Ryan Malloy
5d9dfa7794
- New docs page (tools/tui.mdx) covering all 5 RF modes, keyboard shortcuts, easter eggs, and splash screen with inline SVG screenshots - Screenshot generation script using Textual headless Pilot API to capture 8 screens in demo mode without hardware - Fix dark mode toggle: migrate from removed App.dark to App.theme API (Textual 7.x breaking change) - Update social link to Gitea repo, add TUI to sidebar
179 lines
6.8 KiB
Plaintext
179 lines
6.8 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: SkyWalker TUI
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description: Interactive terminal dashboard for spectrum analysis, transponder scanning, signal monitoring, L-band analysis, and carrier tracking.
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---
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import { Tabs, TabItem, Steps, Aside, Badge } from '@astrojs/starlight/components';
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The SkyWalker TUI is a full-screen terminal dashboard built on [Textual](https://textual.textualize.io/) that wraps all five RF operating modes into a single interactive interface. Sidebar navigation, F-key shortcuts, real-time widget updates, and a dark/light theme toggle replace the separate CLI subcommands with a unified experience.
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<Badge text="Requires custom firmware v3.02.0+" variant="caution" />
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## Installation
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The TUI is distributed as the `skywalker-tui` package from the `tui/` directory in the repository.
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```bash title="Install with uv"
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cd tui && uv sync
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```
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```bash title="Run with hardware"
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sudo uv run skywalker-tui
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```
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```bash title="Run in demo mode (no hardware)"
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uv run skywalker-tui --demo
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```
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### CLI Flags
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| Flag | Description |
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|------|-------------|
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| `--demo` | Synthetic signal data — no SkyWalker-1 USB device needed |
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| `--no-splash` | Skip the startup splash screen |
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| `--verbose, -v` | Verbose USB logging (hardware mode only) |
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| `MODE` | Initial mode: `spectrum` (default), `scan`, `monitor`, `lband`, `track` |
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<Aside type="tip">
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Demo mode generates realistic-looking synthetic data for every screen, making it useful for familiarization, documentation, and development without satellite hardware.
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</Aside>
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---
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## Keyboard Shortcuts
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| Key | Action |
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|-----|--------|
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| <kbd>F1</kbd> | Spectrum analyzer |
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| <kbd>F2</kbd> | Transponder scanner |
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| <kbd>F3</kbd> | Signal monitor |
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| <kbd>F4</kbd> | L-Band analyzer |
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| <kbd>F5</kbd> | Carrier tracker |
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| <kbd>d</kbd> | Toggle dark/light theme |
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| <kbd>q</kbd> | Quit |
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| <kbd>Ctrl+W</kbd> | Easter egg |
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| <kbd>Esc</kbd> | Dismiss overlay / skip splash |
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The sidebar buttons mirror the F-key shortcuts — click or press to switch modes. The active mode is highlighted in the sidebar.
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---
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## Screens
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Each mode is a self-contained screen with its own widgets, workers, and layout. Switching modes pauses the previous screen's polling and starts the new one.
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### Spectrum <Badge text="F1" variant="note" />
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Sweep spectrum analyzer across the 950–2150 MHz IF range. Renders a bar chart of signal power at each frequency step with a scrolling waterfall display below.
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- Bar chart with color-coded signal levels (blue → green → yellow → red)
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- Waterfall display showing power over time
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- Peak detection markers above the noise floor
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- Configurable sweep range, step size, and dwell time
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### Scan <Badge text="F2" variant="note" />
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Three-phase automated transponder search: coarse sweep, fine sweep around peaks, and blind scan at each refined candidate across a range of symbol rates.
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<Steps>
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1. **Coarse sweep** at 10 MHz steps to identify candidate carriers
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2. **Fine sweep** at 2 MHz steps around each detected peak
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3. **Blind scan** at each refined peak, trying symbol rates from min to max
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</Steps>
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- Progress indicator for each phase
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- Results table with frequency, symbol rate, and lock status
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- Supports Ku-band, C-band, and custom LO configurations
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### Monitor <Badge text="F3" variant="note" />
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Real-time signal strength display for hands-free dish alignment. Tunes to a single frequency and polls continuously with visual feedback.
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- Signal gauge with lock/unlock status indicator
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- Sparkline history of recent signal strength samples
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- SNR and AGC readouts
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- Designed for dish alignment — visual feedback without needing to read numbers
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### L-Band <Badge text="F4" variant="note" />
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Direct RF input analysis in the 950–2150 MHz range with LNB power disabled. Annotates known L-band frequency allocations.
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- Same sweep engine as Spectrum mode, but with `lnb_lo=0` and LNB voltage off
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- Frequency allocation overlays for Amateur 23cm, GNSS, Inmarsat, Iridium, MetSat
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- Detects carrier presence regardless of modulation compatibility
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<Aside type="caution">
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Connect an L-band antenna or filtered preamp directly to the F-type input. LNB power is explicitly disabled in this mode to protect non-LNB equipment.
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</Aside>
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### Track <Badge text="F5" variant="note" />
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Carrier/beacon tracker with timestamped logging. Tracks a single frequency and detects lock/unlock transitions over time.
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- Radar scope display showing signal history
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- Sparkline for signal power trend
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- Event log with timestamped lock/unlock transitions
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- Frequency drift detection
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---
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## Easter Eggs
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### Dark Side Toggle
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Press <kbd>d</kbd> to toggle between dark and light themes. Switching to dark mode triggers a notification:
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> *"Welcome to the Dark Side."*
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> — The Force is strong with this one
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Switching back to light mode:
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> *"The Force awakens."*
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> — A New Hope
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### Star Wars
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Press <kbd>Ctrl+W</kbd> to open the Star Wars overlay. It attempts to connect to `towel.blinkenlights.nl:23` for the classic ASCII Star Wars telnet animation. If the connection fails (port 23 is blocked on many networks), a built-in opening crawl plays instead — complete with a SkyWalker-1 themed storyline and Star Destroyer ASCII art.
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Press <kbd>Esc</kbd> to close the overlay and return to the main dashboard.
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### Kitty Cat
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When running inside the [Kitty terminal](https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/), the splash screen adds a subtle 🐱 to the title bar. A small nod to the terminal that made it all possible.
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---
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## Splash Screen
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On startup, the TUI displays a randomly selected piece of ASCII art from the [16colo.rs / Mistigris](https://16colo.rs/) archives — pre-baked as ANSI half-block art for instant rendering. The splash auto-dismisses after 5 seconds or on any keypress.
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Use `--no-splash` to skip it.
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---
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## See Also
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- [SkyWalker RF Tool](/tools/skywalker/) — CLI version of the same 5 modes (text-only output, scriptable)
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- [Spectrum Analysis](/tools/spectrum-analysis/) — practical how-to guides for each operating mode
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- [Signal Monitoring](/bcm4500/signal-monitoring/) — SIGNAL_MONITOR register protocol and data format
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- [Tuning Tool](/tools/tuning/) — primary tuning, LNB control, and transport stream capture
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- [RF Coverage](/hardware/rf-coverage/) — frequency coverage and antenna considerations
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