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gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination
to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Mon, 6 Sep 2010 19:37:45 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, There is a relatively new (and free) charting package called OpenCPN. It will work with just about any GPS: http://opencpn.org/ http://opencpn.org/download I don't have any experience with Bluetooth GPS units, however I recently purchased a USB GPS that I'm very happy with: http://www.amazon.com/USGlobalSat-BU-353-WaterProof-Enabled-Receiver/dp/B000V5TV22 It is very accurate, sensitive, quick to acquire satellites, inexpensive, small, and water proof. It has worked with every software mapping package that I've tried it with including Maptech, Street Map (both USA and Europe), and OpenCPN. It also comes with utility software and drivers which create a virtual COM port, displays the port # of the GPS unit, displays satellite info, and displays NMEA sentences. |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
JohnF wrote:
What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, Have you tried google earth? it has e few cute gps modes, and is free... |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Mon, 6 Sep 2010 19:37:45 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, I have a - no idea of the name of the thing, probably Chinese anyway - Bluetooth GPS receiver. Came with a mini-disk with drivers which installed a "Bluetooth serial port" and IIRC allowed one to change the port number as required. Connected it up, configured the port and the two chart plotter applications I have worked with no problems. As far as I know the chart-plotter software all simply accesses one or another of the serial ports to receive a data stream and doesn't care what generates that data. The problem I had was that the GPS had to be located above deck and the battery in the Bluetooth GPS would run down in a few hours so I adapted it to run on 12 VDC. But that was the only problem. Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:10:44 +0200, Sjouke Burry
wrote: JohnF wrote: What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, Have you tried google earth? it has e few cute gps modes, and is free... Does google earth display navigation aids, buoy and channel markers, etc and water depth? Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:57:34 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote: On Mon, 6 Sep 2010 19:37:45 +0000 (UTC), JohnF wrote: What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, There is a relatively new (and free) charting package called OpenCPN. It will work with just about any GPS: http://opencpn.org/ http://opencpn.org/download I don't have any experience with Bluetooth GPS units, however I recently purchased a USB GPS that I'm very happy with: http://www.amazon.com/USGlobalSat-BU-353-WaterProof-Enabled-Receiver/dp/B000V5TV22 It is very accurate, sensitive, quick to acquire satellites, inexpensive, small, and water proof. It has worked with every software mapping package that I've tried it with including Maptech, Street Map (both USA and Europe), and OpenCPN. It also comes with utility software and drivers which create a virtual COM port, displays the port # of the GPS unit, displays satellite info, and displays NMEA sentences. I've got a copy of OpenCPN but the version I downloaded does not contain any utilities to create virtual ports. Is there an accessory package that I should get? I haven't used it for navigation but playing with it I noticed that there doesn't seem to be any way to measure distance and heading to a destination. Not a vital feature, but one I use a lot. (nice to keep track of when ur gonna get thar :-) Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Wayne.B wrote:
JohnF wrote: What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, There is a relatively new (and free) charting package called OpenCPN. It will work with just about any GPS: http://opencpn.org/ http://opencpn.org/download I don't have any experience with Bluetooth GPS units, however I recently purchased a USB GPS that I'm very happy with: http://www.amazon.com/USGlobalSat-BU...bled-Receiver/ dp/B000V5TV22 It is very accurate, sensitive, quick to acquire satellites, inexpensive, small, and water proof. It has worked with every software mapping package that I've tried it with including Maptech, Street Map (both USA and Europe), and OpenCPN. It also comes with utility software and drivers which create a virtual COM port, displays the port # of the GPS unit, displays satellite info, and displays NMEA sentences. Thanks a lot for the recommendations, Wayne. I ordered that receiver from Amazon (does it acquire satellites from the cabin, or only cockpit?), and downloaded (windows, linux, source versions of) OpenCPN, along with its documentation and their converted pilot charts. And I'm surprised there's a linux version (but haven't had a chance to install/play with anything yet). From the main page I see it supports various chart formats, and assume the vector ones are better than raster. Is there some reason OpenCPN had to specially convert them? And are there some standard chart download sites, or, even better, some inexpensive dvd's with them all? And some sites that explain the formats, copyrights (I'm aware there are some proprietary ones), etc? And, finally, I'm realizing I'll need a small efficient inverter for prolonged use. You have a recommendation for that? Thanks again, -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Sjouke Burry wrote:
Have you tried google earth? it has e few cute gps modes, and is free... Am I missing something, or would that require internet access? Maybe there exists some satellite access, but I won't have that any time soon. -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
I have a - no idea of the name of the thing, probably Chinese anyway - Bluetooth GPS receiver. Came with a mini-disk with drivers which installed a "Bluetooth serial port" and IIRC allowed one to change the port number as required. Connected it up, configured the port and the two chart plotter applications I have worked with no problems. As far as I know the chart-plotter software all simply accesses one or another of the serial ports to receive a data stream and doesn't care what generates that data. The problem I had was that the GPS had to be located above deck and the battery in the Bluetooth GPS would run down in a few hours so I adapted it to run on 12 VDC. But that was the only problem. Thanks, Bruce. My handheld (and other handhelds I've seen) also only work in the cockpit, which is why I thought bluetooth might be preferable -- maybe leave the receiver in the cockpit and the netbook at a nav station as near as possible to the companionway. The ebay gps I linked to claims (repeat, claims) to run 15 hours off a charge. Anyway, for the time being I took Wayne's usb-wired gps recommendation, and will play with that for a while. Which two chart-plotter applications have you worked with? My small amount of googling suggested http://www.fugawi.com/web/products/f..._navigator.htm might be best, but it sure ain't cheap. I'd rather play with something way less expensive, at least until I know what I'm doing. -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:10:44 +0200, Sjouke Burry
