OpenCPN Version 2.6 Beta Build 1718

[Gilletarom]

Hello,

In the Help (blue button "?"), it is write :
"Ctrl + G cycles through (monochromatic) green, red and normal screen."

CTRL_G do not change anything (with OpenGL ON or Off).

????

Gilletarom.

[cagney]

Originally Posted by sailorF54

Good for you !!!
But then the help file is not cristal clear (as least to me)

The description in the help file is correct. I have tested different scenarios and compared to xgps. One thing needs changing 1 bar, requires 1 -4 satellites. With no satellites -> red ball.

Having said that, it all depends on if you're just starting up your gps, or if you're up and running and looses a satellite or two.
When starting up, it is my experience that two bars are needed for a first reliable position.

Thomas

[cagney]

Originally Posted by Gilletarom

Hello,

In the Help (blue button "?"), it is write :
"Ctrl + G cycles through (monochromatic) green, red and normal screen."

CTRL_G do not change anything (with OpenGL ON or Off).

????

Gilletarom.

Testing on XP: Ctrl + G -> nothing happens.
Works on Linux though!
Thomas

[bcn]

Originally Posted by cagney

Testing on XP: Ctrl + G -> nothing happens.
Works on Linux though!
Thomas

Win7 / 32bit same (nothing) game (OpenGl on/off)

Hubert

[sailorF54]

Originally Posted by cagney

The description in the help file is correct. I have tested different scenarios and compared to xgps. One thing needs changing 1 bar, requires 1 -4 satellites. With no satellites -> red ball.

Having said that, it all depends on if you're just starting up your gps, or if you're up and running and looses a satellite or two.
When starting up, it is my experience that two bars are needed for a first reliable position.

Thomas

I may be a bit thick, but intuitively I would differentiate between
- no GPS connected or a garbage stream (red ball or possibly black),
- the stream you get when the GPS has just been plugged in ( NMEA stream decoded but NOT containing a fix)
We would then know that the GPS set-up is ok without opening the data stream window (the case I illustrated in message #28). The ball could be red if black in the previous case, or yellow if the previous one is red.

- The 1 bar icon would be displayed (possibly in red/orange) when a small number of satellites (1 - 3) are acquired giving no valid fix, or only a 2D one.
- The green two bar (4 to ...) would indicate a valid 3D fix.
So black-or-red-or-orange-or-yellow would mean no or no-valid fix, green a valid fix...The loss of green would also signal the loss of a valid fix.

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by sailorF54

3 - I can't really make sense of the Light information:
- the order of colored sectors seems random
- one green sector seems missing in this example (pic#3)

It seems for some reason one of the DLLs shipped with the build is broken. If you replace wxmsw28u_html_vc_custom.dll in the 2.6.1718 install directory with the one from http://journeyman.se/opencpn/wxmsw28..._vc_custom.dll you should get a properly formatted window.

The order of the sectors will still be the seemingly random database order.

I have sent a patch to Dave to sort them,and also to rotate sector values 180°, because in the S57 database light sectors start measuring angles from South. Now all the rest of the world is used to having 0° to North, so I figure that makes more sense.

/j

[sailorF54]

Originally Posted by JesperWe

It seems for some reason one of the DLLs shipped with the build is broken. If you replace wxmsw28u_html_vc_custom.dll in the 2.6.1718 install directory with the one from http://journeyman.se/opencpn/wxmsw28..._vc_custom.dll you should get a properly formatted window.

The order of the sectors will still be the seemingly random database order.

I have sent a patch to Dave to sort them,and also to rotate sector values 180°, because in the S57 database light sectors start measuring angles from South. Now all the rest of the world is used to having 0° to North, so I figure that makes more sense.

/j

OK. The new dll fixes the problem. (pic #1)

Re the order of sector reporting:

Take pic#2 as an exemple
It is described in Reeds (pic #3) as
051°-Green-135°-Red-211°-White-051°
I have checked that the same description is given in French yearly nautical almanachs... so it seems fairly common (in Europe at least)
As these values are as seen from the sea, the description starts clockwise from the south of the light circle ...

[houlejm]

Originally Posted by nohal

*buntu testers...
With this version we start to publicly experiment with our own PPA on Launchpad, which will allow us to distribute the packages in a more standard way through the Ubuntu Software Center, do the builds on the same infrastructure where Ubuntu itself is built for all the available releases and deliver updates to you through the normal package update process.
I have never used it until about 48 hours ago, so please pardon me if everything will not be perfect from the beginning...
Until the final release of OpenCPN 3.0 the packages will live in my private archive at https://launchpad.net/~nohal/+archive/opencpn and, if everything goes well, with the final release we will announce the permanent PPA where they will be available.
Please give these packages a go and get back to me if you observe any misbehavior or problems during the installation or usage. I'm especially interested in results of testing with GPSD/LibGPS as I can't simulate it properly in my totally virtual environments.

Pavel

I tried the PPA

It worked first try

It is the way to go. Thanks

--
Jean-Marie

[Rik-lu]

I do not like this new function:

240. New Hotkeys:
All affecting Vector charts only, and only in Mariners Standard display category.
'L' - Toggle LIGHTS display
'R' - Toggle generic "rocks" display, including UWTROC, OBSTRN, and WRECKS
'S' - Toggle SOUNDG display

if somebody touches accidentally the 'R' button the rocks are no longer displayed,
.....I have no idea of it and I crash into the next rock ????

at least there should be a warning on the screen (like the meters on top right) that tells me "rocks off" , "soundings off", "lights off".

just leave this function away, for me its dangerous !

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by sailorF54

I have checked that the same description is given in French yearly nautical almanachs... so it seems fairly common (in Europe at least)
As these values are as seen from the sea, the description starts clockwise from the south of the light circle ...

Interesting. I didn't know this. In this case maybe we shouldn't rotate the angles then. Although i still makes no sense to me why it's better to have zero=south because it's seen from the sea?

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by Rik-lu

if somebody touches accidentally the 'R' button the rocks are no longer displayed,
.....I have no idea of it and I crash into the next rock ????

Rik-lu, for this purpose you have the other three display categories ("Base"/"Standard"/"Other"). Just leave your system in the "Other" category and you are sure that all objects are displayed, the hotkeys are deactivated. (Except soundings, which has a separate on/off switch)

[sailorF54]

Originally Posted by JesperWe

Interesting. I didn't know this. In this case maybe we shouldn't rotate the angles then. Although i still makes no sense to me why it's better to have zero=south because it's seen from the sea?

Zero is not really south !

Suppose a narrow white safe sector around a 0° value in the light description: You will sail your boat north towards the light to remain in the fairway.
On the chart, this sector will be at the 'bottom' of the circle, a position that can be described as 'south' of the light.

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by sailorF54

Suppose a narrow white safe sector around a 0° value in the light description: You will sail your boat north towards the light to remain in the fairway.

Ah! :-) Well at least that's explanation. And after some research I have actually found a note in the "Aids to Navigation" from IALA that bearings should always be "True Bearing From Seaward", or TBS. I think I will mark this in the display, to stop uneducated people like myself from being confused.

[JesperWe]

So here i a modified suggestion for the light info, still using the La Vieille lighthouse. Is this good?

[sailorF54]

Seems perfect to me.
May I suggest a (short) dividing line where there is a dark (obscured) sector (such as between 205 and 290°)

PS Actually, I have just discovered that the written sector description starts here from 290°, possibly because of the existence of that dark sector. That does not seem crucial to me, and I haven't researched the case of several dark sectors (I know there are)!!!