Newbie Issues: Installation of dump1090-fa

FlightAware
1

Hello everyone,

I need your help, badly :slight_smile:

I am installing everything on RPi 4B, running raspberry Pi OS (bullseye, arm64)

There are thousands of howtos, each with its own shortcomings. I chose one for the installation of dump1090-fa, but it also has its own shortcomings, so I am lost!
fr24feed-debian-ubuntu-amd64/README.md at master · abcd567a/fr24feed-debian-ubuntu-amd64 · GitHub says that when I install dump1090-fa, there should also be a directory - /usr/share/dump1090-fa/htnl which should contain a config.js. This is not happening on my Pi4B:
pi@hass:/usr/share/dump1090-fa $ pwd
/usr/share/dump1090-fa
pi@hass:/usr/share/dump1090-fa $ ls -al
total 40
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 27 10:44 .
drwxr-xr-x 292 root root 12288 Jan 27 10:44 …
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 27 10:44 bladerf
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 2311 Dec 14 05:06 dump1090-fa.default
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 883 Dec 14 05:06 generate-wisdom
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3630 Dec 14 05:06 start-dump1090-fa
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6654 Dec 14 05:06 upgrade-config

Why is it that I am not getting the /html/ folder?

While I have configured dump1090-fa and it’s running, I am lost on how to get a better-looking web UI interface to it:

https://bit.ly/3XIVRSD

Is that what is expected?

I have setup feeds for fr24feed, flightaware and rbfeeder.
I can get a nice web UI for FlightAware:

https://bit.ly/3RcE9Vl

However, I am looking for a way to get a similarly looking web UI for fr24feed, but can’t. Although I recall that when I installed dump1090-mutability, I was able to get that nice web interface for flights, something like this:

https://bit.ly/3JjntcE

I am now heading to a point where I probably have to drop one in favor of the other - between FlightAware and FR24 unless I can get the web UIs for both. I have Googled enough :slight_smile:

Can someone please point me to one SINGLE guide (dated 2021 or 2022) that will enable me to get dandy web UI for all of them?

Thank you in advance.

2

This is the one on the FlightAware site:

3

I am more interested in getting the web UI for fr24, if you can re-read my quest. The feeds are all running okay.

4

Sorry, I didn’t notice you were asking about the FR24 UI as the title said dump1090-fa.

5

The web UI for FR24 is their website where you can login and then create a filter for your own feeder.
They don’t have a local map like Skyaware from Flightaware.
The status page is indeed what to expect from FR24

6

Regarding the html directory in dump1090-fa it moved some time ago.
It is now located at:
/usr/share/skyaware/html

7

Is it still possible to get the dump1090 map like the 1st one you see on the following page?

8

Thank you very much for clarifying that. I realize that what I want is a local map for dump1090-fa (that has the DUMP1090 as the title) as opposed to the FlightAware one. I was able to get that with dump1090-mutability. I just need it also for dump1090-fa. What do I need to do?

9

The Dump1090-FA gmap isn’t available anymore.( As far as I know).
Instead you can use the local map provided by Piaware.

Piaware installs lighttpd as a webbrowser application on the Pi and displays the map.

Dump1090-FA is the decoding software that enables other programs like Piaware and FR24 feeder software to decode the recieved messages and turn them into statistics and maps.

It has been renamed Skyaware starting version 6 of the software.
You have the local interface called Skyaware (Web interface View live data) and you have the remote interface called Skyaware Anywhere.
The remote interface displays all you sites when you have multiple sites, the Web interface displays 1 site only.

You can access that in 2 ways

1 Like
10

After your clarification, it turns out that I am actually done installing whatever is installable and I have the expected web UIs.
The availability of several documentations over the years is what s confusing.
Thank you very much.

11

@odhiambo0

You said you want Web interface for both flightaware and FR24.

Flightaware web interface is at ip-of-pi/skyaware/ and is available only when you install dump1090-fa

FR24 Web interface is web interface provided by dump1090-mutability which is automatically installed by fr24feed if user has not installed any version of dump1090. This Web interface is available at ip-of-pi/dump1090/gmap.html

That said, here comes the problem. You said you want both Web interfaces. This requires that you install both dump1090-fa AND dump1090-mutability. Unfortunately your requirement cannot be fulfilled, because if you install more than one version of dump1090, it will screw your installation.

