Computer Based

Mac Mini and MSTZ

2012-02-10T18:53:23Z

I'm thinking of moving MSTZ to a Mac Mini versus my Mac Book Pro. This will give me a better mounting option and hopefully similar performance.

My question for anyone with a similar setup is this: Are you running the Integrated Graphics chipset or the dedicated graphics chipset? And is the 256 mb of ram enough to run the program?

Thanks for the input.

CES 2012

2012-01-18T15:59:53Z

Panasonic introduced an Android Tablet at CES; the ten inch Toughpad A1 display claims 500 nits, daylight readability,XGA (4:3) resolution, capacitive multi-touch with anti-reflective and anti-glare treatment and a built in ambient light sensor. It is priced at $1300.
Panasonic's idea of daylight readability differs from mine.

Android Tablets and Navionics

2011-12-21T23:58:34Z

I was primed to get an Ipad and Navionics Charts for the Caribbean. Then I found you need the 3G cell version to get the internal GPS. So I looked around some more and found the new ASUS Android Transformer Prime sports a "brighter" display at a much lower cost. But Navionics does not list even the earlier Transformer as "compatible". Or the newest one.

Can anyone tell me if I should expect Navionics charts to work on the Asus Prime?

Thanks, Bob
M/V Mar Azul
Marigot Saint-Martin

Habey PC with CANBUS header

2011-12-21T20:56:20Z

I got a press release from Habey today about the BIS-6625 PC which amongst other awesome things, also has a CANBUS header on the board. CANBUS is the automotive standard that NMEA was dervied from, so I assume the wiring is very close.

This looks to me like the first step toward a PC connected direct to NMEA2000 without a gateway!

Any of you more knowledge about the standards know how compatible the pinouts\wiring are? Of course drivers would be needed, but that's the easy part (says the software guy).

-patrick
Anchored at Isla Parajores waiting for the dredge to get out the channel so we can enter Marina El Cid, Mazatlan.

Garmin 5012

2011-12-06T02:50:48Z

Hi Ben,
My Garmin 5012's have worked really well since installation in 2008. They are wonderful pieces of equipment.
I am wondering if, like all computer equipment, there will come a time when the CPU's will not handle future increased workload. I am sure some enterprising young hardware person will figure out how to plug in more horsepower to run the stuff or maybe Garmin will offer an upgrade (for a fee,of course).
Do you see any chance of this happening?
All the best to you,
Ray Nordstrom

classified ads software

2011-11-07T05:57:40Z

Can any one tell me about from which website I get php classified script for free of cost.?

[url=http://topclassifiedsoftware.com]classified ad software[/url]

The new tack on marine technology

2011-11-01T12:08:11Z

It's very evident from the Panbo forum, with all the wonderful posts, some highlighting new devices, whilst others criticizing a particular product, that most people are missing the point. The real issue and matter of the fact is that most people still have not gotten the point, as the future of marine technology and systems on board vessels is not improving on what currently exists but a new way of thinking and reasoning is needed.

Some folks debate whether NMEA is good enough for the marine industry, whilst others feel that no networks are needed, but the real cause to the issue is that we need a completely new platform which resides above these low level protocols and standards which provides a platform on which future marine electronics can be built.

What's the excitement in seeing a new product from one of the "state of the art" tier-1 electronic manufacturers ? a new function or a new design....woooww very exciting.

Can you develop an application and deploy it on your yacht ?

We have recently launched MARSSA, the first open reference architecture for the marine industry, at the isle of open source conference held in Malta. The US Navy, Google, Microsoft etc where here and guess what.... they all agree that this is the future !!
So why isn't everyone helping to push forward this open community driven project which will see the future of the industry flourish ?

With MARSSA each yacht owners, engineer, OEM is able to design and implement their own electronics setup at a much reduced cost whilst using components and technologies which are driving other industries.

The MARSSA project is free for all to use, allowing individuals from around the globe to grab the MARSSA reference architecture of middleware and deploy it on their own yacht or for those business minded individuals generating a business model around MARSSA.
The future of the industry resides in MARSSA, so why not be part be part it !!

Lowrance HDS: Exporting to GPX

2011-10-08T15:54:46Z

On a Lowrance HDS-8 running the latest v4.0-software, I tried to use the FILES... page to export my Waypoints, Routes, and Trails in the GPX format. I have done this before without any problems, but on this attempt the HDS-8 crashed and rebooted itself during the export process.

The export process created a .GPX file, but the file was truncated in the middle of one of the Trails listings being exported. The truncated file was about 6-MB in size. Some of the (older) Trails were rather large, with over 20,000 data points. After I deleted the larger (and older) trails, the export to GPX format succeeded. The exported GPX file that was created by the process completing normally was 5.6-MB in size.

