Recommended Cockpit Platform

[hpeer]

Mgrouch,

I have been working with Ray since the last posts. He has made some progress in that I have the EDATEC screen displaying. There is no screen rotation and the touch screen does not work.

We have been sharing our results, he has the same issues I do, but he doesn’t have the time to delve into them. As is understandable his answers to me are getting more brief, and as a newbie I need handholding.

The changes are now waaaaay over my head. The last go round he has me changing the config.txt file and now the machine will not boot. I can recover by reinstalling the BBN OS and redoing all the code changes to date to get the screen working, but to what end?

My next step is to revert to the OS version that came with the EDATEC machine. And then try installing OCPN and see if that works.

I can not tell where the issue lays, or if the EDATEC display is generally incompatible with OCPN.

This raises another more general Pi/OCPN question…..is there ANY touch screen display known to work?

On a brighter note I have BBN working on the other Pi5 with a separate screen. But that also has no touch screen which sorta kills the concept by requiring a mouse and keyboard.

[mgrouch]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Mgrouch,

I have been working with Ray since the last posts. He has made some progress in that I have the EDATEC screen displaying. There is no screen rotation and the touch screen does not work.

We have been sharing our results, he has the same issues I do, but he doesn’t have the time to delve into them. As is understandable his answers to me are getting more brief, and as a newbie I need handholding.

The changes are now waaaaay over my head. The last go round he has me changing the config.txt file and now the machine will not boot. I can recover by reinstalling the BBN OS and redoing all the code changes to date to get the screen working, but to what end?

My next step is to revert to the OS version that came with the EDATEC machine. And then try installing OCPN and see if that works.

I can not tell where the issue lays, or if the EDATEC display is generally incompatible with OCPN.

This raises another more general Pi/OCPN question…..is there ANY touch screen display known to work?

On a brighter note I have BBN working on the other Pi5 with a separate screen. But that also has no touch screen which sorta kills the concept by requiring a mouse and keyboard.

The issue with this EDATEC display is that it’s using DSI instead of HDMI and requires custom closed source kernel driver. It seems the driver has issues.
The driver comes from your vendor EDATEC who you paid money for the product. Their support staff is paid to provide support, it’s their job. I helped them to reproduce the issue on their side. As far as I know it’s still unresolved. I do not have that screen and I can’t even reproduce the issue, nor I have access to the code of their proprietary driver, so I’m not the best person to ask.

Many HDMI touchscreens work with pi5, as well as some DSI ones (without custom drivers).
I think a responsible vendor should respond to paying customers issues.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by mgrouch

Edatec industrial pi5 with 10” touchscreen

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ra...-industrial-pc

with BBN Marine OS installed on it

https://github.com/bareboat-necessities/lysmarine_gen

Could be a good option for you.

Fair Winds!

I understand your points. But I also understand that a vendor can not reasonably support ever instance of software that may be run on his device.

So this leaves the community in a quandary pit that I just fell into.

Maybe it would be a good idea to make a list of equipment known to work.

So let me loop all the way back to my original question.

Can someone recommend the most reliable OCPN configuration? A integrated touch screen is desired. Preferably something known to work Out Of The Box, without needed coding? Maybe I need to start a new thread.

Tomorrow I will give straight unadorned OCPN a try. Or is the way to do that via Open Plotter?

If I can make that work that is good enough for me. I think!

[mgrouch]

Originally Posted by hpeer

I understand your points. But I also understand that a vendor can not reasonably support ever instance of software that may be run on his device.

Vendors do not have to support every software that can be run. In this case vendor just need to support Xorg server and its input drivers for touch on pi5 bookworm.
It’s pretty mainstream software to support.

[mgrouch]

Originally Posted by hpeer

I understand your points. But I also understand that a vendor can not reasonably support ever instance of software that may be run on his device.

So this leaves the community in a quandary pit that I just fell into.

Maybe it would be a good idea to make a list of equipment known to work.

So let me loop all the way back to my original question.

Can someone recommend the most reliable OCPN configuration? A integrated touch screen is desired. Preferably something known to work Out Of The Box, without needed coding? Maybe I need to start a new thread.

Tomorrow I will give straight unadorned OCPN a try. Or is the way to do that via Open Plotter?

If I can make that work that is good enough for me. I think!

FIY Edatec support was able to resolve all remaining issues with touchscreen. Only calibration was remaining.

I’ve posted the solution here:

https://github.com/bareboat-necessit...ent-2146578366


You should be able to use your Edatec device on BBN OS now. They specifically tested it on BBN OS.


Cheers

[hpeer]

A note on hardware issues. I had a couple which, as a newbie, really messed with me.

It seems that some Pi suppliers provide a thermal barrier under the Pi card. If not carefully applied this can get into the SD card and cause it to not seat or the contacts to not make. My SD slot was really jammed with this stuff. It took a few tries to get it sufficiently clean to work reliably. I used a fine pin and magnifiers to see. My SD card has what appears to be a contact which closes when the care is inserted. This switch in particular was crammed full of the grey stuff. Below is a link on the issue including how it presents on a second monitor.

https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewt...63063#p2178483

The other issue was a crappy micro-HDMI connector which came with the second monitor. The adapter itself was bulky and only barely fit in the space allowed, and was awkward because of the relatively stiff HDMI cable. Worse, it seems to have had a mfg defect and did not fit the SD socket well, difficult to insert. The upshot is it broke off in the slot leaving the metal housing behind. I got it out OK but sourcing a replacement is difficult. In my remote area Amazon Next Day delivery is 1 to 2 weeks. I recommend buying a couple of these adaptors, but get some with at least a couple of inches of small cable so as to decouple the stress from the heavy HDMI cable.

