No Radar Plugin in Open CPN 5.6.0

[SirChaunchy]

I'm running Open CPN 5.6.0 on an M1 chip MacBook Pro and since I upgraded to 5.6.0 my radar plugin disappeared and I don't seem to be able to access it any longer. The only plugin catalog offered is the master and I've updated it, but there's no radar plugin available. I tried downloading Radar-Plugin_5.0.4-ov50.pkg and ran that. It said it installed the Radar Plugin on "Macintosh HD" but I don't see it anywhere so can't navigate to it from the Plugin page to attempt to install it. Any ideas how I can get a functional radar plugin back. I have a SIMRAD Navico 4G radar and it works great with Open CPN on my Raspberry Pi 4, but I'd also like it to work on my MacBook Pro so I have a backup.

[amajori]

change the catalog from master to beta and you will find the latest version that seems to me to work.
Antonio

[bcn]

to access the beta catalog:
close OCPN and edit the config file, opencpn.ini, to include:
in
[Settings]
CatalogExpert=1

[SirChaunchy]

Originally Posted by bcn

to access the beta catalog:
close OCPN and edit the config file, opencpn.ini, to include:
in
[Settings]
CatalogExpert=1

bcn, thanks for that tip because I didn't see the beta catalog. I still need one more level of detail on this tip. How do I get to the opencpn.ini? Are you saying open the terminal window and type CatalogExpert=1? If so do I not need to open the terminal from Open Plotter or where. In other words how exactly do I make the change you listed?

Thanks for your help.

[bcn]

The location of the opencpn.ini (and the opencpn.log) you reveal from the tool bar, the "About"/"?" button.
Open the ini file with TextEdit, identify the Settings section and add the lines there. Save, restart OpenCPN and you shall be able to chnage to the beta catalog.

[SirChaunchy]

Originally Posted by bcn

The location of the opencpn.ini (and the opencpn.log) you reveal from the tool bar, the "About"/"?" button.
Open the ini file with TextEdit, identify the Settings section and add the lines there. Save, restart OpenCPN and you shall be able to chnage to the beta catalog.

bcn, Thanks. I was able to navigate to the opencpn.ini file and use the text editor to insert the CatalogExpert=1 line just below the [settings] and save that, but when I then reopened OpenCPN it still did not list the beta catalog in the Options/plugins window. I noticed that the opencpn.ini file looks like a Windows file. I'm using an M1 chip MacBook Pro. Is that still the right file to be putting the CatalogExpert=1 instruction in for me?

[bcn]

We did send you to the wrong place in the ini file, sorry:


[PlugIns]
CatalogExpert=1
PluginOrder=windvane;WeatherFax;Watchdog;vfkaps;uk tides;TwoCan Plugin;testplugin;Tactics;StatusBar;squiddio;Radar ;Race Start

[SirChaunchy]

Originally Posted by bcn

We did send you to the wrong place in the ini file, sorry:


[PlugIns]
CatalogExpert=1
PluginOrder=windvane;WeatherFax;Watchdog;vfkaps;uk tides;TwoCan Plugin;testplugin;Tactics;StatusBar;squiddio;Radar ;Race Start

bcn,
That did not seem to work either. I went to the opencpn.ini file, opened it with text edit, located the [PlugIns] line and just below that inserted.
CatalogExpert=1
PluginOrder=windvane;WeatherFax;Watchdog;vfkaps;uk tides;TwoCan Plugin;testplugin;Tactics;StatusBar;squiddio;Radar ;Race Start

Then I reopened OpenCPN and in Options/Plugins it still shows "Update Plugin Catalog: Master, not Beta. Did I miss part of the instructions? Do I need to go back and remove the CatalogExpert=1 that I inserted under [Settings]?

[bcn]

A) yes, please remove the wrong entry in general settings
B) the second line about the plug-in order was only meant as an example - you will have your own order their
C) What happens when you select the settings on the right ("Einstellungen" in my German screen shot)? There you need to select the beta catalog.


Hubert

[nohal]

D) Make sure OpenCPN is not running while you edit the opencpn.ini file

[SirChaunchy]

Originally Posted by bcn

A) yes, please remove the wrong entry in general settings
B) the second line about the plug-in order was only meant as an example - you will have your own order their
C) What happens when you select the settings on the right ("Einstellungen" in my German screen shot)? There you need to select the beta catalog.


Hubert

Hubert,
During the period I shut the computer down and drove to my boat, the latest modification to the [Plugin] line you recommended worked. When I started OpenCPN on my M1 chip MacBook Pro on the boat and went to Options/Plugins and pushed the "settings" button, it now allowed me to chose the Beta catalog and I was able to download and install the new beta radar plugin. Once that plugin was installed, the radar plugin showed up in the window where all of the enabled plugins appear and when I pressed that, both the 4A and 4B radars of my SIMRAD NAVICO 4G radar showed up and I could address them as usual. They seem to be working perfectly now. Thank you so much for helping me with this.

[Carryonsailing]

I can confirm that the latest plugin works on my partners M1 chip macbook pro. Obviously thanks to all involved. Words cannot describe our gratitude.
However, having tested on mac and windows pc's all on the same network with recently installed navico halo 20. We have only Halo A working and no Halo B although it is selected. Halo B is not found when at the IP address scanning stage on either a mac or windows machine on the same network (which is a 5g router by the way).
I have switched off the firewall (in windows) to see if that is the issue. Makes no change.
Some of the doppler functionality and options are switched off for the Halo 20 A. as well. Is there something I can change to test it for the community? Otherwise I am grateful for what functionality I have as we have been without a radar for a while and cant bare to buy another BandG chart plotter again having had two fail in the last 3 years.
Thanks
Carry on sailing crew.

[merrimac]

Hi Carryonsailing,


I have tried this and yes you are right, there is something wrong when asking Halo B to transmit -- on Windows I get a repeatable crash.


Can you removing the Halo A from the list of enabled radars, then restart OpenCPN. After that, my installation was stable (well I tried it for all of 5 minutes) with Halo B running.


We'll have to investigate further but it looks as if we have some memory corruption.

[merrimac]

And by the way, the reason that the plugin is not in the master catalog is that we released the master version before OpenCPN 5.6.0 was released, and that switched to a different wxWidgets library (version 3.1.5) to fix some bugs. Unfortunately, at this moment it would be a lot of work for us to rebuild the old production version for wx315 so for now you will have to do with the (slightly broken) beta version on Mac.


On Windows and Linux, when using Navico radars, we recommend using the master version as the Beta is functionally only different in that it supports Raymarine Quantum.

[Carryonsailing]

Originally Posted by merrimac

And by the way, the reason that the plugin is not in the master catalog is that we released the master version before OpenCPN 5.6.0 was released, and that switched to a different wxWidgets library (version 3.1.5) to fix some bugs. Unfortunately, at this moment it would be a lot of work for us to rebuild the old production version for wx315 so for now you will have to do with the (slightly broken) beta version on Mac.


On Windows and Linux, when using Navico radars, we recommend using the master version as the Beta is functionally only different in that it supports Raymarine Quantum.

As I hope it clear, we are very grateful for your wonderful minds on the matter. FYI, ONLY the new Beta plugin from the Beta file worked on my partners /Slave's/ Crew M1 macbook pro. Otherwise there was no radar at all. Hope this helps. The dual funcitonality is not working of the Navico radar but that is being discussed in this thread also.
KR