XCSoar

This page was last updated on 22 September, 2011.

XCSoar is Open Source navigation software, released under the GPL v2 license. It runs on two general types of hardware:

• Personal Navigation Assistants (PNAs) that run Windows Mobile. These have built-in GPS receivers and include most satnavs apart from TomTom units, which are Linux-based. Those with an SD card slot and the ability to run programs from the SD card are easiest to set up.
• WinCE handhelds connected to any NMEA 0183 compliant GPS. This includes CF-card receivers that plug into an iPAQ or a slot in its sleeve, as well as any receiver that can be connected to the device's serial or Bluetooth connections. This includes Garmin GPS II+ and GPS-35 receivers. They do not need inputs from any other devices and, in general, do not pass information to the GPS, apart from sending a 'start data stream' command to a Cambridge GPS-NAV.

Installation for a PNA with an SD card

This description assumes that you're installing the software and data files directly onto the SD card via an SD card reader attached to your PC. and that the PNA is running Windows Mobile 5 or 6.

First get a suitable SD card: 1 or 2 GB is more than enough space for a complete installation and more log files than you'll ever want to keep on the card. Its worth getting a good quality card (e.g. SanDisk or Crucial) because they are often faster than the cheap cards. SD card speed can be significant during start-up and/or if you have installed very large and/or detailed maps. A lot of the cheap cards, including those sold on eBay, are fakes with forged brand names and are often much smaller than the label says they are.

Installation

The current stable PNA version of XCSoar is 6.2.

• Download and save a copy of the XCSoar manual for the current program
• Download a copy of XCSoar from the XCSoar website's downloads area. To install this version, download XCSoar.exe for Windows Mobile 5 and, if you want to run the Windows version as well, download both XCSoar.exe for Windows, renaming it to XCSoar-PC.exe to avoid confusion. You'll probably want vali-xcs.exe as well.
• Create the XCSoar folder in the root of your SD card and copy the file(s) you just downloaded into it.
• Rename the executable or create a shell.ini file to suit your PNA. Different PNA models have different requirements for the location and name of the executable.
• Create the directory XCSoarData in the root of your SD card alongside the XCSoar directory and put the airspace and turnpoint and map files for your area in it.
  • airspace: get the OpenAir format airspace file from the Airspace pages of the Soaring Server.
  • turnpoints: get the Winpilot format turnpoint file from your national soaring organisation or from the Turnpoint exchange pages of the Soaring Server.
  • maps: get pre-made maps from the XCSoar site if suitable maps are already generated or use the XCSoar Terrain generator to make custom maps. Get the turnpoints first because the Terrain generator can use the list to create a map covering the same area.

Configuration

Configuration is straight forward apart from the points listed below.

• The default wind calculation assumes that XCSoar is connected to a vario that can supply indicated airspeed and barometric pressure data. If you are using a PNA or don't have this data available to XCSoar, it can only calculate wind speed from GPS data during thermal climbs. Go to Configuration page 5 Glide Computer and change Auto wind to Circling.
• There are a number of built-in polars which are selected on Configuration page 10 Polar by using the List button. If your glider is not on that list but you have a polar file, put the file in the XCSoarData directory and load it by using the Import button. Details of where to find polar files and of the file format if you need to create your own file are given in the Polars section of the Data sources page. Alternatively, you can type the values for your glider into the boxes on this page and then use the Export button to save them as a polar file.
• If XCSoar can't find the GPS, go to page 14 Devices, which lets you change the com ports. Setting both to be a Generic serial port on COM7 working at 4800 baud works on my Binatone B350 PNA. If you have a Myguide 4228, set the com ports to COM7 at 57600 baud.

Data sources

These data sources tell you where to get the files you'll need to use XCSoar in the UK.

Upgrading

Usually, all you need to do when upgrading to a later version of XCSoar is to replace the EXE file you have been using with the later version, renaming it as described earlier. Then put the SD card back in the PNA and boot it up. All your settings are preserved in XCSoarData\xcsoar-registry.prf between runs, so the new version reads that file, automatically adjusts its content as needed and saves its changes for future reference.

The one exception is when you're upgrading from a version earlier than 5.2.2. Earlier XCSoar versions had a rather different xcsoar-registry.prf format that may not upgrade automatically. The usual symptom is that the text in infoboxes is too big. The workround is to shut XCSoar down, delete XCSoarData\xcsoar-registry.prf, and restart XCSoar. This will lose your custom settings but cure the problem. For this reason, its always a good idea to copy everything onto a new SD card and do the upgrade there. This way you can delete xcsoar-registry.prf if necessary, boot from the old card, note the changes you made and then reboot from the new card and apply your favourite settings.

Support

• You can get the latest stable version of XCSoar from the XCSoar website.
• GRecordDll.dll. If this file is missing XCSoar runs OK but won't create an IGC log. If you haven't got a copy anywhere, download a compressed version from here, unzip it and put the resulting .DLL into the same directory as the EXE you're running. It is often omitted from alpha and beta development releases which are designed to be unzipped over an existing installation and so contain a bare minimum of files.
• WINE can be used to run PC versions of XCSoar and XCSoar simulator on a non-Windows computer
• For further help in setting up SD cards, etc. you can contact me. If you prefer it, I can supply preloaded SD cards or update an existing one.