OpenMarine

I'm learning and configuring Openplotter on R PI 4 for eventual use in small, trailerable sailboat.

GPS puck - check.
Open CPN - check.
VNC access via phone/tablet - check.

At this point, it's not clear whether I'll want to get a small display to mount or be satisfied with remote access over wifi. Auto boot is working so that I can power up the current installation without needing monitor, keyboard, mouse. 


Question:

Is there an advantage to running the headless build versus regular? 

I'm imagining that the desktop environment expends some energy, even when screensaver kicks in or HDMI monitor is powered down. I don't see much system load so far in testing; temp is 48 - 50 C. Current draw is averaging .83 amp. 

Seems like I'd appreciate the flexibility of having the full environment running from time to time -- but maybe I'm missing something of the tradeoff? 

Thanks for advice.

Ken Sherwood

I use both. I have a monitor at the nav station, and a tablet running VNC. I find that I more frequently use OpenCPN on the tablet directly, and just use OP to generate a NMEA stream that OpenCPN on the tablet listens to.

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