Laptop and nav stuff

I run a Sony Vaio set to scrimpy power settiings. Dim screen, all non essentials (DVD drive, modem, etc) switched off.

I run it through a Maplin-bought 12v to variable power supply (16 v I think for this one). NB if you don't make the effort to set up the right power profile it'll assume it's on mains and eat power. It has not proven fragile in three years of sailing in a small boat. I carry an old Dell which can replace it if it fails, but that one gobbles power. I tried powering it through a simple (not sine wave) inverter - it went mental, switching between thinking it had mains and had none on 50 cycles per second.

It doesn't kill my 100 Amp Hour batteries in a day or two, but since I motor little I end up needing a shore-power fix every three days or so.

Don't know much about what gear you can connect. I simply have a wee Garmin GPS and run Offshore Navigator. I run on the Garmin protocol not NMEA as it enables data transfer between computer and GPS (routes etc.).

I tried Chart Navigator Pro and could never get the tidal info to work. Did anyone? Saw lots of forum posts about that problem and no solutions. In the end asked for my money back and reverted to Offshore Navigator.

Rambled off theme - I'll stop now.
 
Re: I\'ve

C
MS have [--word removed--] up badly with Vista IMHO. Reminds of when 95 came out, bodge, workaround, crash crash etc, all my clients are demanding xp pro and I will not recommend Vista at all. MS are also going more OTT with checking licensing because they are IMHO starting to hurt revenue wise. Also amazed me when I saw Vista for the first time, I thought I was looking at Linux!! especially the round timer icon, wonder where they got that idea from?
There was a false dawn about 2 years ago but now Linux is really being taken seriously and with its less overhead will slowly eat into MS markets.
Stu
 
I have used maxsea on a vaio laptop very heavily and it has worked well. However, I will certainly not stick with this arrangement as it is far too fragile. I will be going with a fanless low power PC with 2-com ports (to avoid the added complexity of USB->com converters). This will be a little more expensive than a laptop when you add the screen, but must be a far more robust solution. You can have a totally waterproof keyboard and a screen mounted out of the way and power direct from the boat's supply. The box itself can be mounted safely out of harm's way. The ultimate would be a solid-state hard drive, but that is a very expensive option at the moment.

Just try googling for "fanless low power PC" there are several really small, really low power, really robust solutions.
 
Re: I\'ve

As you say, Vista is a disaster. We bought a backup Dell laptop earlier this year and they did not offer XP as an option (it now seems I could have insisted on it, but it's too late). Skype is our most important application on a day-to-day basis and it seems that Vista is still not compatible with Skype?
 
Re: I\'ve

It doesn't run on our new Dell Inspiron either with a simple mic and earpiece, the internals or with a USB phone, and when you look on the Skype website it says you need to be running Win 2000 or XP. I think you are lucky if you can run on Vista but there is no guarantee. It is clearly a driver issue and I am amazed that they haven't sorted it as Skype is hugely important for us.
 
Re: I\'ve

Many people have reported that Dell were shipping Dell laptops with sound drivers incompatible with vista, and this caused many people issues with Skype and Vista on Dell laptops. Check with Dell if they have updated drivers for your particular Dell machine.

The reason that Skype wont list it as Vista compatible, is that there are too many driver issues around, and they don't want to take the support burden of sorting all the issues out, quite understandably
 
Now Skype with Vista, was \"Re: I\'ve\"?!

I suppose I feel better knowing that I'm not alone. Yes it is a drivers issue and I spent hours a few weeks ago going through the Dell site and the sound card site, with no result. I just assumed that it is a Vista problem as Skype rather pointedly does not claim to support it - i.e. I can't get any help from Skype, Dell, or the driver card mfr.

Any ideas what I can do other than wait and hope? It seems crazy that such an important application as VoiP doesn't work on a brand new laptop.
 
Re: I\'ve

Just a thought, would this be an ideal trial of Experts Exchange, or not a fair test?
 
Re: I\'ve

You can give it a go, but you will have to be prepared to give a great deal of information, as this is one off to your particular setup, not a Skype/Vista problem in general. If the problem can be solved, then that is one of best places to try.
 
Re: Now Skype with Vista, was \"Re: I\'ve\"?!

David,

What exactly happens when you try to install Skype on Vista

e.g. does it fail completely, or partly, to install
does it install, but you cant make calls
can you look like you are making calls, but cant hear/speak through your microphone/speaker system

or what?

(I use a Linksys cordless Skype Phone - so it's just like being at home.... phonewise)
 
Re: Now Skype with Vista, was \"Re: I\'ve\"?!

It installs, and you can use chat, and all appears normal but you cannot speak or hear. As a telephone system, it is somewhat limited /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Re: Now Skype with Vista, was \"Re: I\'ve\"?!

[ QUOTE ]
It installs, and you can use chat, and all appears normal but you cannot speak or hear. As a telephone system, it is somewhat limited /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the answer I expected/hoped for....

I had exactly the same problem when I first installed Skype on XP, using the laptop mike and speakers.... I had it again when I installed a wired USB phone, and again when I installed the Linksys wireless phone.

Each time, via trial and error, I was able to resolve things by messing about with a variety of settings in sound and microphone.

I think if I went to the Control Panel>Sound and Audio Devices>Volume>Advanced

I find a row of sound devices .... Wave, SW Synth, CD Player, Microphone, Aux, Line In, Mono Out - I guess yours will be different, and there will be a different way to get to them in VISTA??

IIRC, I always found that microphone was blanked out so it couldnt be adjusted, and only when I got it unblanked, (not sure if that is the right term), did Skype work....

prior to that, a few friends got what they thought were dirty phone calls that chickened out.

So it might be a settings thing, rather than a VISTA thing, and maybe there is a similar thing in Vista that you can check out?

Good Luck

Richard
 
Re: Now Skype with Vista, was \"Re: I\'ve\"?!

Lets put it this way. If you could remove all hardware and sofware problems, Skype works on Vista no problem. All the issues are hardware or driver related. At least to my current knowledge. Diagnosing them is very specific to the hardware and drivers you have on your Vista machine, and is not Vista related, so Skype are not happy to support at the moment, as just too difficult.
 
Re: Now Skype with Vista, was \"Re: I\'ve\"?!

No, I'm afraid not, Richard. I have exhausted all of those things. It is, as Brendan says, a driver issue. Even when you try to run Skype in 'compatibility' mode as XP it doesn't work. It won't work through the sound card or using a USB phone which surprises me as I thought that USB phones do not go via the sound card. Then again, maybe it is a separate problem in that my USB phone is pre-Vista. When I looked in PC City (=PC World) the other week none of the USB phones claimed Vista compatibility.
 
Re: I\'ve

[ QUOTE ]
C
Also amazed me when I saw Vista for the first time, I thought I was looking at Linux!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah me too, the IT bod came round with his dual core 35 terabyte 2000 quid laptop and showed us aero, I just yawned and twiddled the spinny cube and wobbly windows on my 300 quid linux machine and told him I'd had it for a year.

He doesn't come into the software development area much any more.....
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi
Personally wouldnt bother with linux unless you are a drug crazed hippy.....


[/ QUOTE ]

Damm it! I've been sussed!

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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