OpenCPN Runs on Embedded ARM

[nohal]

GHammond, mattkab...
Read Modularized Packaging | Official OpenCPN Homepage (as linked from the Linux build instructions)
BTW, as we near the stable 4.0 release, did any of you try the official ARM packages (for both the core program and plugins) on your boards?

Pavel

[GHammond]

Pavel

Thank you for the hint about the CMAKE flags! Should have seen that before. I'll try compiling with the background chart and see what happens.

Could you please give a link to the ARM download? I'm having trouble finding it...

Thank you again

Pete

[nohal]

The beta PPA, linked from the download page.
The plugin packages are linked directly from the download page.

Pavel


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[GHammond]

Matt

Thank you for the full reply. Especially for confirming the CM93 behaviour.

I absolutely agree with you about small Linux boards: I have a number of them and wouldn't dream of using Windows on any platform. My basic point is, I think, that, specificially for openCPN, we might well be better of looking at a small linux board with an intel chip on it.

Specifically I'm pondering the NUC DN2820FYKH. It is pretty small and uses very little power. In the USA it costs about $155 with some (2Gb) memory as opposed to $95 for the Cubietruck. (It would also need a ssd though - currently about $50 for 60gb: you could also argue that the CT also needs a ssd).

Both the bios and wifi on the NUC are clearly flaky so it's not without problems of its own. But it seems to run mainstream Linux with an up to date kernel so, for example, you could use the upcoming 3.19 which has/will have full touchpad support and use a wireless touchpad which is arguably a much better and cheaper solution than a touchscreen...

BUT the main point I wanted to make was that this intel chip fully supports openGL and is fully supported by open source graphics drivers so openCPN will run properly out of the box. This NUC is being marketed as a small entertainment device so the graphics should be strong enough for quilting charts... Power consumption should be less than 10 watts. It is designed around a 12v input. It even has a case... You will also be able to update the OS periodically without having to start all over again after the update breaks all the careful and long forgotten hacks you made to fix all the aberrant bits...

None of my grumbling should be construed as commentary about the openCPN developers -- this is all about the closed source Mali binaries and the physical limitation of the arm hardware. O is really great software -- Sean's work on the arm boards, openGL and glshim is particularly fabulous. If we could only stabilize an image for the Mali boards they would be, as you say, the bee's knees since they are cheap and hardly use power. I haven't given up (yet) -- I'm currently trying to force the CT headless Wheezy image to cooperate with the libUMP and Mali userspace drivers. If that can be done we'd have a much more stable and up to date platform....

Thank you for your helpful comments.

Happy New Year to all

Pete

[verkerkbr]

Have you tried the Banana Pi ? Or the BananaPro board.

Small sized board that looks like a Raspberry Pi (cloned of course) but with better hardware.

CPU ARM Cortex A7 Dual core.
1 GB DDR3
CPU Mali400 MP2 Runs Open GL ES 2.0
Ethernet 10/100/1000.

OS and software on a SD card. Runs Chromium and Firefox etc. Samba etc.

The Banana PI board cost around € 36,- including VAT. The Pro is around € 45,- and has wireless on the Board.

With Lubuntu Linux and OpenCPN latest version it works perfect.

Power supply is 5 volt and max 2 amps.

Bram

[mattkab]

Originally Posted by verkerkbr

Have you tried the Banana Pi ? Or the BananaPro board.
...
CPU ARM Cortex A7 Dual core.
1 GB DDR3
CPU Mali400 MP2 Runs Open GL ES 2.0
Ethernet 10/100/1000.
...
With Lubuntu Linux and OpenCPN latest version it works perfect.

These are exactly the same specs as a CubieTruck, except a Cubie has 2GB RAM.

I am fairly convinced that it's the OS images that are causing the problems on the CT. If OpenCPN works flawlessly on the Banana, that would further indicate that it's the OS images.

Soooo... I'll pull down a Banana Pi Lubuntu image and try that. If any BPi owners have a suggestion, I'd appreciate it.

I should probably learn how to build my own image from scratch for these boards as well.

[akopac]

Hi Matt,
Are you having problems backing up (making) and recovering sd card images? There are are several great utilities out there depending on your platform. Most are branded for the RPI but work for any SD card. I'm using Apple Pi Baker for OSX. Works awesome. My big issue is moving my SD image to Nand.

[akopac]

Test before your fly with these things. mixed results...

[mattkab]

Originally Posted by akopac

Hi Matt,
Are you having problems backing up (making) and recovering sd card images?

I've had no problem pulling down *.img files and burning them to SD cards -- I have the process down pretty good and can have a new OS and OpenCPN instance up and running in an afternoon.

The problem is that all the images have something that is just quite not "right", especially with regards to OpenGL and USB, or CDC_ACM kernel flags (for my AIS and Arduino devices).

What I think I may need to do is build an image from sources, including Kernel, that works with OpenCPN on a Cubie board... but that will be a learning experience for me.

[akopac]

OK, so I have a cubieboard 2 and have 2 versions of Cubian. One came from the same time period (August) as Matt mentioned worked. It has 2 ugly monkey's in the startup and a background on the desktop with a road in the countryside. The second has a startup that has Cubian X in gold and blue thin writing on the screen. Which one is the correct version? How do I know I have the right one to start from?

[mattkab]

Originally Posted by akopac

OK, so I have a cubieboard 2 and have 2 versions of Cubian. One came from the same time period (August) as Matt mentioned worked. It has 2 ugly monkey's in the startup and a background on the desktop with a road in the countryside. The second has a startup that has Cubian X in gold and blue thin writing on the screen. Which one is the correct version? How do I know I have the right one to start from?

If you are trying to use hardware accelerated OpenGL with ENC charts, then I don't know of a single instance where CubianX (Gold and blue writing) has worked (black screens), but previous versions (ugly monkeys) of Cubian have worked using the instructions posted on OpenCPN.org.

If you are using Raster charts, or not using hardware acceleration, then either image will work fine.

If you have any other experience, please post. I'm sure I'm not the only one that would be interested.

[verkerkbr]

Originally Posted by mattkab

These are exactly the same specs as a CubieTruck, except a Cubie has 2GB RAM.

I am fairly convinced that it's the OS images that are causing the problems on the CT. If OpenCPN works flawlessly on the Banana, that would further indicate that it's the OS images.

Soooo... I'll pull down a Banana Pi Lubuntu image and try that. If any BPi owners have a suggestion, I'd appreciate it.

I should probably learn how to build my own image from scratch for these boards as well.

If the spec's are the same as the BananaPi then Lubuntu will certainly work including the use of open gls.

See image of my BananaPi with OpenCPN

[akopac]

If I do any apt-get update or apt-get upgrade will it void the setup?

[verkerkbr]

I have done this serveral times with Lubuntu Linux. The settings of OpenCPN stays the same. The latest beta runs well on this small ARM system. I now also have a Banana Pro which has wireless on the board. But I have not tried this one.

It can best be done by apt-get update en then apt-get-upgrade. By using Synoptic you get an message about some keyring question.

Regards,


Bram

[akopac]

Wasn't sure with all the cubian version issues...