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Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh
January 21, 2013 SDR Radio 23 Comments
Mac users may have felt a little left out of the RTL2832U SDR revolution since there has not been a really easy
way to get the RTl2832U to run with one of the SDR software programs like HDSDR. If you are a pretty
hardcore Mac user, you know that OSX is basically a custom version of Linux. So, if you really wanted to dig in
to the Linux side of OSX you can get a RTL2832U running under OSX. The simplest way to get a RTL2832U
stick running on a Mac is to just install Windows under Bootcamp and away you go. However, thanks to Alain
de Carolis, there is now a fast easy way to get the RTL2832U going on your Mac. You dont even have to install
anything on your Mac. You can even run the software from a USB stick. Alan has created a custom version of
the BorIP server and HDSR that is wrapped in some linux magic that will allow both the RTL2832U and
HDSDR to run on your Mac. You simply download the DMG le from Alains website and unpack the DMG
le. Here are the instructions for getting this going from Alains website:
1) Download the DMG package from here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/17744176
/HDSDR%20OSX%20v2.51%20RC1.dmg
2) Double click to open the DMG le
3) The HDRSDR OSX virtual drive that the DMG created will contain 3 les: README.TXT, GNURadio
borip_server and HDSDR. Read the rst and copy the two others anywhere in you system (Applications,
Desktop or anywhere else you like)
4) Eject the HDRSDR OSX virtual drive. You can now also erase the DMG, if you want
5) Double click on the GNURadio borip_server application (that you have just copied) in order to run it
6) A Terminal Window should appear with some text running in it. The latest two lines will be:
Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh | Ham Radio Science http://www.hamradioscience.com/using-the-rtl2832u-on-the-...
1 of 13 17/09/14 13:13
==> Starting TCP server on port: 28888
==> TCP server running on (0.0.0.0!, 28888) in thread: Thread-1
7) Double click on the HDSR application. HDSR (with the ExtIO window) should now appear
8) Connect HDSR to the dongle as if you were on Windows
9) Click on START to activate the receiver
10) You should now be receiving signals
Observations:
We tested the software on an older iMac that uses a 3.06 Ghz dual core Intel processor , 4 GB ram, using OSX
10.8.2 with an RTL2832U with a E4000 chipset and an RTL2832U with a R820T chipset. Starting with the
RTL2832U / E4000, the BorIP server starts very quickly in the terminal window. However, the HDSDR program
took several minutes to start and nd the RTL2832U stick. Once everything was loaded. HDSDR worked ne
with the RTL2832U / E4000 chip. After a few minutes we did notice a little stuttering in the audio, but several
background processes were running which may have caused this. We didnt check that every single little feature
worked on HDSDR using Alains software. We were just pretty satised that at least you could receive ok with
the HDSDR and the RTL2832U stick.
With the RTL2832U / R820T, the software did not work right away. The reason for this appeared to be because
the BorIP server is set by default to an E4000 chip. You have to wait awhile for the everything to time out. When
the ExtIO panel comes up try changing the Device Hint to RTL from the drop-down menu. You may have to
restart everything after making this change to get it to work. If nothings happens for awhile. you may also have
to cancel the box that pops up that says its setting up the device and go to the ExtIO screen and have it manually
create the RTL device hint. It works with the R820T, but it is a lot tricker to get working than the E4000. There
also may be a long pause once you hit the start button in HDSDR, but you should eventually hear some audio.
The other issue we ran into is that the Magic Mouse can be way oversensitive to try using HDSDRs scroll
wheel tuning feature. It appears the program could use a little more tweaking to work better with the R820T. If
you are using an E4000 chip you will probably have less problems at this stage. If you are interested in seeing
this developed further, you may want to comment on Alains website.
Thanks to Alain for giving Mac users the ability to easily experiment with RTL2832U sticks.
RTL2832U and HDSDR Running on OSX
23 Responses to Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh
Dave says:
January 26, 2013 at 4:25 pm
No go with me, after a few seconds HDSDR exits and keeps doing so if I try to relaunch it. I am using a
1.
Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh | Ham Radio Science http://www.hamradioscience.com/using-the-rtl2832u-on-the-...
