OpenCPN on my MacBook

[chesapeakesailor]

Hi Everyone - I have full nav equipment and charts on my boat but was thinking of downloading OpenCPN on my MacBook Pro so that I can plan trips from home prior to getting aboard and working out navigation using Ray Marine Navionics charts. So planning for trips. Is OpenCPN reliable and useful on MacBook Pro or does it really require a tablet with stylus? Any info from current users that use it from home rather than on the boat would be helpful.

Best - Johan

[bcn]

Using OpenCPN on ( and writing right now from it ) a MacMini.
Since 2012.

About 10% of the OpenCPN installs are on Macs.

[Scrimma]

Are you able to use it with a GPS dongle? Ive heard this is possible, but i cannot for the life of my get it to work on my macbook pro.

[MartinR]

Yes, have it on two different Macs. I use a GPS dongle, no problem here. You just have to define it OpenCPN. Settings/Connections/add connection. Make a new serial interface.

[Scrimma]

Thanks! I have tried that but alas no dice. I'm running high sierra currently with the latest opencpn. I'm using the GPS in the picture. Do you mind sharing your settings with a screen shot? I've dug deep into the www over the past few weeks but nothing I find seems to crack the code for me. I realize the listing for the gps doesn't say Mac, but I've read elsewhere that people get this one going without issue. What dongle/usb gps do you use? For the record, I can't even get this one working on my wife's Windows 10 machine...maybe it's me.

[MartinR]

I have a BU353 S4 GPS. At least I think, I am not on the boat. Here is a picture of the settings for this. Not 100% sure, as I am on another machine, but I think this is what it looks like.

[MartinR]

Forgot, you need to download and install a driver for the USB device first.

[Scrimma]

The photo/screenshot of the settings didn't attach? I've been looking for a driver too. So far none have solved the problem. Do you happen to have a link to the driver? ����

[Scrimma]

Here is a photo of my current settings. Let me know your thoughts. 👌

[MartinR]

Originally Posted by Scrimma

The photo/screenshot of the settings didn't attach? I've been looking for a driver too. So far none have solved the problem. Do you happen to have a link to the driver? ����

The screen shot shows up nicely for me. I attached it as an image.

I have no idea where to get a driver for your GPS. For mine I get it here:

https://www.globalsat.com.tw/en/feat.../BU-353S4.html

[MartinR]

Originally Posted by Scrimma

Here is a photo of my current settings. Let me know your thoughts. 👌

Looks like you do not have the correct driver. It seems it is recognised as a modem, not as a serial NMEA device. But I am no expert, there are far more knowledgeable people than me on this forum.

[CarCode]

Originally Posted by Scrimma

Here is a photo of my current settings. Let me know your thoughts. 👌

Usually you need 4800 Baudrate and not 9600 Baud.
But your GPS puck is the outdated u-blox neo-7 type. I don't know a driver for it. Last known driver was for Windows XP.

[MartinR]

I did a quick search, and there does not seem to be a driver for OSX for your GPS puck. But I might be wrong.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by Scrimma

Here is a photo of my current settings. Let me know your thoughts. 👌

If the /dev/tty.usbmodem1421 device actually does exist on your system and you did not just invent it or copy the name from somewhere, then you do have the needed driver and may likely ignore most of the comments in this thread.

What does apply with some devices and drivers is the baudrate, which per NMEA standard should be 4800, but actually may be pretty much anything from 4800, 9600, 14400, 19200, 38400, 57600 and 115200.

All I can see from about 2 minutes of looking at the Internet it is configurable for this unit and I don't see any default.

I also see some people reporting that this unit took up to several hours WITH CLEAR VIEW OF THE SKY (which is what you actually should always have when working with the GPS), before it actually acquired the position and started to be usable.

[chesapeakesailor]

Folks - have used opencpn to plan a route with waypoints but now wondering how I can export the the route to excel or csv so that I can play with various scenarios of speed and resulting location. Anyone know how to export to excel of .txt or .csv?

Thanks!