Pharos Installation Manual - Windows

1
Poseidon Pharos GMDSS Simulator
Installation Manual
Pharos 7.9 - Windows
Installation Manual - Windows
Poseidon Simulation AS - http://poseidon.no
Poseidon Simulation AS Pharos 7.9 Page 2/31

Table of Contents
Recommended Requirements (HW/PCs) 5
Configure the network 6

How to set up a closed network with Static IP 6
Install Pharos 8
Install the USB license key (dongle) 15
Initial Setup and Information 16

Sound settings 17
Recording Test 18
Playback Test 18
GMDSS Target 18
Noise 19
Configure the sound card 19
Native Sound Preferences 19
Disable irrelevant sound cards and sound enhancements 21
One or two screens? 22
Log Files 24
Upgrade Pharos GMDSS 24
Configuring Pharos 24
Accessing configuration 24
Network 26
Screen layout 27
Various 28
Instruments 28
Fixed instruments placement 28
Additional SW user interfaces for hardware instruments 29
Mini instruments order 29
Debriefing 29
Printing – Use dot matrix 29
Use parallel printer port 29
Left margin spaces 29
Printing – Use system default printer 29
On demand only 29

Maintenance 30
Further configuration 30
Keyboard shortcuts 31
Back up your exercise data 31

Recommended Requirements (HW/PCs)

Operating system Additional interfaces/slots
● Windows 7 – Windows 10 ● 1 additional USB slot for each

● PharosLinux by Poseidon Simulation ○ Tipro Handset
(own installation manual) ○ Tipro Gooseneck
○ VHF RT-5022 HW unit
PC platform
○ MF-HF CU-5100 HW unit
● CPU: Intel Core i5 - 7th gen. (Kaby Lake), ○ Poseidon/Sailor 5001 Handset
AMD equivalent, or better. box
● Memory: 8GB RAM. ○ Poseidon Battery Panel HW unit
● Network: 1Gbps Ethernet. ○ Poseidon Gooseneck
● HDD: SSD recommended ● 1 additional sound card interface (PCI
● Free disk space: 500MB interface or USB soundcard) for each
o 1-2 GB should be available at any PC ○ VHF 6222 HW unit
running Debrief Server ○ VHF RT-5022 HW unit
● USB: All related hardware using a ○ MF/HF CU-5100 HW unit
USB-interface, including instruments, ○ Poseidon/Sailor 5001 Handset
sound cards etc must be connected to box
USB inputs with ver. 2.0 or higher. ● USB hubs may be used for some units
● Sound cards: Number of cards depends
on attached hardware units with audio
Printer
o Recommended: Creative
SoundBlaster Audigy cards
o Minimum: Any sound card recognized ● For line by line printing, choose the OKI
and supported by the OS Microline 280 Elite 9-pin matrix printer
▪ PharosLinux is based on Ubuntu with parallel and USB interface (or
Linux 14.04 LTS. compatible). For convenience, use a
o Note that OS supported sound cards matrix printer with fan-fold paper.
may vary a lot in quality, and may ● For system/network printers, any printers
largely affect simulator performance.
recognized by your OS.
● Graphics card:
o OpenGL compatible.
o Nvidia cards recommended. Switch
o Minimum 1GB RAM
● Monitor - Recommendation for each ● Must support IEEE 802.3x Flow Control
Student/Instructor station: ● Recommended POE: Netgear JGS516PE
o 2 monitors of size 22” or higher ● Recommended non-POE: HP ProCurve
o 1 monitor is possible, but 2 provides
o 2610-24 J9085A or equivalent/similar
more simultaneous info and overview
specifications
o If 2 monitors are used, they should
● Ports for each Pharos station +
preferably be the same model
o Aspect ratio: 16:10 or 16:9 monitors. o Each VHF 6222 HW unit
o Resolution: Recommended o Each Alarm Panel 6103 HW unit
1920x1200 or higher o Each MF-HF CU-5100 HW unit
● WoL: BIOS should allow Wake-on-LAN
If you have any question about the

hardware specifications, please contact support@poseidono.no
Configure the network

How to set up a closed network with Static IP
First, Pharos GMDSS simulator requires that only one cabled network adapter is enabled.
All other network adapters should be disabled, including any virtual-, Bluetooth-, 1394
Firewire-, 3G-/4G- and wireless adapters (unless otherwise agreed with Poseidon).
To disable network adapters and configure Static IP in Windows, go to Control Panel,

Network and sharing settings, then click “Change adapter settings”. (Procedure may vary a
bit due to Windows version and language settings.)
Windows 10 example:
To disable a network adapter, right click the appropriate icon and click “Disable”
To set a static IP for your network card, right click the appropriate icon and click
“Properties”. A dialog is presented, showing the items used by this connection. Select
“Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” as the left figure illustrates, then click the
“Properties” button. You are then displayed a new dialog, illustrated by the right figure.