wrote: Have you tried google earth? it has e few cute gps modes, and is free... It also requires an internet connection unless you have discovered a way to download their imagery. |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:41:31 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote: On Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:22:54 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok wrote: I've got a copy of OpenCPN but the version I downloaded does not contain any utilities to create virtual ports. Is there an accessory package that I should get? The virtual port software comes with the USB GPS that I mentioned. O.K., came with mine too :-) To measure distamce and direction on OpenCPN I create a route with one leg and display the properties. There may be other ways also. It is laziness I know but I like the ability to stretch out the COG line to see whether I need to correct a bit for the tide. And, my wife is always asking "when we are gong to get there". It is easy to read off distance to 'X' and say well it's 10 more miles to go :-) And I really dislike having to go into an anchorage in the dark! Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:04:16 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote: It is laziness I know but I like the ability to stretch out the COG line to see whether I need to correct a bit for the tide. And, my wife is always asking "when we are gong to get there". It is easy to read off distance to 'X' and say well it's 10 more miles to go :-) And I really dislike having to go into an anchorage in the dark! You can plot out the route in advance. Once you activate the route, a data window appears which shows your ETA, Time-to-go and Distance-to-go. Time-to-go and ETA are based on your speed of course and subject to change. We find this very useful on our trawler where we have reasonably good control over speed. As soon as we get underway in the morning I'll adjust speed for an ETA 30 to 60 minutes before sunset and monitor/re-adjust as the day progresses. |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Tue, 7 Sep 2010 01:01:15 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: I have a - no idea of the name of the thing, probably Chinese anyway - Bluetooth GPS receiver. Came with a mini-disk with drivers which installed a "Bluetooth serial port" and IIRC allowed one to change the port number as required. Connected it up, configured the port and the two chart plotter applications I have worked with no problems. As far as I know the chart-plotter software all simply accesses one or another of the serial ports to receive a data stream and doesn't care what generates that data. The problem I had was that the GPS had to be located above deck and the battery in the Bluetooth GPS would run down in a few hours so I adapted it to run on 12 VDC. But that was the only problem. Thanks, Bruce. My handheld (and other handhelds I've seen) also only work in the cockpit, which is why I thought bluetooth might be preferable -- maybe leave the receiver in the cockpit and the netbook at a nav station as near as possible to the companionway. The ebay gps I linked to claims (repeat, claims) to run 15 hours off a charge. Anyway, for the time being I took Wayne's usb-wired gps recommendation, and will play with that for a while. I used the Blue Tooth GPS to get a remote GPS. The original idea was to have an independent portable chart plotter system that could be used in the cockpit for navigating in close quarters - up a river for example, and to work (hopefully) if the main system failed (which is linked to a Garmin fixed mount GPS), so the thought was to get a remote GPS to link to my Eee computer and the Blue Tooth gizmo was the first I came across that looked like it would work. My feeling is that 15 hours of life is expecting a LOT. But maybe? Which two chart-plotter applications have you worked with? My small amount of googling suggested http://www.fugawi.com/web/products/f..._navigator.htm might be best, but it sure ain't cheap. I'd rather play with something way less expensive, at least until I know what I'm doing. I've got Cmap-ECS and MapSea. Both are fairly old versions, the CMAP, probably 10 years old. My experience is that all of the chart plotter applications can be used and which ever one fits the type of sailing that you do is best. I find that I use almost none of the fancy features that the newer versions have, as about the only "feature" I use is the electronic range and bearing that CMAP has. Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Tue, 7 Sep 2010 00:41:17 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: Wayne.B wrote: JohnF wrote: What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, There is a relatively new (and free) charting package called OpenCPN. It will work with just about any GPS: http://opencpn.org/ http://opencpn.org/download I don't have any experience with Bluetooth GPS units, however I recently purchased a USB GPS that I'm very happy with: http://www.amazon.com/USGlobalSat-BU...bled-Receiver/ dp/B000V5TV22 It is very accurate, sensitive, quick to acquire satellites, inexpensive, small, and water proof. It has worked with every software mapping package that I've tried it with including Maptech, Street Map (both USA and Europe), and OpenCPN. It also comes with utility software and drivers which create a virtual COM port, displays the port # of the GPS unit, displays satellite info, and displays NMEA sentences. Thanks a lot for the recommendations, Wayne. I ordered that receiver from Amazon (does it acquire satellites from the cabin, or only cockpit?), and downloaded (windows, linux, source versions of) OpenCPN, along with its documentation and their converted pilot charts. And I'm surprised there's a linux version (but haven't had a chance to install/play with anything yet). From the main page I see it supports various chart formats, and assume the vector ones are better than raster. Is there some reason OpenCPN had to specially convert them? And are there some standard chart download sites, or, even better, some inexpensive dvd's with them all? And some sites that explain the formats, copyrights (I'm aware there are some proprietary ones), etc? And, finally, I'm realizing I'll need a small efficient inverter for prolonged use. You have a recommendation for that? Thanks again, There are arguments pro and con regarging raster vs vector charts. I personally prefer the appearance of raster charts. You can download US charts for free from the NOAA web site: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/ The GPS is sensitive enough that it works inside my house going through two different layers of structure. No problem at all on a boat unless you have steel or aluminum decks. |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
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gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Tue, 7 Sep 2010 07:44:26 -0700, Mark Borgerson
wrote: In article , says... On Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:10:44 +0200, Sjouke Burry wrote: Have you tried google earth? it has e few cute gps modes, and is free... It also requires an internet connection unless you have discovered a way to download their imagery. Google Earth will download and cache 2GB of tile data. On a recent trip from Ketchikan to Bellingham, that was enough to give me pretty good data for the BC coast and Queen Charlotte Islands. It was a bit of a pain to scroll through the projected path at the resolution I thought appropriate. However, I think you can find scripts or programs that will prefill your cache with a selected area and resolution. I'd like to learn how to do that because it would be useful for areas that are not well charted. |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Wayne.B wrote:
