OpenPlotter project

[hzcruiser]

Hello sailoog!

This looks like a very promising project and I'd like to give it a try, too. However, I'm not particularly fond of installing some unknown software/spyware from the mega.nz site. Just reading their T&C makes me cringe.

Is there anyone who is seeding the img.gz files via bittorrent? If not, I'm happy to seed them from my server 24x7 if you can provide the files to me.

[Roel Smidt]

Thanks!
This was just what I was looking for. With OpenPlotter I can plug my USB AIS receiver in my Raspberry-Pi and the Raspberry sends the AIS-signal via WiFi to OpenCPN on my smartphone and tablet. Tested it out whilst sailing today and works great!
Roel

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Sailoog

I think you are right and hopefully someone could propose some affordable weatherproof daylight readable display, but...

My idea is to take the cheapest possible display then simply remove the backlight leds, and add about 10x the number of lumens in leds. Do not underestimate the need for heat sinks though, or it can melt. I'm talking about 50 or more watts of leds for a 10 inch display. Of course you will need a driver for the leds with a knob to adjust.

This might not be as efficient as a proper trans reflective display, but I know for a fact it will work and is for sure the cheapest option. Also, solar power is already available when it's needed the most so I wouldn't see much issue there.


I could be completely wrong, but maybe it's possible also the peel the back of the lcd and replace it with something reflective to reflect sunlight back giving additional brightness.

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by hzcruiser

Hello sailoog!

This looks like a very promising project and I'd like to give it a try, too. However, I'm not particularly fond of installing some unknown software/spyware from the mega.nz site. Just reading their T&C makes me cringe.

Is there anyone who is seeding the img.gz files via bittorrent? If not, I'm happy to seed them from my server 24x7 if you can provide the files to me.

Hi hzcruiser,

Thanks for the warning, I have never read that T&C. I will keep Mega service but add an extra free download service with good transfer quota.
I am going to send you a dropbox link by private message. Let us know if you start seeding a torrent file please. Thanks!

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by Roel Smidt

Thanks!
This was just what I was looking for. With OpenPlotter I can plug my USB AIS receiver in my Raspberry-Pi and the Raspberry sends the AIS-signal via WiFi to OpenCPN on my smartphone and tablet. Tested it out whilst sailing today and works great!
Roel

Thanks for your feedback Roel. Glad to read yo like it. Many people are testing the system now and I think that soon there will be software and hardware enhancements.

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

My idea is to take the cheapest possible display then simply remove the backlight leds, and add about 10x the number of lumens in leds. Do not underestimate the need for heat sinks though, or it can melt. I'm talking about 50 or more watts of leds for a 10 inch display. Of course you will need a driver for the leds with a knob to adjust.

This might not be as efficient as a proper trans reflective display, but I know for a fact it will work and is for sure the cheapest option. Also, solar power is already available when it's needed the most so I wouldn't see much issue there.


I could be completely wrong, but maybe it's possible also the peel the back of the lcd and replace it with something reflective to reflect sunlight back giving additional brightness.

Glad to see you in this post boat_alexandra!

I think what you say makes sense.

I have always been concerned about the extra consumption of these displays but never realized that you will have the largest energy source

Light sensors could be a possible improvement...

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Sailoog

Glad to see you in this post boat_alexandra!

I have tried openplotter today. Great work, but a few things:

1) Why don't you overclock by default to the rpi2 setting?
2) Why is the image so big? I don't understand it with so few programs. At least provide xz compression which should reduce it to 900mb or so.
3) The beta opencpn already runs a bit faster...

Finally I am getting opencpn to use opengl with acceleration on the pi.

Initial tests are crashing because gpu mem was only 16mb (I must increase the split but also make it not crash)

I must migrate to openglesv2 because right now there is no accelerated panning or texture compression which is a complete performance killer, but I can already see that the framerate is about 30 frames per second on 1280x768 for raster charts when zooming (before it dies) compared to 3-4 frames a second without opengl. I didn't even overclock it, and it's possible to double the gpu from 250mhz to 500mhz for example.