Select Use the following IP address
IP address may be configured like this

Instructor: 192.168.160.100
Student 1: 192.168.160.101
Student X: 192.168.160.(100 + X)
Subnet mask: Default by 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: Leave empty
Any valid private network ip range may be used. These are allowed:
10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255
If you set up a network range where you just change the last number in the ip address, the
network mask should be 255.255.255.0
The instructor will discover the server process and the student processes when it has been
started.

Change the Computer name
When you use the ship’s names for the computers, this will ease the assignment of ships
when you create an exercise. When you insert the ship Bella, this ship could automatically
be assigned to the computer with the name Bella if it exists and is running the client
program (instructor or student).
For the Instructor station, you may use the name Instructor or similar, to easily identify the
role. It is not recommended to use one of the default ship names for the instructor station.
Changing the computer name is done through Control Panel -> System.
Scroll down until you find the computer name, click Change setting and follow the
instructions. When the name is changed, restart the computer for the change to take
effect.
Below you will see that we have made one ship for each letter in the alphabet.
Aries Jena Sassy

Bella Kinja Thor
Cora Leia Uma
Dula Melita Virana
Emilie Nautilus Wren
Freya Olympus Xandra
Gembre Poseidon Yres
Harriet Quest Zandra
Isabel Rose
Install Pharos
Start the install process by running the setup program. (E.g. pharos-7.9.3-win32.exe)

Figure 1: Running the Pharos installer

Figure 2: Select the folder for installing. Default location is recommended

Figure 3: Select simulator components for this computer.
When you are about to install Pharos, the first thing to consider is where to install the
server. Usually, the most intuitive choice is to set this up on the same PC as the instructor
application.
The server does not take much resource (RAM/CPU). However, you should choose the
most powerful PC for the instructor/server.
The debriefServer is installed if you at any point wish to run Debrief or Assessment
(usually on the same PC as the server).
These features are subject to own licenses, but notice that the Debrief feature is available
for free from Pharos version 7.6, so if your license does not allow this, but you want to use
it, please contact support@poseidon.no
● For stations that are solely used for students, choose “Student Only”.

● For the typical instructor PC, choose “Instructor, server, debriefServer”, or if you
wish to run a student as well (e.g. for demonstrating features on a big screen),
choose “Student, instructor, server, debriefServer”
● For Single-Trainer installations, you will usually want all components, “Student,
instructor, server, debriefServer”
● Or simply choose the combination that suits each computer best.
Figure 4: Selection of start menu folder.

To continue, click Next, If you would like to select a different folder, click Browse.

Figure 5: You may wish to add application shortcut(s) to the desktop.

Figure 6: All choices have been made. Proceed with the installation.
Click Install.

Figure 7: Successfully installed Pharos GMDSS
Automatic startup of Pharos applications

If you would like any applications to start automatically, simply copy the desktop shortcuts
to Windows Startup folder (found in the start menu, or in folder
“%APPDATA%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu”)

Install the USB license key (dongle)

The license key check is only done by the Server program. The following does only apply
to the server, or server/instructor PC if they are installed in the same computer.
Please note that the physical key will show a small red/orange light when connection is
established with the driver.
Figure 8: Various versions of the USB license keys
Beware that if you forget to insert the dongle, the server program won’t work. The same
applies if the dongle is restricted due to USB protection software.
If the license will expire within a short period of time (2-3 weeks), you will get a warning
and you should contact Poseidon (sales@poseidon.no) in order to get a new license file.

Initial Setup and Information

Sound settings
Start the simulator on each computer; do not start any exercise yet.
Press SHIFT + ALT + S to enter sound settings. The sound preferences dialogue window
will pop up.
Sound Preferences - Windows 10 Instructor station with single sound card/interface
In this dialogue you may select which instruments are directed to which sound device. On
the above figure there is only one sound device, called Speakers. I/O for all instruments
will be directed to this device (all instruments are tagged).
You may control the volume level for each audio device. Please press the Playback test
button. This will play some music through the loudspeakers connected to the selected
audio device and you will be able to adjust the volume level.
Likewise you may do a Recording test in order to test the volume of the microphone
connected. When you talk, you will hear yourself in the loudspeakers and you will be able

to set the microphone volume.

The above screenshot is from the Instructor station. Only the Instructor may set noise and
sampling frequency.
Sound Preferences, - Windows 7 Student station with multiple sound cards/interfaces
Recording Test
Run the Recording test to test the microphone, press Test button and talk, you will now
hear yourself from the headset
Playback Test
A song is played
GMDSS Target
Choose targets for the sound card, normally choose all for you sound card if you have no
hardware connected.

