Is there a way to use the KiwiSDR offline?
I would like to have the capability of using the KiwiSDR offline, that is, when I don't have an internet connection... I've read through the documentation and have yet find an answer. Apparently when it boots, it's using a domain name server? I've tried various IP addresses, or even assigning it a new static address, but no luck. FYI, I have an electronics background, but no experience with networking.
Comments
An Internet connection is entirely optional. Are you trying to use it from the same local network? I.e. is the Kiwi and computer running the browser on the same network number? (e.g. 192.168.1.xxx)
When there is no Internet involved what other network equipment is there? Just a network switch or is there some sort of router device that runs DHCP and hands out local ip addresses? Is there any WiFi involved? (e.g. Kiwi on wired network but laptop running browser using WiFi).
Please forgive my ignorance regarding networking!
If you can recommend some reading material for a beginner that would be greatly appreciated! :-)
Anyway...
I'm using a MacMini desktop with WiFi for my internet connection
I tried connecting the Kiwi straight to the ethernet port on the computer, but couldn't get it to work, even with a crossover cable, so I connected the Kiwi to a switch, and in turn connected the switch to the Macs ethernet port, and the Kiwi seems to work fine using the default addresses
The Kiwi works fine using the default kiwi URLs:
http://kiwisdr.local:8073/ and http://kiwisdr.local:8073/admin
But when there's no Internet connection, no luck, so it's using DNS ?
It looks like the Macs ethernet port is configured for 192.168.1.100 / 255.255.0.0
The IP shown on the Kiwi admin Network tab is 192.168.1.102 / 255.255.0.0
When I do an arp -a command in the Mac Terminal, it shows the Kiwi address as 169.254.10.125
So maybe that's the problem?
Sorry, I don't actually understand networking yet, much less DHCP...
I'm assuming I should be able to configure it all so that at some point I can just enter a static IP into the browser to connect to the Kiwi?
Networking is a pain, and connecting to a computer using a point-to-point Ethernet cable is difficult to get correct. If you have a setup that is working for non-Internet access just use it and be glad it works, even if requires a network switch in the path.
DNS is generally an Internet-only concept. There is something called mDNS (multicast DNS) that allows symbolic hostnames ending in .local to work on a non-Internet network. The Kiwi runs an mDNS service called Avahi for this. Macs have Bonjour. The Kiwi also runs a DHCP server which may be responsible for the 192.168.1.xxx assigned addresses. Using mDNS Kiwis are always known as kiwisdr.local
A 169.254.x.x address is a "self-assigned" ip address that interfaces will generally default to if a DHCP server does not assign an address. If the Kiwi shows its address as 192.x but your arp -a says 169.x then it's likely there is not really communication on the cable. Crossover cables are generally not needed on modern interfaces because crossover is automatically performed via the auto MDI/MIDX mechanism of Ethernet PHY chips.
Interesting!
I didn't realize that a what is essentially referred to as a 'Server' could be a service that runs on a piece of hardware, though now that I think of it; why not?
The thing I'm confused about is, when hooking up with a straight wire from say, a device, to a computer's ethernet port, is it necessarily the computer, or the device that assigns an IP vis DHCP?
I'm assuming that a switch is just a pass through device...
Anyway, I found a tab in the network configuration menu for the Mac that allows one to enter the IP address for DNS servers, and by entering the IP address there, I was able to get the Kiwi to connect without having an Internet connection on my Mac. Before, if the Internet connect for the Mac was not present, it wouldn't connect; now it does regardless.
Not that I'm particularly interested in delving into networking, I will do some further reading... Obviously just a little cursory knowledge will come in handy with things like this.
Thanks for your help! :-)