The Pi-Star developers have been at it again. They are up to version 3.4.8 and have added some new things in the process.

The most exciting change in 3.4.8 was the ability to override the XRF protocol. Many people have had difficulty using D-STAR XReflectors. This protocol wants to establish a connection from the MMDVM to the reflector and a separate connection from the server to the MMDVM. Many ISP do not allow inbound connections, and for those that do the inbound port as to be added to their router.

With this change, no special setup is required. XReflectors just work now.

Please note, you need to run the update process after making this change. I think it is downloading different host files for XReflectors.

Note in 3.4.7 there were changes that allow for USB tethering from a phone. This could be a little easier on your phone battery, and you can do Wi-Fi pass through. This means your phone could connect to a hotel Wi-Fi and your hotspot would just work, you do not have to configure Wi-Fi on the hotspot. Cool.

And, finally, they are starting work to support 3G/4G USB dongles directly.

 

01-Dec-2017 **Version 3.4.8**

  • Shellinabox (the web based SSH client built into the expert menu) has now
    been patched up so that the $quot;-” char is passed correctly
    by Firefox and other browsers.
  • Dashboard improvements that include the option to force D-Star XRF reflectors
    to connect using DPlus protocol.

30-Nov-2017 **Version 3.4.7**

  • Minor changes to the OS to allow USB tethering to iPhone and other devices
  • Mode Switch command / data added to start providing the ability to use USB
    tethering for some MiFi devices, along with starting to add the
    support framework for 3G/4G dongles. Some of these may work, most
    of them probably still do not. Your mileage may vary.

You can find the current change log at https://www.pistar.uk/downloads/

If you have a version greater that 3.4.6 you can do the full update/upgrade using the update link in the Admin menu.