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Old 12-10-2019, 10:48   #1291
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Re: OpenCPN General

Dave,

I registered on the forum last night. I know it's soon, but just checking because there's nothing in my Inbox or Spam folder yet. I don't remember which email address I used though.

Thanks
Steve
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Old 12-10-2019, 11:45   #1292
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Re: OpenCPN General

I have a few questions about OpenCPN, please...

1) Google Play has two OpenCPN apps available for Android devices. One of the apps is free (by Maison Automatique) and the other costs $9.95 (by Dave Register). It looks like both have identical descriptions. Can someone please explain the difference between the two?

2) Any chance of an OpenCPN app for iPads and iPhones?

3) Besides a laptop having a larger screen than a tablet, is there any other advantage of having OpenCPN on a laptop verses using the app on a tablet?

4) Unlike Navionics which charges a subscription fee for the use of their charts, are all the charts for OpenCPN on a computer and the app free? If so, why do people pay to use Navionics?

5) I'm thinking of buying a used Mac laptop to run OpenCPN on. What is the oldest version of the Mac OS that will still work with OpenCPN?

Thanks very much.
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Old 12-10-2019, 12:01   #1293
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Re: OpenCPN General

1) David Register is the main author of OpenCPN. From his forum you get support and the cost supports more development of OpenCPN.

2) No. Apple does not allow open source programs in their store.

3) A laptop is more powerful and there are more plugins available. Also, interfacing to boat electronics has more options on a laptop. The program is the same.

4) Some charts are free. For example, all US oceans, major rivers and the Great Lakes have free charts. You can create free maps using google earth or SAS Planet.

Some charts are not free. Ocharts.org is a good place to find reasonably priced charts.

5) I do not know but maybe someone else can tell. I would say O works on pretty old versions of macOS. But Windows is more supported going all the way back to XP.
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Old 12-10-2019, 12:21   #1294
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Re: OpenCPN General

In addition to Dan

Quote:
Originally Posted by magentawave View Post
I have a few questions about OpenCPN, please...

1) Google Play has two OpenCPN apps available for Android devices. One of the apps is free (by Maison Automatique) and the other costs $9.95 (by Dave Register). It looks like both have identical descriptions. Can someone please explain the difference between the two?
The Maison version is a fork from the very first version of OCPN for Android.
No updates since then. Several years. For example no plug-ins.

Quote:
3) Besides a laptop having a larger screen than a tablet, is there any other advantage of having OpenCPN on a laptop verses using the app on a tablet?
The Android version is much more a "package" and closed. For many of the users it is a complement to the laptop version of OpenCPN.
The Android version has less available plug-ins.

Quote:
4) Unlike Navionics which charges a subscription fee for the use of their charts, are all the charts for OpenCPN on a computer and the app free? If so, why do people pay to use Navionics?
If you want a contained package from one vendor then go for Navionics (=Garmin). With their charts and their policy. Or other concealed products.

OpenCPN does give you much more options. Hardware wise. And on the chart portfolio. o-charts as part of OpenCPN implements this for zones where no free charts are available.
Dan has pointed to some other sources.

Quote:
5) I'm thinking of buying a used Mac laptop to run OpenCPN on. What is the oldest version of the Mac OS that will still work with OpenCPN?
Thanks very much.
Be careful here. Backward compatibility is not always possible for all functionalities. For example the new macOS 10.15 Catalina version does not make it easier for "old software". Apple does cut off options.

Writing from a 1012 macMini with 10.15 installed today..

Hubert
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Old 12-10-2019, 13:04   #1295
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Re: OpenCPN General

Thanks, guys. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

How's the "backward compatibility" with running OpenCPN on Windows?

Rather than buying a used Mac laptop, would it be wiser to buy a new Windows 10 laptop for a couple hundred dollars and use it as a dedicated nav station for running OpenCPN?
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Old 12-10-2019, 14:27   #1296
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Re: OpenCPN General

Quote:
Originally Posted by magentawave View Post
Thanks, guys. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

How's the "backward compatibility" with running OpenCPN on Windows?

Rather than buying a used Mac laptop, would it be wiser to buy a new Windows 10 laptop for a couple hundred dollars and use it as a dedicated nav station for running OpenCPN?

