As a person who is a bit of a fanatic about software defined radio (SDR), and a professional software engineer and open source software afficionado, one of the first things I check out in a new SDR is what systems the software runs on. Several notable SDRs at least superficially only seem to support Windows. I own an FDM-S2 and a HF+ Discovery and as a result I do not get to use them much as I only boot up my Windows computer a few times a year, usually under duress.
I occasionally wonder what the state of support for this SDR hardware is like on other platforms like Linux, MacOS, or FreeBSD. This is a brief summary of what kinds of non-Windows software supports these SDRs.
Microtelcom Perseus
- Linrad, by SM5BSZ, Leif Åsbrink
- Alexandru Csete, OZ9AEC GQRX SDR receiver
- SDR Angel by Edouard, F4EXB
- GNU Radio, by the gr-microtelecom module
Elad FDM-S2
- Alexandru Csete, OZ9AEC GQRX SDR receiver
- GNU Radio, via the Elad FDM-S2 Sampler modules
- HDSDR
AirSpy HF+ Discovery
- Linrad from Leif Asbrink, SM5BSZ
- Alexandru Csete, OZ9AEC GQRX SDR receiver
- GNU Radio
- SDR Angel by Edouard, F4EXB
- Soapy SDR
| SDR | GQRX | GNU Radio | Soapy SDR | Linrad | SDR Angel | Cubic SDR | OpenWebRx |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perseus | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Elad FDM-S2 | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N |
| AirSpy HF+ Discovery | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Software | Version | Last Release | Contributors | Linux | MacOS | BSD | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GQRX | 2.15.8 | 2022/01/25 | 80 | Y | Y | ? | GNU Radio and Qt-based |
| GNU Radio | 3.10.1.1 | 2022/02/01 | 286 | Y | Y | Y | |
| Soapy SDR | 0.8.1 | 2021/07/25 | 19 | Y | Y | Y | GNU Radio-based |
| Linrad | 05.01 | 2021/05/03 | 2 | Y | N | Y | |
| SDR Angel | 6.19.0 | 2022/02/07 | 38 | Y | N | N | Qt-based |
| Cubic SDR | 0.2.7 | 2022/02/05 | 21 | Y | Y | N | Soapy SDR-based |
| OpenWebRx | 1.1.0 | 2021/08/03 | 1 | Y | N | N | Some HW is Soapy SDR-based |
| SDR++ | 1.0.4 | 2021/10/17 | 33 | Y | Y | Y | Some HW is Soapy SDR-based |
Based on a casual inspection of much of this software, it appears that one of the least “heavy” solutions might be OpenWebRx, as it offloads much of the graphics and audio processing to the end-user’s web browser. However, it does not support the Elad or the Perseus. I am pleased to see that it is now generally available, after being locked up and operating only at the original development site.
Notwithstanding that, the Soapy SDR software seems to be the “Rosetta Stone” of much of this software, mediating interfaces and protocols between dozens of types of SDR hardware and GNU Radio the does the heavy lifting.