Running OpenCPN under Linux Mint

[arell41]

I am trying to find someone who has the SR161 AIS receiver working within OpenCPN running under Linux Mint. Can anyone here help me?

[redbopeep]

Are you have problems with OpenCPN, Linux, or your NMEA183 signal from the AIS? For example, have you opened a terminal window and checked your data stream coming in from your AIS receiver to make sure it works first?

We run OpenCPN on a Raspberry Pi (Debian Linux optimized for the Pi) and a regular computer (Debian Wheezy) and have run it on Ubuntu and Windows 7.

Brenda

[arell41]

redbopeep
the essence of the problem is that I cannot find what to put in the AIS Data Port field of OpenCPN for the SR161 AIS receiver. I have another unit (Radargadget as advertised on OpenCPN website), and this requires /dev/ttyACM0 and works like a champ (it is a USB dongle). Unfortunately, the SR161 is a serial device and thus needs to go through a serial to USB converter, which shows up in /dev as ttyUSB0, but putting that in AIS Data Port does not produce results. I haven't purchased a second serial to USB converter for the SR161, but have been trying to verify that it works by using the converter that I normally use for the GPS. Is it possible that this is confusing the issue?

[redbopeep]

You can check you're getting decent data from your device by using:

cat /dev/ttyUSB0

you're likely seein nothing until the serial speed is set correctly. So you need to know your baud rate for your AIS data coming in. Ours is 38400 but standard NMEA0183 is only 4800. So, you can set it use the stty command (think stty 38400 /dev/ttyusb0 ) and then when you do the cat command you should see sensible data you can read. Otherwise try stty with other baud rates until it's working.

Other problem can be permission related--do you have the correct permission set so you can see the port? As your user you need to ls-l to the port name you can see the group name for that port and you need to be a member of that group.

Once all is working, you can write a udev rule that will recognize the device when it's plugged in, set the baud rate, and give it a unique name that you can put into OpenCPN. And, there you go.

[arell41]

Originally Posted by redbopeep

You can check you're getting decent data from your device by using:

cat /dev/ttyUSB0

you're likely seein nothing until the serial speed is set correctly. So you need to know your baud rate for your AIS data coming in. Ours is 38400 but standard NMEA0183 is only 4800. So, you can set it use the stty command (think stty 38400 /dev/ttyusb0 ) and then when you do the cat command you should see sensible data you can read. Otherwise try stty with other baud rates until it's working.

Other problem can be permission related--do you have the correct permission set so you can see the port? As your user you need to ls-l to the port name you can see the group name for that port and you need to be a member of that group.

Once all is working, you can write a udev rule that will recognize the device when it's plugged in, set the baud rate, and give it a unique name that you can put into OpenCPN. And, there you go.

redbopeep

Thanks for the advice; this stuff is a bit beyond my Linux level, but I'm glad to learn it. I tried the cat command and got nothing, i.e. it just hung till I broke it. I then set my user name to the root group (found that with the ls -l command), and when I do a cat on either of my devices, there is a pause then it returns to command prompt, no output. Using the stty command without a number shows the current baud rate, and my gps showed with 4800 and ais with 38400, and OpenCPN agrees with those numbers and is working with both units.