There is one more Web interface for FR24. It is its status and settings page. It is available at ip-of-pi:8754.

12

I have come to understand that this is the situation.
I could start all over afresh, and go with dump1090-mutability instead of the dump1090-fa. The reason I uninstalled dump1090-mutability is that I read somewhere that it has been deprecated. Is that correct?
What is the difference between the two, BTW?
I got to learn about the web interface at port 8754 while reading HOWTOs here and there. Being new to all this, with doco everywhere is fun - and confusing.

BTW, I got into this whole thing by accident. I was just trying it out. My dongle was meant for use with my Pi running OAP (Open Auto Pro) in the car. I will decide if I need to buy another dongle or just forget about planes and proceed with my earlier plan. I just happen to have several RPIs lying idle, and this project has been a little fun as I have learnt something about aircraft tracking.

13

BTW, do I need to install mlat-client-package? I am looking at

https://github.com/abcd567a/mlat-client-package/blob/master/README.md#2-package-for-raspi-os-bullseye-64-bit-

I am running Bullseye (arm64) and this mlat-client is something that I haven’t wrapped my head around.

14

Yes, it is possible. It is map provided by dump1090-mutability. To get it, first you will have to uninstall dump1090-fa. After that you install dump1090-mutability by following commands. Dont miss the 2nd command below, it is very important.

sudo apt install dump1090-mutability    

sudo usermod -a -G plugdev dump1090   

sudo reboot

 

15

Yes, dump1090-mutability is “unmaintained”. However Debian Ham Radio Group is still maintaining its fork named as “EB_VER” (actually it is DEB_VER with D missed due to some glitch). This EB_VER is the one currently provided / used by FR24. It can be installed by following command:

sudo apt install dump1090-mutability && sudo usermod -a -G plugdev dump1090 && sudo reboot

The decoding engine of dump1090-fa and dump1090-mutability are more or less same. However the web interface (Map) of dump1090-fa is more beautiful and has more funtionality than map of dump1090-mutability.

16

You say that “However the web interface (Map) of dump1090-fa is more beautiful and has more functionality than map of dump1090-mutability.”. This is where I get confused. Do you mean the x.x.x.x:8754 is more beautiful?? Or something else?
Can you share the details on how to set it up to be beautiful?
Better still share an image of the one you have :slight_smile:

17

The the x.x.x.x:8754 is NOT map. It is FR24 Feeder’s Status & Settings page
The two maps are:
(1) dump1090-fa map at x.x.x.x/skyaware/
(2) dump1090-mutability map at x.x.x.x/dump1090/gmap.html

Map of dump1090-fa

Click on screenshot to see larger size

image
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Map of dump1090-mutability

Click on screenshot to see larger size

image
image808Ă—592 195 KB

 

&nbsp:

FR24 Feeder’s Settings page

Click on screenshot to see larger size

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image805Ă—610 38.8 KB

 

 

1 Like
18

Thank you very much. Now I get your point and I am over with my pursuit for the dump1090-mutability UI.

One issue I had with the FR24 Feeder’s Setting page is the listing of several IP addresses somewhere at the top as shown. Where are they coming from? I don’t see them in yours.

fr24-1
fr24-11348Ă—1135 84.2 KB

19

dump1090-mutability was the version I maintained (in my spare time) up until perhaps 5-6 years ago.

When I began working at FlightAware, I used dump1090-mutability as the starting point for dump1090-fa. As it’s all open-source software, others have done the same and used dump1090-mutability (or dump1090-fa, or older versions) as a starting point for their own work.

In terms of “what is currently maintained?”, dump1090-mutability is not maintained and has not been maintained for years. dump1090-fa is maintained.

1 Like
20

Thank you for this clarification. The fact that dump1090-mutability is not maintained is why I decided to uninstall it. Now I am sure of what I am doing.