OpenCPN hardware from scratch.

[mgrouch]

ReTerminal DM from Seeed Studio is 10” raspberry pi with a screen and
NMEA interfaces as well as others.

You can install free and open source BBN Marine OS on it and have a lot of options to communicate with boat sensors and via boat protocols.

[Corsair63]

I really do not see any benefit in a Raspi, from the moment that has not native access to a SSD and its read/write speed, depending on slow speed SD either with a USB interface for the SSD.

from my point of view, I do prefer windows option (x64 or ARM64, better windows 11)
any computer based in Qualcomm at 12 volts running under windows should be fine, the only problem I found in these devices that used to be only 8 GB RAM. at 12 volts DC very low consumption and trusted platforms.
for the interfacing, I'll really will go for multiplexer from Shipmodul version for 0183, N2K and LAN it's really magic there is another option with the same layout but 8 inputs 0183 and 5 outputs 0182, N2K and also LAN, is the version Pro, not cheap.
what still I haven't found is 12 volts high DPI touch screen display of at least 19 to 20" or even bigger.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by Corsair63

I really do not see any benefit in a Raspi, from the moment that has not native access to a SSD and its read/write speed, depending on slow speed SD either with a USB interface for the SSD.

On the plus side though they are dead cheap, easy to set up with all the software done for you, very active online openplotter community and above all - they just work!! all day every day.

Read write pretty much irrelevant, plenty fast enough for boat nav.

[hoolie]

I'm with Corsair on this. I use a W10 miniPC that cost maybe about $200 but it has a proper case, plenty of memory 256gb, drives two displays and runs direct from the boat 12v. Add these extras to a Raspi and you will end up with a cost in the same ballpark. And for me there is the bonus of not getting bogged down in Linux. I have a couple of pi's and even using Openplotter it was a struggle to get a working system.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by hoolie

even using Openplotter it was a struggle to get a working system.

this keeps coming up & is hard to understand - which part did you find too difficult? The devs would be keen to hear, in many ways it's actually faster & easier to get up and running than a laptop.

Would be very helpful if you could take a moment & share which parts you found difficult

[Corsair63]

I bought in the worst moment a Raspi 4-8GB, started with Debian x64 and it was a pain in the a... with all the problems of restart with unix hundred years ago I did, permission to folders that don't want to be accessed, and many other things.
after I tried a beta version of openplotter in x64 and was not bad but main problem the read/write access and as usual grant permission to folders, that most of the times you don't know what are they for?
I do not see those systems clear, too many folder/subfolders, unusual places, I'm too old for being investigating.
also, what hoolie says, extremely expensive board plus ssd plus expansion board for ssd plus case plus fans plus cooler at the end it was cheaper my computer with Qualcomm with wifi, LAN and as option LTE.
at last I installed windows 11 in my RasPi and not used for the time being.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by Corsair63

after I tried a beta version of openplotter in x64 and was not bad but main problem the read/write access and as usual grant permission to folders, that most of the times you don't know what are they for?
I do not see those systems clear, too many folder/subfolders, unusual places, I'm too old for being investigating.

???

Openplotter you shouldn't need to know or do anything with permissions, file structures, very little needed other than how to click a mouse.

If you tried to load openplotter onto an existing debian OS then that would be somewhat involved & lots of it wouldn't work, that's not how it's designed. It's an operating system on it's own based on Raspberry Pi OS you download, put on an SD card, turn on and off you go.

No need to know anything about linux, whatever you were doing it wasn't installing openplotter.

[hoolie]

Originally Posted by barcoMeCasa

this keeps coming up & is hard to understand - which part did you find too difficult? The devs would be keen to hear, in many ways it's actually faster & easier to get up and running than a laptop.

Would be very helpful if you could take a moment & share which parts you found difficult

It was a couple of years ago and I did have problems with sound and getting OpenCPN to run properly. But I don't think my experience is applicable to the current versions of the OS and Openplotter as both have moved on a lot since.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by hoolie

It was a couple of years ago and I did have problems with sound and getting OpenCPN to run properly. But I don't think my experience is applicable to the current versions of the OS and Openplotter as both have moved on a lot since.

