Weather Routing

[SoggyPaws]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Beta testers using the Beta version only! As a last resort you can download the right tarball from here and install using Import Plugin

I now have 4 versions of OpenCPN installed! My old 4.8.6, 5.0.x, and 5.1.428 (two different versions).

When I click Update Catalog from "Beta" on either 5.1.x version, I get almost nothing in the catalog. When I click Update Catalog from "Master" I get a number of plugins in the list. On 4.1.428.8f20022, when I look at the file ocpn-plugins.xml in the root data directory, the version of the Master Catalog is the same (0.0.0) but the date is different.

<plugins>
<version>0.0.0</version>
<date>2020-05-06 11:44</date>

This one includes wxroute (about 10 copies of it):

<plugin version="1">
<name> WeatherRouting </name>
<version> 1.13.7 </version>
<release> 0 </release>
<summary> Compute optimal routes based on weather and constraints.
</summary>
<api-version> 1.16 </api-version>]
etc

Note there are about 10 copies of wxroute and 10 copies of Windvane in this xml file (a bug, probably??), but only one of each shows up in the list in Settings/Plugins. Probably the other plugin entries are also duplicated (did not look furtherup in the file above WxRoute. Not sure if each copy is identical, and if not, whether the first, last, or random entry is the one that is used by the Plugin Manager.

On 4.1.428.e63cdd2 The ocpn-plugins.xml header looks like this

<plugins>
<version>0.0.0</version>
<date>2020-05-08 20:06</date>

This plugin Master file DOES NOT have wxroute in it, but it still has multiple copies of entries for each plugin.

Version and date information from these files SHOULD be listed by the Options / Plugins screen, to help track down issues with the xml file.

Edit: Clicking "Update Catalog" in either version, does NOT change the xml file. (the date created on my file doesn't change, and the contents of the file doesn't change), so they must be checking different places for that file, or not checking at all.

Sherry

[crockell]

Hi Rick,


I am running Ubuntu 20.04
I uninstalled OpenCPN using Synaptic

I re-installed OpenCPN using Synaptic with the old OpenCPN repository removed and added ppa.launchpad.net/bdbcat/opencpn/ubuntu focal. All seemed to go very cleanly, I now have the slicker Plugin loader and it looks cool.



To answer your questions;
- Yes I have hit Update Master Catalogue, and then I can see the oeRNC, oeSENC, and VDR plugins greyed out because I haven't downloaded them. I can't see WeatherRouting or Watchdog.

- Following your later advice I will keep to the Beta catalogue from now on since that is the version of OpenCPN I am using. When I update the Beta catalogue I can only see the 4 'system' plugins (GRIB, ChartDownloader, Dashboard, and WMM) with nothing greyed out ready to download.


I will try Import plugin using the link you gave me and see what happens. Watch this space...


regards,
Chris

[rgleason]

SoggyPaws, thanks for your observations and investigations:


1. When I click Update Catalog from "Beta" on either 5.1.x version, I get almost nothing in the catalog. When I click Update Catalog from "Master" I get a number of plugins in the list.
--Yes, Beta has virtually no metadata.

2. Note there are about 10 copies of wxroute and 10 copies of Windvane in this xml file (a bug, probably??), but only one of each shows up in the list in Settings/Plugins. Probably the other plugin entries are also duplicated (did not look furtherup in the file above WxRoute. Not sure if each copy is identical, and if not, whether the first, last, or random entry is the one that is used by the Plugin Manager.
-- The multiple metadata records are pointing to different URLs for different OS Environments (about 12)!

3. This plugin Master file DOES NOT have wxroute in it, but it still has multiple copies of entries for each plugin.
-- We recently changed the Master catalog because the Ubuntu version wxroute does not work in Ubuntu. The Win version was added back, so I suggest that you update the master catalog while connected to the internet.

[rgleason]

Following your later advice I will keep to the Beta catalogue from now on since that is the version of OpenCPN I am using. When I update the Beta catalogue I can only see the 4 'system' plugins (GRIB, ChartDownloader, Dashboard, and WMM) with nothing greyed out ready to download.

The beta version is not restricted to just the beta catalog, please use the "master catalog" primarily. Beta catalog is pretty empty right now.

[crockell]

Originally Posted by rgleason

The beta version is not restricted to just the beta catalog, please use the "master catalog" primarily. Beta catalog is pretty empty right now.

Thanks, will do.