Hardware devices needs its own sound card, sound configuration will be described in the
manual belonging to the hardware.
Noise
Enable background noise for the instruments in order to train the students in using the
squelch.
Configure the sound card

We will here give some hints on how to set up the sound card driver.
Important:
First of all it is crucial that the audio devices (headset, loudspeaker and microphone) are
connected before you start up the simulator. If you disconnect the microphone after
startup, you should reconnect and then restart the client program.
Native Sound Preferences
If you press Native Sound Preferences in the Sound

Preferences window, you may adjust the sound on
operating system level.
To tune the volume on the sound card(s) correctly, you
should use the built in sound adjustment wizard found in
Windows. Right click the volume symbol in the taskbar
(also found through Control Panel -> Sound), and you will
be able to show all “Playback devices” or “Recording
devices”.

Click “Playback devices”, and for

each of the devices you wish to use
for Pharos, you can test the sound
by right clicking the device and
select “Test”. You can also
individually adjust the level for each
device by right clicking the device,
select “Properties”, then select the
tab “Levels” and there adjust the
levels to your needs.
When this is done, you can follow

the same procedure to set the levels
for the recording devices. Recording
devices do naturally not have the
“Test” option.
Sound Playback dialogue

Disable irrelevant sound cards and sound enhancements
Make sure that all sound cards not in use are disabled, as they can conflict with the active
cards used with Pharos (especially if they have the same name/brand).
This should be done for both “Playback” and “Recording” tabs. Simply right click the card
you wish to disable and click “Disable”. They can just as easily be enabled later.
If Windows adds sound enhancements by default, be sure to turn this off, as it can affect
how Pharos records and outputs sound. This is especially sensitive on Windows 10, as
such enhancements can lead to Pharos not being able to use the sound card at all, and
crashes already before the application has started properly.
Disabling such properties must be done for all relevant sound cards, and both for inputs
and outputs. Look for settings under Properties for each device, such as “Enhancement”
tab (”Disable all sound effects”) or “Advanced” tab (“Enable audio enhancements”). Other
enhancements can sometimes be disabled through the supplier’s sound software/drivers.

One or two screens?

The simulator has support for a dual screen setup which will give the instructor/student
more space for displaying instruments and other components.
To enable dual screen, first make sure that this is enabled in Windows (you are already
using two monitors, which work well with Windows).
In Pharos, press Shift+Alt+Delete, then press the “System” button. Navigate to “Screen
Layout” tab, and choose whether to use dual screen, or only left/right screen. You also
have the possibility to run one or both screens in window mode, but fullscreen is
recommended for normal users.

Especially for the instructor it is a nice feature that CRS, RCC, MSI and traffic ship
instruments can be displayed on one screen and the exercise map on the other. If only
one screen is present, the Instructor will use tabs to switch between the map view and the
other views.
If the student station is set up with dual screens, one instrument may be shown on one
screen, another instrument on the other. Left click one mini instrument in order to display

that particular instrument on the left screen, right click to display it on the right screen.
Log Files
On Windows, the log files, together with other types of files that need to be saved by the
client programs will end up in the "home" directory of the logged on user, in a directory
called C:\Users\<Windows-Username>\AppData\Local\Poseidon\GMDSS\
Here you will find two sub-directories. One is the log directory, where all logs from the
instructor and student programs will reside, and the other one is the persistence folder
where local copies of for example the ships database, Navtex messages and exercises will
reside. You may want to back up the exercises from time to time.
If you would like to undo the changes that have been made to the ship database, you may
delete the ships.xml. A new file will be created the next time you run the simulator.
Example log directory:

C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Poseidon\GMDSS\log\
Upgrade Pharos GMDSS

The Pharos software will be upgraded on regular intervals, and depending on which
service agreement you have with Poseidon, you will have access to these
patches/upgrades. Note however that the work you have been doing on your ship
database, exercises you have made, messages saved etc, should not be affected by such
an upgrade.
Before you upgrade, please make sure that you have updated Windows with the latest
updates from Windows Update. We recommend keeping the PCs updated by connecting
them to the Internet and visiting Microsoft Update from time to time. Before installing a new
version, this is a good opportunity to do it.
Configuring Pharos
Accessing configuration
Press Shift + Alt + Del and the “Shutdown station and PC” window is displayed.

This menu may also be reached from the System preferences button on the startup
screen.
● Restart station means restart the program (instructor or student). For Linux
installations the program will load again, for Windows installations you have to
restart the program manually.
● Shutdown the station means close all programs and power off.
● Reboot the station means reboot and load the operating system just like if the
station was powered off and on again.
Press the System button and the “Configuration” window is displayed. This window has got
4 tabs which we will explain below.

