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#11
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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GBM,
I'm not speaking about the dimming of just the displayed data. I'm talking about the back glow of the powered up screen itself. The back glow on some of these PC screens will light up the whole cockpit ruining your night vision. No software fixes that. Steve "GBM" wrote in message ... "Steve Lusardi" wrote in message ... David, There are several issues that make PC screens unsuitable for marine use. There are considerations for power, protection from the harsh enrinment etc., but a real driver that few people are aware of is night viewing. It is imperitive that the display dims to black. PC monitors will not. Steve, For night viewing, a special monitor is not needed, because software can compensate. For example, Fugawi, one of the popular Nav programs has this feature. To quote from their feature list: "Dusk and Night vision display with color shifts designed to international maritime standards." We use this program on our boat and our car nav program 'iGuidance' has the same feature whether I am using the laptop or iPaq. GBM |
#12
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![]() "Steve Lusardi" wrote in message ... GBM, I'm not speaking about the dimming of just the displayed data. I'm talking about the back glow of the powered up screen itself. The back glow on some of these PC screens will light up the whole cockpit ruining your night vision. No software fixes that. Steve Steve, Perhaps some laptops may do that, but we have sailed with a conventional laptop sitting on cabin top, under bimini day and night and not found it to be a problem. We also use our iPaq day and night with the software compensating for day/night conditions and it works perfectly - even in car where any glare would be distracting. The iPaq has adjustable backlighting (as do most laptops) but I don't find any need to adjust it - it's mainly a power saving feature. Do the low cost chartplotters by Garmin and others have any special nightime visibility built into their displays? I seem to recall that they too have software that changes colours for day/night use and perhaps they too have adjustable backlighting like the iPaq. I am sure that the commercial displays are better, but for us at least, we see no problems using standard low cost computer hardware for recreational navigation purposes. GBM |
#13
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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DPFresh wrote:
Hi all, different topic. SO in setting up my nav center - Dell laptop with SeaClear software... I want to keep the laptop in the cabin so as to avoid exposing it to elements... So I was thinking I could find some sort of waterproof external monitor to run from the laptop to outside the boat near the tiller.... Does anyone know of such a monitor for this purpose? The Panasonic Toughbook line has some interesting stuff. The line includes a tablet model (MDWD) that could be mounted in the cockpit to provide a wireless data mobile display (with full I/O) for programs running on a nearby laptop. All of the fully ruggedized pieces (they are also some less ruggedized models in the line) in that hardware line look to be pretty well qualified for marine use. Check the models out here, http://tinyurl.com/bwrnk The stuff on the trailing edge is available at fair to good prices on eBay and through a number of online houses specializing in medical/industrial needs. The prices might create a little sticker shock but I suspect that in the long run, the toughness and survivability will offset the initial costs. Jack -- Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net (also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com) |
#14
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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Doesn't most nav software allow only a limited number of usages (like
2?)? So what happens when your cheap ebay laptop crashes? Isn't your software history also? Just wondering Gordon "purple_stars" wrote in message oups.com... DPFresh wrote: Hi all, different topic. SO in setting up my nav center - Dell laptop with SeaClear software... I want to keep the laptop in the cabin so as to avoid exposing it to elements... So I was thinking I could find some sort of waterproof external monitor to run from the laptop to outside the boat near the tiller.... Does anyone know of such a monitor for this purpose? Thanks, David personally i think it's better to think "big picture" on this. what is the goal ? to see your charts and other information out in the cockpit near the tiller from now until the cows come home. you want it to work in all conditions, have high reliability, be difficult to steal, etc. one solution to that is to get a marine monitor which is going to set you back about 4k$us. has high brightness and is made for the environment, that's it's high point, it's the "perfect solution" or as close as there is to one. bad points include things such as ... well, it's expensive, you'll worry about someone taking it, you'll worry about it being damaged and you might turn into one of those annoying "don't touch that" people, chances are it's going to get scratched or broken by your man over board pole or when you're loading supplies or during that unexpected storm that drops giant hail stones or something. a marine monitor is going to be a princess and will want to be treated as such, it's just a very expensive piece of deck equipment, one that's exposed to the same sort of abuse that any deck equipment is. OR, you can just get a couple of cheap monitors and shield them from the sun. tons of choices and they are coming down in price all the time. even better you can get used laptops off of ebay for 100$us or 200$us and have some sort of mount made for them. disadvantages are obvious, it's not the perfect display, harder to see if you don't have some kind of sun shield, not as fancy as your perfect marine monitor maybe though i'm sure you could make just as nice a mount for it, etc, etc, i'm sure there are some other disadvantages as well. advantages, price .. since it costs a few hundred $us you can buy TEN of them instead of one marine monitor. in the "big picture" that's better because then you won't worry about it so much, you won't be a "don't touch that" person, you won't care so much that it's getting salt encrusted on it, you won't care so much that it's sitting in the sun all the time. if someone gets onboard and steals it, who cares, you've got another one, and if someone accidentally scratches the face of it with deck equipment it doesn't matter either. true peace of mind, if it breaks, you install another one, just like anything else on deck, it becomes a tool that can break and that you can have spares for, something you can rely on. your significant other has really already proven the point, you've got an expensive Dell laptop you don't want to expose to the elements. if you had a couple of 200$us ebay laptops you wouldn't care, and you'd have spares. just a thought. (i realize fully that there are people for which 4k$us is pocket change and they can afford to swap out 4k$us monitors all day long ... but that's not me! lol) |
#15
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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![]() "Gordon" wrote in message ... Doesn't most nav software allow only a limited number of usages (like 2?)? So what happens when your cheap ebay laptop crashes? Isn't your software history also? Just wondering Gordon Gordon, I think that Fugawi allows two installations - That's not bad when you consider most software only allows one plus a backup. I believe that Fugawi will also accommodate you if you have a system crash and need to re-install - BUT, I have not tried this - it presumably requires a telephone call and some of the people there are a bit difficult to deal with! I have had Fugawi 3 for quite a number of years and have not hit into the installation limitation, even although I have it on my Desktop, on my laptop and on my Iraq. The laptop has had one hard drive replacement. Fortunately, I had backed up my complete laptop hard drive so did not have to re-install. There does not seem to be any limitations on number of installations to iPaq, because I have lost all programs in memory several time when battery ran down due to lack of use and had to re-install. GBM |
#16
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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Does anyone know of such a monitor for this purpose?
