Blue Chart on my PC

[BAtoo]

Anyone know how easily (ie cheaply) I can use my BlueChart cartridge on my laptop PC for passage planning when off the boat??

Have "googled" and cant find anything /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Thanks in anticipation!

 

[deaks]

Hi BAtoo, if you go to the Garmin site you will see that Blue Chart is now discontinued but the 2008.5 version seems to have updates until Dec 2009.
I've always found the UK office very helpful. I bought a handeld at SBS last year with the offer of a free Blue Chart set of charts. I went for the CD in case I wanted to unlock any more. so I'm not familiar with the ' cartridge system'

Mapsourse is their planning software. I rang them a few weeks ago to find out why my Garmin GPS 76CSX could not link to the charts on the laptop as it use to. Straight away the chap told me that went out with Version 5 !! and the latest version 6 does not have a Real time GPS license........
Good Luck
navman

 

[thalassa]

The real time GPS function has long been omitted from Mapsource, but they have made that function a separate program. It's called nROUTE en can be downloaded free from their website ("updates and downloads"). You have to do your planning on Mapsource, and your navigation on nRoute.

 

[deaks]

Many thanks Thalassa, now that you mention nROUTE I remembered the chap at Garmin telling me about it. BUT!! I've just gone onto the site and cannot find where to down load it from. I do find a reference to it here

http://www8.garmin.com/support/collection.jsp?product=999-99999-10

but alas it says not updates?
Any further suggestions?

Many thanks

 

[thalassa]

Dear navman888, sorry for the late reply.

The software was surely there when I wrote my answer. Moreover, I did download it, since the version (276) was newer than the one on my computer. The file size is 106 Mb, up from a meagre 21 Mb.
However, to help out, I've uploaded my file here .
I can only leave it there for two weeks, since the space is spoken for.

As to the OP, I'm fairly sure the cartridge file is build up from the CD files, to a compact plotter-specific format, and can't be re-engineered.

Cheers

 

[deaks]

Thalassa,
Many thanks I've managed to install the software for my Mapsource charts but it will be tomorrow before I can get to my Garmin 76CSX and check it out.

Best Wishes

 

[wotayottie]

Thalasa

Thanks but the installer looks for another earlier version of N Route and terminates when it doesnt find one.

 

[deaks]

That's Interesting Wotayottie,
For some reason when I first ran it the install failed, saying it was not a 32bit application (i think)
So I deleted it and downloaded it again. Then I closed all my windows and found the file ticked it to unblock as it was saying it was downloaded from another computer and it installed fine and I didn't have nroute on my computer just the Mapsource program.
Maybe if you have no mapsource Folder (ie Garmin folder) it fails to load.

 

[wotayottie]

I'll try that. As it happens after my last foray into PC repairs I've not yet re-installed my copy of Mapsource.

 

[thalassa]

Mmm... didn't have any issues installing it on 4 pc's that had already Mapsource on it...

In case you are stuck, I've now uploaded an old nRoute, version 21 , on my site. I'll leave it there too for a fortnight.
And messed up one PC by putting this version over a newer one - never a good idea. Uninstalling didn't clean it up, many keys were left in the register.

BTW. The 276 version definitely works well with a real (Garmin) GPS, but I failed to figure out how to get the built-in simulator to follow a route.