RTL-SDR Blog V4 requires newer driver

[bdr99]

I'm using an RTL-SDR Blog V4 kit and it seems this model requires a newer driver, as described on this page.

If I attempt to use the driver bundled with rtl_433, it fails with this output:

$ docker run --rm --device /dev/bus/usb/002/002 hertzg/rtl_433:23.11-debian

rtl_433 version 23.11 (2023-11-28) inputs file rtl_tcp RTL-SDR SoapySDR with TLS
Detached kernel driver
Found Rafael Micro R828D tuner
Exact sample rate is: 250000.000414 Hz
[SDR] Using device 0: RTLSDRBlog, Blog V4, SN: 00000001, "Generic RTL2832U OEM"
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
Allocating 15 zero-copy buffers

Following the instructions on the above linked page makes the device work correctly, but I'm not sure how to integrate the newer driver into this Docker image. Any assistance would be appreciated.

[hertzg]

You would need to build the image with new drivers, that means you need to adjust the build stage to not install the libsdr with apk and follow the guide you provided.

rtl_433_docker/images/debian/build-context/Dockerfile

Lines 4 to 24 in aa84c25

	RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
	build-essential \
	cmake \
	git \
	libusb-1.0-0-dev \
	libsoapysdr-dev \
	libssl-dev \
	librtlsdr-dev \
	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
	WORKDIR /build
	ADD ./rtl_433 ./rtl_433
	WORKDIR ./rtl_433
	WORKDIR ./build
	RUN cmake -DENABLE_OPENSSL=ON ..
	RUN make
	RUN cat Makefile
	WORKDIR /build/root
	WORKDIR /build/rtl_433/build
	RUN make DESTDIR=/build/root/ install

Then modify the runtime to have runtime environment to have those build libraries

rtl_433_docker/images/debian/build-context/Dockerfile

Lines 34 to 43 in aa84c25

	RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
	libusb-1.0-0 \
	librtlsdr0 \
	'^libsoapysdr0\.[6-8]$' \
	'^libssl(1\.1|3)$' \
	'^soapysdr0\.[6-8]-module-all$' \
	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
	WORKDIR /root
	COPY --from=builder /build/root/ /

If you want to experiment I'd suggest running a test contianer and comming up with the correct set of commands to then build the correct Dockerfile.

$ docker run --rm -it --device /dev/bus/usb debian:bookworm

this will give you a "playground" container where you can experiment with building the lib and app correctly and also test the compiled executable safely.

[bdr99]

Thanks for the advice. I'll give this a try. It would also be great to get this driver added to the image on docker hub for everyone, that way others with the V4 device won't run into the same issues I did. I expect that more people will be buying the V4 device since it's newer and has more features compared to V3.

[bdr99]

@hertzg I was able to get it my V4 device to work with these changes to the Debian Dockerfile. Would you accept a PR with these changes?

diff --git a/images/debian/build-context/Dockerfile b/images/debian/build-context/Dockerfile
index 15662fe..7a6d279 100644
--- a/images/debian/build-context/Dockerfile
+++ b/images/debian/build-context/Dockerfile
@@ -4,13 +4,23 @@ FROM debian:${debianVersion} as builder
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
     build-essential \
     cmake \
+    debhelper \
     git \
     libusb-1.0-0-dev \
     libsoapysdr-dev \
     libssl-dev \
-    librtlsdr-dev \
+    pkg-config \
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

+WORKDIR /rtl-sdr
+RUN git clone https://github.com/rtlsdrblog/rtl-sdr-blog && \
+    cd rtl-sdr-blog && \
+    dpkg-buildpackage -b --no-sign && \
+    cd .. && \
+    rm -rf rtl-sdr-blog && \
+    dpkg -i librtlsdr0_*.deb && \
+    dpkg -i librtlsdr-dev_*.deb
+
 WORKDIR /build

 ADD ./rtl_433 ./rtl_433
@@ -33,12 +43,15 @@ LABEL maintainer="[email protected]" \

 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
     libusb-1.0-0 \
-    librtlsdr0 \
     '^libsoapysdr0\.[6-8]$' \
     '^libssl(1\.1|3)$' \
     '^soapysdr0\.[6-8]-module-all$' \
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

+COPY --from=builder /rtl-sdr/librtlsdr0_*.deb /tmp/
+RUN dpkg -i /tmp/librtlsdr0_*.deb && \
+    rm -rf /tmp/librtlsdr0_*.deb
+
 WORKDIR /root
 COPY --from=builder /build/root/ /

[hertzg]

Does this work on non v4 devices?

[droans]

Per the documentation, the new drivers should be backwards compatible. I don't have any other adapter to test with.

I've been running my own custom Docker build for a while now using the drivers and I've had no issues.

[bdr99]

@hertzg Sorry for the delayed response. I have both a V3 and V4 device, and I have tested this change and it works with both.

[hertzg]

Converting this to a discussion since this does not look like an issue with the image itself.

[Toxicable]

I just ran into this one, applied the above patch and now my docker container appears to be working, although I'm not getting any output, but that could be another issue

Before patch:

docker run --device /dev/bus/usb/001/008 hertzg/rtl_433 -f 433.92M -v
...
[SDR] Using device 0: RTLSDRBlog, Blog V4, SN: 00000001, "Generic RTL2832U OEM"
Exact sample rate is: 250000.000414 Hz
[SDR] Sample rate set to 250000 S/s.
[Input] Bit detection level set to 0.0 (Auto).
[SDR] Tuner gain set to Auto.
[Input] Reading samples in async mode...
[SDR] rtlsdr_set_center_freq 433920000 = -1
[sdr_set_center_freq] Failed to set center freq.

After

docker run --device /dev/bus/usb/001/008 sha256:324596453ec01458273e1f153a09e0f287f628196bcc33ddeb41ebf378cabc68 -v -f 433.92M
...
[SDR] Using device 0: RTLSDRBlog, Blog V4, SN: 00000001, "Generic RTL2832U OEM"
Exact sample rate is: 250000.000414 Hz
[SDR] Sample rate set to 250000 S/s.
[Input] Bit detection level set to 0.0 (Auto).
[SDR] Tuner gain set to Auto.
[Input] Reading samples in async mode...
[SDR] Tuned to 433.920MHz.
[Baseband] low pass filter for 250000 Hz at cutoff 25000 Hz, 40.0 us

[droans]

What's the rtl-433 version shown in the logs?

I was running into a similar issue. I discovered that the default version of rtl-433 in the Debian repository was 21.12-1, but upgrading to 23.11-1+b1 fixed any issues I had.