OpenPlotter project

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by skyhi

I guess you're right about the power issue, on my mac, the gps came up pretty quick, and through the usb-hub (with 1 amp power supply) it didn't. Wiggling the sticks makes them light up, sometimes. the hub reported hubs within hubs within hubs, and the finally the connected sticks. Cheap trash..

O well, I'll wait for the mailman to arrive with a new, decent, powered hub soon.

Finding a reliable hub or power supplier are the most difficult task. OpenPlotter has proven to be very robust and the main source of issues are power management and fake hubs. I think I should explain this well in the documentation... maybe a troubleshooting chapter.

I recommend minimum 3A to power both raspberry and hub.

Hubs with FE1.1S chip work right, avoid hubs with MA8601 chip. Often the same model can contain any of them. And some of them do not contain chips at all! just a glob of black material to hide what's underneath ... nothing.

[Vamonos]

Originally Posted by Sailoog

Finding a reliable hub or power supplier are the most difficult task. OpenPlotter has proven to be very robust and the main source of issues are power management and fake hubs. I think I should explain this well in the documentation... maybe a troubleshooting chapter.

I recommend minimum 3A to power both raspberry and hub.

Hubs with FE1.1S chip work right, avoid hubs with MA8601 chip. Often the same model can contain any of them. And some of them do not contain chips at all! just a glob of black material to hide what's underneath ... nothing.

Here is a list of hubs that have been tested/verified with RPi.

RPi Powered USB Hubs - eLinux.org

Richard

[Saqqara]

Two items from Sailoog's release notes for 0.6.0 stable that I'm not sure have been discussed here previously:

Known issues:

Humidity sensors not detected when IMU sensors is not present.

SignalK instruments and gauges do not work properly due to Epiphany Web Browser issues. However they work ok from remote devices Web browsers.



I'm eager to try SignalK instruments this weekend! When they didn't work onscreen I didn't try externally.

Does 0.6.0 have the latest Signal K instrument code? We know there has been some work on that project recently.

[Sailor_Hutch]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Agree. I have tried every iDevice, phone, pad and laptop I can find in daylight and so far the only thing I could easily see direct sunlight was the black and white Kindle which, as far as I know, will not work with anything but displaying Kindle books.

The display for me is also the deal breaker. Sure they exist but even non waterproof, the daylight readable screens I've found are significantly more expensive than a full chart plotter. Once you add the computer to run the system there is even a greater disparity in the costs.


There are Panasonic Toughbooks that have daylight usable screens but they are also pretty costly.

I like Kindle idea, and Kindle runs linux underneath, so that could be some kind of project eventually. Maybe more interesting is the Kindle display, which AFAIK uses ePaper technology (hence monochrome). I've found some ePaper displays (small ones, 5 inches) for $50 online. If one could be found that is of a size that is a little more appropriate, it'd be interesting to see if that could play well as a cheap marine display alternative. Just google "ePaper display" for examples.

I don't know if the loss of color might be too much of an issue relative to current software tho ...

[Vamonos]

Originally Posted by Saqqara

SignalK instruments and gauges do not work properly due to Epiphany Web Browser issues. However they work ok from remote devices Web browsers.

I installed the Iceweasel web browser. It is a fork of Firefox for Debian Linux. It seemed to be a much better browser and handled HTML5 a little better.

Richard

[Saqqara]

www.holdentechnology.com

This link is an oldie but a goodie, and seems to prove the concept. It would be good to have some simple bold numeric instruments to work in an e-reader browser.

Nowadays there are readers that are waterproof and backlit. And the battery life is good compared to a tablet.

[Sailor_Hutch]

Originally Posted by Saqqara

www.holdentechnology.com

This link is an oldie but a goodie, and seems to prove the concept. It would be good to have some simple bold numeric instruments to work in an e-reader browser.

Nowadays there are readers that are waterproof and backlit. And the battery life is good compared to a tablet.

Thanks for the link. You're right, I think some of the modules are referred to as eInk rather than ePaper, but it's the same tech. As far as the Nook goes, I'd prefer not to root anything. The displays I found are HDMI ePaper/eInk.

