Rasberry_Pi3B + VirtualBox + Raspbian_Desktop + OpenCPN

[bokakob]

INTRODUCTION
Having joined this community and shelling out ten bucks for Android version of this program, I am not entirely satisfied with its performance on Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70F. It is slow, storage is limited and the tablet doesn’t allow any instrument connections. Well, it was a good try...

The main purpose of this project is to build marine navigation station for my new sailboat. The album is here: https://imgur.com/a/nWnhrSP Also, sharing knowledge back is a nice thing! Hopefully I will get good advice too.

So, I decided to plunge into Single Board Computer enthusiastic arena. The choice at this time is limited, the only viable option would be Raspberry Pi3 B+ because of the platform hardware variety and technical support.
I am awaiting parts to arrive and then I will start building real Raspberry P3 B+ computer.

Meanwhile, for myself and for others, I decided to post progress posts about this project. I thought that getting familiar with OpenCPN in the virtual environment is a good start. Later I will use this knowledge of OpenCPN for the real Raspberry Pi 3 B+

This guide is for those who are not much familiar with coding/computers/software. The good thing is if it doesn’t work out one can always uninstall/delete and start over!

At the end of the PART ONE, your virtual machine and Raspbian Desktop should look like this:



INSTALLING ORACLE VIRTUALBOX ON WNDOWS 10 x-64 HOST
Make a separate directory in the Downloads folder for VirtualBox files from here: https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/
Download all three files for the latest VirtualBox 6.02 (2019.01.23) in that folder:
https://download.virtualbox.org/virt...128162-Win.exe
https://download.virtualbox.org/virt...2.vbox-extpack
https://download.virtualbox.org/virt...ions_6.0.2.iso

Start installation of VirtualBox in Windows 10
https://download.virtualbox.org/virt...128162-Win.exe

Do not change default settings and provide Administrator’s password if working as user or guest (which is a very-very good idea). Accept start of the program at the end of installation. It should look like this (without Debian virtual machine – it is earlier installation) .

Select “New” to create Raspbian virtual machine and call it “Raspbian Pi” or anything else.
Select existing (as in my case as I have Debian installed already) or create NEW machine folder. Preferably on a disk of your choice with enough space.
Select “Type” Linux from drop menu
Select “Version” Debian 32-bit
Select “Memory Size” 1024 MB
Select “Create Virtual Disk Now”
Proceed to “Create”
It should look like this



INSTALLING RASPBIAN DESKTOP
Download Raspbian “Stretch” from here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/download...ry-pi-desktop/ either as torrent or direct download as image. Save “2018-11-26-rpd-x86-stretch.iso” file in another separate folder under Downloads such as C:\Users\__USER__\Downloads\RaspberryPi.





Click on Settings (yellow cog wheel)
Select “General” tab
Basic == > Name “Raspbian 32-bit ARM, Type “Linux,” Version “Debian (32-bit)”
Advanced == > Check “Snapshot Folder” Shared Clipboard “Bidirectional” Drag-n-Drop “Disabled”
Description == > is up to you
Disk Encryption == > is up to you
Select “System” tab
Motherboard == > Base Memory “1024 MB,” Uncheck “Floppy,” Chipset “PIIX3,” Pointing Device “PS/2 Mouse,” Uncheck “Hardware Clock in UTC Time”.
Processor == > “1 CPU,” Execution Capacity “100%”
Acceleration == > Paravirtualization “KVM”
Select “Display” tab
Video Memory == > “64 MB” Monitor, Count “1,” Scale “100%,” Graphics Controller “VBoxVGA,” Acceleration “Enable 3D”
Remote Display == > not checked
Recording == > not checked
Select “Storage” tab
Controller: IDE == > IDE Primary Master,
Select your image file C:\Users\__USER__\Downloads\RaspberryPi\2018-11-26-rpd-x86-stretch.iso file.



Select “Audio” == > default
Select “Network” == > check box “Enable Network Adapter” == > Attached to “NAT”
“Serial Ports” == > defaults
“USB” tabs == > check box “Enable USB Controller” add one or two USB 2.0 ports below (icon with blue dot), all defaults
Select “Shared Folder” == > create/select an arbitrary folder to store/transfer files between real PC and created/downloaded by the Raspberry Pi Virtual Machine
Select “User Interface” tab == > all defaults
Proceed with “OK”





The picture below is the final product after installing Oracle VirtualBox. Please note, that even though Raspbian Machine is shown, Raspbian Desktop has not been yet installed and configured. This part will follow later, when I edit this post.


I could not imagine creating this post may take so much time.
20190123.235100

[CaptTom]

Thanks! One of the things I've found playing with the Raspberry Pi is the lack of good "beginner" material for a lot of projects like this. Taking it back to square one may be boring for those with a strong Linux background, but it turns off a lot of people who only want to complete the project, not learn esoteric details about the OS and hardware.

[bokakob]

I understand what you are saying. I wanted to make it easy for folks to follow this guide for exactly the people you are talking about. The first portion of this post will deal with the virtual machine setup, installing Raspbian Desktop and running OpenCPN on Windows 10 hosts. There are a few intricacies in the setup. This should allow for many living room mariners to explore distant shores in convenience of their own homes, free of charge.

When I will get all ordered parts for the physical Raspberry Pi3 B+ and complete the basic setup, I will post that portion of the project for those who want to add this setup to their boats.

Actually, for me this is "learn-as-you-go" project and I will need plenty of help connecting different hardware parts and trying all these things to talk to each other. Here I would need much advise. Thanks beforehand.

Regards.

[ronstory]

If all you are trying to accomplish is an open MFD using a tablet, consider using the openplotter project. I have a RPi3 and just use the headless connection to the tablet via RealVNC on it's embedded wifi. Works fine and openplotter download includes a targeted Raspbian OS, with OpenCPN and all the extra SW goodies to help connect sensors.

No VMs needed... but that said, VMs are cool. ;^)

[bokakob]

You have yet another excellent way to connect RPi3 to a tablet screen. I will definitely try it both ways, in virtual environment to learn about OpenPlotter and install it when I have RPi3 running.
Maybe I will ask a few questions and you can help, please? Thanks a lot.
Regards.

[belizesailor]

Subscribed. I plan for this, or similar, to be one of my off-season projects.

I used to be techincal so getting back into it is fun.

Agree that VMs are cool, but dont think I need one aboard...maybe on a home server.

[Moo]

I built a complete self contained plotter emulating the capability of off the shelf products from the big names. I uses a Pi, a gps hat, various I2C sensors (temp, pressure, humidity, accelerometer etc..) a Pi 7" touch screen, my own buck boost power supply, an IP66 box and some buttons (MOB, alarm cancel, etc..) oh and a relay to drive an external sounder. I run Openplotter on it. Total cost was $350 NZ dollars.

I've used it quite a bit on ocean passages and coastal. It works well but the touch screen doesn't play well.

It was a useful, and sucessful, exercise but I prefer a NUC or similar running W10 with a 10" or bigger sunlight viewable non-touch monitor under the dodger.

Currently I run an i7 single board industrial pc, fanless, SSD etc. With a monitor at the nav desk. The industrial pc has 4x RS232 ports (for nmea) and plenty of USB.

I'll follow along because I am. Not done with the RPi and openplotter yet.

[spiv]

I use Ubuntu and on it I have a VM to run W10 for those rare occasions, however, it is slow and cumbersome.
Not sure how it behaves on Pi, but the open plotter system is recommended by many as it works pretty much out of the box.

I bought Pi3B and am looking forward to reading what you guys do here so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel.....