Twocan - a new Plugin

[bcn]

Steve,

how can we convince you to add the Actisense NGT to the supported devices?

Most probably the one with the biggest number of systems in the field.
And if we include the clones out there...

Hubert

[stevead]

Hi Hubert,
I'm sorry that not much has happened since you sent me your Actisense logs.


My biggest impediment besides time is simply that I do not own an NGT-1 with which I can develop or test against.
At the time I thought I coild simply use the Canboat code as a source, however the problem is a little more complex as the NGT-1 converts from NMEA 2000 to an Actisense proprietary format which means a separate parser is required to the NMEA 2000 parser in TwoCan.

Perhaps there should be a separate NGT-1 plugin implemented similarly to TwoCan. Another option to using the Canboat source code is to use the Actisense NGT-1 SDK which has a side benefit of making OpenCPN NMEA 2000 Certified!

[bcn]

Originally Posted by stevead

Perhaps there should be a separate NGT-1 plugin implemented similarly to TwoCan. Another option to using the Canboat source code is to use the Actisense NGT-1 SDK which has a side benefit of making OpenCPN NMEA 2000 Certified!

Steve..

in case the integration would imply to have the canboat code - mature and well tested over the years - as a complete second code branch in Twocan, a NGT-1 plug-in would be for sure an alternative making sense.
Just somebody would need to do it.
Once compiled here you have a volunteer to test.

Hubert

[Ben S]

I also have aa Actisense NGT to test
The Rusoku Toucan does not work for me, O chrashes when i enable the plugin on my boat setup.
Win10 64bit is not the same as Win7 32 bit i guess

[stevead]

Announcing the release of TwoCan version 1.8

First of all I would like to acknowledge the few users who seem to be using this plugin and have reported a few bugs; Lennart & Richard. Thanks very much.

Secondly I would like to thank Mike (aka Rasbats) who laid the foundation for a Mac OSX release.

Version 1.8 includes the following:

1. Data validation for incoming AIS messages to correctly parse "data unavailable" values for Speed Over Ground, "Course Over Ground","True Heading" and "Rate of Turn".

2. Support for Mac OSX. This release supports both the generic Log File reader and the inexpensive serial USB Canable Cantact CAN bus adapter.

I also discovered that the same command set (which seems to be a standard for serial SocketCAN devices), is used by other serial USB CAN bus adapters such as the USBTin and Lawicell adapters. Although I don't possess these and therefore have not been tested them, they may work.

Hopefully I have not introduced any regressions into the existing code.

The plugin (and instructions) may be downloaded from http://github.com/twocanplugin/twocanplugin

[LennartG]

Steven,
compiled and installed version 1.8 for Ubuntu 18.04/OpenCPN 5.0 and it appears to work just fine.
Got all the NMEA2000 signals required from the Garmin autopilot as well as Airmar DT800 echo sounder. Have not been able to taket it out on a sea trial test yet but that will come in a few days time.
A bit curious regarding code 127250 translation to both HDM and HDG and how the variation of about six degrees comes into play. Then adding deviation makes even more intriguing.

Thanks!
/Lennart

[bcn]

Lennart,


which CAN gateway did you use?


Hubert

[LennartG]

Hubert,
I'm using USBtin: https://www.fischl.de/usbtin/


the only drawback I've seen is that it is not electrically isolated between NMEA2K ground and computer ground so I'm using a 70mm2 common ground cable for all electronics. Apart from that it is, in all aspects I've tested, just perfect and very priceworthy.


/Lennart

[skkeith]

Is there anyone working with the onboard CAN bus of the Banana PI? Anyone else try to use the bPI+ or bPI from Lemarker? I would be interested in anyone interfacing with the can bus (or getting opengl acceleration working on armbian...). Where do I start if I want to write an interface to twocan for banana pi?

[stevead]

On Linux, TwoCan uses SocketCAN to interface with the CAN bus.

Any devices that support SocketCAN should work.

I have no experience with the BananaPi, however a quick search reveals the following https://forum.armbian.com/topic/1358...s-not-working/ which may be of help to you.