Also a terrible problem with it continuing to zoom or pan for many seconds after you stop, I really should fix this before anything else.

And the final problem of dealing with running this in a window which is still not fully resolved.. it's currently handled in a rather broken way.

I think what you say makes sense.

I have always been concerned about the extra consumption of these displays but never realized that you will have the largest energy source

Light sensors could be a possible improvement...

As far as the daylight visible display, this is really the missing piece to open plotter and what you can really sell as a useful product. I am too busy with software and lack services as I am always underway but I would be really interested to hear about any experiments you try. There are $20 hdmi displays on ali express that are 7 inch, or $50 for 10 inch. I would try just replacing the leds with as many high density leds as you can fit and adding heat sinks. This is how they do it for avionics, and even sometimes they put fans in which would be nice to avoid, but maybe it's required in the hot sun pumping lots of power.

As far as a light sensor, I completely agree. This can probably go into the pi but not sure about adc conversion or you might need a spi adc. Also a temperature sensor is really needed as well. The pi can then control the brightness (or maybe you can hack it into the lcd's brightness controller and control it over hdmi) and the pi can also control fans if needed.

As far as touch screens, I think capacitive touch screens are already the best for daylight visible (better than no touch screen) and maybe it also could use a few buttons here and there which get remapped to keys on the keyboard to control opencpn, or just some kind of waterproof keyboard, I don't know. I also don't know about touchscreens when they get wet, but I have heard there are some special ones for this, or maybe you can use a special pen.

Then the whole thing should be waterproofed so it can actually work completely underwater or else it will always eventually break and you will have a failed product.

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

1) Why don't you overclock by default to the rpi2 setting?

By the time the first releases of openplotter were liberated, there was a performance problems with the highest overclock so we set it to "High". Next release we can try again with "Pi2".

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

2) Why is the image so big? I don't understand it with so few programs. At least provide xz compression which should reduce it to 900mb or so.

We try to make it as small as we can removing not vital Raspbian packages but despite so few programs there are a lot of dependencies. You can take a look here: https://github.com/sailoog/openplotter/wiki
It is a zip compression to make it easy for windows users but we will add a xz file too.

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

3) The beta opencpn already runs a bit faster...

On version openplotter 0.4.2 there was opencpn beta installed but with crashes so we decided to use only stable versions.

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Finally I am getting opencpn to use opengl with acceleration on the pi.

Initial tests are crashing because gpu mem was only 16mb (I must increase the split but also make it not crash)

I must migrate to openglesv2 because right now there is no accelerated panning or texture compression which is a complete performance killer, but I can already see that the framerate is about 30 frames per second on 1280x768 for raster charts when zooming (before it dies) compared to 3-4 frames a second without opengl. I didn't even overclock it, and it's possible to double the gpu from 250mhz to 500mhz for example.

Also a terrible problem with it continuing to zoom or pan for many seconds after you stop, I really should fix this before anything else.

And the final problem of dealing with running this in a window which is still not fully resolved.. it's currently handled in a rather broken way.

That sounds a lot of work... I know you are working hard on OpenCPN. This is beyond my knowledge, so let me know if you want some kind of test or anything else.

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

As far as the daylight visible display, this is really the missing piece to open plotter and what you can really sell as a useful product. I am too busy with software and lack services as I am always underway but I would be really interested to hear about any experiments you try. There are $20 hdmi displays on ali express that are 7 inch, or $50 for 10 inch. I would try just replacing the leds with as many high density leds as you can fit and adding heat sinks. This is how they do it for avionics, and even sometimes they put fans in which would be nice to avoid, but maybe it's required in the hot sun pumping lots of power.

As far as a light sensor, I completely agree. This can probably go into the pi but not sure about adc conversion or you might need a spi adc. Also a temperature sensor is really needed as well. The pi can then control the brightness (or maybe you can hack it into the lcd's brightness controller and control it over hdmi) and the pi can also control fans if needed.

