Performance during anchor watch alarm

[Moo]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

I have had the same issues on a PI3 install of OpenCPN. When on anchor watch I tend to be zoomed in quite far. I've found that if I zoom back out to a more 'normal' zoom level I don't have the same problems. Curious if you see a difference in behavior when zoomed way in vs. way out?

In this case, I was at quite a wide zoom probably circa 20 NM across the screen. Had trouble zooming back in to be able to see the anchor mark under the boat icon.

[NahanniV]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

I have had the same issues on a PI3 install of OpenCPN. When on anchor watch I tend to be zoomed in quite far. I've found that if I zoom back out to a more 'normal' zoom level I don't have the same problems. Curious if you see a difference in behavior when zoomed way in vs. way out?

Not here, zoomed out, or panned off the screen makes no difference until the anchor watch is cleared.

[Moo]

Have you logged this as a bug?

Originally Posted by NahanniV

Not here, zoomed out, or panned off the screen makes no difference until the anchor watch is cleared.

[NahanniV]

Originally Posted by Moo

Have you logged this as a bug?

No, I was trying to diagnose another problem with OpenCPN when I saw that, so I just started using another system for anchor alarm and forgot about it.

[Simi 60]

Same issues here on a Lenovo Thinkcentre i7 8gb ram running win 10.
Cant zoom in or out cant deactivate, lag lag lag yet resource manager shows it barely at idle.
End up canning opencpn to make the noise stop but on startup anchor alarm is still going off.

Laptop running Linux has no such problem

[transmitterdan]

I’ll look into this.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

I’ll look into this.

[AedanC]

I have been playing with this tonight at home, playing a VDR file. I have reproduced it, once. It seems to occur when the anchor alarm is activating.

Play a VDR file where the boat is reasonably stable, set an anchor alarm and then move the anchor alarm point so that it starts alarming. See if OpenCpn becomes unresponsive then. It does not become completely unresponsive for me, just rather sluggish.

Windows 10 Home, 64bit. Intel Atom. Touch screen enabled. OpenCpn 5.0.0+9065270.

[Kolchac]

Why do you not use Anchor Watch apps for smartphones or tablets (with GPS)?? There are tons of them on google play for free or $5 with a lot of options - you can choose what you like, playing in your backyard. On a boat, I keep my phone inside near my pillow, but you can put it outside*and use a USB speaker*inside. Found a bug? - just switch to another app.*

[farotherside]

hey all,

I too am seeing major lag when an anchor drag alarm happens.

my two cents: it seems to be related to the actual playing of the audio file - like maybe the sound player function is a blocking call?

the reason I say this is because if OpenCPN is not in the foreground, the alarm sound is just a tiny "tick" sound, and only if OpenCPN is in the foreground do I get the full length alarm sound... and while the full-length alarm sound is playing and OpenCPN is in the foreground, the OpenCPN user interface responds very slowly. I wonder if maybe the tiny "tick" is because Linux multitasking gives a backgrounded program less pre-emtivity?

I've seen what could maybe be similar blocking in a large deployment of Linux server software that used a system call to send email; the software would hang for a second or two until the system call returned (ie the email sent) - took us a long time to track down and correlate those two-second hangs.

I'm using Ubuntu 18.04 and whatever stock audio, with a USB audio device.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Kolchac

Why do you not use Anchor Watch apps for smartphones or tablets (with GPS)?? .*

Because the anchor watch on opencpn is far superior, easy to activate as the plotter is already running and until this version, easy to deactivate.

I rarely use it as I have complete faith in our anchoring gear but I do use it during storms where I am awake, plotter running and ready for a move if required.

That's why it is especially annoying to me because if I do need to move in a hurry, a laggy unresponsive nav programme and a shrieking alarm that I can't deactivate does not help.

[transmitterdan]

Guys, I can’t reproduce this issue. I set anchor watch on a waypoint away from the boat. Alarm instantly goes off. I right click and select turn off anchor alarm and it stops. There is no hesitation or delay.

Tell me how you can reproduce this issue and a little about the computer you are using.

[Simi 60]

With me its as simple as drop mark on boat, right click and set anchor watch, drag mark so as to activate alarm and then spend several minutes with an unresponsive computer trying to turn it off/delete mark.

This on a lenovo thinkcentre M83 Tiny, Intel i7, 8gb ram running win 10 and the latest version of opencpn

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

With me its as simple as drop mark on boat, right click and set anchor watch, drag mark so as to activate alarm and then spend several minutes with an unresponsive computer trying to turn it off/delete mark.

This on a lenovo thinkcentre M83 Tiny, Intel i7, 8gb ram running win 10 and the latest version of opencpn

Operating system and version?

[Kolchac]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Because the anchor watch on opencpn is far superior, easy to activate .

Different opinions are always useful. Please help me to understand (I might be wrong). The precision of the smartphone GPS is the same as a marine GPS - 3 m/10'.
Now functionality:
1. anchor position. After I set the anchor (after reversing) I stand on a bow, point my smartphone along the rode, press button - and the anchor bearing is in the system (direct measurement), next - I know the rod length, phone position on a boat and the depth, - enter - get the anchor position.

Now difference:
Marking the anchor position at a time, when the anchor touches the ground (also option on a smartphone) impossible when you are singlehanded and you do not know how far the anchor moves during setting (boat reversing).

You can take the bearing with a compass and enter manually into the Opencpn, but it would be an indirect measurement including the human factor of reading, and magnetic bearing vs true one.

2. Setting secure circle or sector - probably no difference with the Opencpn.

3. Alarm - I can customize the sound, even: "Captain, please wakeup".

4. False alarm: it is a big one. The GPS reading could lose precision (depending on weather and some other things). Smartphone displays the reading precision. Also, I can customize the time for how long the boat could be out of the secure zone - very good for fighting false alarms.

5. Bugs and appearance: I can choose from tens of apps three what I like, test it on my backyard, running for 100s hours. If I still have doubts, I can run them simultaneously during anchoring.

So what is "far superior" for the Opencpn?
I'm not arguing, just trying to make the right decision.

Reading this post, I found you, guys, have a lot of problems.