BR24 Radar Glitches

[ve7mdl]

I just upgraded my OpenCPN installation to the latest from the release repository as of today. Here are a few observations made in stand-alone mode:

1. Radar B is limited to 50 m and 75 m ranges. Radar A scaling works fine.
2. The radar freezes now and then. The intervals seem to be random (sometimes it will work for 1/2 hour and sometimes only for a few minutes. If I catch it fast enough, I can just turn the radar off (using the icon) and then on again. If I let it run, it also freezes OpenCPN.
3. The heading line (with the white dot at the end) seems to have no relation to the look-ahead time configured in O. Is it fixed at 6 minutes?
4. In chart overlay mode, I do not see the two radar-only windows. Is there something I should set up?

Using Ubuntu 1604 on a 643-bit machine.

Cheers, ....Erik. (m/v B.C. Girl in North Cove, BC)
Home

[NahanniV]

Version 2 of this plugin is being developed now.
The freezing bug you mentioned no longer exists.
Also the user interface is re-designed and new features have been added.

It is fairly easy to build the plugin on your UBUNTU system.

Use these instructions:
https://github.com/canboat/BR24radar_pi

But- use -b radarwindow at the end of the git clone command to get the development branch.

Your comments as a RADAR expert would be welcome.

Bugs and issues get discussed here:
https://github.com/canboat/BR24radar_pi/issues

Or wait for a release. The lead developer has mentioned that all features are in place for version 2 and the focus is now on testing and debugging. I think a beta version might be released in a week or two if things continue at the current pace.

Cheers,
JM.

[ve7mdl]

Hi JM,

Thanks for your response. I will be out on our summer trip over the next three months, so there will be plenty of time to experiment with the software, but limited access to network along the way. This is still the wild west :-)

I generally do not like to connect my navigation computer to the Internet, but I did try to set up the development environment a while ago. I got stuck at trying to install the compiled and linked image. It refused to let me overwrite the old version, as I recall.

Anyway, my initial impression is that 1.32 works quite well in stand-alone mode (aside from the reported glitches). The important controls are easily accessible although I would have liked an immediate +/- button for gain controls. The mouse wheel is great for range control. Auto gain actually works well on this unit - MUCH better than many of the magnetron radars I have used in the past.

I still have to do a proper test in chart overlay mode - after I get my fluxgate compass calibrated.

The software is much appreciated!

Cheers, ....Erik.
Home

[NahanniV]

Originally Posted by ve7mdl

....
I got stuck at trying to install the compiled and linked image. It refused to let me overwrite the old version, as I recall.
....

That step seems to be missing from the instructions.

After make you can install with:
sudo make install

Cheers,
JM.

[merrimac]

Originally Posted by ve7mdl

3. The heading line (with the white dot at the end) seems to have no relation to the look-ahead time configured in O. Is it fixed at 6 minutes?

This is drawn by O, not the plugin. The "standalone" display in the 1.x releases is really the same as the normal chart display but with "black" painted over all chart elements but not anything laid on top, like AIS and boat icon and stuff. This is why it won't work very well in HEAD UP mode without a compass -- it turns the radar but OpenCPN has no idea what HEAD UP is without a compass. It was a "hack" to allow people to use the radar without a compass heading, as they can't use the overlay (COG is too jumpy for a proper overlay.)

Originally Posted by ve7mdl

4. In chart overlay mode, I do not see the two radar-only windows. Is there something I should set up?

Switch to the radarwindow branch. This is my proposed v2.0 in the making. This has separate windows for both radar A and B in a real "Position Plan Indicator" (PPI) style, with the boat at the middle and concentric rings drawn plus radar echos, guard zones and possibly target trails and two EBL/VRM. No chart data at all, nor any AIS (the latter will probably be an option in 3.0) on the PPI displays. You can hide, dock or float the PPI windows at will. The radar overlay still works as well of course.

There are still some bugs with not everything working as it should, but I intend to fix those in the coming 2 weeks before my holiday starts! In particular I need feedback from Windows users as I develop for macOS first, Linux 2nd and Windows 3rd.

There is a bit of a debate amongst the developers as to how useful the separate PPI displays are, but they were asked for by several people in the community and I have actually grown very fond of them. I'm even starting to use radar windows on my plotter :-) so it's not all just my mind saying that to justify the number of hours spent on this ...

[merrimac]

Originally Posted by NahanniV

That step seems to be missing from the instructions.

After make you can install with:
sudo make install

Cheers,
JM.

Or you let it generate a package and install the package in the normal way.

[ve7mdl]

Hi Merrimac,

Thanks, I tried installing with the package manager, but that failed. I think there is something that needs to be cleaned up from a previous installation attempt. I even tried apt-get remove without any luck.

Anyway, I will wait for the release or beta build.

BTW, I agree that the PPI displays would be useful.

Cheers, ....Erik.
Home

[merrimac]

I guess you're taking your first Linux steps?

