 
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