Deployment and updates
How Zora sits on a boat, how a new boat is set up, and how Zora is kept up to date once it is running.
One main unit, every screen
Zora runs on the main unit. Every screen on board opens it in a web browser over the boat's own network: a phone, a tablet or a laptop at the boat's address, or the fixed touchscreens and monitors a Mini PC drives. The charts, the data and the settings all live on the main unit, so each screen shows the same boat.
Zora needs no internet to run. The internet is needed to receive updates and to download charts and help pages.
Setting up a new boat
The first time Zora opens on a boat that has never been set up, it opens the first-install assistant in place of the chart: the boat's name and details, its engines and its base currency. Once that is saved, the boat counts as set up and Zora opens. See Your first Zora install, and What Setup covers for the order the rest of the setup follows.
How Zora is updated
iNav4U sends updates to the boat. Nothing in Zora starts, checks for or installs one, so there is no update button to look for.
Each update carries the screens and every Zora service on the main unit together, released and tested as one set. It is downloaded whole and checked before anything on the boat changes, so a connection lost partway leaves the boat as it was.
While an update runs
Every screen shows I'm getting an upgrade, with the step in progress and a tick beside each step done. The steps name what is being updated in plain words, for example Updating: Navigation services. A screen that starts up during the update shows the same step on its loading screen.
When the update is done, the screens reload by themselves. If the upgrade screen is still up after ten minutes, a Reload now button appears.
Which version is on board
The version shows next to the Zora logo in the app bar, except on the small app bar. It is also in Settings..., under System, Server Overview.
A screen that still has an older version open moves to the new one when someone logs in on it.
Charts and help pages
Charts and the help pages are not part of the update. Download them in Settings...:
- Base Chart Installation and Download Charts, under Charts. See Download charts.
- Help Guide Update, under System. Once downloaded, the help pages work offline.
Checking for new charts or help pages needs internet. Offline, the screen says Unable to check for updates when offline.