OS Raspberry specific RPI

[NahanniV]

I'm back to looking at OpenCPN on RPi after a few years absence (out cruising).

I've got a new setup with the latest RPi3B+ and a 32G SD card.
Using Open plotter with the latest upgrades 1.02.
RPi OS upgraded to latest kernel as well.
Display is QHD (2560 × 1440) but the RPI OS seems to only go as high as HD (1920 x 1080),

Downloaded hi-res base maps and raster charts for great lakes using chart down-loader.
OpenCPN works OK but seems slow when panning and zooming.

Next I tried enabling OpenGL.
Tried several different combinations: hardwareGL, softwareGL, texture compression, but I seem to get crashes that hang the system and require a power cycle to get started again.

I see suggestions of enabling swap space, but not sure how that should be done ?
Can you use the SD card as swap ? Seems like a bad idea. Is USB RAM available ?
How exactly can I determine if I am running out of memory?

To anyone who has this working well, can you let me know about your system ?
What charts ?
What screen resolution ?
What settings in "Old Raspberry config" ?
What settings in OpenCPN ?
Anything else that needs to be configured or updated ?

[verkerkbr]

Originally Posted by NahanniV

I'm back to looking at OpenCPN on RPi after a few years absence (out cruising).

I've got a new setup with the latest RPi3B+ and a 32G SD card.
Using Open plotter with the latest upgrades 1.02.
RPi OS upgraded to latest kernel as well.
Display is QHD (2560 × 1440) but the RPI OS seems to only go as high as HD (1920 x 1080),

Downloaded hi-res base maps and raster charts for great lakes using chart down-loader.
OpenCPN works OK but seems slow when panning and zooming.

Next I tried enabling OpenGL.
Tried several different combinations: hardwareGL, softwareGL, texture compression, but I seem to get crashes that hang the system and require a power cycle to get started again.

I see suggestions of enabling swap space, but not sure how that should be done ?
Can you use the SD card as swap ? Seems like a bad idea. Is USB RAM available ?
How exactly can I determine if I am running out of memory?

To anyone who has this working well, can you let me know about your system ?
What charts ?
What screen resolution ?
What settings in "Old Raspberry config" ?
What settings in OpenCPN ?
Anything else that needs to be configured or updated ?

NV,

OpenCPN is working fast here. With OpenGL on in OpenCPN. And the OpenGL driver on. You can find this driver in terminal:

raspi-config > advanced and then switching on the OpenGL driver.

Don't use texture caching in OpenCPN. If I switch this on once I get screen problems and these can only be removed by wiping out the opencpn.conf this starts a new setup of OpenCPN.

You can also update Linux:

apt update
then

apt upgrade

there a a lot of monitor settings you can do manual in the config.txt.

Bram

[mikedodd]

Bram,

I am having the same problem as NV. Turned on the opengl driver and rebooted. Nothing changed. Panning and zooming is very slow.

Mike

[verkerkbr]

Originally Posted by mikedodd

Bram,

I am having the same problem as NV. Turned on the opengl driver and rebooted. Nothing changed. Panning and zooming is very slow.

Mike

Mike,

it is working here fast. Is it perhaps your monitor that slows down the framerate.

Do a try from another system with VNC client (realvnc). This is also working reasonable fast.

See my video of the VNC client.

You also can make the system faster by the settings in OpenCPN.


Regards,




Bram

[NahanniV]

I'd be interested to hear what resolution your monitors are.
Mine is 1920*1080.
Perhaps that is too big for the Rpi ?

[verkerkbr]

Originally Posted by NahanniV

I'd be interested to hear what resolution your monitors are.
Mine is 1920*1080.
Perhaps that is too big for the Rpi ?

NV,
That resolution is supported. You can use the RPI on your HD TV set also.

Latest kernel versions have an improved video performence.

You can get the latest kernel version with sudo rpi-update.

Did you switch on the texture caching before ? I had some problems after using thies setting. The only way out was to remove the opencpn.conf. Then a new config set is made and you have to do the settings again.

opencpn.conf is in the folder .opencpn. This folder is hide. But you can make these folders visible with Ctrl H in the file manager.

But using the screen on another computer or an Ipad with a VNC client gives also the impression about the framerate.

Also look at the OpenCPN settings. What charts are you using ?

Bram

[mikedodd]

Bram.

Thanks for the help. I used my laptop as a remote desktop. Still slow. Went back to my tv monitor and toggled between full screen and split screen. Panning and zooming increasingly got better. Also it seems faster when units are set at degrees, decimal minutes. It is working fine now.
Mike

[Ivanm]

Where do I find the s57 data folder in Openplotter

[rgleason]

If you are refering to charts, it would likely be in a chart or charts directory.
If you downloaded them using chartdownloader, or even if not, check that tab for paths or check the chart directory tab.


Otherwise the s57 data file is usually something like
"C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN 4.8.4\s57data"

[Ivanm]

Refer to s57 data file to edit the chartsymbols file to change the vector pallet colours. Did find the file but seem to be restricted as I can't replace of edit the chartsymbols file.

[Ivanm]

Originally Posted by Ivanm

Refer to s57 data file to edit the chartsymbols file to change the vector pallet colours. Did find the file but seem to be restricted as I can't replace of edit the chartsymbols file.

Any info on how to edit this

[BlackSea]

use "sudo". For example
sudo cp source.file /path/to/destination.file

[Ivanm]

Originally Posted by BlackSea

use "sudo". For example
sudo cp source.file /path/to/destination.file

I did as in screenshot know very little about how to do this got the following error

[Ivanm]

Originally Posted by Ivanm

I did as in screenshot know very little about how to do this got the following error

Screenshot

[Dsanduril]

Sudo gives you elevated privileges and should allow you to edit the file.

cp is the copy command, so it needs a source and destination, in your screenshot they are run together.

sudo cp chartsymbols.xml /home/pi......chartsymbols.xml

Not the space after 'chartsymbols.xml'. For that to work you will have to be in the directory where chartsymbols is located, otherwise you'll have to put the path in front of the source as well as the destination.

If you want to edit the file (it sounds like that is the request) the base editor that is installed with openplotter is nano.

sudo nano chartsymbols.xml

Again, you will either need to change to that directory or add the path in front of the file name. Probably a good idea to use the cp command first and make a backup before you edit

There are better editors for xml than nano, but I don't believe any of them come on the openplotter image, you'd have to grab them from a repository. If the changes are small then it's probably no big deal, if they are significant then it might be easier to get a different editor (or, sigh, use a Win box).