Feature Requests

[rgleason]

Debian...couple of remaining glitches, and one of them is important: relates to sound. As it builds, the OpenCpn sound system works erratically. For example, the anchor alarm bells sound only once. This issue relates to the sound support on the wxwidget package.

The answer from the development team is to put in place some external libraries instead of the ones provided by Debian. Even though that works, is not very easy (need to recompile, know about package management) and it would be complicated to people that are simple users.

Maybe one of you Debians could study this a little and figure it out?wxSoundLooks pretty straightforward to me but I am not really a programmer. There are some true false tests for sound playing.....under wxAdvanced or rarely used GUI classes

[dpons]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Maybe one of you Debians could study this a little and figure it out?wxSoundLooks pretty straightforward to me but I am not really a programmer. There are some true false tests for sound playing.....under wxAdvanced or rarely used GUI classes

Apparently the issue is that the wx packages installed by Debian are compiled w/o sound support, for whatever good reasons they have.

So, nobody that uses Debian can get sound working with OpenCpn right away after installation. Given that Debian is one of the most relevant distributions of GNU/Linux, base of Ubuntu, Mint and many others, this problem is not insignificant. Convincing Debian maintainers to change their ways requires time, good arguments and a good critical mass of adopters. Not easy (1).

The solution that I propose, thought-out by others here, it's very simple to configure for the user, particularly for a non-savvy user. Downloading and replacing several packages then locking the apt repository is not.

Diego


(1) And if they say no, you don't know if it comes from a savvy, experienced person or from a stubborn kid.

[Wu Jen]

Anyway to get the AIS to display ship names next to their triangles without having to mouse over the triangle? Helps when navigating a channel with my hands on the zdrives that i dont have to take one off to move the mouse over just to see the name. Could be a check box feature on the AIS tab. Thanks again!

[svhonalee]

Hello, I am new to Opencpn and just registered to the Forum. I have done a lot of research on my problem that follows but have not seen a solution to passing navigation data to my autopilot using my single cable.

I have a serial connector connected to a wire going to my Furuno GP-32's output port wired as follows:

5= ground, 3= transmit, 2= receive.

This cable is connected to a Prolific USB Serial adapter. When connected to Nobletec, Maxsea and SeaClear It will work as Data "IN" and also Data "OUT" to the autopilot.

When the cable is connected to Opencpn Versions 2.1, 2.5 or 3.1 when connected to a PC with XP, Vista or Windows 7 I get the same result. Data "IN" is okay but Data "OUT" gives the following message in the log:

11:46:58 PM: Autopilot output device open failed: COM4

If I use a BU-353 GPS in the "IN" port and my cable in another port as "OUT" (with the Furuno turned off) the cable will pass XTE, DTW and BTW to the autopilot on both computers. On one computer it also passes COG and SOG and on another it doesn't. In both computers I have gone into the ini files and inserted:

[Settings]
AutoPilot NMEA Sentence Out=RMB;RMC

So, in summary, my cable will work as Data "IN" and Data "OUT" but not at the same time.

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
　
Allen
svHonalee

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by svhonalee

Hello, I am new to Opencpn and just registered to the Forum. I have done a lot of research on my problem that follows but have not seen a solution to passing navigation data to my autopilot using my single cable.

Please re-post this question as a new separate thread, and you will get help. This is a feature request thread, not meant for support questions.

[rgleason]

The solution that I propose, thought-out by others here, it's very simple to configure for the user, particularly for a non-savvy user. Downloading and replacing several packages then locking the apt repository is not. Diego

Perhaps the solution then is as simple as documenting it completely and properly on a separate Debian install page in the OpenCpn Wiki? - I've registered there and have logged in, but never posted. If you want to send the documentation to me I'll post, but I am sure you can too..

[dpons]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Perhaps the solution then is as simple as documenting it completely and properly on a separate Debian install page in the OpenCpn Wiki? - I've registered there and have logged in, but never posted. If you want to send the documentation to me I'll post, but I am sure you can too..

The process has already been documented in several threads ("Linux Mint sound problems" was the last I saw), but is far from simple. I would call it a hack more than a solution.

Adding support for external sound players would be much easier for the user. There are interesting possibilities as side effects to this solution, such as using it to send SMS, email, activate klaxon, etc., with the proper tools.

