PCS-Electronics

Hello out there,
over the last weeks I've been working on a software that makes it possible to control the PCIMAX3000+ card under Linux.

The software reached a stage where it features the same options available in the official control software, and it is
stable and user friendly enough to be release to the public.

Reading back from the card is not (yet?) supported, because I couldn't test the feature. It is not working in the
official software for me either.

In contrast to the official tool, I decided to create a command line tool, because this makes it easy to control the
software (and hereby the card) from your software of choice..

Features:

• device auto-detection
• setting all available FM-Transmitter options
• setting all available RDS options
• command line interface to set available options
• config file support
• config file monitoring and auto-updating

You can find the latest version of the tool in my repository:
https://github.com/koradlow/pcimax-ctl

Have fun and report back if you run into troubles

pcimax-ctl readme

installation:
this program requires the libudev library (for auto device detection)
Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libudev0 libudev-dev

default installation path is /usr/local/bin
installation path can be changed by setting PREFIX variable
(e.g: sudo make PREFIX=/opt install)
development status:
this program is still under development, but it offers the same feature
set as the official windows program with the exception of dynamic
Program Station names (see limitations) and read-back from the device.
If you find a bug or run into other problems please report to
https://github.com/koradlow/pcimax-ctl/issues

licence:
all code is released under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2)

latest version:
you can always find the latest version of this tool in the git repo:
https://github.com/koradlow/pcimax-ctl

limitations:
- the card only supports European country codes (ecc) {E0..E4}
- the dynamic PS feature of the card is not supported because the RDS standard
explicitly states that the station name shouldn't be used dynamically
- read-back from the device does is not supported

usage:
pcimax-ctl --help
will display a summary and explanation of the available options

pcimax-ctl --file=/home/user/pcimax_ctl/config.ini
most users will probaly want to use a configuration file for setting the
options. An example for a config file can be found in the sourcecode folder
that was created during installation.

pcimax-ctl --file=/home/user/pcimax_ctl/config.ini --monitor
it can be very handy to keep the program running in the background and have
it updating the settings whenever the config file is modified.

Hello,

Thanks for your work, I'm ordering my card this week and I'll give your program a shot ASAP!

To update the RDS RadioText field in realtime (to show the current track info.), I guess I should use the "--monitor" option and update the RT field in the config file, or is there is simpler way to do this ?

Thanks again!

Regards,

Nicolas.

Best to ask the guy directly, I don't work with Linux stuff.
I'm sure you can find contact info in the accompanying documentation.

Hello,

I got my card, tested the pcimax-ctl tool under ubuntu, and it's working fine, the sound is great!

I just can't manage to have the Radio Text (RT) field shown on my FM receivers (they manage to show the RT for official radios)... I'm using the default parameters given in the config.ini of the pcimax-ctl tool. I tried different settings but without any help. The green led on the RDS module is always blinking, is it normal ?

I've noticed that even when setting the power at 0%, the emitter is still emitting with good power. Is there a way to shutdown the emitter by software ?

Thanks for your help!

Nicolas.

I've tested my card under windows and I've got the same RDS problem... It takes forever to get the PS name to appear on my receivers, and the RT never shows...

So it seems that my problem would not come from the linux tools, but more from the card ?

Just reset the RDS daughter board.

Take it off the board and make a short across the leads of that big capacitor.
Keep the short for a few secs.

Reinsert, reboot PC and it should be ok.

The config file monitoring and auto-updating mode does not seem to work. I changed the power to zero and
change the frequency to 87.0. This should have turn off Pcimax3000+. It never does.

Can you post the code that does readbacks.

THKS,
w3rn

Talk to the developers directly, we're not supporting linux ourselves, also check their website where the project is kept, you have full source published there.