OpenCPN on Raspberry PI2

[seandepagnier]

I think I should mention this:

If you want accelerated opengl which a much better acceleration than rpi2 will ever have and also even better cpu performance at the same price, just get an odroid-c1.

[sparticle]

Alasdair,

I hear you but no supply of these boards is available and I suspect it will be long forgotten when the rpi2 is still supported with a very large community. It is already obsolete and replaced with the pre-order XU-4 for twice the price.

I get that there are a multitude of single board Arm7+ boards out there and this market moves at light speed...

The rpi2 is a great spec machine and yes I also get that the lack of a Broadcom native driver is a problem for all of us that want to use it in earnest with grown up applications like OpenCPN etc. It is also cheap to have another redundant unit on standby in the event of an issue and will have availability for a long time. Anyone having a C1 that needed to replace it will be faced with recompiling for the samsung processor etc.

I live in hope that the brainpower of the community will overcome these issues. Otherwise as you say it may be necessary to go another direction and start the process of learning all og the shortcomings of that platform!

I also wanted to report an issue. Maybe others have already seen it before. If I enable the dashboard plugin and enable the clock applet it crashes opencpn and leaves nothing sensible in the logs. It spammed syslog with endless of these:
Jul 23 06:33:00 pi org.mate.panel.applet.ClockAppletFactory[589]: (clock-applet:764): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_param_spec_get_redirect_target: assertion 'G_IS_PARAM_SPEC (pspec)' failed

Maybe I am on the wrong track with these errors but could find nothing else in error.
I could not restart OpenCPN without a reboot.

I have disabled the clock applet and am running an extended 24 hour test to see if it is stable. Version was compiled last night and all went well no errors. So far all seems well no log spam etc. The system was not connected to a gps during the failed test. And is not connected to a gps now just the lan.

I can provide more info if you can point me in the direction of what might be useful.

Cheers
Spart

[NahanniV]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

I think I should mention this:

If you want accelerated opengl which a much better acceleration than rpi2 will ever have and also even better cpu performance at the same price, just get an odroid-c1.

I am sure there are better platforms, but the Pi has a huge following and will be around for a while.

As I have said before, I think it would be beneficial to pick a platform to support and create a complete image that an average user can download or buy a pre-programmed memory card of.

Navigatrix is a good example of this for intell Linux; it has all the programs an average sailor/cruiser needs.

If efforts could be focused on one platform a very polished and bug free distribution could be created.

Probably never happen though.

Cheers,
JM.

[petter5]

Originally Posted by NahanniV

Navigatrix is a good example of this for intell Linux; it has all the programs an average sailor/cruiser needs.

If efforts could be focused on one platform a very polished and bug free distribution could be created.

Probably never happen though.

Cheers,
JM.

I agree that a image would be nice for the PI, but the Navigatrix way is not the solution for the PI, it's far to heavy. Xinutop runs fast on every pc I has tried, but Navigatrix needs a recend decent pc with plenty cpu and ram. For low power pc's like the PI, the Xinutop way is the way to go,,,

[sparticle]

Originally Posted by petter5

I agree that a image would be nice for the PI, but the Navigatrix way is not the solution for the PI, it's far to heavy. Xinutop runs fast on every pc I has tried, but Navigatrix needs a recend decent pc with plenty cpu and ram. For low power pc's like the PI, the Xinutop way is the way to go,,,

I don't agree. Debian is the way to go. Installed initially as a minimal server install and then adding only needed packages and a mainstream desktop environment with the backup of 000's of developers. But as we all know this a pseudo religious type of debate

I am seriously impressed with the Rpi 2 running a mainstream Linux desktop and as a pure server it is awesome with enough IO options and power for most people. We have built our own NMEA multiplexor, boat server, HTML5 instrument display (coming) etc. etc. using lower spec Pi. Then we use the Rpi2 for the navigation display and course computer. For fractions of the cost of other solutions and a lot more fun

Cheers
Spart

[petter5]

Originally Posted by sparticle

I don't agree. Debian is the way to go.

It could as well be a minimal debian image with opencpn optimized and preinstalled,,,

[sparticle]

Originally Posted by petter5

It could as well be a minimal debian image with opencpn optimized and preinstalled,,,

Exactly

[Freetime3200]

My Odroid C1 is running with ubuntu 14.04 LTS v1.4.1. I have Opencpn (armf) and it's running very good but it's impossible to change the language (only english). I want a french version. Th sytem is perfect and i have no probleme to connect the C1 with my centrale B&G Zeus by wifi with a Gofree. AIS is ok. Someone can help me to find a solution for the French language. I have too a Raspberry PI2 with OPENCPN. It's perfect and there is a french version compiled by Agurney. I think the Odroid is better but in french it will be perfect...Thank you for you help and sorry for my bad english...

[nohal]

sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales

Enable fr_FR.UTF8 locale
Start OpenCPN and switch it to French

[Freetime3200]

Tank you I try...

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by NahanniV

I am sure there are better platforms, but the Pi has a huge following and will be around for a while.

As I have said before, I think it would be beneficial to pick a platform to support and create a complete image that an average user can download or buy a pre-programmed memory card of.

Navigatrix is a good example of this for intell Linux; it has all the programs an average sailor/cruiser needs.

If efforts could be focused on one platform a very polished and bug free distribution could be created.

Yes, well.. this is _supposed_ to be android but it turns out this isn't exactly true.

Anyway, the rpiv2 should work well and better when acceleration is working, it's just that there are already boards out there for cheaper which are better, but of course we should support as many platforms as we can, especially popular ones as these rpiv2 will be around for years.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

it's just that there are already boards out there for cheaper which are better.

Which ones, please?

Ta

[Schooner Chandlery]

Like, conachair, I would be curious about boards that fit the niche the Pi does: inexpensive, large community of developers, etc. The fact that the new Pi uses a standard linux distro (Debian Jessie) is a huge benefit. Pretty much any useful platform that uses a standard Debian linux OS is of interest. The whole broadcom "blob" issue with the RPI is a fly-in-the-ointment for the particular platform -- but the benefits seem to outweigh this, at the moment. It seems pretty clear that boat_alexandra doesn't like the RPI but I think we all get that way--we favor a particular platform or other based upon our own needs and what we happen to already have used or have aboard--or want to deal with from a development perspective. Doesn't mean the RPI is bad (or good) just that some among us have their own other preferences rather than RPI.

[RaymondR]

As I have said before, I think it would be beneficial to pick a platform to support and create a complete image that an average user can download or buy a pre-programmed memory card of.

I have become a very dedicated user of OpenCPM and have completed about 4,000nm of coastal cruising using it over the past 3 - 4 years. I have a dedicated Asus eee 10" PC with Win 7 connected to a Raymarine ST4000 autopilot through a USB to RS422/485 converter and only have the occasional crash. Unfortunately I suspect it uses a little too much power and would like to replace the Asus with one of the smaller format computers. Consequently I am really looking forward to the above quote eventuating.

[sea-bee]

I set up OCPN on the RPi B model, but found it a bit slow to use.

I am looking for a faster imbedded system, but all the alternative boards also seem to have the same GPU with the same drivers as the RPi2. A solution to this issue will be a huge breakthrough.

Chris