Hi All: I'm new to the group, but I do have a serious question.

In April I bought a new DELL XPS Laptop... great machine, but I'm not
doing a commercial here.! My problem is, I want to hang a GPS on one
of the inputs and, possible an autopilot on the output. I have a
Garmin handheld but will replace that with something that runs off boat
power and my old autopilot died a couple of years ago so that will be
replaced as part of this package replacement project.

Does anyone know a good place to go for recommendations or does anyone
on this group have any? I've already looked at the Garmin site but I
don't really know if that's where I want to go.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Mike

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All: I'm new to the group, but I do have a serious question.

In April I bought a new DELL XPS Laptop... great machine, but I'm not
doing a commercial here.! My problem is, I want to hang a GPS on one
of the inputs and, possible an autopilot on the output. I have a
Garmin handheld but will replace that with something that runs off boat
power and my old autopilot died a couple of years ago so that will be
replaced as part of this package replacement project.

Does anyone know a good place to go for recommendations or does anyone
on this group have any? I've already looked at the Garmin site but I
don't really know if that's where I want to go.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

A good start would be a MiniPlex-Lite. This is an NMEA multiplexer that
offers galvanic isolation from the GPS, two extra inputs for future
expansion, one of which will automatically choose communication speed of the
connected devices (4800 baud for normal instruments and 38400 baud for an
AIS receiver) and a dedicated output to drive an autopilot. It gets its
power from the USB bus.
Another benefit of using this multiplexer is that it prevents the infamous
"crazy mouse" problem that occurs when windows sees a connected GPS when
starting up.

More info can be found on www.shipmodul.com
Meindert

wrote:
Hi All: I'm new to the group, but I do have a serious question.

In April I bought a new DELL XPS Laptop... great machine, but I'm not
doing a commercial here.! My problem is, I want to hang a GPS on one
of the inputs and, possible an autopilot on the output. I have a
Garmin handheld but will replace that with something that runs off
boat power and my old autopilot died a couple of years ago so that
will be replaced as part of this package replacement project.

Does anyone know a good place to go for recommendations or does anyone
on this group have any? I've already looked at the Garmin site but I
don't really know if that's where I want to go.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Mike

Your post doesn't really indicate precisely what you want to do, having
connected a GPS to your Dell. Assuming that you require software to
navigate, the choice is pretty daunting, as there is a huge selection of
software to achieve this purpose.

I personally would consider either Garmin Bluecharts for their excellence of
detail and vector functionality, or Oziexplorer for even more functionality
but using raster charts. Both are available to purchase fairly easily, but
with Ozi you have the option of a free Trial version downloadable in a few
minutes from www.oziexplorer.com

Dont expect either to be an easy learning curve. Think about months, rather
than weeks, even to master the basics.

Hope this helps.

Dennis.

Mike,

I have the Cap'n software on my laptop with a Brookhouse multiplexer USB
that gets inputs from 2 Garmin GPS's (old 120 and handheld 76 mounted),
fathometer/water temp, and Simrad autopilot compass. The multiplexer outputs
to the computer over the USB, the radar, the GPS and the autopilot. I can
set courses on the computer and send them directly to the autopilot or I can
upload them to the GPS and then send them to the autopilot. I have it all
wired so that everything works by itself if I do not turn on the multiplexer
but they all talk together if it is on.

I like to Cap'n software and have used it for years. Now that raster charts
are free it is easy to add and area that you would like to see.

Cheers

Ansley Sawyer
SV Pacem

Mike,
I did exactly what you are talking about with my old compaq laptop and
a Raymarine tiller pilot on my Hughes 31. I use either Nobeltec or
Fugawi as my mapping software. My Nobeltec is old and I can't afford
to get the new version so I bought Fugawi 4 ECS which takes either the
old BSB charts, the new ENC charts or several other maps. I purchased a
GPS receiver that plugs into my USB port (cheap, $135.00 CDN) so
requires no power except from the computer and run the auto pilot off my
nine pin serial port. Only requires two wires, Pin 3 to NEMA data on
the autopilot and Pin 5 to ground. The whole system works like a dream
except that the Raymarine unit won't automatically follow a route. When
you hit a waypoint you have to tell it to turn onto the next leg by
pressing Nav or Track or +10 -10 depending on your unit. This I'm sure
is planned on the part of Raymarine as your average recreational boater
is an idiot and if they allowed for it to automatically follow a route
somebody would put it on autopilot and go below for a beer. The largest
majority of newer laptops don't seem to have a serial port and I don't
know how the output will work with a USB to Serial converter. Before I
found the USB GPS I tried several USB to Serial converters trying to get
my old Lowrance GPS to interface with my computer before I finally found
one that would work.
Ed Henderson


wrote:
Hi All: I'm new to the group, but I do have a serious question.

In April I bought a new DELL XPS Laptop... great machine, but I'm not
doing a commercial here.! My problem is, I want to hang a GPS on one
of the inputs and, possible an autopilot on the output. I have a
Garmin handheld but will replace that with something that runs off boat
power and my old autopilot died a couple of years ago so that will be
replaced as part of this package replacement project.

Does anyone know a good place to go for recommendations or does anyone
on this group have any? I've already looked at the Garmin site but I
don't really know if that's where I want to go.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Mike

The largest
majority of newer laptops don't seem to have a serial port and I don't
know how the output will work with a USB to Serial converter. Before I
found the USB GPS I tried several USB to Serial converters trying to get
my old Lowrance GPS to interface with my computer before I finally found
one that would work.

I've found great success using Keyspan's 19HS model. Seems like everything
works with it without problems. Can't say the same for various other serial
converters. I'm sure it has everything to do with the driver software. But
if you're shopping for a way to get serial converted into USB you can't go
wrong with the 19HS model.