2 of 13 17/09/14 13:13
2009 mac mini with 4GB ram and a 2.26Ghz dual core CPU running OSX 10.8.2
Reply
Doug says:
March 20, 2014 at 3:44 pm
yea no go on my mac either!
Reply
Carl, WF6J says:
February 22, 2013 at 11:28 pm
What is the minimum processor (& speed) needed on a Mac? G5, Intel: coreduo, core2duo, i3 etc. ?
Thanks.
Reply
2.
Michael says:
March 19, 2013 at 3:02 am
Works right out of the box, great job.
MacBook Pro , MacOSX 1.8.3 , 2.3GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB
Reply
3.
matt geisel says:
April 5, 2013 at 10:15 pm
I am really interested in SDR radio. I was able to download and install the software off of your link
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/17744176/HDSDR%20OSX%20v2.51%20RC1.dm
Im now ready to purchase the hardware dongle device. I think Ive found one off of EBay. Here is the
link
http://www.ebay.com/itm/310636373335?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
The name of the device is DVB-T Realtek SDR RTL-SDR Receiver tuner stick RTL2832U & R820T
MCX Input. Im interested in this because of the frequency range which is from 25MHz to 1700MHz.
Will this device work on my MAC?
Thanks for any suggestions and advice you may be able to offer.
God Bless
matt
Reply
4.
Hammer says:
May 9, 2013 at 9:55 am
OS X is NOT a version of Linux! OS X comes from FreeBSD which IS NOT Linux but BSD which is a
totally different operating system.
Reply
KN1CER says:
5.
Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh | Ham Radio Science http://www.hamradioscience.com/using-the-rtl2832u-on-the-...
3 of 13 17/09/14 13:13
February 19, 2014 at 8:41 am
Umm, no. Mac OS X comes from the Darwin branch of BSD, not FreeBSD. Binaries arent really
compatible between the two. However, there are numerous ways to make them compatible with
reservations in terms of how the Mac OS protects its ports, and does things in the Apple le
systems.
BSD is not a totally different operating system, its the alternative that University of California at
Berkeley made to AT&T licensed Unix.
Linux, OTOH, is not Unix, but is made to be very very Unix-like; BSD/Berkeley Software
Distribution is licensed differently, and Darwin is available on the Internet if you want to get
especially close to Mac OS. Ultimately, its better to just join Apples developer program if youre
interested in depth.
Reply
CarloZ says:
February 19, 2014 at 8:45 am
Try to repair your rights
Mattia says:
May 27, 2013 at 4:53 pm
Hi and thank you for your effort to give us a easy solutions unluckly I have a Macbook mid 2006 with
32bit proc, it doesnt work for that, am I right?
Reply
6.
Keith says:
June 22, 2013 at 9:11 am
I am really pleased I found the above. I have been using HDSDR under VMWare Fusion and it works
fairly well but with the odd glitch on my 2007 iMac. It is my preferred SDR prog.
I was dubious about trying this but it works with my FUNCUBE PRO PLUS, and much more smoothly.
All I did was to put the Funcubes ExtIO DLL into the HDSDR folder in the package and bingo.
Thank you and Alain!
Reply
Tom Yates says:
September 3, 2013 at 12:53 pm
Did yours work out of the box when you selected the Funcubes ExtIO DLL from the drop down?
Mine is saying hardware not ready?
Reply
Keith says:
September 4, 2013 at 4:11 am
You are correct, contrary to my original post. The ExtIO does not get picked up but HDSDR
works with the Soundcard [F5] input set to FUNcube Dongle V2. I had originally thought that
this was via the dll but clearly it is not.
7.
Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh | Ham Radio Science http://www.hamradioscience.com/using-the-rtl2832u-on-the-...
4 of 13 17/09/14 13:13
Ken says:
July 10, 2013 at 8:26 pm
Works ne with my MacBook Air (2011) with the RTL device hint and a fc0013 / RTL2832U dongle
but NOT with a R820T / RTL2830U .
The borip server says it has found the 2832 (EZcap EzTV) but hasnt implemented the tuner interface.
While borip is probing for tuners it doesnt even say R820T , all the others are mentioned.
Is there another version of borip that includes the R820T?
Great work otherwise
rgds
Ken
VK6YKG
Reply
8.