JohnF wrote: Wayne.B wrote: JohnF wrote: What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, There is a relatively new (and free) charting package called OpenCPN. It will work with just about any GPS: http://opencpn.org/ http://opencpn.org/download I don't have any experience with Bluetooth GPS units, however I recently purchased a USB GPS that I'm very happy with: http://www.amazon.com/USGlobalSat-BU...bled-Receiver/ dp/B000V5TV22 It is very accurate, sensitive, quick to acquire satellites, inexpensive, small, and water proof. It has worked with every software mapping package that I've tried it with including Maptech, Street Map (both USA and Europe), and OpenCPN. It also comes with utility software and drivers which create a virtual COM port, displays the port # of the GPS unit, displays satellite info, and displays NMEA sentences. Thanks a lot for the recommendations, Wayne. I ordered that receiver from Amazon (does it acquire satellites from the cabin, or only cockpit?), and downloaded (windows, linux, source versions of) OpenCPN, along with its documentation and their converted pilot charts. And I'm surprised there's a linux version (but haven't had a chance to install/play with anything yet). From the main page I see it supports various chart formats, and assume the vector ones are better than raster. Is there some reason OpenCPN had to specially convert them? And are there some standard chart download sites, or, even better, some inexpensive dvd's with them all? And some sites that explain the formats, copyrights (I'm aware there are some proprietary ones), etc? And, finally, I'm realizing I'll need a small efficient inverter for prolonged use. You have a recommendation for that? Thanks again, There are arguments pro and con regarging raster vs vector charts. I personally prefer the appearance of raster charts. You can download US charts for free from the NOAA web site: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/ Thanks again, Wayne, I'll try that. And, just in case anyone's interested, the OpenCPN PilotCharts_NA[N,C,W].rar files need the password: CNF.SeaSoft (case sensitive and with that embedded dot) when trying to decompress that already-semi-weird rar compression. The GPS is sensitive enough that it works inside my house going through two different layers of structure. No problem at all on a boat unless you have steel or aluminum decks. Good to hear. I also noticed the OpenCPN docs explicitly discuss the BU-353 you recommended. My old handheld garmin extrex-vista hardly works inside a paper bag; and that's pretty much the same for others I've seen (maybe just as old, but I don't really recall). So far, by the way, the linux version of OpenCPN has failed to work for me -- both the precompiled (for debian linux), and when I tried compiling from source (even after installing the prerequisite dependencies wxwidgets and other libs). My sense is it can eventually be made to work, but needs some careful tweaking. So I'll probably just use the windows version for the time being, but haven't gotten around to it yet. If anyone else is also interested but having trouble with the linux version, follow up here and then I'll report any progress I eventually make to get it working. Thanks again to you, Wayne, and to Bruce and the other people who also followed up, -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Tue, 7 Sep 2010 17:50:34 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: Wayne.B wrote: JohnF wrote: Wayne.B wrote: JohnF wrote: What's a good and not-too-expensive hardware/software combination to use with a (bluetooth enabled) net/notebook running winxp for a chartplotter application? Electronics on recent charter didn't work right, and I'd like to put something together on my netbook that's a little better than my handheld gps. I was looking at gps receiver http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=270630743828 software http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280312392457 Is that a good choice? And will that gps receiver play nicely with maptech navigator lite, that came with my chartkit? (And is there anything for linux? -- that's what I prefer running, but dual boot my netbook with winxp for occasions where windows is the only game in town.) Thanks, There is a relatively new (and free) charting package called OpenCPN. It will work with just about any GPS: http://opencpn.org/ http://opencpn.org/download I don't have any experience with Bluetooth GPS units, however I recently purchased a USB GPS that I'm very happy with: http://www.amazon.com/USGlobalSat-BU...bled-Receiver/ dp/B000V5TV22 It is very accurate, sensitive, quick to acquire satellites, inexpensive, small, and water proof. It has worked with every software mapping package that I've tried it with including Maptech, Street Map (both USA and Europe), and OpenCPN. It also comes with utility software and drivers which create a virtual COM port, displays the port # of the GPS unit, displays satellite info, and displays NMEA sentences. Thanks a lot for the recommendations, Wayne. I ordered that receiver from Amazon (does it acquire satellites from the cabin, or only cockpit?), and downloaded (windows, linux, source versions of) OpenCPN, along with its documentation and their converted pilot charts. And I'm surprised there's a linux version (but haven't had a chance to install/play with anything yet). From the main page I see it supports various chart formats, and assume the vector ones are better than raster. Is there some reason OpenCPN had to specially convert them? And are there some standard chart download sites, or, even better, some inexpensive dvd's with them all? And some sites that explain the formats, copyrights (I'm aware there are some proprietary ones), etc? And, finally, I'm realizing I'll need a small efficient inverter for prolonged use. You have a recommendation for that? Thanks again, There are arguments pro and con regarging raster vs vector charts. I personally prefer the appearance of raster charts. You can download US charts for free from the NOAA web site: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/ Thanks again, Wayne, I'll try that. And, just in case anyone's interested, the OpenCPN PilotCharts_NA[N,C,W].rar files need the password: CNF.SeaSoft (case sensitive and with that embedded dot) when trying to decompress that already-semi-weird rar compression. The GPS is sensitive enough that it works inside my house going through two different layers of structure. No problem at all on a boat unless you have steel or aluminum decks. Good to hear. I also noticed the OpenCPN docs explicitly discuss the BU-353 you recommended. My old handheld garmin extrex-vista hardly works inside a paper bag; and that's pretty much the same for others I've seen (maybe just as old, but I don't really recall). So far, by the way, the linux version of OpenCPN has failed to work for me -- both the precompiled (for debian linux), and when I tried compiling from source (even after installing the prerequisite dependencies wxwidgets and other libs). My sense is it can eventually be made to work, but needs some careful tweaking. So I'll probably just use the windows version for the time being, but haven't gotten around to it yet. If anyone else is also interested but having trouble with the linux version, follow up here and then I'll report any progress I eventually make to get it working. Thanks again to you, Wayne, and to Bruce and the other people who also followed up, What Linux do you have? I ask as I installed OpenCPN on at least two systems - Fedora and Ubuntu with no problems I can remember. Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
If anyone else is also interested but having trouble with the linux version, follow up here and then I'll report any progress I eventually make to get it working. What Linux do you have? I ask as I installed OpenCPN on at least two systems - Fedora and Ubuntu with no problems I can remember. Slackware 12.1 and 12.2 (I tried booting partitions with both). Current is 13.1, but I haven't needed that (yet). To begin with, I tried the OpenCPN-2.1.624a-1_i386.deb package, first using alien http://packages.debian.org/unstable/source/alien to convert .deb--.tar.gz, and then using tar on the resulting tarball. That placed an executable image in /usr/local/bin/opencpn and lots of other stuff in /usr/local/etc. But it wouldn't run without the wxwidgets library, which I then had to build from sources available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/wxwindows/ . But that's version 2.9 and OpenCPN wanted 2.8 or later. So I made a mess of symlinks as opencpn complained about each missing lib, but after finishing that it finally started complaining opencpn: /lib/libwx_baseu_net-2.8.so.0: version `WXU_2.8' not found (required by opencpn) for each symlinked lib. I gave up on the .deb package and tried building from OpenCPN-2.1.624a-Source.tar.gz sources. First I needed to build a version of cmake (cmake-2.8.2.tar.gz) it liked, but then the generated Makefile apparently added