[mgrouch]

Originally Posted by hpeer

A note on hardware issues. I had a couple which, as a newbie, really messed with me.

It seems that some Pi suppliers provide a thermal barrier under the Pi card. If not carefully applied this can get into the SD card and cause it to not seat or the contacts to not make. My SD slot was really jammed with this stuff. It took a few tries to get it sufficiently clean to work reliably. I used a fine pin and magnifiers to see. My SD card has what appears to be a contact which closes when the care is inserted. This switch in particular was crammed full of the grey stuff. Below is a link on the issue including how it presents on a second monitor.

https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewt...63063#p2178483

The other issue was a crappy micro-HDMI connector which came with the second monitor. The adapter itself was bulky and only barely fit in the space allowed, and was awkward because of the relatively stiff HDMI cable. Worse, it seems to have had a mfg defect and did not fit the SD socket well, difficult to insert. The upshot is it broke off in the slot leaving the metal housing behind. I got it out OK but sourcing a replacement is difficult. In my remote area Amazon Next Day delivery is 1 to 2 weeks. I recommend buying a couple of these adaptors, but get some with at least a couple of inches of small cable so as to decouple the stress from the heavy HDMI cable.

Another common issue is that USB plug fits into LAN socket, but obviously doesn’t work.

[hpeer]

I am at a pause point now trying to decide on a path forward. Betwix and between. I have OpenPlotter running on the EDATEC, the is a screen orientation issue but I assume that will resolve. I am having trouble with charts loading, or not, that may be because I have the chart SD in a hub, not the Pi. I will sort that out.

The bigger issue is the EDATEC is a very poor candidate for any OCPN usage because the GIPO (?) pins are not physically available. My application does not (yet) require their use but anyone who wants to install any HAT will be disappointed. It appears the EDATEC video card uses these pins but does not extend them. I could be wrong, just my observation. Photos below of the EDATEC next to a regular Rpi5.

The EDATEC has a nice rugged metal case but it is pretty heavy. It is in no way waterproof. And the screen would not survive much banging around. This thing is made to he mounted in a panel in some relatively protected environment, not banging around in Force 6 on a sailboat.

As to the SD drive issue Insee that in their own User Manual they have cut away the grey putty under the SD card. So they must have had the same issue. Disappointing they shipped units with a known problem.

I may still go with a Rpi5 as a below deck chart server. But a regular Rpi without the display mods would work for that.

[hpeer]

Reading a bit further it seems I NEED a MacArthur HAT in order to get NEMA 2000 into the Pi?

I have a YDR (Yacht Devices Router) that aggregates all my 0183, Sea Talk, and NEMA 2000 data onto a WiFi. I GUESS I could recieve all that data onto a Pi5 via WIFI but would need a second Rpi WIFI TO rebroadcast to other devices (tablet or phone).

Is this true?

[stevead]

Why not peruse the OpenCPN manual.

Hopefully Rick's efforts corralling cantankerous contributors was not in vain.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Reading a bit further it seems I NEED a MacArthur HAT in order to get NEMA 2000 into the Pi?

I have a YDR (Yacht Devices Router) that aggregates all my 0183, Sea Talk, and NEMA 2000 data onto a WiFi. I GUESS I could recieve all that data onto a Pi5 via WIFI but would need a second Rpi WIFI TO rebroadcast to other devices (tablet or phone).

Is this true?

Many devices can connect to the Yacht Devices wifi router, you don’t need to re-broadcast anything. When you want to transmit data from OpenCPN, like navigating to a waypoint or following a route, then it’s easiest to configure the router and all pc’s, tablets and phones for bidirectional UDP mode.

For high capacity, use a decent wifi access point and connect everything incl. the YachtDevices router as a client to that.

[hpeer]

Jedi,

Thank you.

More reading to be done.

[mgrouch]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Reading a bit further it seems I NEED a MacArthur HAT in order to get NEMA 2000 into the Pi?

I have a YDR (Yacht Devices Router) that aggregates all my 0183, Sea Talk, and NEMA 2000 data onto a WiFi. I GUESS I could recieve all that data onto a Pi5 via WIFI but would need a second Rpi WIFI TO rebroadcast to other devices (tablet or phone).

Is this true?

You do not necessarily need MacArthur hat. And you do not need second pi to rebroadcast anything.
You would need regular WiFi or LTE travel router for your local and WAN networks.

For your NMEA 2000 connectivity you have many options. Some are via USB. Check

https://github.com/SignalK/signalk-s...ea2000-can-bus

I’ve made DIY USB gateway with esp32 using cheap m5stack components. It wasn’t difficult, thanks to existing libraries.

https://github.com/bareboat-necessit...-usb-gw-m5atom

[hpeer]

Thank you for that.

At the moment i am taking a pause, other projects have taken priority.

I kinda have the Rpi issue in hand, but I need to rethink and restate my objectives, for myself.

[hpeer]

ONE of my other projects (and there are many) was to look into replacing the radar system. I have a RM C-80 and 2006 analog radar. I knew OFPN could take radar and figured I would do that.

Now looking deeper into the situation I find that a Halo20 (or other Halo) fed into a Simrad/Lowrence/B&G MFD will work with their GoFree interface. And a 9 inch, 1,200 display, IP-68 is like $800!

That display will fit the C-80 cut out (will need a compromise plate). It also has nema 2000 and a wifi connection to send that data AND receive controls to an Android tablet at the helm. This will also have my wind, depth, and AIS data.

That sounds like a pretty inexpensive package that should do all I need.

Not having had hand/eyes on experience I obviously do not know.

Any comments here?