[SCarns]

I just ordered my Rusoku Toucan adapter for my Mac. Once I get it, I’ll give this a thorough run through. Excited for it, as I’ve found a couple limitations to my Yacht Devices UBS adapter.

[stevead]

Originally Posted by SCarns

I just ordered my Rusoku Toucan adapter for my Mac. Once I get it, I’ll give this a thorough run through. Excited for it, as I’ve found a couple limitations to my Yacht Devices UBS adapter.

Wow, this will be interesting ! From the readme on the TwoCan github repository:

Similarly For Mac OSX it does not use a "plug-in" driver model, rather it also uses two "baked in" classes that support the generic Log File reader and a serial USB CAN interface such as the Canable Cantact adapter (see above). It was only developed with the Canable Cantact device in mind, however it should work with any serial USB CAN bus adapter that supports the SLCAN command set such the USBTin adapter (see above) and the Lawicell adapters. The TwoCan plugin automagic port detection includes the USB VendorId's and Product Id's for these three adapters.

So I'm sorry to say that at the moment the Rusoku device is not currently supported o Mac OSX. However, that being said, there is a Rusoku Mac OSX driver available on https://github.com/mac-can/RusokuCAN so it would be possible to adapt the test code from either can_test or can_mon to work with the TwoCan plugin.

Unfortunately with the Corona travel restrictions, I'm about 10,000 Nm away from my Rusoku device, NMEA 2000 network (and my boat), but happy to help you with the port.

BTW, Interested in what limitations you find with the Yacht Devices product.

[SCarns]

Originally Posted by stevead

Wow, this will be interesting ! From the readme on the TwoCan github repository:So I'm sorry to say that at the moment the Rusoku device is not currently supported o Mac OSX. However, that being said, there is a Rusoku Mac OSX driver available on https://github.com/mac-can/RusokuCAN so it would be possible to adapt the test code from either can_test or can_mon to work with the TwoCan plugin.

Unfortunately with the Corona travel restrictions, I'm about 10,000 Nm away from my Rusoku device, NMEA 2000 network (and my boat), but happy to help you with the port.

BTW, Interested in what limitations you find with the Yacht Devices product.

Bummer, so I won't be able to use it directly on Mac OS X at this time?

Yacht Devices doesn't translate all the PNGs from 2K to 183. Specifically, the attitude sentences. They were suppose to do a firmware update to include the rest, but that hasn't happened yet. I've been spending quite a bit of time removing latency in my system, as most of my stuff is N2K now, albeit the Raymarine SeatalkNG version for the most part. So I would like to remove as much N2K to 183 connections as possible. I'm finding my gear is happier with out the converters.

[stevead]

Bummer, so I won't be able to use it directly on Mac OS X at this time?

Not today, perhaps tomorrow...

If you can install/compile the Mac-Can Rusoku drivers from the repository https://github.com/mac-can/RusokuCAN and get the samples to display the NMEA 2000 network traffic that would be a great start,

Then it should be a simple matter to shoehorn the necessary Mac-Can API'c calls into a TwoCan driver. The TwoCan driver has virtual methods for open, close, read & write that would need to be implemented using the appropriate Mac-Can API's.

IIRC, I do parse PGN 127257 (Attitude) but you may want to confirm that the NMEA 183 sentence that it is converted to (XDR) has the correct Transducer Name (YAW/PITCH/ROLL) to be consumed by OpenCPN and/or the Dashboard plugin.

Feel free to send a PM.

[teppokurki]

Originally Posted by SCarns

Bummer, so I won't be able to use it directly on Mac OS X at this time?

Yacht Devices doesn't translate all the PNGs from 2K to 183. Specifically, the attitude sentences.

Afaik all YD n2k devices can work in RAW mode, providing direct access to the n2k data. Twocan could add support for their documented RAW format and you could have only one adapter. If I understood correctly your setup..

Signal K server supports RAW via canboatjs and can translate to 0183. Being open source and js if you are not happy with the translations you can tweak them with even moderate it skills