Diego

[fulup]

Originally Posted by dpons

The solution that I propose, thought-out by others here, it's very simple to configure for the user, particularly for a non-savvy user. Downloading and replacing several packages then locking the apt repository is not.

I don't think replacing standard packages is an acceptable solution. launching OpenCPN with "padsp opencpn" is much easier and work out of the box.

This being said, I agree that OpenSound should work out of the box with Ubuntu. If wxsound is not supported, then pulseaudio API should be used, but forcing end-user to hack their package management to replace an existing package cannot be view as a valid long term option.

[jvallentine]

Hello Dave
I am a committed and enthusiastic user of OpenCPN. It has been faultless in our cruise to St Petersburg (Russia), northern Baltic states, Norway and Spitzbergen this summer. A wonderful program!

I have one small query/suggestion. When routes are long, with heaps of waypoints (south coast of Finland for example), it would be very helpful if, in route properties, there were a column showing distance run and distance to go in the route, at any particular waypoint. Maybe this feature is already in the program, but I have not been able to find it.

Am I missing something?

Congratulations on a wonderful program

John Vallentine
"Tainui"
Tromso Norway
jvallentine@gmail.com

[glywn380]

Hi, I have had a quick squiz through the tracker site and possibly missed this as a request. Is it possible to add the option of adding an existing waypoint to a route. When you go for the "insert waypoint" on the route right click menu or when looking at the route properties from the route manager page, to be able to insert an already stored waypoint form your list of waypoints rather than creating a new waypoint each time? In the first instance; (right click on route) a sub menu from the "insert waypoint" selection of "new" or "stored" with the first dropping a new waypoint and the second opening the stored waypoint list, and in the second instance; when your viewing a waypoint in the route properties on the route manager selection, highlight a waypoint in the route, right click and give an extra option of insert waypoint (which already allows has waypoint properties, remove selected and copy all as text) leading to the sub menu as per instance 1, with maybe even an option of place before or after coming too.

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by jvallentine

I have one small query/suggestion. When routes are long, with heaps of waypoints (south coast of Finland for example), it would be very helpful if, in route properties, there were a column showing distance run and distance to go in the route, at any particular waypoint. Maybe this feature is already in the program, but I have not been able to find it.

Starting with current beta release, all this information is available in the rollover popup window for the route.

[glywn380]

Addendum to post 1270: I found that if you append waypoint from the right click menu and drop a waypoint very close to an existing one it gives the option to use nearby, but puts it at the end of the route, so most of the instance one functionality is there, just needs to be extended to mid point insertions. Instance 2 there is delete in the right click menu but no add, which would be a welcome addition.

[Beachcomber_]

I've been using OCPN for my cruising based in the Adriatic for the past two years - great program, thanks.

The program is installed on an Acer Aspire netbook with Win7 and a combined GPS/AIS receiver single USB input. I have found the AIS CPA alarm feature invaluable because my cruising area is populated with some very fast ferries that appear to be cavalier with colregs compliance - I have had two near misses in the past five years. However, with the explosion of leisure boating use of AIS Class B transmissions I have reluctantly had to disable the CPA alarms due to the constant spurious alarms from small boats that are no danger, thus making me vulnerable to the Class A ones that are.

An extra setting to disable alarms for AIS Class B CPA threats only (similar to anchored targets) leaving Class A enabled, would make my day.

Thank you!

[bobofthenorth]

Maybe this already exists - if so I haven't found it. If you have a route plotted through a narrow pass and want to check the current it can be very difficult or impossible to right click the little current arrow because the context dialog for the route will always come up rather than the current display. If there was a way to jump to the current display from a list or to search for a current display that would solve the situation I refer to. The workaround is that you can zoom until you finally get to a resolution that enables selecting the current icon but in a narrow pass that can be a very high zoom level and sometimes you have a lot going on in those narrow passes so changing the zoom that much may not be convenient.

[HappySeagull]

bobofthenorth, other workarounds might be, toggle the route's visibility- that works to get at the current arrow..

...don't forget those current arrows are real time. The bigger they are, the more current there presently is- you needn't look at the current table if the arrow is BIG, because it ain't gonna turn soon!
But a scrap of paper with the turns written on it beats all.