Improved GNUAIS (AISMON for Linux)

[Tia Bu]

Hackoon:

I'm trying to follow your instructions on how to install Gnuais two posts above. But they are losing me. Can you expand them a bit so the less computer literate of us could follow them?

I was able to download the file o.k. I believe I extracted it to my desktop o.k. (Is this a step you left out of the instructions, or did I do something wrong?) I think I got "sh opencpn.sh" to run finally by double clicking on it (I never got it to run from the terminal screen). The hard disk whirred and buzzed for a few seconds. That appears to launch OpenCPN. But then I have no idea how to "configure opencpn to use "/tmp/aisfifo" as AIS-INPUT". There seems to be no icon or menu choice in OpenCPN that matches that description. Any help would be much appreciated. Am I even close with any of this? I'm sorry if my ignorance of Linux is holding me back, but I've been using this computer for a couple of years and can generally get things to work with a little effort.

I am using Ubuntu 9.10 and OpenCPN 1.3.6.

Many thanks and all the best.

[yachtmanforfun]

Originally Posted by Tia Bu

Hackoon:

I'm trying to follow your instructions on how to install Gnuais two posts above. But they are losing me. Can you expand them a bit so the less computer literate of us could follow them?

I was able to download the file o.k. I believe I extracted it to my desktop o.k. (Is this a step you left out of the instructions, or did I do something wrong?) I think I got "sh opencpn.sh" to run finally by double clicking on it (I never got it to run from the terminal screen). The hard disk whirred and buzzed for a few seconds. That appears to launch OpenCPN. But then I have no idea how to "configure opencpn to use "/tmp/aisfifo" as AIS-INPUT". There seems to be no icon or menu choice in OpenCPN that matches that description. Any help would be much appreciated. Am I even close with any of this? I'm sorry if my ignorance of Linux is holding me back, but I've been using this computer for a couple of years and can generally get things to work with a little effort.

I am using Ubuntu 9.10 and OpenCPN 1.3.6.

Many thanks and all the best.

hi I am running Ubuntu 10.04 beta. I had a go at compiling the improved GNUais.

The first issue is that it was originally compiled on a different version of Linux. Ie not ubuntu.

from memory one of the problems I ran into was that it was calling for I believe the alsa sound library. This is now no longer the default in Ubuntu as they have moved to Pulse Audio I believe.

There were a couple of other little compatibility issues etc.

What is needed I think to make improved GNUais work for Ubuntu users is someone who is a strong Ubuntu programmer which I am not. Recompiling GNUais for Ubuntu with all the relevant library issues sorted out and then creating a .deb file for ubuntu users to install through the usual automated ways.

this may not be a simple task but one that would certainly be a huge leap forward for OpenCPN users.

George

[wadda]

We we just having a discussion about the opencpn.sh tonight.

A friend came up with the idea of killing gnuais after opencpn is closed...rather than letting it wonder around in the background and run the risk of going wild and sucking all the time from the cpu.

It would look like this....only adding the last line.

#!/bin/sh
mkfifo /tmp/aisfifo
pidof gnuais || sudo gnuais -c /etc/gnuais.conf -f >/dev/null 2>&1
opencpn $@ >/dev/null 2>&1
sudo killall gnuais

[coupdemistral]

Hackon

maybe you can help me out, since you seem pretty familiar with gnuais. I am trying to stream the NMEA messages coming from gnuais as UDP packets to a remote server using aisdispatcher. I tried:

gnuais | aisdispatcher -i -G -H <server_ip_address>:<port>

but, since the output from gnuais includes some decoded info mixed with the original NMEA message, aisdispatcher gives me, predictably, nothing but CRC errors.

Does your FIFO version output pure NMEA messages to the fifo? If not, can you think of another way I could do this?

(I am using an ubuntu box without a serial port so directing the gnuais output to /dev/ttys0 and having aisdipatcher pick it up from there is not an option)

Thank you very much!

[hackoon]

start gnuais (see above)
tail -f /tmp/aisfifo | aisdispatcher -i -G -H <server_ip_address>:<port>

should do the job

happy to see somebody is still using it

[sailias]

Not directly related but close. Is there a way I can pipe remote AIS data into OpenCPN given the new setup in "Version 3.1.1105 Build 2012-11-05" which allows for networked data inputs. So what I would like to do for testing purposes is hook into a web based AIS service and pipe that data to OCPN. Just dont know of a suitable free service, setup should be simple: URL:Port UDP/TCP stream.

Best regards

/ch

[cagney]

Originally Posted by sailias

Not directly related but close. Is there a way I can pipe remote AIS data into OpenCPN given the new setup in "Version 3.1.1105 Build 2012-11-05" which allows for networked data inputs. So what I would like to do for testing purposes is hook into a web based AIS service and pipe that data to OCPN. Just dont know of a suitable free service, setup should be simple: URL:Port UDP/TCP stream.

Best regards

/ch

Have a look here ->http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1083516

[sailias]

AH.....works like a charm...Many thanks. Now that I know it works, I cant start playing with other things...

Best regards

/ch

[coupdemistral]

I was finally able to get it to work - thanks hackoon!

[yachtmanforfun]

Originally Posted by hackoon

This is a improved version of gnuais to output on a fifo (/tmp/aisfifo)

copy gnuais.conf to /etc/
use sh opencpn.sh to start
or do
mkfifo /tmp/aisfifo
gnuais -c /etc/gnuais.conf

http://fserv.skill-club.com/get_1089_6de4.html

Works very well with a modified VHF. I've seen AIS targets at a distance of 200sm!!

Hi Hackoon

I am trying to follow your instructions.

I have downloaded the deb file of gnuais I found on the web. Not the source code version which you describe as needing compiling.

When I run Gnuais it seems to run and asks me to lower the sound card below 100% in the terminal window. So I figure sound is getting through.

I have modified my gnuais.config to

serial_port /tmp/aisfifo

But when I try to conect the fifo i get the following.

george@acer:~$ gnuais -c /etc/gnuais.conf
2013/07/14 15:42:19.565365 gnuais[14766:3060479744] NOTICE: Starting up...
2013/07/14 15:42:19.565906 gnuais[14766:3060479744] WARNING: Config: logdir not defined. Using . as log directory
2013/07/14 15:42:19.566838 gnuais[14766:3060479744] INFO: Opened serial port /tmp/aisfifo for NMEA output
2013/07/14 15:42:19.566953 gnuais[14766:3060479744] ERR: Could not read serial port parameters on port /tmp/aisfifo: Inappropriate ioctl for device
2013/07/14 15:42:19.566981 gnuais[14766:3060479744] ERR: Could not configure serial port parameters on port /tmp/aisfifo: Inappropriate ioctl for device
2013/07/14 15:42:19.586777 gnuais[14766:3060479744] NOTICE: Started
2013/07/14 15:42:19.723857 gnuais[14766:3060479744] INFO: Level on ch 0: 10 %
2013/07/14 15:42:19.727212 gnuais[14766:3060479744] INFO: Level on ch 1: 6 %
2013/07/14 15:42:20.104185 gnuais[14766:3060479744] INFO: Level on ch 0: 6 %

I would be grateful for any advice.

George