Jabba the Cat says:
July 14, 2013 at 6:34 am
I use a Bonito RadioJet on my iMac, running in Win XP sp3 under VMWare, on OSX 10.8.4 with no
problems. The VMWare being the crucial item giving correct access to the iMacs USB ports and sound
output devices.
Hth.
Reply
9.
Karn says:
November 28, 2013 at 6:40 am
I try this one, Its working good. Somehow, I feel that the number of freq. show on screen and the one
picked up on my radio isnt the same, but the same sound.
I am using RTL2832U with a E4000 chipset.
Reply
10.
CarloZ says:
December 8, 2013 at 2:01 pm
It works!
11.
Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh | Ham Radio Science http://www.hamradioscience.com/using-the-rtl2832u-on-the-...
5 of 13 17/09/14 13:13
Thank you very much!
Reply
Rodney says:
February 5, 2014 at 9:47 pm
I follow the setup instructions OK up to step 6); then this error message appears:
borip_server has encountered a fatal error, and will now terminate.
here is the terminal text that results from trying to launch borip_server:
Last login: Sun Jul 5 18:58:30 on console
cd /Users/RCS/Applications/CrossOver/HDSDR/GNU Radio borip_server.app/Contents/Resources
/Contents/; ./MacOS/borip_server; exit
rodney-steffens-macbook-pro-6:~ RCS$ cd /Users/RCS/Applications/CrossOver/HDSDR/GNU Radio
borip_server.app/Contents/Resources/Contents/; ./MacOS/borip_server; exit
dlopen(/Users/RCS/Applications/CrossOver/HDSDR/GNU Radio borip_server.app/Contents/Resources
/Contents/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Python, 1): no suitable image found. Did nd:
/Users/RCS/Applications/CrossOver/HDSDR/GNU Radio borip_server.app/Contents/Resources
/Contents/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Python: unknown required load command
0x80000022logout
[Process completed]
Looks to me like some issue with python framework whatever that is.
Suggestions anyone??
Reply
12.
Doug says:
March 20, 2014 at 1:19 pm
Cant get er to work! on my mac.
13.
Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh | Ham Radio Science http://www.hamradioscience.com/using-the-rtl2832u-on-the-...
6 of 13 17/09/14 13:13
Reply
Carloz says:
March 20, 2014 at 1:24 pm
Try http://youtu.be/LrvNi0ffNpU
Reply
Smithf72 says:
April 23, 2014 at 4:34 am
I truly appreciate this post. Ive been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing.
Youve made my day! Thank you again! akkebddddabddbdd
Reply
14.
ejonesss says:
April 27, 2014 at 7:59 am
i bought http://www.ebay.com/itm/151280105098 and after some work to gure out how to get it to come
up and work but i found a problem.
i decided to tune to my local radio at fm 1065 all i get is a tone that varies as i change the frequency to
either side.
is one of the following the case?
1. the model i got is the one listed in above url is the wrong model and should be the one that comes in
larger packaging and dongle is 1 inch square instead of the long 1 by 4 inch rectangle (i placed order for
the smaller dongle).
2. a customs crackdown has banned what frequencies we are allowed to tune into (sort of why police
scanners are not allowed to tune into cell phone frequencies).
3. digital dongles no longer support analog and many fm and other radios did not upgrade to digital.
4. defective unit (i ordered new one because just the shipping alone would void out much of the return + i
felt a burr on the end as if the unit had been opened (possible to get picture of the board) so i dont know if
they damaged it getting the picture).
*** Forbidden. HTTP links blacklisted. Request number a href=http://cleantalk.org
/show_request?request_id=1e04c1ac50630182e2517b3445f2aacc
rel=nofollow1e04c1ac50630182e2517b3445f2aacc/a. Antispam service cleantalk.org. ***
Reply
15.
ejonesss says:
April 27, 2014 at 9:31 pm
i was not trying to spam i was just pointing to an item.
how should i post an item in the future
Reply
16.
Carlos Pijak says:
May 15, 2014 at 6:31 am
17.
Using the RTL2832U on the Macintosh | Ham Radio Science http://www.hamradioscience.com/using-the-rtl2832u-on-the-...
7 of 13 17/09/14 13:13
You provide wrong information here. OSX is not a version of Linux. OSX is based on BSD Unix.
Reply
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