Ahoy 'droids....
The initial Alpha test release of
OpenCPN for Android is available for download now.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p120g521j0...1.409.apk?dl=0
the .apk is about 19MB in size.
Release Notes:
1. The object of this Release is to validate the basic operation across the widest possible variety of platforms. There are plenty of known bugs, and lots of design issues remaining, so we should not consider this Release suitable for daily use. But it should install and run on virtually any Android
phone or tablet.
2. Best performance will be seen on relatively modern devices with at least 1 GB of RAM, although it will run on 512MB devices. I am mostly testing on a 1 GB smart
phone.
3.
Charts:
Charts are loaded installed in OCPN from internal device
storage, or external SDCard. The actual location of the chart directories changes from device to device, depending on the android version, and some other mysterious factors. A typical location is /mnt/sdcard, but you may find that the SDCard is at /mnt/extsd.
4. Logfile: The logfile is re-initialized at each program startup, to make it a bit easier to see what has just transpired. You will want to get and install some sort of file browser/viewer to look at the logfile occasionally. There are many choices at the Play store... The logfile will be at /mnt/sdcard/.opencpn/opencpn.log
5.
GPS, etc. There are three choices for positioning data, all found in options->connections->Add Connection.
a) Internal
GPS, if your device supports it. You must enable the GPS in the device "Settings" dialog before starting O. Of course, most devices do not have a very good GPS
antenna, so GPS signal
reception will be poor indoors or down below. I find this not very useful....
b) Bluetooth, if available on your device. If there is a Bluetooth GPS receiver within range of your device, you may pair with it and get location support in this way. Please discover and pair with the GPS receiver before starting O.
c)
Wifi. If you have a local
Wifi router/AP which is somehow supporting UDP/TCP
NMEA service, you may connect to that source for NEMA data. This is the only practical way of getting multiplexed
AIS data into O on android. It is what I use for testing.
6. User Interface. This Alpha Release is essentially "standard" OCPN adapted minimally for android. There are clearly some things in the UI that need adjusting for the limited
screen real estate available on small devices. Further, there are some tools and menu options that make no sense on a tightly constrained mobile device at all, e.g. "Print tool". But I have not made any of these types of changes yet, and expect some vigorous discussion about these points as we proceed. Bring it on...
The Plan:
I plan to run a standard Alpha/Beta test series on O for android, hosted on this Forum. It will take a while to get through all of the issues that will arise relative to cross platform support, and the UI design issues will require some extensive iteration.
Ultimately, when ready for Release, I will offer OCPN for android on the
Google Play store in order to reach the broadest possible user base. There will be a nominal fee charged for the download.
I look forward to the lively discussion about O on android, and thank you in advance for your patience in installing and testing this beast.
Thanks
Dave