Curiously, I was able to export the stored Waypoints, Routes, and Trails without having to prune any of the data before export if I chose the .USR format. In the .USR format the exported file was 2.8-MB in size.

The crashing of the operating system on the HDS was quite surprising to me, as other than this event the device has been remarkably stable. I think in one boating season of use I have only seen one other software malfunction which required me to reboot the device. The GPX file export crashed every time I ran it, until I pruned the number of files in the export.

nav software that outputs Nmea 2000

2011-09-05T16:55:04Z

In my research to find nmea 2000 compatible SW for my sailboat, I went with Coastal Explorer. I had it already, and it seemed to work fine. Well now that I have left the homeport and made a couple jumps down the west coast, I see something missing in my selection. The SW does not send any N2K messages so I can't see any waypoint info on the cockpit Maretron display.

Anyone using a SW package that works as I'm syggesting?

Thanks!
-p

water proof tablets

2011-08-31T02:19:53Z

The following may interest anyone who has a helm a little susceptible to getting wet.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/29/fujitsu-to-release-waterproof-arrows-tab-f-01d-lte-tablet-on-ntt/

I really wish Garmin and Raymarine etc would focus on software and peripherals and leave the MFDs to the commodity (and true multifunction) market.

The main missing link for me is radar. If the market was big enough the radar output would have been hacked by now and interfaced to better devices.

Imagine "Jailbreaking" a 3G radar... would lead to a nice and low cost Glass Bridge.

MaxSea Weather files

2011-08-29T14:42:51Z

Hello!
The huge request, if someone is using a function "Weather" in MaxSea, please share your sample grib parameter files Sea Surface Temperature, Altimetry, Current on
neptun.o [at] yandex.ru
Thanks in advance!

troubleshoot n2k

2011-08-26T02:08:43Z

I put together my Actisense QNB-1 today and connected an Actisense NGT-1. I've tried connecting different N2k devices - Maretron SSC200, AirmarG2183 and Maretron SIM100. The data light is flashing on the QNB-1, but not on the NGT-1.

I am using the Actisense NMEA reader program and no messages are arriving from anything except the NGT-1 even though I've added the PGNs of the attached devices. The NGT-1 light is not flashing except on startup or briefly every ~8 seconds. I know the NGT-1 is connected, because I can change the baudrate (I have it set back to 115,200). I updated the NGT-1 firmware from 2.180 to 2.190.

I am at a complete loss here - what am I doing wrong? Do I need terminators on the cables I'm not using? Can I do tests with a multimeter to make sure everything is wired correctly? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Passport Photo Charts

2011-08-07T01:14:44Z

Anyone know if Passport Photo charts for Nobeltec are still available? I "upgraded" to Nobeltec VNS 10 which uses MaxPro charts. Little did I know the MaxPro photo charts are nearly worthless in the Bahamas. The photos are only of land, and look like they were PhotoShopped in!
The old Passport charts are so detailed you can locate small coral heads in shallow water. If you have them and have navigated in the Bahamas you know what I mean.
Recently I was forced to navigate out of a shallow anchorage at night on a 6' draft yacht in shallow waters. Fortunately I had my old lap top with the old Passport photo charts, the two computers on board have the MaxPro charts. The photo charts only show land so they were worthless and the vector charts would have put me aground. Are Passport charts still available to run on Nobeltec? Other programs?

SonarTRX 10.7 - Now includes a sonar viewer

2011-07-15T20:29:56Z

SonarTRX lets you import, view and create Google Earth images from your sonar recordings on your PC. (Supports Humminbird side-imaging units and Lowrence StructureScan xtf files)

You can then keep track of your most interesting fishing/diving/survey-areas using kml files and ground-overlay images (w/Google Earth)

Waypoints and annotations from your sonar recordings can also be managed with Google Earth as kml placemarks and converted back to gpx with SonarTRX (for transfer & display on the sonar/nav.system.)

For more information, please visit:

www.sonartrx.com

Tore

NMEA2k GPS to Windows 7 Location

2011-05-03T19:47:10Z

I've pinged Actisense on this, but wanted to see if any of you know the answer.

Windows 7 supports "location services" (GPS, Accelerometers, etc). Do any of the USB gateways publish a Win7 location driver so native Windows apps can get location information?

This would be immensely helpful when you want to use many applications that want to consumer GPS information. All of the USB connected devices today seem to run as serial ports (one listener at a time) which stinks.

I'm very interested in this so I can get location into my blog posts, emails, and Evernote content.

SDK info for those who care:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463473

Thanks!
-p