The XO Computer for Navigation

[phiggins]

larrys,

No that message always comes up. Can you give me the name of a chart that freezes on you and I will try it. And what do you do that causes the freeze?
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Thanks Maren

[phiggins]

larrys,

One other thing to try.... Stop SeaClear and then start MapCal_2.exe.

Then Rebuild the SCAINDEX by going to Tools ...Autoload List...Recreate and reply Yes. After it completes exit MapCal and go try SeaClear again with a chart that fails.

[larrys]

Paul,
The NOAA chart downloaded was 18757 Santa Catalina Island. In addition to the full island chart (1:40000), it includes 3 large scale (1:10000) harbor charts: Catalina Harbor, Isthmus Cove, and Avalon Bay. Sea Clear works fine with the full island chart. It is with each of the three harbor charts, that the cursur hangs up. When I can exit normally, I read the error message:
Can't attach process 0008: error 5

[larrys]

Paul,
Sorry, I guess I didn't answer your question. The cursor hangs up when the chart loads from list or when I try to drag to another location on the chart.

I also created a position in Avalon Bay using the the full island chart, then returned to boat position on a different chart. I then tried "find position". The Avalon Bay chart loaded, the cursor hung up and the position appeared intermittently; had to reboot. If I select the full island chart before "find position", that chart comes up with the position and works fine. The loss, of course, is the detail of the Avalon Bay chart. Is this typical of large scale harbor charts?

I also rebuilt the SCAINDEX, but that didn't help.

[phiggins]

larrys,

OK I tried it with just those 4 charts and no freeze. Lets try to see what is different from my system and yours:

1. You did the Rebuild of the SCAINDEX right? Do it again and tell me the total number of charts there are.

2. How big is the SCAINDEX? To find out do this:

- Open a teminal and enter
- cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/SeaClear
- ls -l SCAINDEX.BIN
The size is after the last olpc

[larrys]

Paul,
Thanks, glad to know it's not a general problem
Rebuilt SCAINDEX again:
KAP/GEO Files found 46
WCI Files found: 4
Checked SCAINDEX.BIN:
olpc olpc 9881

[phiggins]

I've been testing another navigation program called OziExplorer. The reason it looked so promising is that it supports BSB charts and also the old Maptech PCX charts that worked on the old Capn Voyager program. There are a lot of these type of charts floating around for areas that don't have BSB charts, eg: Central America . OziExplorer seems to work very well on Linux under wine except when you try to load a Maptech PCX chart. Then it dies. But I found a way around it:

The problem with a lot of these navigation programs running under wine on Linux on the XO is that if you try to load someting very large like a large chart it will blow the 256Meg memory of the XO. To get around this you can create a swap disk where the operating system will swap stuff out of memory that it doesn't need thus leaving enough room for the chart.

I have a 8Gig SD card running Ubuntu linux that is only 43% used so I used the procedure documented at the following link to create a 512Meg swap file:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq

This worked well for Ubuntu on a 8Gig SD For Sugar/Fedora there is not much room left on the 1Gig flash drive so you would have to create the swap file on an SD card in the SD slot.

I guess the thing is these SD cards won't last forever. They can only be written to a certain number of times then they will start to fail so be sure to have a backup of your SD card.

[Maren]

Originally Posted by phiggins

I guess the thing is these SD cards won't last forever. They can only be written to a certain number of times then they will start to fail so be sure to have a backup of your SD card.

That's good to know!

[phiggins]

I've been testing out using the XO in tablet mode where you don't have a real keyboard or mouse. I found that using my previous implementation lacked one crucial feature: being able to drag the chart around. So I have come up with a way to do this.

In my new setup I use the "X" game button as a drag toggle button. To drag the chart, or anything else, you simply press the "X" game button and then use the arrow keys to drag the chart around. To stop dragging you just press the "X' again.

If you want to try it, download the attached file tablemode.pdf and rename it to tablemode.zip and then unzip it. The instructions are in the "Implementing Tablet mode for Ubuntu.txt".

BTW this only works for Ubuntu Intrepid.

If anyone is struggling with implementing all this stuff, if you send me an 8Gig SD card I will copy my system onto it and send it back. If you want to try this PM me for further instructions. Offer is only good for the next 5 months, then I am sailing south.

[Kerry]

$75 Navigation Computer with Software and Charts

Paul,
I can't thank you enough for the SD card you sent. I bought an XO for $75 on craigslist and saved about $100 on the ebay price. I added a new $30 GPS receiver and $14 for the SDHC card. Seaclear is free as are the US charts. And you set everything up on the SD card at no cost. So for a total of $119 I have a third-world rugged, sunlight readable, extremely low-powered, fully functioning navigational computer that can also access the internet, compose documents and spreadsheets and much more. Thank you for your insight to undertake this project, your patience in getting all the pieces to work, and your generosity in providing the free SD card build for forum readers. It all works great, I look forward to adding the AIS capability that you have when I have the $189 for the SR161. I owe you a dinner when you come south through the Chesapeake this fall!
Kerry

[phiggins]

You're welcome and I'm glad it worked out for you Kerry and I may take you up on that diiner or at least a glass of wine.

The neat thing about making that offer (to send a copy of my SD card )was that everyone who partook also sent me something I could use.

I am now installing my second XO at the helm. I found that I can split the output of my SR-161 AIS and feed two XOs. That way I'll have AIS right at the helm if needed.

[larrys]

Has anyone successfully linked a Comar AIS-2-USB or Comar Multi with XO/Ubuntu/SeaClear?
If so, how were able to set up the com ports and baud rates?

[larrys]

Perhaps I'm slow, but I believe I've found the source of my com port problem. I was working with 3 different USB devices (hardwired GPS, portable GPS, AIS) and had assumed that XO/ubuntu/wine/seaclear remembered the com ports assignments by the devices, rather than by their ttyUSBx numbers originally used. Instead, the ttyUSBx numbers seem to be reassigned in the order the devices are plugged in. So a device that was ttyUSB1 when assigned to a com port, if plugged in first, becomes ttyUSB0 and gets directed to the wrong com port. This become important when baud rates differ.

By properly assigning com ports and by always plugging GPS before AIS, my XO now works very well with either GPS and with the Comar AIS-2-UBS.

From my slip within the Long Beach, CA marina:
-with the mast top antenna (about 35 ft. above sea level), I acquired hundreds of targets, the furthest 19 n.mi. away.
-with Comar's 5 inch rubber antenna resting on my nav table (about 1 ft. above sea level, I acquired 12 targets, the furthest 4 n.mi. away.

I'm quite pleased with the AIS-2-USB. I like the idea of independence from power and VHF. I can even envision occasional use in the cockpit.

[phiggins]

Larry,

Where did you get the AIS-2 USB receiver and how much did it cost?

[larrys]

Hello Paul
I bought the AIS-2-USB from Milltech: Products from Milltech Marine
Under their return policy, they allowed me to determine whether the USB chip was compatible with XO/Ubuntu/SeaClear. It proved to be.
Cost was US$329 + US$14 for the little antenna.
The best description I found was: AIS dual channel USB Receiver
The little antenna works remarkably well. I think it might the same as or similar to SR art.nr 1620, which is tuned to 162 Mhz.: Hardware