some unrecognized compiler flags which I cavalierly manually edited out (don't recall exactly what and I subsequently rm'ed the build directory which I'd have to reconstruct to quote the errors exactly). Then the compiler reported some source errors, which may or may not be related to what I'd done. At this point I ran out of time to look into the ..cpp sources (I do know C and C++ pretty well). So I gave up for the time being, and will probably just install the windows OpenCPN-210_setup.exe file, which I suppose will work without a hitch. But thanks for the Fedora and Ubuntu report, which gives me confidence it's doable once I can figure out how. -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Wed, 8 Sep 2010 01:25:14 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: If anyone else is also interested but having trouble with the linux version, follow up here and then I'll report any progress I eventually make to get it working. What Linux do you have? I ask as I installed OpenCPN on at least two systems - Fedora and Ubuntu with no problems I can remember. Slackware 12.1 and 12.2 (I tried booting partitions with both). Current is 13.1, but I haven't needed that (yet). To begin with, I tried the OpenCPN-2.1.624a-1_i386.deb package, first using alien http://packages.debian.org/unstable/source/alien to convert .deb--.tar.gz, and then using tar on the resulting tarball. That placed an executable image in /usr/local/bin/opencpn and lots of other stuff in /usr/local/etc. But it wouldn't run without the wxwidgets library, which I then had to build from sources available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/wxwindows/ . But that's version 2.9 and OpenCPN wanted 2.8 or later. So I made a mess of symlinks as opencpn complained about each missing lib, but after finishing that it finally started complaining opencpn: /lib/libwx_baseu_net-2.8.so.0: version `WXU_2.8' not found (required by opencpn) for each symlinked lib. I gave up on the .deb package and tried building from OpenCPN-2.1.624a-Source.tar.gz sources. First I needed to build a version of cmake (cmake-2.8.2.tar.gz) it liked, but then the generated Makefile apparently added some unrecognized compiler flags which I cavalierly manually edited out (don't recall exactly what and I subsequently rm'ed the build directory which I'd have to reconstruct to quote the errors exactly). Then the compiler reported some source errors, which may or may not be related to what I'd done. At this point I ran out of time to look into the .cpp sources (I do know C and C++ pretty well). So I gave up for the time being, and will probably just install the windows OpenCPN-210_setup.exe file, which I suppose will work without a hitch. But thanks for the Fedora and Ubuntu report, which gives me confidence it's doable once I can figure out how. Funny, I downloaded and installed the app on Fedora with no problems at all. Don't remember whether there was a RPM file or not but don't remember any particular problems. I also installed it on my Eee (not sure at the moment what version Linux is on that, Fedora I think) and again don't remember any problems. But after reading your message I tried to install it on the present laptop (Ubuntu 9.10) and had similar problems, although not as extensive as you. I down loaded version 2.1.624a-Source and un-tared it. The tarball contained everything (cmake and libraries) and it compiles..... with only one error. It is complaining about GTK2Config.cmake and gtk2-config.cmake that aren't there. In addition, after having installed on the two computers I have just now read the README and discover that the app creates its own serial device but with System permissions while the app runs at user level.... The system seems quite useful and I thought it was going to allow me to totally ignore Windows, at least on the boat computers however perhaps, for now, I'll just stay with what I got, that runs. One of the few things that I do appreciate about Windows is that you can download an application and it will run.... right out of the box. Linux, the much touted "free" system, frequently will not compile a new app and, at least in my experience, sometimes requires very hard to locate libraries. Ah well, progress :-) Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:12:22 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote: One of the few things that I do appreciate about Windows is that you can download an application and it will run.... right out of the box. Linux, the much touted "free" system, frequently will not compile a new app and, at least in my experience, sometimes requires very hard to locate libraries. What is it about Linux that requires you to compile things before you can run them? Is it because they are distributed as source code? |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
JohnF wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: JohnF wrote: If anyone else is also interested but having trouble with the linux version, follow up here and then I'll report any progress I eventually make to get it working. What Linux do you have? I ask as I installed OpenCPN on at least two systems - Fedora and Ubuntu with no problems I can remember. Slackware 12.1 and 12.2 (I tried booting partitions with both). Current is 13.1, but I haven't needed that (yet). To begin with, I tried the OpenCPN-2.1.624a-1_i386.deb package, first using alien http://packages.debian.org/unstable/source/alien to convert .deb--.tar.gz, and then using tar on the resulting tarball. That placed an executable image in /usr/local/bin/opencpn and lots of other stuff in /usr/local/etc. But it wouldn't run without the wxwidgets library, which I then had to build from sources available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/wxwindows/ . But that's version 2.9 and OpenCPN wanted 2.8 or later. So I made a mess of symlinks as opencpn complained about each missing lib, but after finishing that it finally started complaining opencpn: /lib/libwx_baseu_net-2.8.so.0: version `WXU_2.8' not found (required by opencpn) for each symlinked lib. I gave up on the .deb package and tried building from OpenCPN-2.1.624a-Source.tar.gz sources. First I needed to build a version of cmake (cmake-2.8.2.tar.gz) it liked, but then the generated Makefile apparently added some unrecognized compiler flags which I cavalierly manually edited out (don't recall exactly what and I subsequently rm'ed the build directory which I'd have to reconstruct to quote the errors exactly). Then the compiler reported some source errors, which may or may not be related to what I'd done. At this point I ran out of time to look into the .cpp sources (I do know C and C++ pretty well). So I gave up for the time being, and will probably just install the windows OpenCPN-210_setup.exe file, which I suppose will work without a hitch. But thanks for the Fedora and Ubuntu report, which gives me confidence it's doable once I can figure out how. Funny, I downloaded and installed the app on Fedora with no problems at all. Don't remember whether there was a RPM file or not but don't remember any particular problems. I also installed it on my Eee (not sure at the moment what version Linux is on that, Fedora I think) and again don't remember any problems. But after reading your message I tried to install it on the present laptop (Ubuntu 9.10) and had similar problems, although not as extensive as you. "misery loves company" :) I down loaded version 2.1.624a-Source and un-tared it. The tarball contained everything (cmake and libraries) and it compiles..... with only one error. It is complaining about GTK2Config.cmake and gtk2-config.cmake that aren't there. Nope, my source tarball doesn't contain cmake and libraries. It's OpenCPN-2.1.624a-Source.tar.gz size: 16718233 bytes md5 checksum: d0e6bbaef3261ed6974e48b785cecba7 That what you got??? Actually, I'm guessing your linux distributions use apt-get which would automatically and transparently download all dependencies, as per the http://opencpn.org/compiling_source_linux page. Slackware doesn't do that (sometimes fortunately but