Quote:
Originally Posted by DoubleDutch1962
[*]I would love you hear your advice on how you determine "we can create input connections in Signal k, kplex and opencpn but depending on what we want to do it is better to choose the right option" - I have so far totally ignored kplex as I don't know what it's use case is but if I need to know about that a well - I better start finding that manual :-)[*]Another missing topic for me is "CAN Bus" - when do I need that?
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Kplex is dedicated to handling exclusively NMEA 0183 connections of all types. It is a very light
software and works perfectly. Opencpn can also do it, but that requires that opencpn is working so that the rest of the
computers in the network can receive data. Not usually a problem but if kplex does that task opencpn works with something more lightweight.
On the other hand Signal K can do more than opencpn and/or kplex since they only handle NMEA data while Signal K can also read
sensor data in raw format using openplotter applications. However, it is less versatile and somewhat more complex when it comes to creating serial and network connections.
In addition, Signal K includes the ability to not only handle data but also to handle applications that using the Signal K protocol specifically can function as a plotter, dashboard etc.
Such is the amount of possibilities that openplotter offers that many get
lost among so many options. My suggestion is to start with the basics and get into more things little by little.
As an example I will tell you my final configuration.
1 kplex collecting NMEA
navigation, GPS and AIS data and sending it to tcp 10110 and UDP 2000
2 signal k collecting data from barometers, compasses, thermometers, humidity and accelerometers, converting them to NMEA 0183 and sending them to UDP 2000
3 opencpn reading data from TCP 10110 and UDP 2000 With the new beta that reads signal k I use signal k on port 3000 and TCP 10110.
Other devices on the network also read on TCP 10110 and UDP 2000
About CANBUS you will only need to work with it if your physical network uses the N2K protocol instead of NMEA 0183.