[Sailor_Hutch]

Originally Posted by Sailoog

I have published the new stable v0.6.0 release:

Download OpenPlotter RPI v0.6.0 pre-release | Sailoog

I have set a 7/24 torrent server (actually my old raspberry 1) so now there is an alternative to kimdotcom

Now working on documentation and v0.7.0

I am in a hurry now, let me some time to answer the last posts

I've got an Odroid C1+ I wouldn't mind testing with OpenPlotter. Has there been any thought given to a port for that SoC/SBC?

Or, for that matter, any of the others? I guess the more popular ones are Odroid, Hummingboard, Beagle, Panda, Cubie, etc. I have a Pi2 as well, and it's currently set up with RISC-OS. Guess I could image another SD and give it a go ...

[Saqqara]

Originally Posted by Sailor_Hutch

I've got an Odroid C1+ I wouldn't mind testing with OpenPlotter. Has there been any thought given to a port for that SoC/SBC?

Or, for that matter, any of the others? I guess the more popular ones are Odroid, Hummingboard, Beagle, Panda, Cubie, etc. I have a Pi2 as well, and it's currently set up with RISC-OS. Guess I could image another SD and give it a go ...

Sailoog has answered this earlier in this thread: there are many advantages to standardizing on a single platform early in development while things are evolving rapidly, but he does envision broader hardware support later on.

[Sailor_Hutch]

Originally Posted by Saqqara

Sailoog has answered this earlier in this thread: there are many advantages to standardizing on a single platform early in development while things are evolving rapidly, but he does envision broader hardware support later on.

Sounds good. I started with the Odroid, and then bought a Pi2 later, so I've done more things with the former than the latter. I have a Coast Guard HF weather-fax setup working on the Odroid. That could be something to (eventually) make accommodations for in OpenPlotter!

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by Saqqara

Does 0.6.0 have the latest Signal K instrument code? We know there has been some work on that project recently.

Yes, all changes until February 1, 1016.

[Sailoog]

Originally Posted by Sailor_Hutch

Sounds good. I started with the Odroid, and then bought a Pi2 later, so I've done more things with the former than the latter. I have a Coast Guard HF weather-fax setup working on the Odroid. That could be something to (eventually) make accommodations for in OpenPlotter!

As saqqara says we have plans to migrate when development is done. Actually I started OpenPlotter on a Beaglebone Black and Odroid and then switched to raspberry due to the huge amount of information and support.

Really interested on e-ink devices here too. Look at this video, kindle browser + raspberry. My kindle doesn't want to connect to a network which doesn't have internet connection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4jD8E0e2ck

[Sailoog]

The first phase of documentation is about to finish. Just what is this, what I need and getting started chapters. I need some feedback about tested VNC and RDP remote desktop clients on different platforms to make a list here
https://sailoog.gitbooks.io/openplot...e_desktop.html

Could you post your favourite apps?
Thanks!

[Sailoog]

Oh my god, a portable OpenPlotter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htV1_QfQc6M

[Sailor_Hutch]

Originally Posted by Sailoog

As saqqara says we have plans to migrate when development is done. Actually I started OpenPlotter on a Beaglebone Black and Odroid and then switched to raspberry due to the huge amount of information and support.

Really interested on e-ink devices here too. Look at this video, kindle browser + raspberry. My kindle doesn't want to connect to a network which doesn't have internet connection

Thanks for the link. It's very interesting! I think it would be difficult to use a Kindle browser for all the functionality a typical yachtee could want, but you could work some of the main apps that way. Seems like Kindle is doing the usual lock-in kind of thing, wanting you always to have internet connectivity to connect to Amazon, get authentication codes, etc. I hate that sort of nonsense. Which Kindle did the "bicycle guy" have? He did mention that he was using the beta test browser, which maybe indicates that it was an older Kindle, one that didn't have as many built-in obstacles.

I'm thinking now more along the lines of using a straight e-Ink HDMI device, so that full (non-browser based) functionality could be utilized easily. Some of those displays are very reasonably priced, especially the smaller ones ...