What are your perceptions / thoughts about signalk?

[AngusMcDoon]

Don't think there's anything anyone could realistically want to do with data on a boat which can`t be done by signalk.

Run on hardware that uses less than 10mA of power.

 

[dgadee]

Run on hardware that uses less than 10mA of power.

But would that run OpenCPN? I see comments about power usage of the RPi but is it actually that much of a problem in real life? Would a solar panel, even in the north, not provide enough power for when you were absent.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Even though I have the technical skills, I have no interst in delving into it, because my perception is that I have all the data I really need, I don't wish to spend the time to learn how to do it, nor the inevitable maintenance. There’s a relatively limited amount of data I can take in whilst sailing, the boat is pretty intense a lot of the time.

 

[GHA]

Run on hardware that uses less than 10mA of power.

Can't. Can you do much for 10mA? Esp32's are powerful little devies which might not be much more than that with wifi/BT turned off.
Loving my repurposed bust mobile phone, which actually uses somewhere down about 10mA on standby. It's nice knowing where the hook is so quick in my little world . And free.
Of course the rest of the the bits draw more but a Pi3 isn't too bad. I was all set to fit another Pi4 just for nav but turns out the 3 can handle all that with plugins & radar just fine if a bit slow. Opencpn is always running. Any day now there will be a FET or relay controlled by the Pi to piggy back on the radar power so I won't have to get up at 3am to have a look around the anchorage if there's a chain running which sounds a bit close.. Be much more fun than these forums

And the anchor alarm never goes off unless I forget to turn it off when leaving the anchorage, but it's nice as well

This one needs sound..

https://imgur.com/XIpRHPl

 

[lustyd]

So the shining example of why we need this is a slightly crap Navionics on a broken phone? I'll take Navionics, it's cheaper than a Pi!

 

[dgadee]

So the shining example of why we need this is a slightly crap Navionics on a broken phone? I'll take Navionics, it's cheaper than a Pi!

I have both, but no expensive plotter.

 

[lustyd]

I have both, but no expensive plotter.

I'm sure it's fine, but being more expensive and less feature rich while also being self build and unpolished is the answer to the original question. Most sailors don't consider the tinkering to be fun, they consider it to be more maintenance work.
Now I think about it, the original question is very much like asking why more sailors don't prefer to make their own sprayhood. For slightly more money (including the machine!) and several weeks of work, you too could have a loose fitting wonky sprayhood with threads hanging off it

 

[dgadee]

I'm sure it's fine, but being more expensive and less feature rich while also being self build and unpolished is the answer to the original question. Most sailors don't consider the tinkering to be fun, they consider it to be more maintenance work.
Now I think about it, the original question is very much like asking why more sailors don't prefer to make their own sprayhood. For slightly more money (including the machine!) and several weeks of work, you too could have a loose fitting wonky sprayhood with threads hanging off it

Have you used OpenCPN? Not less feature rich at all. The idea that commercial systems are maintenance free is also not true, of course, and can often be more maintenance costs when they break and you have to replace the whole system: I have been there when the central server went and there were no replacements available. A replacement Pi is about £40 as opposed to the £700 I would have had to pay 10 years ago if the server was still available.

You need to remember that the internet runs on open source free software and it can be reliable - sometimes more reliable than commercial systems. Wasn't there round the world racers complaining about being sent out with bug ridden commercial autopilot software?

On sprayhoods, if only it was easy to get someone to make them! I have been trying to get a quote for the boat in Greece for months and promises to provide one is all I get.

 

[lustyd]

Have you used OpenCPN? Not less feature rich at all. The idea that commercial systems are maintenance free is also not true, of course, and can often be more maintenance costs when they break and you have to replace the whole system: I have been there when the central server went and there were no replacements available. A replacement Pi is about £40 as opposed to the £700 I would have had to pay 10 years ago if the server was still available.

You need to remember that the internet runs on open source free software and it can be reliable - sometimes more reliable than commercial systems. Wasn't there round the world racers complaining about being sent out with bug ridden commercial autopilot software?

On sprayhoods, if only it was easy to get someone to make them! I have been trying to get a quote for the boat in Greece for months and promises to provide one is all I get.

Yes I have, but not on a phone. If that's OpenCPN on the phone in the image above then at the very least it lacks polish.

If my commercial system breaks it's a warranty issue so I don't care quite so much.

You're now comparing a £40 pi to a full plotter - I was comparing to Navionics app for about £30.

Well aware of open source, thanks. Much of it looks as janky as that phone app. The Internet runs on headless servers where the janky interface makes no difference. Almost nobody runs it as a desktop without a commercial overlay like Android or B&G/Raymarine/Garmin.

 

[dgadee]

Yes I have, but not on a phone. If that's OpenCPN on the phone in the image above then at the very least it lacks polish.

If my commercial system breaks it's a warranty issue so I don't care quite so much.

You're now comparing a £40 pi to a full plotter - I was comparing to Navionics app for about £30.

Well aware of open source, thanks. Much of it looks as janky as that phone app. The Internet runs on headless servers where the janky interface makes no difference. Almost nobody runs it as a desktop without a commercial overlay like Android or B&G/Raymarine/Garmin.

My server went after the warranty period. Are you saying you are happy to replace everything after 2 years or whatever the period is? You are not as tight as I am.

You need a tablet to run Navionics. Add £100 upwards to that cost (I have just spent £200 on a rugged one). Great value for money, I find, but it won't run my autopilot arm.

I have been using Linux as my desktop OS for quite a number of years. I don't find it janky at all. The only software I miss from Windows is a CD digitizer because it recognizes CDs slightly better than does the Linux one.

My club has just started a WhatsApp group on non commercial marine electronics. Very surprised that there are so many now on it. Times are changing. Perhaps when the MacArthur Hat arrives for sale more will become interested as the soldering need goes.

 

[lustyd]

Are you saying you are happy to replace everything after 2 years or whatever the period is?

In the UK it must last a reasonable period of time. 2 years is the minimum warranty period.

You need a tablet to run Navionics

No you don't, I run it on my phone, which I already have.

I have been using Linux as my desktop OS for quite a number of years. I don't find it janky at all

Well done. You're in a tiny, tiny minority. The people who write the software don't find it janky either, but between you and I everyone else on the planet does. And it's the everyone else on the planet that this thread is about.

 

[dgadee]

In the UK it must last a reasonable period of time. 2 years is the minimum warranty period.

No you don't, I run it on my phone, which I already have.

Well done. You're in a tiny, tiny minority. The people who write the software don't find it janky either, but between you and I everyone else on the planet does. And it's the everyone else on the planet that this thread is about.

So how long is your warranty?

How much was your phone? Personally, I think you are being pedantic. You probably don't.

IPhone users are in a minority (perhaps tiny too in terms of "the planet"). Being in a minority is hardly a problem.

Linux/Unix underlies Android (and Apple OS's) so it is much more used than you suspect. And Android is open source, too.

And who are you to pontificate on what this "thread is about"?

Edit: Apple, of course, used a near Linux version of Unix. Not Linux itself.

 

[dgadee]

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