this time not so much). In addition, after having installed on the two computers I have just now read the README and discover that the app creates its own serial device but with System permissions while the app runs at user level.... The system seems quite useful and I thought it was going to allow me to totally ignore Windows, at least on the boat computers however perhaps, for now, I'll just stay with what I got, that runs. Yeah, I'll continue to use some spare time trying to get the linux version running comfortably. I'm sure it's ultimately doable based on your remarks (permissions problems usually aren't too hard to solve). But, like you say, it's a more important boat thing than a computer thing, so if windows is quicker/easier/whatever, I'm happy to go that route, too. One of the few things that I do appreciate about Windows is that you can download an application and it will run.... right out of the box. Ditto, as per above remarks. Linux, the much touted "free" system, frequently will not compile a new app and, at least in my experience, sometimes requires very hard to locate libraries. To me, a professional software developer, it's usually a task I'm accustomed and comfortable (and succesful) doing, and that's usually well worth the effort. But that's a whole other long story. My bottom line computer advice to people who want to spend more time cruising than messing with computers is: if you're happy with windows, by all means just use it. Ah well, progress :-) Be patient. The underlying problem is windows' humongous market share, which disincentivizes developers from putting much effort into other os ports. And like 90% of any such extra effort goes to the mac market. Actually, given those facts, linux has been wildly surprisingly successful. I imagine things will only improve over time. Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) I'll email you there if/when I get it working right on linux. This line of discussion might be getting off-topic for this ng :) Thanks again (Bruce, Wayne, and everybody) for your help, -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Wayne.B wrote:
Bruce in Bangkok wrote: One of the few things that I do appreciate about Windows is that you can download an application and it will run.... right out of the box. Linux, the much touted "free" system, frequently will not compile a new app and, at least in my experience, sometimes requires very hard to locate libraries. What is it about Linux that requires you to compile things before you can run them? That's becoming less and less of a necessity, with some applications as easy to install on linux as on windows. When you do more or less need to compile, it's typically because there are quite a few different linux distributions that can have different versions of different libraries installed in different directories. And the application needs to know what's available and where. There are emerging (though unenforced) standards that people are slowly converging towards, so this kind of problem should slowly disappear. Is it because they are distributed as source code? For applications distributed as source only, then sure. But many/most also come with binaries that'll run (if all goes well) out of the box. Then the source isn't needed at all, but encourages a wider community of developers to contribute ideas, code, etc (e.g., debugging). -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:20:36 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote: On Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:12:22 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok wrote: One of the few things that I do appreciate about Windows is that you can download an application and it will run.... right out of the box. Linux, the much touted "free" system, frequently will not compile a new app and, at least in my experience, sometimes requires very hard to locate libraries. What is it about Linux that requires you to compile things before you can run them? Is it because they are distributed as source code? Generally yes. Basically Linux software distributed in two ways. As a "DEB" or "RPM" file which is basically the actual application and any/all libraries that it requires. It is then installed with a DEB or RPM utility that checks for all dependences and loads the required libraries onto the computer. The other method is as raw source code which contains the actual application and none of the libraries it may require. then you compile it and if it need additional libraries then you have to scout all over the Internet to find them. Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Thu, 9 Sep 2010 15:50:01 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: JohnF wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: JohnF wrote: If anyone else is also interested but having trouble with the linux version, follow up here and then I'll report any progress I eventually make to get it working. What Linux do you have? I ask as I installed OpenCPN on at least two systems - Fedora and Ubuntu with no problems I can remember. Slackware 12.1 and 12.2 (I tried booting partitions with both). Current is 13.1, but I haven't needed that (yet). To begin with, I tried the OpenCPN-2.1.624a-1_i386.deb package, first using alien http://packages.debian.org/unstable/source/alien to convert .deb--.tar.gz, and then using tar on the resulting tarball. That placed an executable image in /usr/local/bin/opencpn and lots of other stuff in /usr/local/etc. But it wouldn't run without the wxwidgets library, which I then had to build from sources available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/wxwindows/ . But that's version 2.9 and OpenCPN wanted 2.8 or later. So I made a mess of symlinks as opencpn complained about each missing lib, but after finishing that it finally started complaining opencpn: /lib/libwx_baseu_net-2.8.so.0: version `WXU_2.8' not found (required by opencpn) for each symlinked lib. I gave up on the .deb package and tried building from OpenCPN-2.1.624a-Source.tar.gz sources. First I needed to build a version of cmake (cmake-2.8.2.tar.gz) it liked, but then the generated Makefile apparently added some unrecognized compiler flags which I cavalierly manually edited out (don't recall exactly what and I subsequently rm'ed the build directory which I'd have to reconstruct to quote the errors exactly). Then the compiler reported some source errors, which may or may not be related to what I'd done. At this point I ran out of time to look into the .cpp sources (I do know C and C++ pretty well). So I gave up for the time being, and will probably just install the windows OpenCPN-210_setup.exe file, which I suppose will work without a hitch. But thanks for the Fedora and Ubuntu report, which gives me confidence it's doable once I can figure out how. Funny, I downloaded and installed the app on Fedora with no problems at all. Don't remember whether there was a RPM file or not but don't remember any particular problems. I also installed it on my Eee (not sure at the moment what version Linux is on that, Fedora I think) and again don't remember any problems. But after reading your message I tried to install it on the present laptop (Ubuntu 9.10) and had similar problems, although not as extensive as you. "misery loves company" :) I down loaded version 2.1.624a-Source and un-tared it. The tarball contained everything (cmake and libraries) and it compiles..... with only one error. It is complaining about GTK2Config.cmake and gtk2-config.cmake that aren't there. Nope, my source tarball doesn't contain cmake and libraries. It's OpenCPN-2.1.624a-Source.tar.gz size: 16718233 bytes md5 checksum: d0e6bbaef3261ed6974e48b785cecba7 That what you got??? Actually, I'm guessing your linux distributions use apt-get which would automatically and transparently download all dependencies, as per the http://opencpn.org/compiling_source_linux page. Slackware doesn't do that (sometimes fortunately but this time not so much). I'll have to search around as what I have on this particular computer is the expanded tarball, which