Making OpenWater easy to install
In my last post, OpenWater was a working chartplotter that I could start on a bench in front of me. A chartplotter only matters if other people can run it, though, so this week was about the first minute: getting it onto a computer.
I want that minute to be easy. If someone has to open a terminal, click through scary warnings or read a manual before they see their boat on a chart, I’ve already lost them. Easy installing is part of what I’m promising.
Windows: through the Microsoft Store
On Windows, installing software raises a warning. After decades of viruses and hacks, Windows warns you about everything. That’s not the experience I want for OpenWater, so I’m distributing it through the Microsoft Store. Microsoft checks me and the software, which gives you some reassurance, and far fewer warnings, that you aren’t installing something malicious.
From the Store, you press Get, and OpenWater appears in your Start menu with its own icon. Updates come through the Store, and removing it later is as simple as removing any other app.
I’ve packaged the first beta and put it through the Store’s checks. The first testers will get a private link rather than a public listing, so only people I’ve invited will see it for now.
Raspberry Pi: one file, then it updates itself
The Raspberry Pi is the heart of this project: low-cost, low-power hardware that can run on a boat’s 12V supply. It needs the same promise as Windows. Until now my own Pi has been set up by me, from my PC, over the network, and that’s not something I can ask a tester to do.
So the Pi now has its own easy install:
One file to install. You download a single file, right-click it and choose Package Install. OpenWater Chartplotter appears in the Pi’s application menu, under Accessories, with its own icon. A USB GPS should work without any setup.
Updates like everything else on the Pi. The first install also tells your Pi where new OpenWater versions come from. After that, a new beta shows up in the Pi’s Software Updater with the rest of its updates, so you don’t download and install by hand each time. The Pi looks for updates on its own schedule, so a new version can take a little while to appear.
Run it when you want it. OpenWater starts from the menu like any other app and opens in a window. A Full screen button (or the F11 key) fills the whole screen with the chart and no menus or panels around it, so it looks like a dedicated chartplotter. You can switch back whenever you like, and it remembers your choice.
What’s next
- Get the first Windows testers a link, and see what they run into.
- Try the Pi version on a Pi 5.
- Add a setting, “Start OpenWater when this device turns on”, for a Pi or panel PC that’s meant to be a dedicated plotter. It’s the boot-straight-into-the-chart mode I originally built, and I still think it’s what a boat wants once you’re committed. It will be off by default, because it’s the wrong choice for someone who’s only trying OpenWater out.
- Make a ready-to-flash memory card for dedicated devices, since that’s the easiest route for a plotter that does nothing else.
- Write up what the testers find.
If you’d like to try the beta, on Windows or a Raspberry Pi, tell me on r/OpenWaterCP or at info@openwaterplotter.com. And if you’ve tried to put chartplotter software on a Raspberry Pi and gave up, I especially want to hear what went wrong.
OpenWater is not a certified navigation system. Don’t rely on it as your only means of navigation, and keep a lookout.