Before discussing my brief but positive experience with a Samsung Chromebook, I have some important advice. Do not brag about how little financial (or data) risk is involved in boating (or traveling) with this 11.6-inch, 2.4-pound laptop even though it looks and acts something like a precious MacBook Air. There's a fair bit of truth to the brag, but the deities of humility may then make you prove the point by, say, leaving your nice new Chromebook on a airport security belt in the Grand Canary Islands...
What is it with radar on a PC screen that seems so enticing to yachties? Is it the fact that you don't need a MFD? Or do we want the ability to use the digital charts of our choice with the radar of our choice? Last week I wrote about how OpenCPN now supports Garmin and Simrad radar, or at least partially, and it was in that entry's comments where we learned about the existence of Furuno MaxSea PC Radar. Yes it is possible to use Furuno's excellent radar with the excellent charting program MaxSea Time Zero without purchasing a NavNet 3D or TZ Touch MFD! But right now it may only be possible in France or Germany...
Sometimes news stays under the (ahem) radar for quite a while. Today's story starts with the Austrian university project Roboat (for RObotic BOAT) needed a self-tuning radar scanner that could be used to avoid moving targets. In 2011 they started reverse engineering the Ethernet traffic from a BR24 radar scanner. They used the above test rig so that they could drag their development hardware out to a side arm of the Donau in Vienna.
Here's one way to test a newly installed KEP Marine Glass Bridge Monitor, supposedly the first with dual touch technology (which happens to work well with Windows 7). The owner of this J160 racer/cruiser was purportedly very happy with it last season, but there was, in fact, a problem getting the touchscreen signals to consistently make the 25 foot trip from the helm to the nav station PC below. Adam White (left) -- former electronics guy and now service manager at Yankee Marina & Boatyard -- worked with KEP to solve the issue...
I'm surprised because I thought Raymarine was holding off a slew of new products for the Miami show in mid-February, but today we learned that Ray's UK site has put up details on the e9 and e12 big brothers of the e7 launched last summer, as well as new c9 and c12 MFDs that are similar to the e Series but without the touch control. Which is a lot, but not all...
The great news is that Nobeltec rolled out TimeZero Odyssey last week, and the introductory price for existing Nobeltec VNS and Admiral software owners is a compelling $199, as seen at retailers like P2 Marine. Odyssey seems to be the same core charting program that I've been enjoying all season as TimeZero Trident, except that it can't integrate with radars, sounders, or video cameras (thermal or otherwise), and it doesn't support dual monitors, fuel management, or Nobeltec's Ocean Data Service (for serious fishermen)...
I'm a little spoiled. The home office where I do most of my online research, writing, and photo editing work is equipped with a pair of fairly spacious Dell monitors -- 24- and 20-inches -- where I can spread out the various PC programs I use, not to mention a full-sized wireless keyboard and a really good chair. For over a year now I've been trying to figure out how to best replicate those work station ergonomics on board Gizmo. I'm imagining a single 25- to 30-inch LED backlit screen which could also be used to test navigation programs and perhaps watch TV or a movie on occasion, but the problem is where to put it without destroying the lovely aesthetics of the salon. Well, I think I've come up with a fairly brilliant scheme in that regard, but I'd really appreciate some help with the hardware decisions...
At the risk of causing uncontrollable laughter, this is the pile of personal technology I dragged along to the Miami Boat Show last month. Not just one computer, not even two, but aThree Bears family of processing and connectivity. And while it was intended as a (perhaps extreme) reporting and traveling kit, it makes pretty good sense on a boat too...
I sense that PC-based navigation is about to enjoy a renaissance after a long period during which rapidly-advancing MFDs stole its thunder. I can think of several reasons (and you may have more): Decent performance PCs have gotten less expensive and tougher; NMEA 2000 can feed them more data, more easily (thanks in large part to Actisense); the various mobile platforms so many of us want to fool with on board usually relate well to the less mobile platforms that can also work well on many boats; and, finally, MaxSea and Furuno are showing everyone how powerfully a PC can fit into high-end marine electronics systems. One company that will participate in this renaissance, I'm pretty sure, is Fugawi...
Wow, Maretron just released the IPG100, an "Internet Protocol Gateway" that can take all the NMEA 2000 PGNs on a backbone, turn them into TCP/IP data packets, and serve them out an Ethernet port. Which means of course that the data can then be routed by cable to a vessel's local network of computers (and other fixed Ethernet gear) and by WiFi to an infinite assortment of onboard mobile tablets, apps phones, etc. Obvious too is that an IP gateway could also be adept for sending data off a vessel, and commands back, for remote monitoring, troubleshooting, and more. And Maretron's IPG100 consumes only 0.5 amps of N2K backbone power at most and its $595 price tag includes much more than I've already described. Or possiblymuch less, depending on your point of view!...
