OpenCPN on Pi or Nuc-style computer for nav station

[christinekling]

We have a Kingdell industrial computer I bought off Amazon. I had some issues with it in the beginning and their customer support was very good. Also, for a fanless computer, I prefer the aluminum heat sink designed case that the industrial computers have. I haven't used it in the tropics yet, but I hope it will be okay. I may have to add a fan to the cabinet.

Kingdell computers.

[AEM]

My version is fanless Acepc Mini-PC with SSD + cheap 14" Johnwill monitor + software Splashtop Wired X for connecting by USB cable the Samsung tablet in cockpit. I run the OpenCPN with radar HALO24 on PC (at nav.table) and I can operate it from cockpit tablet.
It works a little bit slowly, but good enough. The only worry is the connections, I mean USB slots, which subject to moisture.

[sparticle]

We have been using various generations of Pi's for the past almost 5 years. Have tried various flavours of OS but we always come back to LTS version of Ubuntu.

Currently we are using a 12v miniPC mounted to the back of a 12v travel TV Full HD. Super compact arrangement. The 12v PC has enough USB3 ports and dual 4K HDMI to satisfy anyone and is no slouch even though its celeron based.

Does all we need and is useful as a General Purpose computer when in port. We also have a QUSpot on board with a Teltonika X11 router embedded and a Three Data only sim.

So most of the time we have full time internet. We have a Rutland 1200 Wind Generator and essentially have unlimited use when the wind is anything above a 2!

Happy to share specs if needed.

Cheers
Spart

[Rastarea]

Originally Posted by sparticle

We have been using various generations of Pi's for the past almost 5 years. Have tried various flavours of OS but we always come back to LTS version of Ubuntu.

Currently we are using a 12v miniPC mounted to the back of a 12v travel TV Full HD. Super compact arrangement. The 12v PC has enough USB3 ports and dual 4K HDM
Spart

What is this mini PC ? A Pi 4 maybe ?

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by ilenart

That why I went for Win 10 Enterprise IoT LTSC 2019. It gives you the ability to remove a whole pile of unnecessary add-ons, plus shut down all the Win 10 updates, including critical updates for a 30 day period.

Just tick the box that says no updates over wifi or mobile and set your Windows 10 Internet connection as metered


4 years in, never had an update, all good.

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/fea...ically-1667095

[akopac]

Originally Posted by EarlWer

After setting up an RPi with OpenCPN I had the same problem...

then I realized that I could use VNC with almost any device and remotely connect to the RPi inside the cabin.



I've got an old Panasonic CF-H1. Rugged, bright 10" screen, portable.



Any cheap tablet will work. My android phone can use the VNC client to view the RPi screen...

Totally agree. I use a pi as my nav system and access point. I use a iPad Air 2 with builti glare coating and laminated screen in the cockpit or where ever to VNC to.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

I’m a strong advocate for the Pi, been using them for my boat systems for the last five years. I’ve run Openplotter, Ubuntu, and PiOS (plain vanilla) with OpenCPN. They’re not a panacea. The Pi does great with CM93 and raster charts in OpenCPN but it struggles a bit with S57 vector charts, at least in areas with a high chart count/density. This is in part because it uses a single core for the vector calculations, leaving the other three cores idling. For us this comes into play when planning (lots of panning/zooming) or with boat following mode (can be mitigated a bit by setting the update rate).

For reference, I installed qtVlm on the same Pi, using the same chart folder and same set of NOAA vector charts and it is about 2x the speed at pan/zoom and it fills in from the center rather than all at once, giving a better experience. I still use O for most navigation (the learning curve is mostly complete) but I wouldn’t say it is perfect on the Pi.

For everything else I do the Pi wins hands-down from a power/cost perspective, although I do still have a Windows laptop for the radio work (Winlink/Sailmail).

You can run winlink Airmail on a pi using Box86/wine. Install both from pi_apps. It runs really quit fast for being on emulators.