Rpi crashes on OpenCPN 4.8.4 charts

[CapnRon47]

I loaded Synaptic Package Manager and installed OpenCPN 4.8.4 on my Rpi 3. I have updated my charts (all RNC). I can scan the charts at a scale of 2.2 over a wide region, however under certain conditions (yet to be specified as they vary depending on chart scale, boundary, etc) the Rpi crashes. The crash is that I get a blank screen on the RPI I am currently running with a complete HDMI monitor, keyboard and mouse in place. I have to unplug and replug in the Rpi to reboot, no mouse click or keyboard entry shows anything. I looked at the OpenCPN logs and the log file just stops at that last point. The Rpi reboots with no indication of an error, the syslog and kernlog show nothing.

In its simplest form I start OpenCPN, I can zoom out to where I can see the border of my loaded charts. (scale 63600 1.9x) and here I can scroll around showing unloaded chart frames. I then zoom in to scale 122200 (3.5x) and start to scroll around and OpenCPN freezes and the RPi locks up. Other times it will crash the whole screen.

I don't know whether it is specifically an OpenCPN issue or a problem with my Rpi system. Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar.

[rgleason]

CapnRon, I am not on RPI, but perhaps you could try a full update of the chart database, then if you have opengl enabled, disable it, close, open and turn on opengl again to make sure the cache is all new.

[CapnRon47]

Ok, I will try that. But the last crash really disabled the RPi, I will have to start from scratch. I had not seen this kind of problem with earlier versions of OpenCPN and its charts, so my suspicion is that there was more at work here.

thanks,
Ron

[seandepagnier]

Do you have enough swap space?

Is opengl enabled?

[CapnRon47]

What is considered enough 'swap' space? I did have the graphics accelerator enabled.

thanks,
Ron

[CapnRon47]

I am running 1 G of swap space.

[seandepagnier]

try disabling the experimental graphics interface from raspi-config.

1g swap should be enough, if the swap is full just before crash, it isn't

What about power supply?

[conachair]

Tried openplotter?

OpenPlotter RPI | Sailoog

[bdbcat]

I agree with boat_alexander.

It seems the number one issue with rPI unexplained failures under load relates to power supply droop. One will have best luck with a supply capable of a solid 2 amps. and preferably 3 amps. These can be hard to find....

And the rPI experimental GL driver does have bugs...

Good Luck
Dave

[Foeboat]

I have/had a similar problem running OpenCPN on a Rasp Pi 3+. But if you have a Raspberry Pi 3 and not a 3+, Openplotter really is great and does all the installation chores for you. I used Openplotter to load OpenCPN (and more) onto a Pi 3 and it works great.

If you've got a Raspberry Pi B3+ then all bets are off. The Openplotter install doesn't work on Pi3+ (this is well established).

The only way to load OpenCPN onto a Rasp B 3+ is, as I understand it, to compile it but I have failed to load a functional version (one that does not crash) of OpenCPN on my Rasp Pi3+ via the recommended compile approach.

Does anyone have a step-by-step instruction for loading the correct operating system and then OpenCPN onto a Rasp Pi 3+ that actually works?

Foeboat.

[CapnRon47]

Thanks all,
I am running the same Rpi with the same power supply only using an older SD card with Raspbian 'Jessie' and OpenCPN 4.8.2 with the same charts and I have not had any issues? The system I had issues with (and eventually crashed) was running Raspbian 'Stretch' and OpenCPN 4.8.4. I am using the 'Jessie' system as my 'stable' backup. I have reloaded 'Stretch' on another card using 'Etcher' and will load OpenCPN 4.8.4 (using Synaptic) and test that system again.

Ron

[verkerkbr]

Originally Posted by Foeboat

I have/had a similar problem running OpenCPN on a Rasp Pi 3+. But if you have a Raspberry Pi 3 and not a 3+, Openplotter really is great and does all the installation chores for you. I used Openplotter to load OpenCPN (and more) onto a Pi 3 and it works great.

If you've got a Raspberry Pi B3+ then all bets are off. The Openplotter install doesn't work on Pi3+ (this is well established).

The only way to load OpenCPN onto a Rasp B 3+ is, as I understand it, to compile it but I have failed to load a functional version (one that does not crash) of OpenCPN on my Rasp Pi3+ via the recommended compile approach.

Does anyone have a step-by-step instruction for loading the correct operating system and then OpenCPN onto a Rasp Pi 3+ that actually works?

Foeboat.

Dear Foeboat,

OpenPlotter is here running great on my Raspberry Pi3+ with Linux Stretch en OpenGL.

The only problem is the use of Noobs. You have to replace the Noobs with the latest version, then it works perfect.

OpenPlotter is working on a new version on the basis of Linux Stretch aka Debian 9.2.

On the site of OpenPlotter you can see how to replace the Noobs version or you can wait for the OpenPlotter version 1.0. Appearing now very soon. But I have read this before.

For several people I have made a copy of my system.

But if you are near the Netherlands I can make one for you.

Regards,


Bram

[CapnRon47]

I have tried the OpenPlotter approach and it has worked for me in the past. But I prefer to set up the wifi on the RPi to act simultaneously as an AP and a client. The AP lets me connect to SignalK output for instruments and the client allows me to still connect to the internet. So I prefer to load my own OpenCPN and SignalK Server.

But I am having problems with the latest version of Raspbian 'stretch' in that there are dependencies I need and don't have (and don't know). I am using the synaptic package manager to load Opencpn. I can add the necessary repository, but it tells me it does not have the public key. And as I try to add the key (not sure it was the right one) it says I do not have 'dirmngr', so each time I end up finding out I am missing something.

I may just try to go back to the previous version of Raspbian (Jessie)

[conachair]

Originally Posted by CapnRon47

I have tried the OpenPlotter approach and it has worked for me in the past. But I prefer to set up the wifi on the RPi to act simultaneously as an AP and a client. The AP lets me connect to SignalK output for instruments and the client allows me to still connect to the internet. So I prefer to load my own OpenCPN and SignalK Server.

But I am having problems with the latest version of Raspbian 'stretch' in that there are dependencies I need and don't have (and don't know). I am using the synaptic package manager to load Opencpn. I can add the necessary repository, but it tells me it does not have the public key. And as I try to add the key (not sure it was the right one) it says I do not have 'dirmngr', so each time I end up finding out I am missing something.

I may just try to go back to the previous version of Raspbian (Jessie)

Or another option would be just to buy a usb wifi dongle, they cost little. Then get all the other benefits of Openplotter, new major update running stretch/pi3 B+ is said to be imminent.

[bdbcat]

Ron...

Just a thought...

I notice that rPI "stretch" (using GL driver) seems a lot more "busy" than "jessie" while running OpenCPN. This is probably due to performance improvements implemented in the GL driver. It likely makes more extensive use of system resources to improve performance, and has maybe not yet been optimized for power/performance blending. This kind of thing will significantly increase the system power requirements, and might make a marginal power supply fall below the line.

Of course, there could be serious bugs in the GL driver related to memory model management. Such bugs could appear under high memory pressure. Further, the GL implementation does not provide any useful mechanism for texture compression, so high memory pressure is a fact of life when running OpenCPN on rPI in hardware GL mode with raster charts.

We are finding that on rPI "stretch" with raster charts, non-GL mode is a lot more stable and cool running.

Dave