OpenCPN

[phiggins]

I tried openCPN on my boat today with real GPS and AIS and all seemed to work well. The XO is mounted at the navigation table and running in tablet mode. You can see the AIS target on the screen.

Dave, what is your email address?

[bdbcat]

phiggins...

Paul:

email is bdbcat@yahoo.com

XO pic is Great! Maybe "One Chartplotter per Navigator?"

Thanks again
Dave

[idpnd]

XO pic is Great! Maybe "One Chartplotter per Navigator?"

I am thinking of a system with 1 pc and two monitors (mirrored or extended desktop, possible both under windows and linux). one could thus run the two screens as being the same (mirrored); otherwise this would require a feature to run several instances/windows of opencpn from the same gps data.

[phiggins]

Take a look a post #306 by Nelson.Peter at:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-12255-21.html

He has a setup with two monitors and one PC. He uses a Mimo monitor at the helm that is connected via USB to the computer at the Nav station.

I'm now using two XO computers, one at the nav station and one at the helm. They have seperate GPS's (BU353's) but both get their AIS from an SR-161 at the nav station. I put a Y splitter on the RS-232 output of the SR-161 and ran one leg 25' to the helm.

[idpnd]

Sounds great, thanks for the reference

[kit]

Hi Dave, thanks for version 1.3.0; I am running it on Ubuntu 9.04 and it's working very smoothly.
I have a question; I see you added GPX support. What is the procedure to load a GPX file containing a route into opencpn? Also, what is the procedure for writing a GPX file to my computer? I am able to transfer routes to and from my old handheld Garmin GPS 48 using gpsbabel, but I have not been able to do it directly from opencpn, hence the need to read and write GPX files. Your help will be much appreciated, as always! - Kit

[sinbad7]

Hi.. I have unsuccessfully tried to download and install OpenCPN from several different sources,using both my desktop running Win XP Pro as well as my laptop running Vista.

When activating the downloaded file I get several error messages..'font type not found' etc. and finally that the file created is corrupt and can not be used.. and finally STRANGELY my Max Sea loads up??

I have all the cm93 map files installed in drive C:cm93 directory and they work perfectly with my MaxSea v10.

Whatever can be the problem?

P.S. I assume the program is compatible with AIS targets but how about ARPA targets? The NMEA data is compatible and can be merged with AIS data so should be easy to include. Any hope?

Best regards
Tore
Costa Verde - Brazil

[sinbad7]

I actually managed to install the program at last..but it does not display AIS targets?
I have set the coms port to COM:7 and I have set up virtual COM:7 plus a live AIS datastream via IP but nothing shows?

I have installed the cm93 charts as well as a few BSB charts but I can not find out how to chose between them? Grateful for advice..

[bdbcat]

For kit....
Regarding GPX In/Out functions:

We have found a bug in opencpn Version 1.3.0 in the GPX functions:

GPX Out works as expected. Clicking the ToolBox icon produces a file dialog, wherein the user can specify the name of the GPX file produced. That GPX file may be read by, e.g. gpsbabel, and used to transfer waypoints and routes.

GPX In does not work as expected. Routes are not input correctly, and waypoints are often duplicated. I would say that GPX In is not useable for Routes, and marginally usable for waypoints.

These functions will be fixed in 1.3.2, due by end of June.

Sorry for the bugs. If you would like to beta test Version 1.3.2, let me know....
More eyes are a good thing.

Dave

[kit]

Dear Dave, when I right-click on a route there appears a drop-down menu at the bottom of which is the Send-to-GPS option. I don't seem to have a toolbar icon showing the GPX in or GPX out options. What is that toobar icon supposed to look like? I checked under the ? and I am running 1.3.0.

I would be happy to beta-test 1.3.2 and let you know how it works for me.

Thanks again! - Kit

[sinbad7]

Hi.. Thanks for your explanation..

I look forward to see the new version later this month.

To receive AIS messages you need baud rate 38400 speed whilst GPS uses 4.800 speed. Would be great if you could also manage to include display of ARPA targets. It is also in NMEA format like the AIS sentences.
If you need it I can send you two sample files for testing by regular e-mail.

Great program..

Regards
Tore

[phiggins]

Put me down as a tester for the new release too Dave.

[fulup]

Is there a way to use SIRF binary protocols with OpenCPN-1.0.3 on Linux. I try to connect with my USB GPS but unfortunately it does not support to switch to NMEA protocols (verify with gpsctl)

Looks like OpenCPN even if it does support GPSD cannot handle a SIRF-III GPS, I'm right/wrong ??? Obvisouly bypassing GPSd does not give better result.

As a result while I have no problem to use my cheap GPS with gpsdrive, OpenCPN fail to decode the respond. (GPS ~30$ ==> CP210x Composite Device)

Alternativly I could use a SIRF to NMEA protocol software bridge, but despite many google search, I did not find anything.

Any idea to bypass this problem ?

[bdbcat]

For kit....

Re GPX I/O functions:

Enable the GPX toolbar icons by

Settings->Etc->Show GPX Icons

The GPX icons will appear in the toolbar.
Then, you will be able to at least do GPX output of waypoints and routes.

Dave

[cagney]

Originally Posted by fulup

Is there a way to use SIRF binary protocols with OpenCPN-1.0.3 on Linux. I try to connect with my USB GPS but unfortunately it does not support to switch to NMEA protocols (verify with gpsctl)

Looks like OpenCPN even if it does support GPSD cannot handle a SIRF-III GPS, I'm right/wrong ??? Obvisouly bypassing GPSd does not give better result.

As a result while I have no problem to use my cheap GPS with gpsdrive, OpenCPN fail to decode the respond. (GPS ~30$ ==> CP210x Composite Device)

Alternativly I could use a SIRF to NMEA protocol software bridge, but despite many google search, I did not find anything.

Any idea to bypass this problem ?

Have you set "Settings"-->"NMEA Data Source" to "Network GPSD" ?
Gpsdrive looks for gpsd by default, this is not the case with OpenCPN .

Thomas