OpenCPN_MacOS_no_AIS_GPS

[taylorjs]

HI,
I just installed a VesperMarine XB6000. It is transmitting (Rhapsody visible on 'MarineTraffic' site). It is receiving GPS signal - vmAIS software (connected via USB cable) shows this - no errors at all in vmAIS monitoring. Disconnected vmAIS, started OpenCPN, added connection (/dev/cu.usbserial-VESPERMARINE), Enable, Apply, OK. Nothing. Red dot for GPS and no AIS boats (including mine) visible. VesperMarine device driver installed. vmAIS observations indicate USB cable good (and I did try another). This is a MacBook with OS 10.16.4. Just reinstalled OpenCPN.
Suggestions? Thanks, John T in Victoria, BC

[CarCode]

What is OS 10.16.4 ?
I only know macOS 10.14.x - Mojave
and macOS 10.15.x - Catalina

A newer OS version was announced but still not available.

[taylorjs]

Sorry... 10.14.6, not 10.16.4.

[CarCode]

So please post your OCPN logfile here.

[taylorjs]

Full log of last opening below. These are probably the important two lines:

08:57:59 PDT: Opening NMEA Datastream Serial:/dev/cu.usbserial-VESPERMARINE
08:57:59 PDT: NMEA input device open failed: /dev/cu.usbserial-VESPERMARINE

