Most boaters use laptops for onboard computing, but I want to see what
this group thinks about using a more permanent PC solution? My opinion
is that laptops work fine most of the time, but they aren't really
designed for life on the water unless you go with a very expensive
ruggedized version.

I have to be honest, so here's my "full disclosure". I started a
company about a year ago to build and sell marine PCs (not laptops) to
the recreational boating community. Out of respect for the newsgroup
format, I'm not going to advertise here. I'm using my personal email
address, not my business one. I'm just looking for ideas. Call it
market research.

I am interested in the general reaction and acceptance of the boating
community to the idea of replacing their laptops with a more rugged and
marine-focused solution. Would you consider it? Are you aleady doing
it? If not, what kind of features might change your mind? If you are
out there now just looking for the right marine PC system, what
features are you looking for?

Just FYI, my system currently includes "marine" features that are
inspired from my own experiences and research, such as regulated 12VDC
input, shock & vibration resistance, conformally coated circuit boards,
and a small footprint (it's about the size of a shoebox). What else may
be useful on your boat?

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

On 17 Aug 2005 11:46:50 -0700, wrote:

Most boaters use laptops for onboard computing, but I want to see what
this group thinks about using a more permanent PC solution? My opinion
is that laptops work fine most of the time, but they aren't really
designed for life on the water unless you go with a very expensive
ruggedized version.

I have to be honest, so here's my "full disclosure". I started a
company about a year ago to build and sell marine PCs (not laptops) to
the recreational boating community. Out of respect for the newsgroup
format, I'm not going to advertise here. I'm using my personal email
address, not my business one. I'm just looking for ideas. Call it
market research.

I am interested in the general reaction and acceptance of the boating
community to the idea of replacing their laptops with a more rugged and
marine-focused solution. Would you consider it? Are you aleady doing
it? If not, what kind of features might change your mind? If you are
out there now just looking for the right marine PC system, what
features are you looking for?

Just FYI, my system currently includes "marine" features that are
inspired from my own experiences and research, such as regulated 12VDC
input, shock & vibration resistance, conformally coated circuit boards,
and a small footprint (it's about the size of a shoebox). What else may
be useful on your boat?

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Waste of money. Standard laptop work fine, are cheap, and use
less power.

--
BRENT - The Usenet typo king.

I see a lot of good ideas from the other posts but the biggest issue I see
is having a LCD screen (or some other technology screen) in the cockpit that
is readable in daylight. I have tried various laptops but none of them
provide sufficient screen intenisty to be readable in bright sunlight. I
know there are some expensivve monitors out there but the monitor should
not cost more than the computer it connects to. So whatever the PC is or
where ever it is located seem to be a secondary issue to having a monitor
that is of use in the cockpit and doesn't cost $$$$.



wrote in message
ups.com...
Most boaters use laptops for onboard computing, but I want to see what
this group thinks about using a more permanent PC solution? My opinion
is that laptops work fine most of the time, but they aren't really
designed for life on the water unless you go with a very expensive
ruggedized version.

I have to be honest, so here's my "full disclosure". I started a
company about a year ago to build and sell marine PCs (not laptops) to
the recreational boating community. Out of respect for the newsgroup
format, I'm not going to advertise here. I'm using my personal email
address, not my business one. I'm just looking for ideas. Call it
market research.

I am interested in the general reaction and acceptance of the boating
community to the idea of replacing their laptops with a more rugged and
marine-focused solution. Would you consider it? Are you aleady doing
it? If not, what kind of features might change your mind? If you are
out there now just looking for the right marine PC system, what
features are you looking for?

Just FYI, my system currently includes "marine" features that are
inspired from my own experiences and research, such as regulated 12VDC
input, shock & vibration resistance, conformally coated circuit boards,
and a small footprint (it's about the size of a shoebox). What else may
be useful on your boat?

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 00:00:46 +0000, Len
wrote:

On 17 Aug 2005 11:46:50 -0700, wrote:

Most boaters use laptops for onboard computing, but I want to see what
this group thinks about using a more permanent PC solution?
-------------------------snip----------------
Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Nice to write this letter to santa...

I want a fanless and solid state pc 512 mB memory, 1 gHz cpu with a
stabilized psu. I want it to be small so I can mount it in a small
locker.

I want wifi for hotspot internet acces

I want at least serial ports for connecting :
1 gps
2 ais
3 radar
4 cellphone for backup internet-acces
5 wind/depth/whatever
6 charger/inverter interface)

I want the connections to work optical, no galvanic connections.

I want an USB hub operating on the 12v psu for connecting
hard drive as a external unit
dvd reader/burner as an external unit
digital camera
mp3-player
memory sticks
whatever

In stead of at the back of the pc I want "remote" connectors for this
USB hub. I want to mount these usb-connectors in my panel next to my
chart table so I just stick the connector in the built in connector
next to my screen when I want.

I want a soundcard, for my car radio. I want to play the mp3's through
the car radio and I want to record from the car radio/digital tv
I also want mike-input for skype comms.

I want a 17" lcd screen to look at sitting at my charttable, 12 volts
(from the stabilazed psu) I also want a second lcd (15", bright,
rugged and waterproof but reasonably priced) in the cockpit.
Both with speakers built in. So: I want dual video out for both lcd's.
The one in the cockpit via a long vga cable.