Thanks

TBH a computer costing 50 bucks isn't going to have everything, sound can be a runaround & don't think the bluetooth is perfect either, and I am quite defensive of the project.. But there is a bit of doom & gloom goes through the web about Pi's which imho puts people off & is generally unwarranted for openplotter , though stray off the path is can lead to a late night or 2 on google, or these days not such a late night chatting to an AI
It is incredibly powerful though, doubt if there's anything anyone could realistically want to do with data on a boat which couldn't be done on a cheap little board drawing so little power.

[GILow]

Well, for the record I’ve ordered a Raspberry Pi 4 - 4GB. I felt that it was just so cheap I should give it a go.

And, also for the record, I see Windoze as a poor platform choice overall. I was willing to go with it for this job but it was going to be kept from auto-updating and, if possible, kept away from the internet whenever practical. Why, because I didn’t need some random update breaking my navigation system.

If the Pi doesn’t perform to my satisfaction I will go out and buy a NUC, but I hope I don’t have to.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by GILow

Well, for the record I’ve ordered a Raspberry Pi 4 - 4GB. I felt that it was just so cheap I should give it a go.

Cool! What would be really interesting would be if you could spare a moment & let us know how you get on, imho openplotter is by far the best game in town, if you hit any speed bumps the devs would be keen to hear.

What has caused issues in the past is not enough power, even a Pi4 doesn't draw much but it will have spikes where it wants much more power for a few milliseconds. Also can get grumpy if it gets too hot, heatsink & tiny fan usually needed.
I only use 32Mb sd cards of a known brand these days.

Signalk is immensely powerful but can be a bit daunting to start with though to get up and running you just need to put the gps etc into signalk data connections instead of opencpn, everything else is already set up.


https://forum.openmarine.net/index.php
https://openplotter.readthedocs.io/en/3.x.x/

[GILow]

Originally Posted by barcoMeCasa

Cool! What would be really interesting would be if you could spare a moment & let us know how you get on, imho openplotter is by far the best game in town, if you hit any speed bumps the devs would be keen to hear.

What has caused issues in the past is not enough power, even a Pi4 doesn't draw much but it will have spikes where it wants much more power for a few milliseconds. Also can get grumpy if it gets too hot, heatsink & tiny fan usually needed.
I only use 32Mb sd cards of a known brand these days.

Signalk is immensely powerful but can be a bit daunting to start with though to get up and running you just need to put the gps etc into signalk data connections instead of opencpn, everything else is already set up.


https://forum.openmarine.net/index.php
https://openplotter.readthedocs.io/en/3.x.x/

I will report back on how it turned out.

[akopac]

Benn using a pi400 w/7in. display at the nav table and using openplotter wifi access point and a iPad Air 2 for a long time now. I use a Logitech k400 wireless keyboard and mouse at the nav table and sometimes with the iPad Air 2 in the cockpit. I have a halo 20+ radar, yacht deviceses USB to NMEA adapter, and Raymarine ev100 autopilot tied in too.
I have been cruising with this for several years now from California to MX, to New Zealand now.
Some Thoughts
The pi400 keyboard is a built in case more or less
It has a large built in heat sink making a fan blowing salt air over board and connections
The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4 were are the minimum iPads available that have integrated laminated screens and anti glare coatings. Easy to VNC scree share to them over openplotters pi wifi access point feature.
If I were to change one thing, and I will be, it will be to swap out the yacht devices NMEA gateway to a actisense gateway so I can use the opencpn Raymarine route following plug-in. Over the distances I travel I use a windvane a lot, but have found down wind the autopilot is obviously better with apparent wind shifts, and at times current and magnetic shifts would make the route following handy. Ahhh I guess I get lazy….
I’m a retired IT geek ;-)
Ps highly recommend AIS B”+” for tracking I use winlink/saildocs for GRIBS and weather. No garman or iridium

[akopac]

Sorry for upside down pics. The site is uploading them that way for me for some reason

[stevead]

Have fun with the Pi! Contrary to some of the naysayers they're quite easy to set up.

Given one of your objectives is:

Depth, speed, wind temp, gps, heading etc using generic Airmar or similar N2K instruments.

you might be interested in a CAN Hat for the Pi. I personally like this Copperhill Technologies PICAN-M Hat, which can also power the Pi from the NMEA 2000 Network. On the other hand the Actisense NGT-1 or Yacht Devices YDNU-02 can be used with Windows, Mac or Linux devices, should you decide to ditch the Pi.

Some instructions for integrating OpenCPN with NMEA 2000 can be found in the OpenCPN User Manual.

Also in case you were unaware, Australian Charts for OpenCPN are available from o-charts