As far as touch screens, I think capacitive touch screens are already the best for daylight visible (better than no touch screen) and maybe it also could use a few buttons here and there which get remapped to keys on the keyboard to control opencpn, or just some kind of waterproof keyboard, I don't know. I also don't know about touchscreens when they get wet, but I have heard there are some special ones for this, or maybe you can use a special pen.

We agree here too. The problem is that we are a small team and we lack knowledge in this area. However, we have some boards and displays that you are referring and we promise to do our best.. So far we have focused resources on the waterproof case.

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Then the whole thing should be waterproofed so it can actually work completely underwater or else it will always eventually break and you will have a failed product.

We want the whole thing as modular as possible and since there are a lot of people using OpenPlotter without screen we are thinking in 2 separate parts, a case with Pi + optional accessories and a screen. Our goal was IP68/IP67 as well but we came across a problem... condensation due to temperature/pressure difference. Now we are experimenting with different pressure valves.

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by Sailoog

Hi hzcruiser,

I am going to send you a dropbox link by private message. Let us know if you start seeding a torrent file please. Thanks!

Thanks for the link, here we go:

openplotter_rpi_v0.5.0.img.zip
size: 1459348864
MD5SUM: 2f87309a56f59c3d46266853269e91ff

The .xz file is 20% smaller albeit still >1GB:

openplotter_rpi_v0.5.0.img.xz
size: 1153485832
MD5SUM: 0b34513e5bdd818c077695088b0dab1d

Both are available via different trackers and should pop up on sites like:

https://isohunt.to/torrents/?ihq=openplotter

in a few hours.

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by hzcruiser

Thanks for the link, here we go:

openplotter_rpi_v0.5.0.img.zip
size: 1459348864
MD5SUM: 2f87309a56f59c3d46266853269e91ff

The .xz file is 20% smaller albeit still >1GB:

openplotter_rpi_v0.5.0.img.xz
size: 1153485832
MD5SUM: 0b34513e5bdd818c077695088b0dab1d

Both are available via different trackers and should pop up on sites like:

https://isohunt.to/torrents/?ihq=openplotter

in a few hours.

wow thanks!

Downloaded zip format and added torrent file to project download page.
Waiting for xz file to spread.

[Franziska]

Just a thought from someone outside :-)

How about sealing a daylight capable touchdisplay tablet like a Lenovo Miix fully into a watertight casing together with a wireless charge receptor.
Mount this flush against the outside of a bulkhead and put the wireless charger on the inside of the bulkhead.
I hear these chargers are getting quite strong now.
Fully sealed seems safest to me.

Just a thought.

Sent from my C6603 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[mvandervoort]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Just a thought from someone outside :-)

How about sealing a daylight capable touchdisplay tablet like a Lenovo Miix fully into a watertight casing together with a wireless charge receptor.
Mount this flush against the outside of a bulkhead and put the wireless charger on the inside of the bulkhead.
I hear these chargers are getting quite strong now.
Fully sealed seems safest to me.

Just a thought.

Sent from my C6603 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Sure this might be an option. Some notes. Daylight screen is another type than sunlight readable. In my experience daylight type isn't enough. Creating a sealed box might result in overheating in extreme whether conditions, which degrades lifetime of electronics, plus more importantly the rechargeble battery. Last but not least, having integrated audio might become useless for alarm situations because sealing the tablet significantly reduces max. sound volume.

As a result of this analysis, I decided to develop one which will meet these specific marine demands.

[Fishbreath]

laptops? possible would like my system to be mobile....

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by Fishbreath

laptops? possible would like my system to be mobile....

If you want to use a laptop I think the best option is Navigatrix.

[Sailoog]

Jessie is here

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/ras...essie-is-here/

OpenPlotter RPI is based on Raspbian and recent versions of Raspbian have been based on Debian Wheezy, but Raspbian has now been updated to the new stable version of Debian, which is called Jessie.

There are people suggesting and adding changes in OpenPlotter code so next OpenPlotter RPI release will be build on Jessie.