This may be what you're looking for. The CarrolTouch model is probably
most suitable. 15" touchscreen lcd designed for harsh environments
(imagine doing worse to it on your sailboat than at a bar on the beach
during spring break). A quick Froogle seach turns them up for around
$700

http://www.elotouch.com/products/lcds/1529l.asp

Gordon wrote:

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

I've never seen a software that required a key or unlock code that could
not be reinstalled and have the key re-entered. So if you rebuild your
system or acquire another, and are smart enough to have kept the
registration key or unlock code, you simply install again and start over.

Some of these softwares can be installed on multiple devices as long as
the devices all have the same user I.D.

On some hardware, particularly PDAs, the device must have the same
Device I.D. (normally the name used for syncing) in order for the
reinstall to work.

And some software (Tom Tom 5 Navigator is a good example) a unique
number in hardware (like the ROM I.D. or MAC address) is used in
conjunction with the unlock code to prevent installation on more than
one single device. On those the process is to install the software,
send the installation code generated by the install process to Tom Tom,
they then send you an unlock code, you enter that, and the software
becomes fully capable. That PDA and the software are paired for life
and it cannot be installed on any other device ever.

Magellan limits their MapSend nav software to use with one GPS receiver
and uses the hardware serial number embedded in the receiver to make
that work.

Garmin lets you use MapSource software products with two hardware
devices. That is controlled by unlock codes obtained instantly via the
internet, only two unlock codes are allowed for a given software serial
number.

There are minor variations in the processes for different type of
software (street, topo, or marine mapping) and the process is not the
same for all older versions of the software.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

I don't know where the $4K number comes from, but the firm I mentioned has
marine displays below $1,000.
Steve

"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)

wrote:
This may be what you're looking for. The CarrolTouch model is probably
most suitable. 15" touchscreen lcd designed for harsh environments
(imagine doing worse to it on your sailboat than at a bar on the beach
during spring break). A quick Froogle seach turns them up for around
$700

http://www.elotouch.com/products/lcds/1529l.asp


My guess is you'd hardly be able to see it in bright sunlight.