does contain everything Ubuntu needed except for the two cmake libraries I mentioned. I'll post details of what I downloaded as soon as I can find it, but I got it from the OpenCPN website so it can't be too esoteric In addition, after having installed on the two computers I have just now read the README and discover that the app creates its own serial device but with System permissions while the app runs at user level.... The system seems quite useful and I thought it was going to allow me to totally ignore Windows, at least on the boat computers however perhaps, for now, I'll just stay with what I got, that runs. Yeah, I'll continue to use some spare time trying to get the linux version running comfortably. I'm sure it's ultimately doable based on your remarks (permissions problems usually aren't too hard to solve). But, like you say, it's a more important boat thing than a computer thing, so if windows is quicker/easier/whatever, I'm happy to go that route, too. I run CMAP with Wine. In fact I use Wine for both CMAP and Agent (that I'm using right now). It certainly isn't perfect but it does work fairly well, in most cases I've tried. One of the few things that I do appreciate about Windows is that you can download an application and it will run.... right out of the box. Ditto, as per above remarks. Linux, the much touted "free" system, frequently will not compile a new app and, at least in my experience, sometimes requires very hard to locate libraries. To me, a professional software developer, it's usually a task I'm accustomed and comfortable (and succesful) doing, and that's usually well worth the effort. But that's a whole other long story. My bottom line computer advice to people who want to spend more time cruising than messing with computers is: if you're happy with windows, by all means just use it. Ah well, progress :-) Be patient. The underlying problem is windows' humongous market share, which disincentivizes developers from putting much effort into other os ports. And like 90% of any such extra effort goes to the mac market. Actually, given those facts, linux has been wildly surprisingly successful. I imagine things will only improve over time. I don't see it progressing to any extent. At the moment it is pretty much the flavor of choice if one talks servers but for Joe Everyman and his laptop I don't believe it will ever catch up with Windows. I've got a mate down in Singapore that fits the picture perfectly. He is semi retired and does business consulting. He needs to send and receive e-mail; type correspondence and maybe do a spreadsheet once in a while. Totally computer illiterate. He calls the computer company - name brand only - and orders a computer; they deliver, set it up and it works. Two - three years later he does it again. You want to talk about Operating Systems? He doesn't even know what that is and furthermore doesn't care. I suspect that the thing is that the computer has reached the stage of the IBM Selectric. It works and while its idiosyncrasies may be of great interest to those who repair or maintain typewriters it is of little interest to those who actual use the machines. Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) I'll email you there if/when I get it working right on linux. This line of discussion might be getting off-topic for this ng :) Thanks again (Bruce, Wayne, and everybody) for your help, Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
JohnF wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: I down loaded version 2.1.624a-Source and un-tared it. The tarball contained everything (cmake and libraries) and it compiles..... with only one error. It is complaining about GTK2Config.cmake and gtk2-config.cmake that aren't there. Nope, my source tarball doesn't contain cmake and libraries. It's OpenCPN-2.1.624a-Source.tar.gz size: 16718233 bytes md5 checksum: d0e6bbaef3261ed6974e48b785cecba7 That what you got??? Actually, I'm guessing your linux distributions use apt-get which would automatically and transparently download all dependencies, as per the http://opencpn.org/compiling_source_linux page. Slackware doesn't do that (sometimes fortunately but this time not so much). I'll have to search around as what I have on this particular computer is the expanded tarball, which does contain everything Ubuntu needed except for the two cmake libraries I mentioned. I'll post details of what I downloaded as soon as I can find it, but I got it from the OpenCPN website so it can't be too esoteric Don't spend too much time; it's not really too important. And I'm guessing you used some installer like apt-get which might have -- unbeknownst to you -- downloaded more stuff than you explicitly downloaded from opencpn.org . For example, maybe you downloaded and installed the .deb version first. Then that probably got all the wxWidgets stuff. Later on maybe you tried compiling the source .tar.gz version. Of course, tar wouldn't have downloaded any extra stuff/dependencies, but the previous .deb install would already have done most of that. You'd have gotten all the wxWidgets stuff and maybe or maybe not some/all of the cmake stuff. So you might have been fooled into thinking that the tarball contained the stuff previously downloaded for you by apt-get run against the .deb file. Or any number of other scenarios could have resulted in a situation on your disk that would be very difficult to try to reconstruct/unravel. In any event, I can see from a tar -tzvf on the source tarball that it doesn't explicitly contain the cmake and wxWidgets stuff. In addition, after having installed on the two computers I have just now read the README and discover that the app creates its own serial device but with System permissions while the app runs at user level.... The system seems quite useful and I thought it was going to allow me to totally ignore Windows, at least on the boat computers however perhaps, for now, I'll just stay with what I got, that runs. Yeah, I'll continue to use some spare time trying to get the linux version running comfortably. I'm sure it's ultimately doable based on your remarks (permissions problems usually aren't too hard to solve). But, like you say, it's a more important boat thing than a computer thing, so if windows is quicker/easier/whatever, I'm happy to go that route, too. I run CMAP with Wine. In fact I use Wine for both CMAP and Agent (that I'm using right now). It certainly isn't perfect but it does work fairly well, in most cases I've tried. Wow, wine. Long time since I heard anybody using that. But if it works for your apps, then fine. To the extent that it doesn't, most people nowadays are using virtualizers like vmware or xen to run windows under linux (or vice versa). The atom-based samsung nc10 netbook that I'd bring along on charters doesn't have the horsepower or memory for that, so I just dual boot it. (For most recent windows apps, wine has pretty much turned to vinegar.) Linux, the much touted "free" system, frequently will not compile a new app and, at least in my experience, sometimes requires very hard to locate libraries. Be patient. The underlying problem is windows' humongous market share, which disincentivizes developers from putting much effort into other os ports. And like 90% of any such extra effort goes to the mac market. Actually, given those facts, linux has been wildly surprisingly successful. I imagine things will only improve over time. I don't see it progressing to any extent. At the moment it is pretty much the flavor of choice if one talks servers but for Joe Everyman and his laptop I don't believe it will ever catch up with Windows. Yeah, maybe, but a tough call either way. "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra. (The "./configure;make;make install" procedure has become a lot more standardized and robust, and I'm guessing that trend will continue.) I've got a mate down in Singapore that fits the picture perfectly. He is semi retired and does business consulting. He needs to send and receive e-mail; type correspondence and maybe do a spreadsheet once in a while. Totally computer illiterate. Sure, absolutely. If he, or anybody, is happy with the way their computer is running under windows, then by all means continue using it. -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