Network
Wake on LAN allows you to start other computers in a network from the Instructor Station.
In order to make WOL work, you have to enter the BIOS settings of the computer and
enable WOL. Then the LAN card will be able to receive a wakeup signal and power on the
PC.
Shortcuts to the client applications may be copied to the startup folder, so that this will start
all the stations and applications of the simulator

Screen layout
In this tab you may choose to show the simulator in full screen or in a window. If you have

got two monitors, you may decide whether to use both, and if so, set window/full-screen
mode for each, and you also have the option to swap these. For more info, see subchapter
“One or two screens?” above.

Various
Instruments
Fixed instruments placement

For user with touch screens, this disables the possibilities to move the instruments on the
screen.

Additional SW user interfaces for hardware instruments

If there is a hardware VHF and/or a hardware MFHF, usually these won’t show in the mini
instruments. Tick this option in order to show software instruments. Then you may use the
instrument on screen or the hardware instrument.
Mini instruments order

Mini instrument order gives the possibility to rearrange the order of the mini instruments.
Debriefing
This setting lets you choose where to store debrief data (which can become quite large).
Useful for cases where Windows and Pharos runs on a smaller SSD disk, and another
disk is used for storage.
Printing – Use dot matrix
NB: For line printing, use OKI Microline 280 Elite 9-pin matrix printer (or similar). Windows
users use a parallel cable between the printer and the computer.
Use parallel printer port

If not using USB, only parallel port, check “Use parallel printer port”. This is the default
setting, and Windows users should always check this if no other information is given.
Left margin spaces

You may increase the left margin if it is too narrow by a number of spaces.
Printing – Use system default printer
Use the default printer set in Windows.
On demand only
Default not checked. Use this if only printing on demand.

Maintenance
In this window, the instructor may clean up log files or Inmarsat files.
This may be done for all stations or for a selected station.
Further configuration
For further installation configurations, like ensuring that the simulator’s DNV-GL
certification is valid for this installation, some more technical configuration is needed. Get
more details by contacting support@poseidon.no.

Keyboard shortcuts
Ctrl + F1 – F9 Select instrument on ship
Shift-Alt-Delete Shutdown alternatives or access
sound settings/System configuration
Shift-Alt-S Sound Preferences
Shift-Alt-H Hardware Configuration
Shift-Alt-Pause/Break Shut down the program or access the hardware or
sound dialogue
Back up your exercise data

Back up the persistence directory to backup the exercises, messages etc.
The log files are also located in different locations. In some cases you may have to send
log files to Poseidon for debugging reasons. Then you should know where to find the files.
Persistent data is saved in

C:\users\[username]\Appdata\Local\Poseidon\GMDSS\persistence
Log files are saved in:
C:\users\[username]\Appdata\Local\Poseidon\GMDSS\log

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1

Poseidon Pharos GMDSS Simulator

Poseidon Simulation AS Pharos 7.9 Page 2/31

Recommended Requirements (HW/PCs) 5

Configure the network 6

Install the USB license key (dongle) 15

Initial Setup and Information 16

Poseidon Simulation AS Pharos 7.9 Page 3/31

Back up your exercise data 31

Poseidon Simulation AS Pharos 7.9 Page 4/31

Recommended Requirements (HW/PCs)

● Windows 7 – Windows 10 ● 1 additional USB slot for each

If you have any question about the

Poseidon Simulation AS Pharos 7.9 Page 5/31

hardware specifications, please contact support@poseidono.no

Configure the network

To disable network adapters and configure Static IP in Windows, go to Control Panel,

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Select​ Use the following IP address

IP address may be configured like this

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Change the Computer name

Aries Jena Sassy

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Figure 1: Running the Pharos installer

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Figure 2: Select the folder for installing. Default location is recommended

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Figure 3: Select simulator components for this computer.

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Figure 4: Selection of start menu folder.

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Figure 5: You may wish to add application shortcut(s) to the desktop.

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Figure 7: Successfully installed Pharos GMDSS

Automatic startup of Pharos applications

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Install the USB license key (dongle)

Figure 8: Various versions of the USB license keys

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Initial Setup and Information

Sound Preferences - Windows 10 Instructor station with single sound card/interface

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to set the microphone volume.

Sound Preferences, - Windows 7 Student station with multiple sound cards/interfaces

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Configure the sound card

Native Sound Preferences

If you press Native Sound Preferences in the Sound

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Click “Playback devices”, and for

When this is done, you can follow

Sound Playback dialogue

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Disable irrelevant sound cards and sound enhancements

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One or two screens?

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Select Use the following IP address