Cockpit Beta Testing

[EliotBR (Eliot)]

Having recently released Cockpit v1.17 (a major improvement to video recording), we are now in the development period for v1.18!

Major feedback/testing requests

Click a topic for the context and testing details

1. Settings synchronisation - stop annoying refreshes and conflict warnings

• Changes implemented in #2027 and #2333.

@rafaellehmkuhl

Expect the following:

• The banner stating “conflict between BlueOS and Cockpit settings” is gone and cannot annoy you anymore
• All conflict resolutions are automatically handled via timestamps (the most recent one is kept)
• All of the annoying automatic restarts of Cockpit are gone, with the only exception being when you change to another vehicle

All of your old “v1” settings are backed up before being migrated to the new timestamp-based style (“v2”), both in the topside computer as well as in the vehicle, so the chance of losing any of your settings is minimal, although it exists. I didn’t have any situation in my tests where this happened, but is important that you’re aware of.

Downgrading back to v1.18.0-beta.1 or any of the previous versions (v1.17 and below) should work flawlessly, and the settings you had before installing Beta2 should load automatically, as we are segregated the settings key for the new version, not altering any of your old settings.

Minor testing requests/checks

2. Joystick mode switching for all vehicle types

• New mode selection joystick button functions available per vehicle type (#2313)
• Mode switching for non-ArduSub autopilot firmware no longer requires using the mode switcher dropdown widget if a joystick is connected

3. Web-socket connections for data-lake input

• It is now possible to connect Cockpit to generic web-sockets to receive data (#2383)
• Data can be sent from services onboard the vehicle, on the control station computer, or elsewhere on the network, without needing to go through MAVLink

4. Mission planning and the map widget

• New button (bottom right) to switch between flight and mission planning modes (#2294)
• Vehicle path maintained when switching between flight and mission planning (#2404)
• Improved mission data persistence in flight mode, reduced annoyances (#2403)
• The selected map tile provider is now remembered between sessions (#2267)
• The last map display is now remembered between sessions ( #2261)
• Mission waypoints that have been reached now change colour (#2343)
• Mission waypoints no longer get misaligned by zooming (#2289)
• Survey polygon corners can now have their coordinates set numerically (#2319)
• Survey path generation now avoids some unnecessary sharp angles (#2290)
• Various other UI fixes

5. PX4 autopilot firmware can now be connected to Cockpit

• Initial, minimal support added in #2218
• If you have a vehicle running PX4 firmware, please try connecting it and confirming the telemetry comes through

6. Many-button (>32) joysticks now supported

• Supported in both the table and visual configuration views (#2302 / #2306)

7. Plotter widget improvements

• Repeating values are now (optionally) supported, to more intuitively view time-based events ( #2347)
• Vertical axis limits can now be manually specified, for consistency with bounds in a region of interest ( #2348)
• Extra stats are now available (average, median, std. dev) ( #2377)

Check off features you’ve tried in v1.18!

• Settings sync updates
• Joystick mode switching (non-ROV)
• Web-socket data input
• Mission planning and map widget
• PX4 autopilot connection
• >32 button joystick configuration
• New plotter widget options

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For the full list of changes, please check the detailed release notes .

Once we’re in the release candidate stage I will post our list of standard release tests, for anyone who wants to confirm Cockpit’s general feature list still works as expected for them.