OpenCPN on Kindle 3

bobmor99 · 09-07-2011, 06:57 PM

Greetings from an IT geezer and Kindle 3 (K3) hacker uber-newb.

I recently bought a K3 with the idea that an e-ink display would be great in the cockpit of my sailboat. There's a very high quality, open source chart plotter application (opencpn.org) that I'd like to use in direct sunlight. It runs on Linux (and Windows and Mac) and uses the wxWidgets and GTK libraries.

My K3 is jailbroken and I can telnet to it. Thanks to many for this.

In this post I'd like to ask how to to go about compiling the opencpn source for the K3. I have Scratchbox setup on a PC and have managed to compile and run Hello World on the K3. The output goes to the PC's telnet session. (Lots of knowledge holes here...) (I am also able to recompile the openCPN source and run it on my Linux desktop.)

I hope I've conveyed my level of expertise.

Is it a bad idea to try to port a "massive application" to the K3?
If not, what might be the main hurdles?
Should I focus on the K3's missing libraries?

Many thanks in advance.

hawhill · 09-08-2011, 11:34 AM

I wouldn't say it's a bad idea... Note that for GUI applications, there's a bit more to "porting" than just compiling the application as-is for the Kindle. You will also need to make the parts that output graphics aware that they are rendering to an e-ink display. The main difference to "usual" framebuffer output is that you have to tell the display explicitly to refresh changed parts of the visual output - it's a display that doesn't constantly refresh.

Personally, I didn't take a look at the sources, but there's a recent thread about a DirectFB/WebKit/GTK+ bundle - however, since you're targeting the K3, I think those should already be in place.

And yes, you should focus on "missing libraries"... You'll just need them to run the app, it's this simple.

However, there might be another way: You could use a full-fledged Debian installation as a base (search this forum on how to do this). This would spare you of the work to compile all that stuff, and you could focus on the e-ink problem.

Besides the mentioned output speciality, also the input will probably need a bit of work, too. The keyboard isn't quite the "standard PC" stuff.

bobmor99 · 09-10-2011, 08:49 AM

Thank you for the general guidance. That's what I was looking for.
I'm going to try the Debian route. Lots to learn. I'll report back on my progress in a year. :-)

dasmoover · 09-11-2011, 02:30 AM

I would also suggest using Debian as a base. There are guides on this forum explaining how to get xorg installed under a chroot, from there install the libraries and binaries with aptitude.

09-07-2011, 06:57 PM	#1
bobmor99 Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2011 Device: kindle 3	OpenCPN on Kindle 3 Greetings from an IT geezer and Kindle 3 (K3) hacker uber-newb. I recently bought a K3 with the idea that an e-ink display would be great in the cockpit of my sailboat. There's a very high quality, open source chart plotter application (opencpn.org) that I'd like to use in direct sunlight. It runs on Linux (and Windows and Mac) and uses the wxWidgets and GTK libraries. My K3 is jailbroken and I can telnet to it. Thanks to many for this. In this post I'd like to ask how to to go about compiling the opencpn source for the K3. I have Scratchbox setup on a PC and have managed to compile and run Hello World on the K3. The output goes to the PC's telnet session. (Lots of knowledge holes here...) (I am also able to recompile the openCPN source and run it on my Linux desktop.) I hope I've conveyed my level of expertise. Is it a bad idea to try to port a "massive application" to the K3? If not, what might be the main hurdles? Should I focus on the K3's missing libraries? Many thanks in advance.

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09-08-2011, 11:34 AM	#2
hawhill Wizard Posts: 1,379 Karma: 2155307 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Goettingen, Germany Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Mini	I wouldn't say it's a bad idea... Note that for GUI applications, there's a bit more to "porting" than just compiling the application as-is for the Kindle. You will also need to make the parts that output graphics aware that they are rendering to an e-ink display. The main difference to "usual" framebuffer output is that you have to tell the display explicitly to refresh changed parts of the visual output - it's a display that doesn't constantly refresh. Personally, I didn't take a look at the sources, but there's a recent thread about a DirectFB/WebKit/GTK+ bundle - however, since you're targeting the K3, I think those should already be in place. And yes, you should focus on "missing libraries"... You'll just need them to run the app, it's this simple. However, there might be another way: You could use a full-fledged Debian installation as a base (search this forum on how to do this). This would spare you of the work to compile all that stuff, and you could focus on the e-ink problem. Besides the mentioned output speciality, also the input will probably need a bit of work, too. The keyboard isn't quite the "standard PC" stuff.

09-10-2011, 08:49 AM	#3
bobmor99 Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2011 Device: kindle 3	Thank you for the general guidance. That's what I was looking for. I'm going to try the Debian route. Lots to learn. I'll report back on my progress in a year. :-)

09-11-2011, 02:30 AM	#4
dasmoover Connoisseur Posts: 84 Karma: 26720 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Kindle 3 WIFI	I would also suggest using Debian as a base. There are guides on this forum explaining how to get xorg installed under a chroot, from there install the libraries and binaries with aptitude.

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