Thanks again for suggestions, JT


08:57:57 PDT: 2020-06-26
08:57:57 PDT: ------- Starting OpenCPN -------
08:57:57 PDT: 5.0.1+0266678
08:57:57 PDT: wxWidgets version: wxWidgets 3.1.2 Apple Mac OS X 64 bit wxMac
08:57:57 PDT: OS Version reports as: 10.14
08:57:57 PDT: MemoryStatus: mem_total: 16384 mb, mem_initial: 74 mb
08:57:57 PDT: SData_Locn is /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/SharedSupport/
08:57:57 PDT: PrivateDataDir is /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn
08:57:57 PDT: Using existing Config_File: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/opencpn.ini
08:57:57 PDT: Setting Viewpoint Lat/Lon 48.963, -125.444
08:57:57 PDT: Setting Ownship Lat/Lon 48.46, -123.252
08:57:57 PDT: Switch InlandEcdis mode Off
08:57:57 PDT: Styles loading from /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/SharedSupport/uidata/styles.xml
08:57:57 PDT: No styles found at: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/
08:57:57 PDT: No styles found at: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/.opencpn/
08:57:57 PDT: Using SVG Icons
08:57:57 PDT: Detected display size (horizontal): 331 mm
08:57:57 PDT: Getting DefaultSystemLocale...
08:57:57 PDT: System default Language: en_CA
08:57:57 PDT: Config file language: en_US
08:57:57 PDT: Adjusted App language: en_US
08:57:57 PDT: Opencpn language load for: en_US
08:57:57 PDT: Loading catalog for opencpn core.
08:57:57 PDT: Getting DefaultSystemLocale...
08:57:57 PDT: Opencpn language set to: en_US
08:57:57 PDT: Loading Configs catalog: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/Configs/configs.xml
08:57:57 PDT: Creating MyFrame...size(1199, 724) position(62, 59)
08:57:58 PDT: Creating glChartCanvas
08:57:58 PDT: Metrics: m_display_size_mm: 331 wxDisplaySize: 1440:900
08:57:58 PDT: Loading Tide/Current data source: /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/SharedSupport/tcdata/HARMONIC.IDX
08:57:58 PDT: ChartSymbols loaded from /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/SharedSupport/s57data/chartsymbols.xml
08:57:58 PDT: Using s57data in /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/SharedSupport/s57data
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Renderer String: Intel Iris Pro OpenGL Engine
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Version reported: 2.1 INTEL-12.10.12
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Detected Intel renderer, disabling stencil buffer
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Texture rectangle format: de1
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Using Vertexbuffer Objects
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Using Framebuffer Objects
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Using FBO Stencil buffer
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Using Depth buffer clipping
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Using s3tc dxt1 compression
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Compressed tile size: 128kb (8:1)
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Minimum cartographic line width: 1.0
08:57:58 PDT: OpenGL-> Minimum symbol line width: 1.0
08:57:58 PDT: ChartDB Cache policy: Application target is 1024 MBytes
08:57:58 PDT: Loading chart db version: V018
08:57:58 PDT: Chartdb: Chart directory list follows
08:57:58 PDT: Chart directory #0: /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts
08:57:58 PDT: GPS Watchdog Timeout is: 6 sec.
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache, NOT in cache: cache size: 0
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache: type 5 /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/20200113/ENC_ROOT/CA470075/CA470075.000
08:57:58 PDT: Creating new chart
08:57:58 PDT: Initializing Chart /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/20200113/ENC_ROOT/CA470075/CA470075.000
08:57:58 PDT: S57chart::Checking SENC file: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/SENC/57D470CD0E1D_CA470075.S57
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache, NOT in cache: cache size: 1
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache: type 5 /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/ENC/US_REGION15/US5WA43M/US5WA43M.000
08:57:58 PDT: Creating new chart
08:57:58 PDT: Initializing Chart /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/ENC/US_REGION15/US5WA43M/US5WA43M.000
08:57:58 PDT: S57chart::Checking SENC file: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/SENC/6604B9B973BA_US5WA43M.S57
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache, NOT in cache: cache size: 2
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache: type 5 /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/US5WA43M/US5WA43M.000
08:57:58 PDT: Creating new chart
08:57:58 PDT: Initializing Chart /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/US5WA43M/US5WA43M.000
08:57:58 PDT: S57chart::Checking SENC file: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/SENC/5A0B4CBF4559_US5WA43M.S57
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache, NOT in cache: cache size: 3
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache: type 5 /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/V-3462/ENC_ROOT/CA370367/CA370367.000
08:57:58 PDT: Creating new chart
08:57:58 PDT: Initializing Chart /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/V-3462/ENC_ROOT/CA370367/CA370367.000
08:57:58 PDT: S57chart::Checking SENC file: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/SENC/0AE345CF07F2_CA370367.S57
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache, NOT in cache: cache size: 4
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache: type 5 /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/ENC/US_REGION15/US4WA31M/US4WA31M.000
08:57:58 PDT: Creating new chart
08:57:58 PDT: Initializing Chart /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/ENC/US_REGION15/US4WA31M/US4WA31M.000
08:57:58 PDT: S57chart::Checking SENC file: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/SENC/45F7E10A79D5_US4WA31M.S57
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache, NOT in cache: cache size: 5
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache: type 5 /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/US4WA31M/US4WA31M.000
08:57:58 PDT: Creating new chart
08:57:58 PDT: Initializing Chart /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/US4WA31M/US4WA31M.000
08:57:58 PDT: S57chart::Checking SENC file: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/SENC/C2A908568879_US4WA31M.S57
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache, NOT in cache: cache size: 6
08:57:58 PDT: OpenChartUsingCache: type 5 /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/ENC/US_REGION15/US1WC01M/US1WC01M.000
08:57:58 PDT: Creating new chart
08:57:58 PDT: Initializing Chart /Users/johntaylor/Documents/charts/ENC/US_REGION15/US1WC01M/US1WC01M.000
08:57:58 PDT: S57chart::Checking SENC file: /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/SENC/E2CEA74742B1_US1WC01M.S57
08:57:58 PDT: OpenCPN Initialized in 1131 ms.
08:57:59 PDT: DPMM: 4.35045 ScaleFactorExp: 1
08:57:59 PDT: Looking for UserIcons at /Users/johntaylor/Library/Preferences/opencpn/UserIcons
08:57:59 PDT: Loading navobjects from navobj.xml
08:57:59 PDT: Done loading navobjects, 0 duplicate waypoints ignored
08:57:59 PDT: Opening NMEA Datastream Serial:/dev/cu.usbserial-VESPERMARINE
08:57:59 PDT: NMEA input device open failed: /dev/cu.usbserial-VESPERMARINE
08:58:00 PDT: PlugInManager: plugins loading from /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/PlugIns
08:58:00 PDT: PlugInManager searching for PlugIns in location /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/PlugIns
08:58:00 PDT: PlugInManager: Loading PlugIn: /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/PlugIns/libchartdldr_pi.dylib
08:58:00 PDT: PlugInManager: /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/PlugIns/libchartdldr_pi.dylib
API Version detected: 113
PlugIn Version detected: 103
08:58:00 PDT: chartdldr_pi: /Users/johntaylor/Documents/Charts
08:58:00 PDT: chartdldr_pi: /Users/johntaylor/Documents/Charts
08:58:00 PDT: PlugInManager: Loading PlugIn: /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/PlugIns/libwmm_pi.dylib
08:58:00 PDT: PlugInManager: /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/PlugIns/libwmm_pi.dylib
API Version detected: 108
PlugIn Version detected: 101
08:58:00 PDT: WMM: WMM model data loaded from file /Applications/OpenCPN.app/Contents/SharedSupport/plugins/wmm_pi/data/WMM.COF.
08:58:00 PDT: Opencpn language load for: en_US
08:58:00 PDT: Loading catalog for: opencpn-chartdldr_pi
08:58:00 PDT: Loading catalog for: opencpn-wmm_pi
08:58:00 PDT: Loading catalog for opencpn core.
08:58:00 PDT: Getting DefaultSystemLocale...
08:58:00 PDT: options: got device count: 1
08:58:01 PDT: ***GPS Watchdog timeout at Lat:48.46 Lon: -123.252
08:58:58 PDT: LOGBOOK: 2020-06-26 15:58:58 UTC DR Lat 48.46000 Lon -123.25230
09:00:00 PDT: LOGBOOK: 2020-06-26 16:00:00 UTC DR Lat 48.46000 Lon -123.25230

