Question re adding to satellites.xml

[Helvetica]

Hi everyone,
Instead of generating a completely new satellites.xml for my VU+ Duo, I simply want to add one satellite which is not included in the Catseye that I downloaded the other day.
My question concerns the terminology in my current xml list which differs from that for the same transponders in a list I downloaded today.

Just as an example (this is not from the satellite I wish to add)
In my xml:
<transponder frequency="10847000" symbol_rate="23000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="2" inversion="2" modulation="2" system="1" pilot="2" rolloff="0"/>

In the downloaded xml:
<transponder frequency="10847000" symbol_rate="23000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="2" />

I understand that system=1 means DVB-S2 and "rolloff=0" is the standard for DVB-S2 and "pilot" is used for modulation = 2.

So my question is: Do I have to add these parameters to the appropriate lines in the xml I downloaded, so that I can copy and paste the <sat>..</sat> into my own xml ? Or can VU+/BH happily function without them?

As I say, I really do not fancy having to generate a new xml using the online generator listed elsewhere on this board.

[timofee]

Why not just add the data anyway using copy paste.

But just changing just the satellites.xml might not add the extra satellite. Have a look at the settings file in /etc/ - all your satellites are listed there. If you have already added the satellite using the menus it will have done this already.

[Helvetica]

Hi Timofee
Thanks for the reply.
You are correct. Just adding the lines to the satellites.xml did not give me the additional satellite I want, at least I could not see it when I went to
Menu - System - Services Search - Manual Search, then right or left clicking on the name of the satellite.

When you say "the settings file in /etc/", am I right in understanding that you mean the one under /etc/enigma2 ? That is the only place I could find a file called settings.
When I look in that file using NoteTabPro (not Notepad!), I see the list of satellites that I can currently select (on my ... Manual Search page mentioned above) in this format: (this is the example for 19.2 E)
config.Nims.0.advanced.sat.192.rotorposition=2
config.Nims.0.advanced.sat.192.usals=false
config.Nims.0.advanced.sat.192.lnb=1
(I have a 38V motor without the normal Disq system, so cannot use usals, as otherwise the dish doesn't stop moving until it has turned so far that it rips the cable out, believe me...)

But the 39° I want is not there. Could I add it manually to the settings file, e.g. as

config.Nims.0.advanced.sat.390.rotorposition=4
config.Nims.0.advanced.sat.390.usals=false
config.Nims.0.advanced.sat.390.lnb=1
(Skytrack positioner no. 4 is currently free)

Would that work ? Then I could select that and then move the dish to find it and set it.
Is there anything else in the settings file or in any other file I would need to change ?

By the way, I made a new satellites.xls file using the generator website - yesterday it gave me a simpler method to select satellites instead of what I saw before when I would have had to click on all the ones I want) and manually deleted the ones which I don't want or which have footprints which are out of range for me, but I didn't upload it yet.

Thankyou for your help.

[timofee]

Yes, you have found the correct file, sorry, I should have given you the full path.

You can add the lines you have suggested, but you have to be very careful you do not corrupt your image. Make sure you do a full image back up before attempting this so you can restore to your last working image should anything go wrong.

There is a line in the file as follows
config.Nims.0.advanced.sats=30

30 is the number in my file - yours will show a different number - does that have to be increased by one ? - It seems logical, but I don't know for sure. There might be other parameters that have to be set that are deep within enigma - again I don't know.

To make the change to the settings file you have to stop enigma first using telnet command init 4. Change the settings file as required, then restart enigma using Telnet init 3.

I think the best method would be to add the satellite using the menus - I know the menus are not really user friendly (everything nowadays assumes people have a diseqc dish where setting up is simple and automatic) - but it can be done.

[abu baniaz]

What is your tuner set as? All the details please.

[Helvetica]

