[Hackrf-dev] RuntimeError: list contains invalid format!

[will_cummings at mindspring.com]

I figured it out!
Thanks to this post:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/discuss-gnuradio/2017-01/msg00329.html

I apparently had multiple installations of gnuradio. I'm not sure how that happened. I think (but I'm not sure) that there is a problem with using "sudo apt install gqrx-sdr", so instead I removed gnuradio and reinstalled with pybombs.

As per the post mentioned above, I used the following commands to find all the gnuradio components I'd installed:

apt list --installed | grep gnuradio
apt list --installed | grep sdr
apt list --installed | grep osmo
apt list --installed | grep soapy

and then uninstalled the components I found using commands like this:

sudo apt-get remove --purge libgnuradio*
sudo apt-get remove --purge soapyosmo*
sudo apt-get remove --purge libsoapy*
sudo apt-get remove --purge libosmosdr*
sudo apt-get remove --purge libmirisdr0*
sudo apt-get remove --purge libmirisdr0*
sudo apt-get remove --purge librtlsdr*
sudo apt-get remove --purge libsoapysdr0*

Then I installed pybombs (see https://github.com/gnuradio/pybombs) and reinstalled installed gnuradio

sudo apt-get install python3-pip
sudo pip3 install pybombs
pybombs auto-config
pybombs recipes add-defaults
pybombs prefix init ~/prefix-3.8 -R gnuradio-default
source ~/prefix-3.8/setup_env.sh

Finally I installed gr-osmosdr:

pybombs install gr-osmosdr

Then I invoked GRC:

gnuradio-companion

And by gosh I could pick up my favorite local FM radio station!

-----Original Message-----
>From: will_cummings at mindspring.com
>Sent: Dec 31, 2020 5:49 PM
>To: hackrf-dev at greatscottgadgets.com
>Subject: 
>
>Hi,
>
>I just purchased the HackRF One.
>
>I am trying to follow the lesson in "Software Defined Radio with HackRF, Lesson 1" 
>
>I can get it to work on Pentoo, but I'd really like to be able to run on Ubuntu 20.04.1.   
>
>On Ubuntu, hackrf is version (2018.01.1-2)
>
>When I enter "hackrf_info", I get:
>
>hackrf_info version: unknown
>libhackrf version: unknown (0.5)
>Found HackRF
>Index: 0
>Serial number: 0000000000000000088869dc35a1531b
>Board ID Number: 2 (HackRF One)
>Firmware Version: 2018.01.1 (API:1.02)
>Part ID Number: 0xa000cb3c 0x00584358
>
>The command "hackrf_transfer -r /dev/null" works as expected.
>
>
>I found the gr-osmosdr and installed it.
>
>Since wxgui is deprecated in GRC 3.8 I'm using the QT GUI Frequency Sink block.
>
>When I try to run, I get the errors below.  I am attaching the py and grc files.
>
>Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Will Cummings
>
>
>This is what I'm seeing:
>__________________________________________________________________________________________ 
>
>Generating: '/home/will/GNURadio/top_block.py'
>
>Executing: /usr/bin/python3 -u /home/will/GNURadio/top_block.py
>
>Warning: failed to XInitThreads()
>gr-osmosdr 0.2.0.0 (0.2.0) gnuradio 3.8.1.0
>built-in source types: file osmosdr fcd rtl rtl_tcp uhd miri hackrf bladerf rfspace airspy airspyhf soapy redpitaya freesrp 
>[INFO] [UHD] linux; GNU C++ version 9.2.1 20200304; Boost_107100; UHD_3.15.0.0-2build5
>
>RtApiAlsa::getDeviceInfo: snd_pcm_open error for device (hw:0,0), Device or resource busy.
>
>
>RtApiAlsa::getDeviceInfo: snd_pcm_open error for device (hw:0,1), Invalid argument.
>
>
>RtApiAlsa::getDeviceInfo: snd_pcm_open error for device (hw:0,1), Invalid argument.
>
>Using HackRF One with firmware 2018.01.1
>Traceback (most recent call last):
>  File "/home/will/GNURadio/top_block.py", line 188, in <module>
>    main()
>  File "/home/will/GNURadio/top_block.py", line 166, in main
>    tb.start(1)
>  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/gnuradio/gr/top_block.py", line 111, in start
>    top_block_start_unlocked(self._impl, max_noutput_items)
>  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/gnuradio/gr/runtime_swig.py", line 4832, in top_block_start_unlocked
>    return _runtime_swig.top_block_start_unlocked(r, max_noutput_items)
>RuntimeError: list contains invalid format!
>
>>>> Done (return code 1)