sailors like slackel 7.3

[djemos]

Really impressive. I use a GPS program in my Samsung j3 2016 android phone. It is the Sygic app, i have 3 licensees and maps are upgraded often. I use it to travel in towns i do not know the road traffic. GPS is very useful.
GPS first created for military use and then became public.

These programs exist in Debian and in Slackware 14.2 but for current it was a challenge to compile all these and work as whole.
In Slackel repos there are now the latest versions of these programs, or most of them, which do not exist on Slackware 14.2 stable.
And also this is an example that Linux/gnu can be used for almost any tasks.

It is a pleasure to know that Slackel is useful for people out there.

[juliusse]

I also use GPS programs on Android. In fact, opencpn, drivers for rtl-sdr and AIS exists on Android. This allows to use a tablet or smartphone as a backup.
But in terms of efficiency and comfort, in a boat, nothing beats a computer.
And Slackel, being Slackware-based and Slackware-compatible (this means respecting the Unix's KISS principles) allows doing things in an user-friendly way.
Do you think that someday in the future Slackel would be ported on ARM platforms? (and more precisely raspberry?). Because those types of platforms are gaining more and more land , and they can be useful for a huge lot of applications. Since the release of the RPi4, in 64bits version, I think those boards are now mature for "democratization". I'm sure that in a close future, they will be more and more presents, as the ARM architecture, even for general usage.

[djemos]

Do you think that someday in the future Slackel would be ported on ARM platforms? (and more precisely raspberry?).

To do this need a team and other people who can help and maintain the project. I spend much time to keep Slackel stable, because i use Slackel as my main OS for everyday work.
This is quite different to maintain by myself another OS. Even 32bit versions of Slackel take extra time to maintain because i use the 64 bit version of Slackel.
The truth is that i have an arm controller (i don't remember its type and i cannot check because i am out of my town). It is not a raspberry board. I have used it to put micro buttons and sensors to do automation examples in the past.

[juliusse]

That's what I was thinking. And I understand it perfectly. To my point of view it's not a problem at all. Friends often tell me that a raspberry is better on a boat because the cost/effectiveness is better than a laptop. What I respond is that they need to stop using Ubuntu and think more. A free laptop recycled from family or friends, an efficient system like Slackel openbox, and some TLP tweaking (or laptop-mode-tools), and you achieve the exact same performance and consumption than a raspberry pi4, and you keep the option of more powerful machine if you need it. Moreover, an rpi+screen+peripherals+box+alimentation cost more than a 2nd hand ThinkPad. A laptop can be taken out of the boat. And finally, on the environmental impact, it's better to use something that is already there.

[djemos]

Yes.
Look the costs of refurbished laptop's with one year guarantee here in Greece.

Lenovo ThinkPad X240 - screen 12.5" - Intel Core i5 4 generation 43xxU - 4GB RAM - 500GB HDD - Webcam - Windows 10 Home 199 €
Lenovo ThinkPad X240 - screen 12.5" - Intel Core i5 4 generation 43xxU - 4GB RAM - 120GB SSD - Webcam - Windows 10 Pro 220 €
Lenovo ThinkPad X240 - screen 12.5" - Intel Core i5 4 generation 43xxU - 8GB RAM - 500GB HDD - Webcam - Windows 10 Pro 220 €

Ι had ordered for my nephew five months ago a NB LENOVO T430 I5/4/320/DVD/W10P Refurbished laptop for 220 €. It is very polished. When i saw it i said it is a new one, unused. It is working fine. Battery can work for hours.

[juliusse]

Hi Djemos,
Something I forgot to mention. When plugging my GPS mouse, which is an USB/serial device, and adding the connection to opencpn, It's necessary to add the user to the "dialout" group.

Code: Select all

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

. This is normal since the beginning of opencpn.


But, something that is present on opencpn 5.0, and was not present in previous versions, is the following:
To add a serial connection, it's seem to require that something must be added to udev rules, creating the file

Code: Select all

/etc/udev/rules.d/70-opencpn.rules

With content

Code: Select all

KERNEL==“ttyUSB*”, MODE=“0666”
KERNEL==“ttyACM*”, MODE=“0666”
KERNEL==“ttyS*”, MODE=“0666” 

For me it seems curious, because it looks like a permission story. Moreover, after adding the rule, at boot, I've got an error message (that don't affect the system, which is still functionning).
Her the dmesg result concerning this message.

Code: Select all

udevd[599]: invalid key/value pair in file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-opencpn.rules on line 1, starting at character 1 ('K')
[    8.027964] udevd[599]: invalid key/value pair in file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-opencpn.rules on line 2, starting at character 1 ('K')
[    8.031334] udevd[599]: invalid key/value pair in file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-opencpn.rules on line 3, starting at character 1 ('K')
[    8.145031] udevd[600]: starting eudev-3.2.9
[    8.192735] udevd[600]: invalid key/value pair in file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-opencpn.rules on line 1, starting at character 1 ('K')
[    8.196009] udevd[600]: invalid key/value pair in file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-opencpn.rules on line 2, starting at character 1 ('K')
[    8.199271] udevd[600]: invalid key/value pair in file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-opencpn.rules on line 3, starting at character 1 ('K')

What do you think? Honestly, it doesn't affect the system nor the programs. everything works perfectly and if I hadn't the habit to look at the messages displayed when booting, I would have never noticed it.

[djemos]

I did not have such messages but i don't have a usb gps of course.
I suggest to edit 70-opencpn.rules and delete all " and type them again. And also add an empty line to the end of the file. Save it and reboot. And check again for errors.
It has to be an invalid character there not shown. If have you copy from internet the file.

This has nothing to do with above problem but i mentioned here if you have render fonts problems in lxterminal.
Also if you have upgrade your system to latest updates then install hack-fonts-ttf and delete ~/.config/lxterminal/lxterminal.conf
Then run again lxterminal so fonts are render fine. I replace Terminus with Hack font because of pango upgrade.
Also remove libcroco as has been removed from slackware.

[juliusse]

Thanks.
You're right, I did a copy/paste from the internet(there are times I am lazy ). I will do as you say and tell you.(in fact that what I was thinking.)

Thanks for the info on the lxterminal. It's curious because on the boat's laptop (eg. ThinkPadausorus) the render fonts problem don't occur, but in my wife's I've noticed it yesterday, after doing an upgrade. On my personal, which I use to work I run Slackel KDE so I haven't the problem. I will also check that tomorrow.

[juliusse]

Well, the render font problem finally appeared on the thinkpad, but was quickly resolved using your advice.

For the opencpn thing and the udev rule eg.

Code: Select all

/etc/udev/rules.d/70-opencpn.rules

, you were 100% right. this was a " problem. But then I thought that if the rule had a bad syntax and the GPS was doing his job, that's was maybe because this rule was unnecessary, so I remove the rule, didn't care of the opencpn message, and everything was working. And after some research, I found that it was useful mostly on certain systems and/or if opencpn was installed using Flatpak (I don't really like thos things like flatpk, snap, appimage, etc...)
So, if someday opencpn, shows a message saying that the rule needs to be added, the message can be ignored, because it will show the message "just in case".(for ubuntu users I think )

[juliusse]

Hi.
I've noticed that Xygrib doesn't appear in the applications menu. Do you think you can modify Xygrib.desktop file for future updates? In a way that it could go in education or utilities, as you want (I think it would be better put it in education, with opencpn.) Of course I can do it myself, but it would be better if it's "automatic at the install".
Have a nice weekend.