Thankyou Timofee
My line has
config.Nims.0.advanced.sats=48

I just googled to see whether I could find out what that means exactly (could not find any explanation) and found a large variety of such settings, some as high as 3592.
>I think the best method would be to add the satellite using the menus
I wish I could ! On my old Dreambox it was simple, but on my VU+ with BH 3.0.3G (or is that a C?) I cannot find any menu which lets me simply add a satellite. But in none of the Menu -> Setup -> then Service Searching or Tuner Config or Positioner Setup or Satfinder can I see how to add one.
What I DID see was "Allsatellites1", "Allsatellites2", "Allsatellites3" and "Allsatellites4" Thinking one of these might at least give me a list of possibles, I clicked "Allsatellites1" but nothing happened except it asked me whether I wanted to zap back to the channel I was on.. I tried it on "Allsatellites2" with the same result.
But I now see that my
config.Nims.0.advanced.sats=48
has changed to
config.Nims.0.advanced.sats=3602
So I still can't see the sat I want to add. Plus I have a feeling that that option is only for use with USALS.
I am about to do a backup before I turn off the box and attempt just to add the three sat-lines I want..
(5 minutes later - Jeeeezus, they don't make it easy to make a backup to USB stick do they ? it is telling me I need a backup.txt on the stick in one menu and in the Backup menu it won't let me change from hdd/ to usb.. )

[abu baniaz]

Adding them to the .xml file means that your receiver is able to select them. It does not mean your receiver is configured to use them.

EDIT: There are two possible locations of the XML file.

[Huevos]

Why are you editing the settings file manually. People have spent a long time perfecting the GUI so files don't need editing manually.

[Helvetica]

I need to post another cry for help re. formatting/using/saving to a USB stick because no matter what I try, I am still getting the "There is no valid USB stick found".

[Huevos]

If the stick is formatted to FAT32 or ext4 it should work. If not try another stick.

[Helvetica]

>

Adding them to the .xml file means that your receiver is able to select them. It does not mean your receiver is configured to use them.

I can't even find them to configure them. If I could find the blasted thing in a list somewhere

I'm not quite sure whether this is the information you mean, but for all of the satellites I have so far installed with no problem whatsoever, my
settings are
Menu -> Service Search -> Tuner Setup -> Tuner 1
- Advanced
Satellite Name: This is where I select the satellite I wish to configure. Theoretically the new ones in my new satellites.xml should be visible here, but they aren't.
LNB: LNB 1
Priority: Auto
LOF: Universal LNB
Voltage: Polarization
Incr. Voltage: No
Tone Mode: Band
Disq mode: 1.2
... etc..
then at the bottom: Use Usals: NO
"Satellite Number": (whichever number I wish to give it for the Skyjack positioner, e.g. Hotbird is 01, 19 East is 02, Astra 2 is 18..
And then I store it.
This has always worked without a problem in the past.

Then I use Menu - Setup - Service Searching - Manual Search, select the satellite I just configured, enter a frequency, polarity, FEC etc and use green and yellow to move the dish until it finds what I want and make sure that the "Positioner Storage" is set to the same number as it is under "Satellite Number".

So for some reason the new satellites (three of them) 7E, 10E and 39E should theoretically show up in my list (Tuner Setup->Advanced..Satellite Name): because they are in my new satellites.xls list. But they don't.

and
@Huevos: I wanted to edit the settings manually because as you can see, the "generate satellites.xls" website generated file still does not give me the three additional sats that I want, so a manual editing seems to be the only solution.

Yes, I read that the satellites.xml file is in two locations and that a new one should be saved to the etc/enigma2/ folder, and not to the ../tuxbox/ folder. As far as I understand, the one in the ../enigma2 folder takes priority over the tuxbox one and if anything goes wrong, you can just copy the tuxbox one to the enigma2 folder.

[abu baniaz]

you are mixing up two processes.

Upload the original XML file and what you want to add to it as separate attachment.

[Huevos]

Why not just use the satellites.ml that comes with OpenViX? It comes with those satellites.

[Helvetica]

Mine didn't and I never changed it. And it is a genuine VU+ Duo box, not some clone. The shop I bought it from put an image on it for me.

You know what? I have a feeling that my box is not first looking in /etc/enigma2 for the satellites.xml list, but looks only in /etc/tuxbox.
I just deleted the one I had (again) in /etc/enigma2 and uploaded the generated one again, then restarted my VU+. I still cannot see the three satellites I want under
Menu -> Service Search -> Tuner Setup -> Tuner A -> Advanced ->Satellite Name

This is a file that was generated by the sat xml generator website, so it should work.

Failing that, the only thing I can think of are the permission settings for the satellites.xml file in /etc/enigma2
They are currently set to rw-r-r (644). Is that how they should be set ?

Because of all the dire warnings I have read about never uploading a new satellites.xml to the tuxbox folder, I don't like to upload it to there (hey fellahs, I am a little old lady, so have patience, )..

[abu baniaz]

Not sure if Blackhole uses etc/enigma2

There is nothing wrong with using etc/tuxbox/

Any image update will include more sats than the one in catseye list.