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Running mwp#

Video Tutorials#

There is an slightly outdated video that describes dock usage and some post-install actions:

Update

  • More useful than I remember!
  • The dock is now installed populated.
  • WP editor switch is enabled by default
  • There is now a graphical "favourite places" editor
  • The build system is no longer make

Apart from that, it's quite informative.

Tutorial Playlist#

All the developer's tutorial videos are in a YouTube playlist.

Graphical User Interface#

Once you've built and / or installed mwp.

The install process installs an desktop icon and mwp.desktop application file icon

The desktop file tells the window manager where to find mwp and on modern desktop environments (e.g. Gnome Shell, xfce, kde), mwp will be added to the system application menu and / or 'finder'.

Display Managers#

mwp uses a library, libchamplain to draw maps and mission symbols; unfortunately, this does not integrate consistently with the various generations of open source display managers (ironically, it works without problems in WSL2-G). Please check the following before raising Github issues:

  • On Wayland : Wayland is the latest open source display manager. On some graphics cards, it may fail to 'pick' waypoint symbols when there are more than c. 40 symbols in a mission. In order to mitigate this, the default setting in mwp is to use a fallback implementation known as XWayland. Use of Wayland (vice XWayland) for newer graphics cards may be forced by setting GDK_BACKEND=wayland in ~/.config/mwp/cmdopts or the environment.

  • On Xlib : For older versions of mwp sometimes you may load a mission and the WPs cannot be 'picked' and the map is unresponsive to mouse control. The work-around is to move the mouse off the map and back on again (or scroll the map with the keyboard, CTRL-arrow-keys).

    This is fixed in mwp later than 5.251.652 (2022-09-08); the solution being to ensure all dialogs are non-modal. Please upgrade.

Command line options#

mwp's command line options may be displayed with the --help option:

mwp --help
Usage:
  mwp [OPTION…]

Help Options:
  -h, --help                          Show help options
  --help-all                          Show all help options
  --help-gapplication                 Show GApplication options
  --help-gtk                          Show GTK Options

Application Options:
  -m, --mission=file-name             Mission file
  -s, --serial-device=device_name     Serial device
  -d, --device=device-name            Serial device
  -f, --flight-controller=fc-name     mw|mwnav|bf|cf
  -c, --connect                       connect to first device (does not set auto flag)
  -a, --auto-connect                  auto-connect to first device (sets auto flag)
  -N, --no-poll                       don't poll for nav info
  -T, --no-trail                      don't display GPS trail
  -r, --raw-log                       log raw serial data to file
  --ignore-sizing                     ignore minimum size constraint
  --full-screen                       open full screen
  --ignore-rotation                   legacy unused
  --dont-maximise                     don't maximise the window
  --force-mag                         force mag for vehicle direction
  --force-nav                         force nav capaable
  -l, --layout                        Layout name
  -t, --force-type=type-code_no       Model type
  -4, --force4                        Force ipv4
  -3, --ignore-3dr                    Ignore 3DR RSSI info
  -H, --centre-on-home                Centre on home
  --debug-flags                       Debug flags (mask)
  -p, --replay-mwp=file-name          replay mwp log file
  -b, --replay-bbox=file-name         replay bbox log file
  --centre=position                   Centre position (lat lon or named place)
  --offline                           force offline proxy mode
  -S, --n-points=N                    Number of points shown in GPS trail
  -M, --mod-points=N                  Modulo points to show in GPS trail
  --rings=number,interval             Range rings (number, interval(m)), e.g. --rings 10,20
  --voice-command=command string      External speech command
  -v, --version                       show version
  --build-id                          show build id
  --really-really-run-as-root         no reason to ever use this
  --forward-to=device-name            forward telemetry to
  --radar-device=device-name          dedicated inav radar device
  --perma-warn                        info dialogues never time out
  --fsmenu                            use a menu bar in full screen (vice a menu button)
  -k, --kmlfile=file-name             KML file
  --rebase=lat,lon                    rebase location (for replay)
  --relaxed-msp                       don't check MSP direction flag
  --display=DISPLAY                   X display to use

Bash completion#

mwp installation also installs a 'bash completion' script (and also a blackbox_decode completion script). Note this is only available after you log in, so on first install, it's only available after the next login.

This facilitates automatic command completion, so you don't have to remember all the options or be always typing mwp --help.

Typing mwp and then <TAB> will first display the option lead --; then a subsequent <TAB><TAB> will display all the options. If one then typed ra<TAB><TAB>, it would complete to:

$ mwp --ra
--radar-device  --raw-log

Further entry (e.g. d) would complete the command (--radar-device).

Adding options to a running mwp#

Certain options, like --replay-bbox, --mission allow you to add a file to a running mwp. So if mwp was running, either from the command line or Desktop Environment icon, then (for example):

mwp --mission file-i-forgot.mission

would load the mission file-i-forgot.mission into the running mwp rather than starting a new instance.

Drag and Drop#

You can drag and drop relevant files onto the mwp map:

  • Blackbox Logs
  • Mission Files
  • KML Overlays

Clean and unclean exits#

If you exit mwp from the Quit menu (or Control-Q key shortcut), then the current dock layout will be saved; if you close mwp from the Window Manager close title bar button, or CLI kill command, the layout is not saved; this is a feature.