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@bolts This is the Open Source App for Windows, Mac, & Linux. Although similar to the Android and iOS apps, it is not the same app. But just like the Android and iOS version it does work well for "this is spot/block spraying weeds etc. and not high accuracy sowing etc." The Dual Electronics XGPS150 bluetooth antenna last I saw still works with the iOS app.

As an open source project we hope to have people experiment with some higher accuracy antenna systems to advance this project. Thanks for checking it out. Hopefully we can do a write up one of these days comparing/testing some other antenna options.

@bolts For the BU 353 antenna that is currently supported (other NMEA antennae should work in theory) your best accuracy comes from pass to pass instead of the accuracy of any one particular point. If you are going back and forth with the bike at that width you should have a decent highlighting on the map, however, the maps can be off too, so if possible in your situation you would probably be well to drive around the outside of the field/known area on the map and see how well it matches up with the map.

Here is a link for a free download from the Microsoft Store:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=532540&mstoken=QMXDQ-FD769-2WTW2-YY3FW-P24RZ

Link to BU-353 antenna on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008200LHW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008200LHW&linkCode=as2&tag=techdiode02-20&linkId=9d206edb53cdf29158fc07cb6822deca

1.1 is here.

-Pause/Resume & Save feature is mostly working
-On screen keyboard for field name and width
-updates.plantermonitor.com setup for Gitlab Runners, compiled builds will be available here

Bug Fixes:
*Serial Device is remembered between sessions
*Width Calculation for implement width has been redefined as the actual width in feet of the implement instead of the distance left or right of the antenna.

TODO: Check for memory and performance issues. Polygon drawing appears to be demanding.

You can double touch/click the updates icon on the Pi desktop to pull from the master and update your unit. Usually takes about an hour. Or if you are the DIY person the npm run electron command will get you started much sooner:

git clone https://gitlab.com/johnsonjp34/openfsgps.git

cd openfsgps

npm install

//sync up the serial version
npm run rebuild

//build the react project
npm run build

npm run electron

-Pause/Resume & Save feature is mostly working
-On screen keyboard for field name and width
-updates.plantermonitor.com setup for Gitlab Runners, compiled builds will be available here

Bug Fixes:
*Serial Device is remembered between sessions
*Width Calculation for implement width has been redefined as the actual width in feet of the implement instead of the distance left or right of the antenna.

TODO: Check for memory and performance issues. Polygon drawing appears to be demanding.

git clone https://gitlab.com/johnsonjp34/openfsgps.git

cd openfsgps

npm install

//sync up the serial version
npm run rebuild

//build the react project
npm run build

npm run electron

Powering Up
Powering the unit will require a decent power supply. The kits we supply will come with either an Apple 12W supply or an Anker. If you use the included ON/OFF switch you can't use the included USB C to USB C cable. You must use a USB A to C because the switch doesn't have a signal wire for proper charge rate. A USB C to USB C cable can be connected directly to the Pi.

GPS Connection
The included antenna is a BU-353S4. It can be plugged into any of the Pi USB ports. After launching the software there is a menu for connecting the antenna. You will typically need to select the "Prolific" device the first time you use the software. This has already been done if this you have purchased an assembled device. If you end up plugging in other USB devices you may need to select the antenna again because the device paths could have possibly been changed.

Why "Prolific"? This is the USB to Serial driver used by the GPS antenna.

Where is the keyboard?

If you are using 1.0. (1.1 coming out Jan. 1) you will need to use the system matchbox on screen keyboard. You go to the Pi icon --> Accessories --> Keyboard. You can use this to connect to Wifi, enter implement width, etc.

1.1 will have a screen in the app for the field name and width. You will still need the matchbox keyboard for WIFI connection.

Launching the software
On the Pi desktop are two executables. The icons launch with a double tap. There is one for the software and another for an update script. A major version release is slated for Jan. 1, 2021 so you can run the update script to get that. The update script compiles and builds the program. This can take around an hour so if you see the terminal screen up for a while do not panic.

For assistance troubleshooting feel free to post to this thread or send me a message at jj@maconapps.com.

I've coded the app to cache the Leaflet tiles into the browser (electron) local storage. If you aren't going to have a network available in the field, before you go out, pull up the area of the map and zoom in and out of the area with all the zoom levels that you will want to have available. The local storage won't store the entire country, but you can usually cache several hundred acres of work without any issue.

Power Supplies & Cables

The Pi 4 needs a healthy power supply. I've found that at minimum you will want one of those common 12W Apple USB chargers that are bundled with iPads. Most regular cell phone USB wall chargers will not keep the Pi running especially with a screen and accessories.

USB - C is a nightmare. One benefit of some USB C devices is that they can signal for varying charging voltages. This can be well beyond the standard 5V used in USB. Unfortunately if you have a USB C ON/OFF switch you may notice that it may not even work. If the power supply can't detect what it is supposed to supply some won't supply anything. So if you want to use one of those Amazon ON/OFF USB C switches you may want to just get a basic USB A "charger" (power supply), a USB A cord with C on the switch end.

Touch Screens

The standard supported 7" touch screen works well with the Pi 4. WHAT ABOUT A KEYBOARD. On the roadmap the width and field name inputs will have a React based keyboard. In the mean time you can use the common matchbox on screen keyboard to type in the information. Once installed you can access from the

sudo apt install matchbox-keyboard

Pi Menu --> Accessories --> Keyboard

Also, if you get a touch screen with two extra signal wires (sometimes green/yellow) most likely you won't need those. The touch screen is supported over the display ribbon cable on newer Pis so you will only need the black and red power wires.

The open source repository can be found at:

https://gitlab.com/johnsonjp34/openfsgps.git

Naturally you will need Git.

NodeJS can be found at: https://nodejs.org/
You will also need the node package manager. (npm)

Take a second to update your node setup:

npm cache clean -f

//may need sudo depending on how you setup global package location
npm install -g n

n stable

Next clone, install, and build the project with.

git clone https://gitlab.com/johnsonjp34/openfsgps.git

cd openfsgps

npm install

//the rebuild script in package.json file syncs up the electron nodejs versions.
npm run rebuild

npm run build

To start in development mode you can run npm run electron

To build for deployment you will need to install an electron packager globally such as electron-packager. (npm install -g electron packager) May need sudo depending on how you have your global packages configured.

//pi etc 32 bit ARM
electron-packager . FSGPS --platform=linux --arch=armv7l --overwrite

//Mac
electron-packager . FSGPS --platform=darwin --arch=x64

More options https://github.com/electron/electron-packager