FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

At a supply voltage of 12 V the total current consumption is approx. 400 mA, which corresponds to a power of approx. 5 W.

In the beginning (e.g. on your workbench) it is a good advice to connect a normal USB-keyboard and a USB-mouse to the cubieboard. All user interaction is done via keystrokes. Later you can decide to use a touch screen, a remote-stick or some buttons combined with rotary encoders or joysticks… A simple but very versatile approach is using an inexpensive Arduino Leonardo to convert user interaction into USB-HID, as shown with the Stefly-Remote stick. The Arduino can be programmed via USB directly from the IDE, no need to use a dedicated programmer, power supply and other stuff.

Connect a normal computer keyboard to the USB of your Openvario and press ESC during the boot-up. Select the wanted menu-items with arrow keys and confirm with ENTER or ESC.

There is a convenient method in the Openvario-Menu to rotate the screen. MAIN_MENU→SYSTEM→SETTINGS→Display_Rotation. There is another possibility (hardware) on the adapterboard to set two jumpers (close to the FPC display connector) for horizontal and vertical mirroring of the display.

The Openvario-Menu provides language setting under: MAIN-MENU→SYSTEM→SETTINGS→XCSoar_Language

No, if your glider is equipped with any kind of GPS providing NMEA-output, you have a nice moving map system even without the sensorboard. Some GPS devices provide also barometric pressure or vario data, which can be used by Openvario as well.

On the backside of the Openvario you will find four RJ45 connectors with IGC-pin assignment. Three of them are ready for external NMEA-sources like Flarm, Volkslogger or any other GPS or logger. You have to enable your device in xcsoar device manager. Config → Device → Edit The fourth RJ45 connector is reserved for debugging purposes, which is usually needed for developers only.

The device manager of xcsoar is a very powerful tool to investigate the NMEA-contents. Config → Device (select your device) → Monitor

http://www.xcsoar.org/discover/manual.html

Yes, you only have to download a suitable image for your display type from the ftp.openvario.org, unpack it (e.g. with 7zip) and burn it to your micro-SD using Win32 Disk imager. At the moment there are images for three displays available with 4.3“, 5.7” and 7“. Please keep in mind that some SD-cards will make problems, even if you made no mistake.

Team up with other builders and check the builder's blackboard. There you will find completely assembelled and tested sensorboards ready to use for small money. The same applies to mechanical components. Openvario builders are enthusiasts and will support you.

-Hardware: check the adapterboard. For 30 pin LVDS-displays there will be probably no need for changes -Software: you need an appropriate script.bin file for your display. There are some tools to convert an editable *.fex file into a *.bin file: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/tree/master/SOFTWARE/fex-bin-convertor-windows http://linux-sunxi.org/Sunxi-tools#bin2fex http://linux-sunxi.org/Fex_Guide After you have created the script.bin, copy it to an existing Openvario-image and start xcsoar with the appropriate resolution.

The sensorboard is the greatest challenge of the Openvario-project. It is strongly recommended to do some preliminary checks before sealing the POM-block. Check out Electrical Tests for further information. After a successful visual inspection with a magnifier or a microscope you can use the small program i2cdetect to find out if all components can be addressed by the i2c. Using i2cdetect -y 1 the result should look like (except for the comments): 0x18 I2C to 1wire bridge 0x28 AMS5915 differential pressure sensor for indicated airspeed 0x48 ADS 1110 Analog to Digital Converter for battery voltage 0x50…0x57 Serial EEPROM 0x68 MPU9150 Gyro Accelerometer Magnetometer 0x76 MS5611 pressure sensor 0x77 MS5611 pressure sensor

ftp://ftp.openvario.org/images/archive/

the filename is: CARD_CB2_70LVDS_20140704_0646.img.gz (1.3 Gbyte)

-Check the cable connection between Cubieboard Headphone and Sensorboard (J5) -Connect a loudspeaker to the Cinch-socket of the Sensorboard -The outer jacket of the Cinch connector mustn't have contact to the housing, be careful not to short circuit -Enable the Openvario Device in xcsoar: Config→Device→Edit→TCP-Port 4352 Driver: Openvario -Enable the Audio Vario in xcsoar: Config→System→Gauges→AudioVario -Enable the Vario in xcsoar Quick-menu, pull up the volume several times

-Check the image on the microSD. Use another image and / or another microSD-card brand. There are some unsuitable micoSD-cards on the market which cause difficulties. -Check the cable connection between Cubieboard RX/TX and Adapterboard UART, rotate RX/TX. -Check out the Electrical Tests pages for troubleshooting.