In case of problems it helps tremendously if you show the commands and output of what you're entering. Just cut & paste the terminal output. Once you get used to it you'll find this much easier than fiddling around with Windows :-) and it is much easier to help someone if we have concrete output instead of "that failed".

[merrimac]

Here is the expected output:

$ make package
[ 1%] br24radar_pi-i18n: Done.
[ 42%] Built target br24radar-i18n
Scanning dependencies of target br24radar_pi
[ 44%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/shaderutil.cpp.o
[ 46%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/socketutil.cpp.o
[ 48%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/drawutil.cpp.o
[ 50%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/br24radar_pi.cpp.o
[ 51%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/br24ControlsDialog.cpp.o
[ 53%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/br24MessageBox.cpp.o
[ 55%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/br24OptionsDialog.cpp.o
[ 57%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/br24Receive.cpp.o
[ 59%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/br24Transmit.cpp.o
[ 61%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/icons.cpp.o
[ 63%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/GuardZone.cpp.o
[ 65%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/RadarInfo.cpp.o
[ 67%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/RadarCanvas.cpp.o
[ 69%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/RadarPanel.cpp.o
[ 71%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/RadarDraw.cpp.o
[ 73%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/RadarDrawShader.cpp.o
[ 75%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/RadarDrawVertex.cpp.o
[ 76%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/TextureFont.cpp.o
[ 78%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/nmea0183.cpp.o
[ 80%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/response.cpp.o
[ 82%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/sentence.cpp.o
[ 84%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/talkerid.cpp.o
[ 86%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/hexvalue.cpp.o
[ 88%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/expid.cpp.o
[ 90%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/hdt.cpp.o
[ 92%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/hdg.cpp.o
[ 94%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/nmea0183/hdm.cpp.o
[ 96%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/wxJSON/jsonreader.cpp.o
[ 98%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/br24radar_pi.dir/src/wxJSON/jsonval.cpp.o
[100%] Linking CXX shared library libbr24radar_pi.so
[100%] Built target br24radar_pi
Run CPack packaging tool...
CPack: Create package using DEB
CPack: Install projects
CPack: - Run preinstall target for: br24radar_pi
CPack: - Install project: br24radar_pi
CPack: Create package
CPack: - package: /Users/kees/keversoft/git/BR24radar_pi/build-linux-x86_64-pvlinux-release/br24radar_pi_2.614-1_amd64.deb generated.
CPack: Create package using RPM
CPack: Install projects
CPack: - Run preinstall target for: br24radar_pi
CPack: - Install project: br24radar_pi
CPack: Create package
CPackRPM: Will use GENERATED spec file: /Users/kees/keversoft/git/BR24radar_pi/build-linux-x86_64-pvlinux-release/_CPack_Packages/Linux/RPM/SPECS/br24radar_pi.spec
CPack: - package: /Users/kees/keversoft/git/BR24radar_pi/build-linux-x86_64-pvlinux-release/br24radar_pi_2.614-1_amd64.rpm generated.
CPack: Create package using TBZ2
CPack: Install projects
CPack: - Run preinstall target for: br24radar_pi
CPack: - Install project: br24radar_pi
CPack: Create package
CPack: - package: /Users/kees/keversoft/git/BR24radar_pi/build-linux-x86_64-pvlinux-release/br24radar_pi_2.614-1_amd64.tar.bz2 generated.
$ sudo dpkg -i br24*deb
Selecting previously unselected package br24radar_pi.
(Reading database ... 326907 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack br24radar_pi_2.614-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking br24radar_pi (2.614) ...
Setting up br24radar_pi (2.614) ...
$

[merrimac]

Also, <code>sudo make install</code> installs into /usr/local, probably not what you want if you didn't build OpenCPN yourself.

To undo sudo make install:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/opencpn
sudo rm -rf /usr/loca/share/locale/*/*/opencpn-br24*

To install just a new plugin without registering with the package manager, see how this works. I look for the shared libraries, see them in the expected place and change the radar library to be owned by me, so I can then just copy it any time I compiled it:

$ ls -l /usr/lib/opencpn
total 3924
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  918352 jun 26 11:10 libbr24radar_pi.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  707624 feb  7 01:09 libchartdldr_pi.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  856408 feb  7 01:09 libdashboard_pi.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1133344 feb  7 01:09 libgrib_pi.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  389680 feb  7 01:09 libwmm_pi.so
$ sudo chown kees /usr/lib/opencpn/libbr24radar_pi.so 
$ cp libbr24radar_pi.so /usr/lib/opencpn

Bingo!

[ve7mdl]

Hi Merrimac,

Actually, it is not the first time I have compiled under Linux, but in any case, your instructions for deleting a previous make install is likely the ticket.

I did not cut and paste the error because the navigation computer is only rarely connected to the Internet. I worked for many years in computer security, so paranoia is my second name :-)

Cheers, ....Erik.
Home