Open CPN raspberry pi chartplotter.

[abgreenbank]

Hi i have just got a new raspberry pi 2 computer with the intention of running Open CPN 4 using an old generic bluetooth gps mouse which i have had for years. Lots on the internet and CF about setting it all up but very little about how to make open cpn use a bluetooth gps and raspbian OS.
Was easy to install NOOBs operating software and install open cpn and the CM93 maps but eventually with lots of trial and error got the gps working.
For those who like low power devices the raspberry pi is pretty good and its very cheap. All set up and running for around £60, assuming you have a monitor or hdmi tv and access to maps. its good enough for web browsing email etc but not quite up to the latest games.
If anybody is interested i can provide info and pictures.

rgrds
ab

[vasko]

i had a similar idea but instead using rospberry p using one of the android hdmi dongles ... 

[vasko]

BTW : got today the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter and it does great things in combination with my Surface Pro 3  I use to use only MacBook's  last 7-8 years but decided to try Surface |Pro 3 instead of MacBook this time and it actually does a great job and now I do not need carry my laptop + tablet , I can carry only one light device doing both jobs greatly  


www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Microsoft-Wireless-Display-Adapter/productID.308216600

[frankc64]

abgreenbank, Any info or pictures you can send or post would be great. I've been looking at Raspberry pi to use as a flooded basement alarm. I'd like to set it up to send me an i-message and email when water is detected. Would love to follow that up with some boat applications. Like maybe a slow strobe if water is detected at some bilge level (I'll be on a mooring). Thanks, Frank

[keithnic]

Hi ab,

Any more info you could provide would be great as I was just thinking about doing exactly the same.  Other option I thought about was using a Intel Nuc 2820 which can run windows and only uses 9 watts power.  Cost with a 128gb ssd is around £170 plus Windows OS. Raspberry 1 uses about three watts and OS is free so was going to try that first.

[abgreenbank]

Hi i have tried to keep my setup simple so it a pi 2 32gb sd card and bluetooth dongle and have an old bluetooth gps mouse.

You can buy a smaller card with noobs setup already but its easy to do yourself and lots of info availble on how to format and load noobs on to a micro sd card. Have the pi connected to a network/internet for setup.

www.raspberrypi.org/


this guide makes it easy to set up open cpn

www.agurney.com/raspberry-pi/pi-chart

if you download the tides version make sure when you  ' sudo dpkg -i opencpn_4.0.0-1_armhf_tides_map.deb ' use this rather than the non tides ' sudo dpkg -i opencpn_4.0.0-1_armhf.deb ' as per the guide, took me ages to realise my mistake

next step is to install a bluetooth manager and bluetooth gps, i found the nano editor the easiest to modify files, then and pair the bt gps

www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2013/12/holux-bluetooth-gps-module-and-the-raspberry-pi/
blog.dawnrobotics.co.uk/2013/11/talking-to-a-bluetooth-serial-module-with-a-raspberry-pi/

raspberry has no serial comm ports such as comm3 which open cpn normally uses so need to use ' /dev/rfcomm0' in the open cpn data connections.

there is lots of info on internet for different gps such as on board or usb, i just used the one i had.

I used raspberry pi as my new win 8.1 laptop and new dual xpgps150 wont talk to each other, their are bluetooth problems in win 8.1.

I hadnt used the comand line for 20 years but it wasnt difficult, to make less errors I had the various web sites open on the pi and copy and pasted the correct commands from the guides rather than my poor typing wiyh (lol) lots of errors.

eg
sudo apt-get install libwxgtk2.8-0 libglu1-mesa libtinyxml2.6.2 libwxbase2.8.0 libportaudio2 libjack-jackd2-0 wx2.8-i18n

impossible for an old man to type, but easy to paste!

important bit is it works and even on a large led tv, it does need an hdmi  moniter, a chartplotter for around £60 if you already have the tv!

to copy the CM93 maps i just used a usb stick.

if you want more help please ask.

ab