In article , JohnF wrote:
Bruce in Bangkok wrote: Don't spend too much time; it's not really too important. And I'm guessing you used some installer like apt-get which might have -- unbeknownst to you -- downloaded more stuff than you explicitly downloaded from opencpn.org . apt doesn't download stuff without letting the user know. It always tells of dependancies and asks if the user would like to get those too. In addition, the couldn't install the package with apt unless the OpenCPN web-site was added to /etc/apt/sources.list, and the site was configured as a Debian type repository (which is unlikely). What is more likely is that the .deb was downloaded and installed with something like dpkg. dpkg will complain of missing dependencies but the user will have to track those down themselves. For example, maybe you downloaded and installed the .deb version first. Then that probably got all the wxWidgets stuff. Later on maybe you tried compiling the source .tar.gz version. Of course, tar wouldn't have downloaded any extra stuff/dependencies, but the previous .deb install would already have done most of that. There is the possibility of there being a problem with this, but it's dependent on the `make' file. Certain parts of the build may not be installed if the files are already in place (from a previous install attempt), but it's equally possible (and I would expect more likely for anything outside /etc) that the install would over-write. You'd have gotten all the wxWidgets stuff and maybe or maybe not some/all of the cmake stuff. So you might have been fooled into thinking that the tarball contained the stuff previously downloaded for you by apt-get run against the .deb file. Or any number of other scenarios could have resulted in a situation on your disk that would be very difficult to try to reconstruct/unravel. In any event, I can see from a tar -tzvf on the source tarball that it doesn't explicitly contain the cmake and wxWidgets stuff. Taking a quick look at one of the Debian systems here, I can tell you that wx is available in current Debian stable, however, according to mine (which might be old stable, I don't recall just now) it's only 2.6, I think I read on this thread that 2.8 is required. I had an email from one the the Debian mailing lists mentioning that official back-ports can now be added to /etc/apt/sources.list so that you can upgrade packages as required for apps that require a more recent version than you have. I don't see it progressing to any extent. At the moment it is pretty much the flavor of choice if one talks servers but for Joe Everyman and his laptop I don't believe it will ever catch up with Windows. Yeah, maybe, but a tough call either way. "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra. (The "./configure;make;make install" procedure has become a lot more standardized and robust, and I'm guessing that trend will continue.) Computers are becoming commodity items, the trend is toward devices for a purpose. A news story on UK radio today said that within about three years more people will be accessing the web through phones than traditional computers. The OS is becoming less important. I believe Google has a 'device' in the pipeline, not only is MS in Google's sights, so is Apple - and can you guess what will be the underlying code to Google's code? It certainly won't be Windows! Justin. -- Justin C, by the sea. |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:46:28 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: JohnF wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: I down loaded version 2.1.624a-Source and un-tared it. The tarball contained everything (cmake and libraries) and it compiles..... with only one error. It is complaining about GTK2Config.cmake and gtk2-config.cmake that aren't there. Nope, my source tarball doesn't contain cmake and libraries. It's OpenCPN-2.1.624a-Source.tar.gz size: 16718233 bytes md5 checksum: d0e6bbaef3261ed6974e48b785cecba7 That what you got??? Actually, I'm guessing your linux distributions use apt-get which would automatically and transparently download all dependencies, as per the http://opencpn.org/compiling_source_linux page. Slackware doesn't do that (sometimes fortunately but this time not so much). I'll have to search around as what I have on this particular computer is the expanded tarball, which does contain everything Ubuntu needed except for the two cmake libraries I mentioned. I'll post details of what I downloaded as soon as I can find it, but I got it from the OpenCPN website so it can't be too esoteric Don't spend too much time; it's not really too important. And I'm guessing you used some installer like apt-get which might have -- unbeknownst to you -- downloaded more stuff than you explicitly downloaded from opencpn.org . For example, maybe you downloaded and installed the .deb version first. Then that probably got all the wxWidgets stuff. Later on maybe you tried compiling the source .tar.gz version. Of course, tar wouldn't have downloaded any extra stuff/dependencies, but the previous .deb install would already have done most of that. You'd have gotten all the wxWidgets stuff and maybe or maybe not some/all of the cmake stuff. So you might have been fooled into thinking that the tarball contained the stuff previously downloaded for you by apt-get run against the .deb file. Or any number of other scenarios could have resulted in a situation on your disk that would be very difficult to try to reconstruct/unravel. In any event, I can see from a tar -tzvf on the source tarball that it doesn't explicitly contain the cmake and wxWidgets stuff. In addition, after having installed on the two computers I have just now read the README and discover that the app creates its own serial device but with System permissions while the app runs at user level.... The system seems quite useful and I thought it was going to allow me to totally ignore Windows, at least on the boat computers however perhaps, for now, I'll just stay with what I got, that runs. Yeah, I'll continue to use some spare time trying to get the linux version running comfortably. I'm sure it's ultimately doable based on your remarks (permissions problems usually aren't too hard to solve). But, like you say, it's a more important boat thing than a computer thing, so if windows is quicker/easier/whatever, I'm happy to go that route, too. I run CMAP with Wine. In fact I use Wine for both CMAP and Agent (that I'm using right now). It certainly isn't perfect but it does work fairly well, in most cases I've tried. Wow, wine. Long time since I heard anybody using that. But if it works for your apps, then fine. To the extent that it doesn't, most people nowadays are using virtualizers like vmware or xen to run windows under linux (or vice versa). The atom-based samsung nc10 netbook that I'd bring along on charters doesn't have the horsepower or memory for that, so I just dual boot it. (For most recent windows apps, wine has pretty much turned to vinegar.) Linux, the much touted "free" system, frequently will not compile a new app and, at least in my experience, sometimes requires very hard to locate libraries. Be patient. The underlying problem is windows' humongous market share, which disincentivizes developers from putting much effort into other os ports. And like 90% of any such extra effort goes to the mac market. Actually, given those facts, linux has been wildly surprisingly successful. I imagine things will only improve over time. I don't see it progressing to any extent. At the moment it is pretty much the flavor of choice if one talks servers but for Joe Everyman and his laptop I don't believe it will ever catch up with Windows. Yeah, maybe, but a tough call either way. "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra. (The "./configure;make;make install" procedure has become a lot more standardized and robust, and I'm guessing that trend will continue.) I've got a mate down in Singapore that fits the picture perfectly. He is semi retired and does business consulting. He needs to send and receive e-mail; type correspondence and maybe do a spreadsheet once in a while. Totally computer illiterate. Sure, absolutely. If he, or anybody, is happy with the way their computer is running under windows, then by all means continue using it. As a quick note before my wifi dies. I just downloaded the OpenCPN "deb" file from the home URL and installed it on Ubuntu 9.10 with no problems whatsoever. Have also downloaded the source (from same URL) and having troubles making the cmake scripts. More as it happens. Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Justin C wrote:
JohnF wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: Don't spend too much time; it's not really too important. And I'm guessing you used some installer like apt-get which might have -- unbeknownst to you -- downloaded more stuff than you explicitly downloaded from opencpn.org . apt doesn't download stuff without letting the user know. It always tells of dependancies and asks if the user would like to get those too. In addition, the couldn't install the package with apt unless the OpenCPN web-site was added to /etc/apt/sources.list, and the site was configured as a Debian type repository (which is unlikely). What is more likely is that the .deb was downloaded and installed with something like dpkg. dpkg will complain of missing dependencies but the user will have to track those down themselves. Thanks for the apr corrections, Justin, and for the additional (snipped) debian info. I've been using slackware, and (obviously) don't know much about debian's installer. Based on Bruce's discussion, I'd just assumed apt probably did something along the lines I described; apparently not. Taking a quick look at one of the Debian systems here, I can tell you that wx is available in current Debian stable, however, according to mine (which might be old stable, I don't recall just now) it's only 2.6, I think I read on this thread that 2.8 is required. Yeah, based on messages from my failed install, 2.8 is required. So now I'd try assuming Bruce's release had 2.8 installed by default (slackware 12.2 has no wxWidgets installed). And I now see from http://www.wxwidgets.org/downloads/ that the 2.9 I downloaded is a "development" release; had I noticed that originally I'd have downloaded the "current stable" 2.8 to begin with. And that probably would have worked with the executable images in the .deb file. -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
As a quick note before my wifi dies. I just downloaded the OpenCPN "deb" file from the home URL and installed it on Ubuntu 9.10 with no problems whatsoever. Have also downloaded the source (from same URL) and having troubles making the cmake scripts. More as it happens. Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) Yeah, I think the .deb I downloaded might have worked had I installed wxWidgets 2.8 instead of 2.9 (my bad). I'll give that another try and let you know. Regarding compile, I notice that the very bottom of http://opencpn.org/compiling_source_linux mentions that they used to use tried-and-true "configure;make; make install" scripts. Too bad they had to go change that. -- John Forkosh ( mailto: where j=john and f=forkosh ) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
In article , JohnF wrote:
Justin C wrote: JohnF wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: Don't spend too much time; it's not really too important. And I'm guessing you used some installer like apt-get which might have -- unbeknownst to you -- downloaded more stuff than you explicitly downloaded from opencpn.org . apt doesn't download stuff without letting the user know. It always tells of dependancies and asks if the user would like to get those too. In addition, the couldn't install the package with apt unless the OpenCPN web-site was added to /etc/apt/sources.list, and the site was configured as a Debian type repository (which is unlikely). What is more likely is that the .deb was downloaded and installed with something like dpkg. dpkg will complain of missing dependencies but the user will have to track those down themselves. Thanks for the apr corrections, Justin, and for the additional (snipped) debian info. I've been using slackware, and (obviously) don't know much about debian's installer. Based on Bruce's discussion, I'd just assumed apt probably did something along the lines I described; apparently not. Taking a quick look at one of the Debian systems here, I can tell you that wx is available in current Debian stable, however, according to mine (which might be old stable, I don't recall just now) it's only 2.6, I think I read on this thread that 2.8 is required. Yeah, based on messages from my failed install, 2.8 is required. So now I'd try assuming Bruce's release had 2.8 installed by default (slackware 12.2 has no wxWidgets installed). Slackware, IIRC, has almost nothing installed unless you expressly ask for it! Not a bad thing. I'm starting to find that a basic Debian install is getting rather large with all of the `required' packages. Especially when I know that I'll never want or need that stuff. The reason I haven't gone the Slackware or Linux From Scratch route is that you have to watch too many packages for security updates. With Debian I find it's so much easier to just run an `apt-get update' and `apt-get upgrade' once in a while. And I now see from http://www.wxwidgets.org/downloads/ that the 2.9 I downloaded is a "development" release; had I noticed that originally I'd have downloaded the "current stable" 2.8 to begin with. And that probably would have worked with the executable images in the .deb file. Ubuntu (mentioned by Bruce IIRC) should be about the easiest install - providing they've wx 2.8 in their repository, and I can't see why they wouldn't. Got space for another partition? Justin. -- Justin C, by the sea. |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Sat, 11 Sep 2010 11:09:12 +0000 (UTC), JohnF
wrote: Yeah, I think the .deb I downloaded might have worked had I installed wxWidgets 2.8 instead of 2.9 (my bad). I'll give that another try and let you know. Regarding compile, I notice that the very bottom of http://opencpn.org/compiling_source_linux mentions that they used to use tried-and-true "configure;make; make install" scripts. Too bad they had to go change that. I have a mix of wx-whatever but the latest seems to be 2.8.10.1. As far as I know part of initial installation. Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
In article , Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
As a quick note before my wifi dies. I just downloaded the OpenCPN "deb" file from the home URL and installed it on Ubuntu 9.10 with no problems whatsoever. Have also downloaded the source (from same URL) and having troubles making the cmake scripts. More as it happens. It might have installed OK, but does it work? Also, if the .deb installed OK why DL the source? Justin. -- Justin C, by the sea. |
gps receiver and software for netbook chartplotter
On Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:51:55 +0100, Justin C
wrote: In article , Bruce in Bangkok wrote: As a quick note before my wifi dies. I just downloaded the OpenCPN "deb" file from the home URL and installed it on Ubuntu 9.10 with no problems whatsoever. Have also downloaded the source (from same URL) and having troubles making the cmake scripts. More as it happens. It might have installed OK, but does it work? Also, if the .deb installed OK why DL the source? Justin. As far as I can tell so far it does work. I haven't connected a GPS to it but the README file mentions various problems that may occur with permissions there so I guess "connective problems" can be considered as normal :-) As for the source, my main systems all run Fedora so the deb file is of limited usefulness. Cheers, Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom) |
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