I want to connect 2 trackballs, one mounted on my charttable,one in
the cockpit

Well lets leave at this for the time being.
Are you still there ?

Sounds like a system based on a VIA mini ITX.... :-)


Cheers!


Remco

Len wrote in
:

Nice to write this letter to santa...


Don't forget the NMEA RS-422 ports and the built-in NMEA 16 port
multiplexers...

--
Larry

On 17 Aug 2005 11:46:50 -0700, wrote:

Most boaters use laptops for onboard computing, but I want to see what
this group thinks about using a more permanent PC solution?
-------------------------snip----------------
Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Nice to write this letter to santa...

I want a fanless and solid state pc 512 mB memory, 1 gHz cpu with a
stabilized psu. I want it to be small so I can mount it in a small
locker.

I want wifi for hotspot internet acces

I want at least serial ports for connecting :
1 gps
2 ais
3 radar
4 cellphone for backup internet-acces
5 wind/depth/whatever
6 charger/inverter interface)

I want the connections to work optical, no galvanic connections.

I want an USB hub operating on the 12v psu for connecting
hard drive as a external unit
dvd reader/burner as an external unit
digital camera
mp3-player
memory sticks
whatever

In stead of at the back of the pc I want "remote" connectors for this
USB hub. I want to mount these usb-connectors in my panel next to my
chart table so I just stick the connector in the built in connector
next to my screen when I want.

I want a soundcard, for my car radio. I want to play the mp3's through
the car radio and I want to record from the car radio/digital tv
I also want mike-input for skype comms.

I want a 17" lcd screen to look at sitting at my charttable, 12 volts
(from the stabilazed psu) I also want a second lcd (15", bright,
rugged and waterproof but reasonably priced) in the cockpit.
Both with speakers built in. So: I want dual video out for both lcd's.
The one in the cockpit via a long vga cable.

I want to connect 2 trackballs, one mounted on my charttable,one in
the cockpit

Well lets leave at this for the time being.
Are you still there ?

Regards, Len.

"Terry Conner" wrote in message ...
I see a lot of good ideas from the other posts but the biggest issue I see
is having a LCD screen (or some other technology screen) in the cockpit that
is readable in daylight.

Have you considered making a hood, like older radar displays and oscilliscopes had? If anyone has done this I would like to hear from them.

Any enlightenment will be appreciated.

Vic

--
__________________________________________________ ______

Victor Fraenckel - The Windman
victorf ATSIGN windreader DOTcom
KC2GUI

Red Cloud® wrote in
:

That's not enough to overcome the problem. You need a display with a
very high "NIT" number if you want to see it in daylight. That
involves a high price. A hood won't come close to solving the issue.
The average laptop screen appears completely blank in sunlight.

rusty



What's needed is a laptop display that's REFLECTIVE, like the LCD displays
on your sailing instruments, wrist watch, PDA....instead of the
TRANSMISSIVE backlit display they come with so you can see 'em in the dark.

I'm looking at a large LCD thermometer display I took out into the
sunshine, today, to see how high it would read. The bank clock was reading
102F when I came by it!

--
Larry

I have been looking for a PDA reflective type for some time now but
what we do have is a Solarism 15inch high brightness monitor. It is
mounted inside a cut down electric box which has a fan assisted durad
box on the rear to keep the display cool.

http://princessownersclub.fotopic.net/p595958.html

That is the actual view from the display on a bright cloudy day. Direct
sunlight is just about readable but the thing is that the display is
cheap and has multiple video inputs so we can use it with a bullet cctv
camera for reversing (going astern ;-).

Any websites I have seen with reflective displays usually don't display
price ie. if you need to ask then it's too expensive...

Hope this helps


Markdj
http://www.stronge.org.uk

Len wrote:
On 17 Aug 2005 11:46:50 -0700, wrote:

Most boaters use laptops for onboard computing, but I want to see
what this group thinks about using a more permanent PC solution?
-------------------------snip----------------
Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Nice to write this letter to santa...

I want a fanless and solid state pc 512 mB memory, 1 gHz cpu with a
stabilized psu. I want it to be small so I can mount it in a small
locker.

I want wifi for hotspot internet acces

I want at least serial ports for connecting :
1 gps
2 ais
3 radar
4 cellphone for backup internet-acces
5 wind/depth/whatever
6 charger/inverter interface)

I want the connections to work optical, no galvanic connections.

I want an USB hub operating on the 12v psu for connecting
hard drive as a external unit
dvd reader/burner as an external unit
digital camera
mp3-player
memory sticks
whatever

In stead of at the back of the pc I want "remote" connectors for this
USB hub. I want to mount these usb-connectors in my panel next to my
chart table so I just stick the connector in the built in connector
next to my screen when I want.

I want a soundcard, for my car radio. I want to play the mp3's through
the car radio and I want to record from the car radio/digital tv
I also want mike-input for skype comms.

I want a 17" lcd screen to look at sitting at my charttable, 12 volts
(from the stabilazed psu) I also want a second lcd (15", bright,
rugged and waterproof but reasonably priced) in the cockpit.
Both with speakers built in. So: I want dual video out for both lcd's.
The one in the cockpit via a long vga cable.

I want to connect 2 trackballs, one mounted on my charttable,one in
the cockpit

Well lets leave at this for the time being.
Are you still there ?

Regards, Len.

15 grand should cover it............................