[bcn]

08:57:59 PDT: Opening NMEA Datastream Serial:/dev/cu.usbserial-VESPERMARINE
08:57:59 PDT: NMEA input device open failed: /dev/cu.usbserial-VESPERMARINE

Is only OpenCPN listening to this port? Or is some other application still working with it? Serial ports can only be owned by exactly one application.

[taylorjs]

I deliberately 'disconnected' vmAIS, which was using it (e.g., to check GPS signal). I use that port for a mouse at other times, but don't know if the mouse 'owns' it. If you know how I can check, pls let me know... I will also try to figure that out myself. Cheers, JT

[taylorjs]

Sytem Information: USB
Device Tree

Apple Internal Keyboard
Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Microsoft 3-button Mouse

Mouse drops out of list when I pull out the USB plug. Bluetooth USB Host Controller is a bit of a mystery, but so is Internal Keyboard (i.e., in the USB device tree).

JT

[barnakiel]

If the challenge persists, try sending the data over wifi. There are many usb to wifi adapters on the market.


b.

[taylorjs]

The big step up for the vespermarine AIS systems, xb6000 (mine) to '8000', is wifi. xb6000 does not have wifi, so (I think) it can't send info that way. I know there are wifi adaptors for computer USB ports, but I didn't think wifi could be added via the 'mini-B' port on the AIS receiver/transmitter.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by taylorjs

... I didn't think wifi could be added via the 'mini-B' port on the AIS receiver/transmitter.

But why not via mini-B?

BTW I think some toy already have had the mini port back in 2017.


https://www.nke-marine-electronics.c...B_um_UK_21.pdf



b.

[taylorjs]

If you are right, plug-in wifi would be very handy... they charge a lot more for the new AIS rec./trans. with wifi. Speaking of VesperMarine, online help has been great. I've been asking them about the same problem - answers/questions come back very quickly. The latest is below - he asked about BAUD rate... mine is set at 4800. I will see if a change to 38400 works when I am onboard in 3 hours. JT

"Thats great news as this is likely the culprit. Baud rate is the transfer rate, or speed of the data. Heading, wind, speed and depth info are the typical data we'd see off our boat, this is sent at 4800 which is ample for cruising (race yachts will always chase fast data). When we want to see lots of info about lots of other boats too, we need to fire it through fast to get it there while its still relevant, so we use a higher baud rate of 38400 (an industry standard where AIS is involved). If we're on the wrong baud rate setting OpenCPN won't be able to decode the sentences which all makes sense."

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by taylorjs

If you are right, plug-in wifi would be very handy... they charge a lot more for the new AIS rec./trans. with wifi. Speaking of VesperMarine, online help has been great. I've been asking them about the same problem - answers/questions come back very quickly. The latest is below - he asked about BAUD rate... mine is set at 4800. I will see if a change to 38400 works when I am onboard in 3 hours. JT

"Thats great news as this is likely the culprit. Baud rate is the transfer rate, or speed of the data. Heading, wind, speed and depth info are the typical data we'd see off our boat, this is sent at 4800 which is ample for cruising (race yachts will always chase fast data). When we want to see lots of info about lots of other boats too, we need to fire it through fast to get it there while its still relevant, so we use a higher baud rate of 38400 (an industry standard where AIS is involved). If we're on the wrong baud rate setting OpenCPN won't be able to decode the sentences which all makes sense."

You will not get ais at 4800.


It needs to go at 38400.


Gps would work at 4800 fine, but not ais.


If you happened to set PC com port at a rate that does not match the talker (ais) rate, this is one of the simple mistakes we all make early on. They must match. They are not auto but rather manual settings (at least on PC, I know you have an iOS).



b.

[taylorjs]

Thanks everyone,

BAUD rate was the solution. I should also give a 'shout out' to the online help at VesperMarine. Tom, like you guys, was committed to finding a solution.

Cheers, John