OpenCPN on Android can no longer browse to SD card where the charts are!

RichardS

RichardS

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Ever since I've been using OpenCPN on my Sony Android tablet I've had the charts installed on the SD card and OpenCPN has always been able to find them once I pointed in to the right directory.

This all worked fine a few months ago but today there are no charts installed. When I try to show OpenCPN where the charts are installed the directory listing starts with the internal memory of the tablet. It's impossible to go one level higher to see the SD card and drill down into the directories on the card.

I've uninstalled and re-installed OpenCPN so I definitely have the latest version but it's exactly the same.

I can see the SD card directories in other apps so there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the tablet but there clearly is something wrong about how this latest version of OpenCPN interacts with the Xperia external memory.

Does anyone else have a similar problem with the latest version of OpenCPN?

I can obviously get around it by moving the charts to the internal memory but before I do that I'll see if anyone else is having the same issue.

Thanks

Richard
 
Ive got the same problem but it happened when i upgraded to Android 6. I couldn't go back to 5 so I swapped the phone ( Moto G3) with a new one but old stock with android 5 and keep refusing the option to upgrade.
I hope someone comes up with the fix for android 6.
 
Yes its a common issue. It comes about because android does not identify the SD card in a standard way - its different on each implementation of android by a tablet / phone maker. In theory , if you can find the SD card location string for your gadget, then you can use a file management app to alter the config file of OpenCPN to direct OpenCPN to the correct location.

I started to do this using ES but then asked myself why I was bothering when I already had Navionics on the phone.
 
HunterWanderer said:
Ive got the same problem but it happened when i upgraded to Android 6. I couldn't go back to 5 so I swapped the phone ( Moto G3) with a new one but old stock with android 5 and keep refusing the option to upgrade.
I hope someone comes up with the fix for android 6.
Click to expand...

I may be wrong...

There are two ways to mount an SD card on Marshmallow (android 6) - as external storage or as extended storage (my names can't recall Google's terms). I suspect that is a contributor to the problem.

Secondly - the SD card on my Moto G3 didn't used to mount as /SD_Card rather someplace odd like /android/sd_card0/ some apps seem to know thats an SD card, others its just a folder within the file structure.

I've never understood why Android doesn't let you put symbolic links in without rooting your device.
 
wotayottie said:
Yes its a common issue. It comes about because android does not identify the SD card in a standard way - its different on each implementation of android by a tablet / phone maker. In theory , if you can find the SD card location string for your gadget, then you can use a file management app to alter the config file of OpenCPN to direct OpenCPN to the correct location.

I started to do this using ES but then asked myself why I was bothering when I already had Navionics on the phone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the responses. Now I know that it's a common problem I'll try amending the config file manually once I've sorted out what the path actually is on the Xperia.

Richard
 
Similar problem on Android with MemoryMap. This is what I found


Getting MemoryMap to see the files
If I use Solid Explorer and click on a chart file, then it does not come up with MemoryMap as a program option.
Doing the same in Myfiles, it does not recognise any application.
In ES File Explorer, it recognises Memory App and opens the file

Memory Map seemed initially not to find the charts, but I sort of followed the advice from

https://www.memory-map.co.uk/support/041755-Loading-maps-to-an-SD-card-on-Android

and it now works, though I am not sure my trying to generate a text file was what actually solved the problem. It could have just been that using ES File Explorer established the link
 
temptress said:
The issue is that your flavour of ANDROID when you upgraded has changed the path to the SD card. Find the path and enter that for the chart directory then all will be well.
Click to expand...

The first part is true but its more complicated than that because OpenCPN in the past has always been able to browse from the top-most root level and expand the directory structure down either the internal memory path or the external/SD card memory path so that wherever your charts were installed you would be able to show that directory to OpenCPN.

The new issue is that OpenCPN can no longer see the external memory at all so anything installed on the SD card is invisible to OpenCPN. If that is where you charts happen to be installed and you don't want to move them, then things start to get a whole lot more complicated. :(

Richard
 
If you have upgraded to marshmallow then you will have to move the charts into internal memory. I found tge way to separate the sea area of Where i needed and only moved that to minimise internal memory usage .you could convert tge sdcard to adopted but if the sd card becomes corrupted you Will have problems and could lose a lot of stuff , it also slows tge phone down significantly
 
Which version of Opencpn are you using? Some guy got the hump and compiled a free version a while ago which has no support, the real version from Dave register I have can see the sd card now, it's /storage/123-4567/
 
GHA said:
Which version of Opencpn are you using? Some guy got the hump and compiled a free version a while ago which has no support, the real version from Dave register I have can see the sd card now, it's /storage/123-4567/
Click to expand...

