New Plane Finder Sharing Client - Beta Thread

[Lee Armstrong]

Hello everyone,

This has been a long time coming and a lot of people have been asking for this but today we are releasing the first version of our new data sharing client for you all to try out!

Main changes since the last version:

• No need to install NodeJS
• Very low CPU & memory usage
• A very nice NEW web interface

This initial release is mainly targetted at Raspberry Pi's (armhf) as that is the main request we get and due to the lack of resources on a Pi our NodeJS client was simply too heavy. This client will also run natively on Beaglebones and has been tested to work on Radarcape's as well.

In the future we will release Linux x86/64, Windows & Mac versions also, we are open to other platforms potentially as well!

At the moment supported receivers/formats are (over TCP & Serial):

• Beast Binary
• Kinetic Raw Data
• Basestation 30003 (including Radarbox)
• AVR-TCP

RTL dongles will need to use Dump1090 in the short term but we plan to natively support these too.

Old sharecode's cannot be used so you will need to create a new one when inside the new client.

Download links & instructions can be found here: http://planefinder.net/sharing/client

Any feedback/issues please reply here so we can keep an eye on it as we consider this first release a beta, but a pretty stable one!

Notifications of new updates will be posted here (soon they will be within the client) by the team so be prepared to update when we post here!

 

[peterhr]

Please don't remove the ability to work with dump1090 - most of us are feeding other sites too and this program is a common element that all use.

 

[Lee Armstrong]

Hi Peter,

We will never remove this ability

 

[peterhr]

Please could you put the software version number to download in plain text on the installation instructions - the html link to the latest version is nice but is also a PITA if you are browsing / reading the instructions on one machine and actually installing onto another using puTTY (or just put the wget http://client.planefinder.net/pfclient_3.0.364_armhf.deb in plain text on the page)

My pi is running on a network where I can't point a web browser at "http://192.168.3.12:30053 to complete configuration." without reprogramming the router to open the port (the Pi is on a separate VLAN) - I need to be able to set up the configuration file using a text editor.

 

[Lee Armstrong]

Hi Peter,

We'll look at getting the version number on there in the future. You could always copy the HTTP link path and just "wget <pasted url>"

As for the config, if you already have a port open for SSH outbound I suggest just opening up that 30053 port outbound to the Pi as well. The Web UI has a lot of status info on the client and it is recommended. You could probably have everything open "outbound" to the Pi anyway?

We do support a text based config but not ready to publish the format here as consider it more an advanced feature and don't want to confuse most. Once you have installed and configured you will see the config in /etc/

Lee

 

[peterhr]

I hear what you say, and I know how to work around these issues (there are lot's that won't)
- it's a shame I have to visit the router that is remote from my present location to make changes to configure the software.

 

[Lee Armstrong]

No problem Peter, those that won't work around the VLAN issue probably won't have VLAN's setup ;-)

 

[jepolch]

I just installed the new client. CPU load on my Pi B+ went from about 2.6 to about .8! The client web page is awesome. This is the best ADS-B client I have used so far. Thank you guys for updating your client. You have done a fantastic job!

 

[Lee Armstrong]

That's great news, thanks for the feedback. I will make sure all the team know. A ton of work has gone into this and we haven't stopped yet!

Were you using our old NodeJS client on your Pi before?

 

[jepolch]

That's great news, thanks for the feedback. I will make sure all the team know. A ton of work has gone into this and we haven't stopped yet!

Were you using our old NodeJS client on your Pi before?

Yes I was.

Edit: Will the new client feed the stats page I've been using to looking at on your web site? It looks like my feeder is offline in the old page. https://planefinder.net/sharing/receiver/8414

 

[Lee Armstrong]

That's great thanks!

 

[Lee Armstrong]

Also... don't forget about hooking your receiver up on https://planefinder.net/sharing/

Even more stats then!

 

[Lee Armstrong]

Yes I was.

Edit: Will the new client feed the stats page I've been using to looking at on your web site? It looks like my feeder is offline in the old page. https://planefinder.net/sharing/receiver/8414

Just saw you edited the post talking about the same thing!

It is a new receiver ID so you will have to build up some new stats. Make sure you assign the sharecode to your account (you should have been emailed the code) and the stats will be yours

 

[jepolch]

...you will have to build up some new stats...

Starting over from scratch.

 

[Lee Armstrong]

But with a better client and one of the first so you'll have better stats! ;-)

 

[radiostationx]

Im running Node JS with rpi from instructions kindly supplied by member ab cd.
Can you tell me how to uninstall this so I can proceed with new version please.
Some of us are not rpi wizzards.
Thanks
Mike

 

[borchi]

Hallo,

installed the client... No problems... Great GUI!

 

[jepolch]

@Lee Armstrong: Where can I find the new receiver number so I can see my stats on PlaneFinder? I'm still seeing stats for my old (node.js) receiver.

 

[Lee Armstrong]

Im running Node JS with rpi from instructions kindly supplied by member ab cd.
Can you tell me how to uninstall this so I can proceed with new version please.
Some of us are not rpi wizzards.
Thanks
Mike

Mike, do you have the instructions you followed for install?

 

[Lee Armstrong]

Hallo,

installed the client... No problems... Great GUI!

Thank you!