I tried downloading from the link you gave me and ended up with weather_routing_pi-1.13.7.1_ubuntu-20.04-focal.xml on my desktop.
The Plugin importer couldn't find it because it only looks for .tar.gz files so

I used tar -zcf to compress it. The importer could find the compressed file but errors with "import plugin tarball does not contain required metadata".


It's incredible (and greatly appreciated) how quickly you are responding to these issues, but don't panic on my account because I'm going out for a while now...


thanks again,
Chris

[rgleason]

Chris I should have put weather_routing*tarball in the cloudsmith search. Sorry
https://cloudsmith.io/~rick-gleason/...outing*tarball


Note: We have found that the ubuntu versions do NOT work and have removed them from the catalog.

[crockell]

Thanks Rick,


I downloaded weather_routing_pi-1.13.7.1_ubuntu_20.04-focal.tar.gz.
When I Imported it I goit the following error;
"Incompatible import plugin detected"


Given your later comment that it is not working on Ubuntu as yet I will wait until you believe it is before I try again, unless there is something else you would like me to try?


Chris

[cagney]

OpenCPN beta continues to support deb packages. No change there.
So for Debian based systems, incl RPI, there is no change. Unless, of course you just want to try the new system.
Here is a package for Focal (64 bits), including updates to 7:th of May.
weather_routing_pi-1.13.7.1_ubuntu-20.04.deb.pdf

Get rid of the .pdf, click the package and follow the instructions.

Thomas

[rgleason]

Thomas, does this package work?

We are trying to chase bugs in wxrouting, related to ubuntu.
Windows version seems to work.

Originally Posted by cagney

OpenCPN beta continues to support deb packages. No change there.
So for Debian based systems, incl RPI, there is no change. Unless, of course you just want to try the new system.
Here is a package for Focal (64 bits), including updates to 7:th of May.
Attachment 214725

Get rid of the .pdf, click the package and follow the instructions.

Thomas

[cagney]

Yes it works. Using latest git code for both the plugin and O.

[rgleason]

Thankyou. That isgood. What repository and branch please?

[crockell]

Originally Posted by cagney

Yes it works. Using latest git code for both the plugin and O.

Attachment 214736

Hi cagney,


I installed the plugin from your .deb but O disappeared from my screen within moments. Choosing to start O without any plugins resolved it straight away, as did removing the .deb package.
I am running version 5.1.428 of O so may not be compatible with your version of the plugin?
In case it helps the last few messages in my log are;
09:55:18.655 MESSAGE navutil.cpp:1614 Done loading navobjects, 0 duplicate waypoints ignored
09:55:18.756 MESSAGE datastream.cpp:135 makeDataStream TCP:192.168.20.201:11123
09:55:18.756 MESSAGE datastream.cpp:213 ConnectionParams CTOR
09:55:18.756 MESSAGE NetworkDataStream.cpp:181 Opening TCP Server 0

regards,

Chris

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Hi,
Maybe someone is interested in a polar I made of our boat 2 years ago.
It is a catamaran, Switch 51 from Sud Composites 2003. About 14 of these boats have been made, our is #10


Speeds are for the following situation:
- Loaded for world navigation, so a few tons extra above the 13 standard

- Code 0 gennaker used at mx 15 apparent wind. This is a standard sail for this boat
- Reefed as appropriate
- In ocean waves, realistic speeds, not flat-water speeds
- Daggerboards used as appropriate
I tested it using the fantastic weather routing tool for 10,000+ nm in the Pacific and it gave very useful results.


I could not attach it here because it is not one of the allowed file types, and changing the extension did not work. Please send me an email address in a private message and I will reply with attachment.



Thanks for the great work.

[rgleason]

Jef,
Thanks for the testing. We can use your polar. Just add ".pdf" to the end and try attaching it here. I will know to remove the pdf. Thanks.


Also look for a new PI Manager version later to test. That will be helpful.

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Hi rgleason,
Thanks for your reply.

On my new navigation laptop the crashes don't happen.
Difference between the two laptops is mainly that the navigation PC (which does not have crashes) has a GeForce MX250 GPU and the laptop where it crashes has an embedded Intel GPU.
I read somewhere that the Microsoft drivers for the internal Intel GPU can give problemens with openGL because Microsoft favours other solutions above openGL. Maybe it has something to do with this.


If this is true, openCPN might recommend (in case of W10) to use computers with dedicated GPU. I consciously made the decision to buy a new laptop with dedicated GPU because of the above, luckily.



The polar is attached.