Locus on Windows PC

[alf]

I didn't know where to share this information in case it could be of use to anybody, so I decided that this forum section could be the less misguided location.
I use Locus on my phones, all with small screens as my outdoor activities will not allow a large screen phone to survive longer than a few days!
I wanted to have the benefits of Locus at home on a much larger screen, preferably on my Windows PC.
I could not find any Windows application that could compete with Locus (GMapCatcher is quite good , but definitively less user friendly and with less possibilities than Locus).
I have been using for several months Bluestacks (several versions with several Locus versions) with success. The only complain being a rather sluggish Locus on my rather old dual core 2GHz Windows PC (windows 7 at first and now 10).
I came today across Remix, an Android based operating system for PC.
I gave it a try and I was nicely surprised. Locus runs very smoothly.
Comparison of Bluestacks (version 2.5.90.6347) and Remix (version  3.0.207):
- Installation: both very easy
- Performance: Remix much better on an old PC, on all applications, including Locus.
- Interface: both are OK, but Remix has a better compatibility with AZERTY keyboards.
- Usage: Bluestacks runs within Windows, and therefore the user can work on Android applications and Windows applications within the same session: Bluestacks in just an other application window. Remix is an independent OS, the user must decide to boot to Windows or to Remix (the choice is available on the Windows 10 startup screen once Remix has been installed) and therefore can only work with Android or with Windows applications, not simultaneously on both.
- Access to the PC files: although Bluestacks has significantly improved the access to Windows files, it is still necessary to modify Windows registry to personalize the Windows folder that can be accessed by Bluestacks. Remix being and independent OS has complete access to all Windows directories.
- Update: I never had a problem when installing a newer version of Bluestacks atop an old one: applications, network parameters and Google credentials were kept. Remix being an independent OS, I believe that installing a newer version of Remix will imply to reinstall all Android elements, similar to changing a phone.
If anybody has questions, don't hesitate, I will perhaps be able to answer.

[Kjell Forssén]

It´s some time since you described Bluestacks and Remix but I hope you can help me. When I try to add external maps into Locus I get the message that "Selected path is not allowed". My external map is stored in the folder Locus/Maps. Any suggestions to solve the problem?
Regards
Kjell

[Menion]

Hello,
maps stored in this default path is not necessary (not possible) to add as "External maps". They should be added automatically after app restart.

[Kjell Forssén]

Hi Menion.
Thanks for your answer. It turned out to be the .otrk2.xml-file that was missing.
Up and running now.
Regards
Kjell

[HorakTibor]

Hello,,

Brouter planner works properly in remix?

thank you!

[Andrew Heard]

@alf - thanks for your report. I gave up on Bluestacks a long time ago. It is a memory hog. Certainly with *only* 8GB RAM it sometimes won't start. I'll give Remix a go, because for many desk/ office tasks it's much better using a PC with mouse & keyboard than a small screen device. Does Locus have documentation on the various Windows options? It would be useful for others if Remix is added to the list of options.

BUT does Remix still exist/ still evolving? The jide.com website appears dead, so is this option also a deadend?

https://github.com/JideTechnology/Remix-OS-For-PC says Remix-OS-for-PC project DISCONTINUED.

[freischneider]

This could also be good. But I haven't tried it yet.

https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/wiki

[Andrew Heard]

Thanks @freischneider. I've just set it up. I had tried it ~2020 but wasn't working so well. Now both wired USB and Wifi TCPIP methods are working very nicely.

for others:

• extract ZIP to C:\Program Files\scrcpy
• connect phone to PC
• scrcpy-console.bat
• or with phone also connected over Wifi
• scrcpy --tcpip