I'm using the free version as I only use it for AIS but I've fixed it by editing the conf file so that

[ChartDirectories]
ChartDir1= (the internal memory)

now says

[ChartDirectories]
ChartDir1=>storage>B33D-1DD8>CM93_2012

although you need to put the line terminator ^ at the end of the line before you save the config file.

Of course, the number B33D-1DD8 will be different for every tablet I guess so you have to use ES File Explorer or similar to obtain the correct path for your tablet.

The daft thing is that once you've forced OpenCPN to "see" the external memory it now sees it in the chart location setup dialogue just like it used to!

Richard
 
RichardS said:
I'm using the free version as I only use it for AIS
Click to expand...

On your own then, the maison whatsit version is just something some bloke compiled a while ago with no support and no updates.

The real app is only a smidge over 10 euros then you get all the updates and help from the author with any problems, plus doing the world a favour by reporting any bugs which need fixing. .
 
GHA said:
On your own then, the maison whatsit version is just something some bloke compiled a while ago with no support and no updates.
Click to expand...

That's helpful ..... and not correct either. :rolleyes:

When the real author first compiled the android version he released in as a free APK for initial "selected" users to get some early feedback and that's the version I'm using. :)

Richard
 
RichardS said:
That's helpful ..... and not correct either. :rolleyes:

When the real author first compiled the android version he released in as a free APK for initial "selected" users to get some early feedback and that's the version I'm using. :)

Richard
Click to expand...


OK, still on your own without the real app unfortunately. ISTR the early versions were a bit clunky, no plug ins either iirc.
 
I have all three including the free test apk version marshmallow blocks use of tge sdcard withit unless the sdcard is adopted .
My lollipop second fone and the hudl works ffrom sdcard DJ
 
fergie_mac66 said:
I have all three including the free test apk version marshmallow blocks use of tge sdcard withit unless the sdcard is adopted .
My lollipop second fone and the hudl works ffrom sdcard DJ
Click to expand...

That's the first time I've ever heard about this "adopted" thing and I can see why OpenCPN would then be able to access it. However, I'd rather be able to remove the SD card and not affect the tablet. I only use it for data rather than apps as I have plenty of internal memory for apps ..... it's the data (like the Gig for charts and I like having them all) which takes up the space.

I can't understand why OpenCPN is written to deal with both the options available, ie portable memory and adopted memory, but they (or Android) seem to have decided that it's one or the other, unless you edit the config file and then both are available again. :confused:

Richard
 
RichardS said:
I can't understand why OpenCPN is written to deal with both the options available, ie portable memory and adopted memory, but they (or Android) seem to have decided that it's one or the other, unless you edit the config file and then both are available again. :confused:

Richard
Click to expand...

In the real app you just choose the sd card in setup, no need to go near the config file. . Your problem sounds like it's because you have a beta trial version of the app.
 
Richard, out of interest, did you first try to change the map path via the 'Spanner' Charts tab or the drop down menu top right of screen?
I found that it needed to be set in the drop down menu top right of screen.
I have the free CPN running on two tablets and a phone, the phone is running Android 6 with 'intigrated' SD card.
Phone is running V 1.0 (free)
Tablets are running V 4.1.1028 (free) on Android 4, which I tried out on a recent X channel trip and it performs well, it also has an integrated 'Dashboard' which comes up when you set a 'Goto' and 'Track'. It isn't configurable like the PC version but it does a job.
 
LadyInBed said:
Richard, out of interest, did you first try to change the map path via the 'Spanner' Charts tab or the drop down menu top right of screen?
I found that it needed to be set in the drop down menu top right of screen.
I have the free CPN running on two tablets and a phone, the phone is running Android 6 with 'intigrated' SD card.
Phone is running V 1.0 (free)
Tablets are running V 4.1.1028 (free) on Android 4, which I tried out on a recent X channel trip and it performs well, it also has an integrated 'Dashboard' which comes up when you set a 'Goto' and 'Track'. It isn't configurable like the PC version but it does a job.
Click to expand...

I used the "spanner" Charts tab as that is the one I'm used to on my laptop. I've never used those right-hand menu icons but it sound like I should have. It's too late now because even the "spanner" tab now recognises the SD card following my config edit but your tip might well help others so thank you for posting.

Richard
 
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