Or buy a used Windows laptop. I run the current version of OpenCPN on a quite old Windows 7 laptop.
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Old 12-10-2019, 15:17   #1297
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Re: OpenCPN General

I think there are a lot of options. One option I have is a Raspberry Pi and an iPad. This is a pretty slick combination. The Raspberry Pi runs OpenCPN and it has all the interfaces of a much more expensive PC. The latest Pi 4 is a real computer with 4G ram.

The iPad runs VNC viewer software and can display the OpenCPN screen. It is a workable solution especially if you have a iPad already.

I would be happy with a $300 laptop running Windows 10. I have one of those and it works fine. O is not a a CPU or memory pig.
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Old 14-10-2019, 07:53   #1298
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Re: Tool for georeferencing scanned charts?

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Originally Posted by LeaseOnLife View Post
I have a couple of chart books and can access a decent scanner.

Does anybody know a free (possibly open source) tool to geo-reference these scans?

I know Fugawi has a "calibration" tool, but only stores the results as a Fugawi specific file.

SeaClear comes with MapCal, which I haven't tried that yet. It seems to export to "WCI" format

It would be great to find a tool to create charts from graphic files, compatible with opencpn.

Sat2Chart will georeference scanned charts. Takes some time but the few I have done have been spot on with GE images. Paul has excellent video tutorials and the help file is awesome. Hope that helps.
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Old 28-10-2019, 17:25   #1299
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Re: OpenCPN General

One request that some may like is chaning the color of the line curve on the tide diagram shown on the charts. For the moment it is all in black. I would recomand red for the curve, if possible.
Regards.
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Old 29-10-2019, 01:50   #1300
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Re: OpenCPN General

Please no... Not *another* red line!!

I already have a red boat icon, following a red active route, with a red COG predictor, a red heading line, my current track behind me is red, AIS conflict lines are red and radar conflict lines are red. Oh, and chart boundaries (sat images) are red too...
Speaking of satellite images - if I am navigating over an area of lovely clean deep blue sea (say approaching a coral atoll or reef), the contrast between all these red lines and the background dark blue in the image make it almost impossible to see where I am and where I am going (especially on a bright sunny day).

Tim
Quote:
Originally Posted by P_Dub View Post
One request that some may like is chaning the color of the line curve on the tide diagram shown on the charts. For the moment it is all in black. I would recomand red for the curve, if possible.
Regards.
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Old 29-10-2019, 04:46   #1301
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Re: OpenCPN General

If you are not happy about red, that is your problem. all I am asking is the possibility to change the colour.
Bye
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Old 07-12-2019, 11:18   #1302
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Re: OpenCPN General

hello. does anyone know what is de difference between «*confirmed entries*» and «*nn confirmed entries*» in MMSINAME.csv? and also between green and light green target?
thanks
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Old 07-12-2019, 12:33   #1303
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Re: OpenCPN General

Quote:
Originally Posted by ec21 View Post
hello. does anyone know what is de difference between «*confirmed entries*» and «*nn confirmed entries*» in MMSINAME.csv? and also between green and light green target?
thanks
The mmsitoname.csv( MMSINAME.csv for windows) file exists just to aid with faster display of vessel name, until first static information message is received from that vessel, which then overrides the cached value from the file.
At first the target is displayed in light green if it's found in the file. As soon as the first static transmission with the ship data is received in the session, the color changes to green.

The two sections in the csv file, "+++==Non Confirmed Entry's==+++" and
"+++==Confirmed Entry's==+++", are there to avoid filling up the hard-disk with garbage data from faulty ais transmitters.

From my own file
Code:
........
+++==Non Confirmed Entry's==+++
357656000,OCEAN FALCON
219000668,STAR III
3,MAERSK PRIVILEGE
244700357,STEUR
377355000,AUDREY
...
The entry "3,MAERSK PRIVILEGE" is obvious garbage, and will be deleted from the section if and when a correct value is received. Eventually a correct value will be entered in the "confirmed section. That is what happens in most cases.

In this particular case Maersk Privilege has changed name to "Azimuth" with MMSI: 636019635 ......

Thomas
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Old 07-12-2019, 12:48   #1304
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Re: OpenCPN General

ok thanks
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Old 07-12-2019, 16:31   #1305
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Re: OpenCPN General

on color of lines... a standard lcd monitor has rows of white LED's behind the panel that backlight the display. there are monitors made for marine applications with additional rows of red LEDs that can be selected for night vision viewing... any part of the display which is in the red spectrum will appear as the same color as the background... red. so basically anything on the chart which is red disappears and is indistinguishable from the white areas... so management of colors is critical for the higher end systems.
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