Mestre

An open-source control head for software-defined radios — built on the Xiegu X6200.

What is Mestre?

Mestre turns a Xiegu X6200 into a dedicated, tactile remote control head for any networked SDR transceiver, starting with the Hermes-Lite 2.

The motivation is simple. Concepts like FlexRadio's Maestro prove that a dedicated piece of hardware — real VFO knob, real buttons, no laptop — gives the operating experience that touchscreens and mouse-driven SDR consoles don't. But Maestro is closed, expensive, and locked to the FlexRadio ecosystem.

Mestre uses a radio you may already own (the X6200) and turns its physical controls into a Maestro-class experience for radios you may already own (HL2, ANAN, anything HPSDR-compatible). Open hardware, open software, open protocol.

┌─────────────────────────┐                ┌──────────────────────┐
│        X6200            │                │   Hermes-Lite 2      │
│  ┌───────────────────┐  │                │                      │
│  │ Knobs, buttons    │  │                │   (or any HPSDR rig) │
│  │ Touchscreen, LCD  │  │                │                      │
│  └─────────┬─────────┘  │                └──────────┬───────────┘
│            │            │                           │
│  ┌─────────▼─────────┐  │     Network (HPSDR)       │
│  │ Mestre service    │  │                           │
│  │ (evdev → MIDI)    │  │                           │
│  └─────────┬─────────┘  │                           │
│            │            │                           │
│  ┌─────────▼─────────┐  │                           │
│  │     piHPSDR       │◄─┼───────────────────────────┘
│  └───────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────┘

Mestre vs Virtuoso

The project is Mestre — the build system, services, and software stack.

The product name Virtuoso is reserved for when (if!) Mestre actually delivers a Maestro-class experience. It must be earned.

Project Status

🚧 Early development. Building the foundation.

#	Milestone	Status
1	Boot a recent Buildroot LTS on the X6200 (serial console)	🟡 In progress
2	Forward-port LCD panel driver — full display output	⚪ Planned
3	piHPSDR running on X6200 with working audio	⚪ Planned
4	mestre service: evdev → ALSA virtual MIDI bridge	⚪ Planned
5	End-to-end: X6200 controlling Hermes-Lite 2 as a control head	⚪ Planned
6	First-boot wizard, settings persistence, polished UX	⚪ Planned
∞	Earn the right to call it Virtuoso	⚪ TBD

Architecture

Mestre is built as a Buildroot-based Linux distribution for the X6200. The system runs three cooperating components:

• piHPSDR — handles the SDR protocol, audio, waterfall, and overall radio UI on the X6200's LCD. Connects over the network to the actual transceiver hardware (HL2 or other HPSDR rig).
• mestre service — a small daemon that reads the X6200's physical knobs and buttons via /dev/input/eventX and translates them into MIDI control change messages on a virtual ALSA MIDI port.
• piHPSDR's MIDI mapper — already built into piHPSDR. Subscribes to the virtual MIDI port and acts on the controls.

The architecture is deliberately patch-free: piHPSDR is used as-is, and the MIDI protocol is the well-known, stable contract between the two halves.

Hardware

• Control head: Xiegu X6200 (Allwinner R16 / sun8i-a33, 480×800 LCD, knobs, buttons, internal speaker)
• Transceiver: Hermes-Lite 2 (open-hardware HF SDR), or any HPSDR-protocol radio supported by piHPSDR

Building

⚠️ Pre-1.0: build instructions are aspirational while milestone 1 is in progress.

Prerequisites

A recent Linux host with the Buildroot prerequisites installed. Building inside the provided container is also supported.

Quickstart

git clone --recurse-submodules <repo-url> mestre
cd mestre
./scripts/build.sh

The resulting sdcard.img will appear under build/images/. Flash it to a microSD card with dd or your tool of choice and boot the X6200 from it.

Buildroot version

Mestre is pinned to Buildroot 2025.02 LTS for stability — the LTS line is supported with security and bugfix updates for three years. Bumping is a deliberate, documented choice, not a continuous treadmill.

Repository layout

mestre/
├── buildroot/              # submodule → Buildroot 2025.02.x
├── br2_external/           # all our Buildroot customisations
│   ├── configs/            #   defconfig
│   ├── board/x6200/        #   linux config, U-Boot config, DTS, overlay
│   └── package/            #   custom packages (mestre service, etc.)
├── docs/                   # design notes, hardware notes
├── scripts/                # build wrappers
├── README.md               # this file
└── DESIGN.md               # architectural decisions

Credits & Prior Art

Mestre stands on the shoulders of others. In particular:

• gdyuldin/AetherX6200Buildroot — the Aether project, from which Mestre inherits the X6200 device tree, U-Boot configuration, and LCD panel driver. Aether's project goal (improving the X6200 as a transceiver) differs from Mestre's (using the X6200 as a control head), but Aether's hardware enablement work made Mestre feasible from day one. Vendored files retain their original copyright headers.
• apritzel (#linux-sunxi @ OFTC) — device-tree guidance for the X6200, acknowledged in the DTS source.
• Rui Oliveira and Oleg Belousov — original authors of the Jinglitai JLT4013A panel driver, forward-ported here for use with current mainline kernels.
• The piHPSDR project — the SDR console Mestre wraps. Mestre would not exist without piHPSDR's existing MIDI control infrastructure, which lets us avoid patching the console itself.
• The OpenHPSDR community and Steve Haynal (N0EJV / Hermes-Lite 2) — for keeping open-protocol SDR alive.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later, matching the kernel-derived components Mestre vendors. Userland components written specifically for Mestre may be re-licensed (e.g. to MIT) on a per-component basis where doing so doesn't conflict with this overall license; such cases will be marked clearly in the relevant subdirectory.