http://www.cdynamics.com/ http://www.inducomp.com/ http://www.datalux.com/ http://www.hismonitors.com/ http://www.norteng.com/ http://www.dynamicdisplay.com/ http://www.smallpc.com/lcdmonitors.php Stealth has PCs you can leave right in the cockpit, no problem. http://www.stealthcomputer.com/portables.htm They also have displays you could attach to your fragile notebook in the cabin. Stealth computers are currently at war with the boys in Iraq and Afghanistan. I've talked to a few of them on Skype...(c; |
#17
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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Also consider getting an actual marine chartplotter and a PC interface. Get
a pair of cheap PC laptops (lay in one as a spare) and stick it belowdecks. Use the PC for it's regular features and chartplotting. Then upload the routes and download other data from the marine chartplotter. That way you get at-sea reliability from the 'real' chartplotter but also get the flexibility of the PC. This is what I do and it works out great. When looking, check out MapTech's Chart Navigator Pro. It's a repackaging of Rosepoint's Coastal Explorer in conjuction with ALL of MapTech's US charts (including contours). Quite a bargain if you buy it online from Boatfix, and there's a $50 rebate from Maptech running now. -Bill Kearney |
#18
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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If you get two PCs that are the identical model you could setup one and
simple mirror the drive for the other one. Most software also allows more than one install. Most allow 2, some allow three. Most also allow you to call in and request they rearrange the keys in the event of machine failures. |
#19
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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There are several issues that make PC screens unsuitable for marine use.
There are considerations for power, protection from the harsh enrinment True, protection against outdoor moisture levels is well beyond what most PC monitors can deliver. Not to mention they're not very good at displaying in direct sunlight. etc., but a real driver that few people are aware of is night viewing. It is imperitive that the display dims to black. PC monitors will not. That's untrue. It's entirely dependent on the application driving the monitor. If the application program doesn't use the energy star or other power managment functions then it'd certainly be less than ideal. But in this day an age very few things remain that defective regarding power managment. If you avoid the commercial certified screens and go with the yacht screens, you will end up with the marine performance sans certification costs. +1, great suggestion. Please also be aware that when interfacing things like black box radars, be aware of aspect ratio, not just screen size. If the screen size does not physically match the resolution to be used, circles appear as ovals and that really looks horrible. If you're running PC applications just make sure your video display card can drive the monitor at it's native resolution. Most cards can support the usual 4:3 aspect ratio as well as newer 16:9 and other variants. Check first, otherwise stick with getting a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor at pixel resolutions like 800x600, 1024x768 or 1280x1024. Avoid the automobile screens with only 400 line vertical resolution. That's fine for presenting a touchscreen FM radio/CD player but it's horrible for the sort of precision you'd need for chartplotter applications. |
#20
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posted to rec.boats.electronics
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Bill Kearney wrote:
Also consider getting an actual marine chartplotter and a PC interface. Get a pair of cheap PC laptops (lay in one as a spare) and stick it belowdecks. Use the PC for it's regular features and chartplotting. Then upload the routes and download other data from the marine chartplotter. That way you get at-sea reliability from the 'real' chartplotter but also get the flexibility of the PC. This is what I do and it works out great. When looking, check out MapTech's Chart Navigator Pro. It's a repackaging of Rosepoint's Coastal Explorer in conjuction with ALL of MapTech's US charts (including contours). Quite a bargain if you buy it online from Boatfix, and there's a $50 rebate from Maptech running now. -Bill Kearney All he needs is a waterproof super-hi-candela screen (shatterproof glass, of course), mounted in a steel bulkhead (preferably by welding), with a steel plate door, double locked, a waterproof keypad and a waterproof mouse or scroll ball, with a drop-down table for the keypad. The whole think linked by Wi-Fi to his laptop down below. Seven or eight thousand dollars should easily cover it. Thank God I'm not sailing on the boat with him! BTW, a Garmin GPSMAP60C or CSx will cover most cockpit navigation problems, particuarly if you use the same Bluecharts in the Garmin as you use on the laptop. Less than $500 if you know where to look, and you take it home with you at night! Dennis. |
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