McArthur hat on Rock5b

[moserwi]

Hi,

searched for compatibility of the GPIO but I did not find perfect answers for this tasks. The GPIO-Lane seems to be the same but I hesitate...
Has someone tested the hat on an Rock5b or is one of you a a technician who evaluated it. My electronic knowledge is around ZERO so I am really having a "HAT" problem.

Thank you.

[Adrian]

If you're not a Linux wizard, I strongly recommend sticking to a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5.

Behind the scenes, OpenPlotter includes low level configuration of Linux drivers to properly set up the communication between the Raspberry Pi and the MacArthur HAT. Even if the Rock5b offers all the interfaces on the same pins, the configuration of the peripherals (UART, SPI, I2C, GPIO..) will be slightly (or significantly!) different, which will need tweaking of internals of OpenPlotter and/or Linux.

[moserwi]

Well yes, in fact I am an Linux (debian) nerd since 2000 but I have also learned not to step into the mood when it is not necessary. Thank you for your hint.

[Adrian]

There's a thread about running OpenPlotter on a Orange Pi 5, which uses a similar SoC as the Rock 5B:
https://forum.openmarine.net/showthread.php?tid=4559

To use the MacArthur HAT, the big question is whether you can map 3 UARTs to the right pins. 
   

Also, Signal K SeaTalk integration may need some tweaking as it's very bespoke to the Pi: https://github.com/astuder/signalk-serve...seatalk.js

[moserwi]

Hi Adrian,
thank you so much for your guidance.

I have to explain the peripherals and my suggested roadmap:

I have some seatalk units connected to an NMEA2000 bus which goes into an Vesper Marine XB-8000 AIS Transponder with WiFi (a wonderful litle thing)

The XB-8000 sends the signals via WIFI to the SBC and OpenCPN.

The Rock5b runs Armbian-debian bookworm
implemented: SignalK, NodeRed, pyPilot and OpenCPN (Nothing configured yet)

to get the gyro and compass I ordered a MPU 9250 / 6500 (on it's way) that will be connected to the Rock5b GPIO (somehow?)


I have a wonderful and simple autopilot ( Autopilot Cetec Benmar Course Keeper 210 [hydraulic]) which is a real undestroyable beast but can only turned on on one compass direction and will not route- or wind-steer.

I did not get through the exact pin configuration for the MPU 9250 / 6500
and I wonder how I can transfer the signals to the motor controller.

   

But I think even for me with not existing electronic knowledge it will be manageable.
(My skills are setting up linux-servers, containers [LXC] and implementing and configuring software to the systems like mail-, web-, databaseservers a.s.o and I did a little coding in a lot of languages long time ago)

btw: I am in Vienna now and the boat is in Athens. So I can not get actual data from the XB-8000. This will be from 1st of April but meanwhile I can try to implement the MPU 9250 / 6500 and find  way to connect the motor controller. (If I get it)

Again, Thank you for your valuable assistance.


willi

[Adrian]

I wouldn't call my contributions "guidance" or "assistance", you're definitely on your own with this one 

[moserwi]

I wouldn't call my contributions "guidance" or "assistance", you're definitely on your own with this one 

affirmative