Repeater Screen for Cockpit

[roblpm]

The opencpn thread got me thinking about a repeater screen for the cockpit on my boat, (the one i dont have yet but will soon!).

Being a tech savvy kind of person I cant see the point of all the dedicated chart plotters, when I have a perfectly good set of charts for open cpn (the vmh ones).

However the obvious advantage of a chart plotter over my laptop is that it is waterproof and can view in sunlight. Has anyone come up with a cost effective waterproof screen that is any good in sunlight as i believe an ipad in a waterproof case is still going to be difficult to view??

Maybe someone should start making them??!!

Rob

 

[johnalison]

I think you may be right. I have an iPad which only connects when it feels like it to my e7. A dumb screen for a modest price that I could set up in the cockpit would be a great asset as I have no intention of paying squillions to expend my system.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

2 seconds on google came up with this :

http://www.smallpc.com/prod_sd150m.php

Think "modest price" might be the problem though.

 

[nigelmercier]

I've been doing this for ages, repeating the screen of my PC onto my iPad. All you need is a VNC host on your PC, and a VNC client on the remote device.

An example of a host here: http://www.uvnc.com/docs/uvnc-server.html, search your device store for a VNC client, most are free.

 

[monkieswillrule]

Hi Rob,
Try these guys, http://www.intelligentmarineservices.co.uk/ . A new company, they've just started importing them from Germany. Lots of waterproof cases out there but the biggest problem I can see is that not many of them are waterproof when charging, and if you're gona use your ipad as a chartplotter, you don't want to have to take it down below to charge every couple of hours. This one stays charged and waterproof. Shockproof as well nad compatable with ram mounts which I believe they will also bring out soon. more expensive than your average case but worth the money if you're gona use you ipad a lot on board if you as me.

 

[monkieswillrule]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KoKoPsiiJMQ This is a video of it.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

They (you?) could do with finishing the web site. There are placeholders with the initial text still in them:

TIP: Now add a Cart Page to your site so that your buyers will be able to make purchases. Go Pages> Add pages > Cart
Drag the Cart button to the header and link it to your Cart page >>

not the best example of quality control for a product that is totally dependant on its quality!

 

[wipe_out]

I've been doing this for ages, repeating the screen of my PC onto my iPad. All you need is a VNC host on your PC, and a VNC client on the remote device.

An example of a host here: http://www.uvnc.com/docs/uvnc-server.html, search your device store for a VNC client, most are free.

VNC was the first thing that popped into my head..

 

[monkieswillrule]

Thanks for pointing that out Buck, its a sailing mate I have so will let him know. I know he's only recently started.

 

[TeamSpirit]

I bought the new Raymarine A series with wifi, works a treat with Raymarine app transmitting to my tablet and phone.

 

[nigelmercier]

VNC was the first thing that popped into my head..

Geek!

 

[wipe_out]

Geek!

Haha.. Absolutely!!

Sitting here with two monitors on my laptop, running a Linux virtual machine with a dev version of our Drupal website so I can build some new functionality.. Don't know if it gets much more 'geek' than that..

 

[Bror]

look at this one - a waterresistant tab: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/sony-xperia-tablet-z-1133193/review
I bought it four month ago, when my chartplotter broke down. Instead of chartplotter and tis gps antenna I use this one, in cocpit as well as inside.

 

[vyv_cox]

My computing adviser (son Owen) tells me that teamviewer http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx free download for private users, works well and is simple to set up. Using it, he did some work on his partner's laptop in Hampshire while he was working in the Dominican Republic.

 

[wipe_out]

My computing adviser (son Owen) tells me that teamviewer http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx free download for private users, works well and is simple to set up. Using it, he did some work on his partner's laptop in Hampshire while he was working in the Dominican Republic.

Owen is not wrong, there are a number of these services around now and they are very good for remote support or collaboration but they require internet access all the time and a reasonable internet connection.. The reason is they use a central server to make the connection between the PC's and some even transfer the data via the central server as well.. However to work on board a boat it would really need to be completely autonomous to be viable which is why VNC would work, it's a direct connection between the two devices over a network, no need for access to the internet or a central server..

 

[mjcoon]

... A dumb screen for a modest price that I could set up in the cockpit would be a great asset as I have no intention of paying squillions to expend my system.

There's a limit to how dumb the repeater can be since it will have to be able to connect to the primary chart-plotter somehow and interpret the signals. If both devices are general purpose laptop/tablets then they will have quite a lot of smarts for the money and be able to run freely-available software as others have suggested. A proprietary C-P outputting proprietary signals is a different matter...

Mike.

 

[budgester]

Haha.. Absolutely!!

Sitting here with two monitors on my laptop, running a Linux virtual machine with a dev version of our Drupal website so I can build some new functionality.. Don't know if it gets much more 'geek' than that..

Only if you are using Rat poison window manager and a Dvorak keyboard.

 

[nigelmercier]

My computing adviser (son Owen) tells me that teamviewer ...

TeamViewer has a nasty habit of logging off the host, and launching a pop-up telling you it's running. A generic VNC is slightly trickier to set up, but less intrusive.

 

[vyv_cox]

A generic VNC is slightly trickier to set up.......

Indeed so. I was lost after the first screen of your link. The Dutch - English translation didn't help but it seemed most unlikely that I would ever get it to run

 

[T_C]

Indeed so. I was lost after the first screen of your link. The Dutch - English translation didn't help but it seemed most unlikely that I would ever get it to run

Must say I thought the same, but the idea was appealing to me so I sat down yesterday evening with a Christian G&T determined to give it a go.
Remarkably straightforward as it turned out. Downloaded a free copy of Real VNC onto the laptop, registered it and it gave an IP address. Downloaded a free copy of VNC client onto the iPad from the iTunes Store, input aforementioned IP address, and that was it, open CPN running on the laptop repeated, and controllable, from the iPad. Less than half an hour in total.

I upgraded the VNC client on the iPad to an ad-free version for the princely sum of 69 pence, it's a bit hit and miss in terms of removing the ads and sometimes needs to be reinstalled, but otherwise, it would seem, a really cost effective solution to repeating charting data in the cockpit.

The laptop I installed real VNC on was an old one primarily used now by the children for doing their homework on. As a bonus, I can now connect remotely from my iPad, to confirm that they really are watching something on BBC iplayer, rather than doing their homework which they swear they're doing....