Using computers on board

[michaelt]

What experience have people had with using computers on board. Are they too fragile, screens and hard drives, to use in bad wheather, survice the salt air?

Do people use standard laptops or does anyone have experience with more rugged industrial computers?

What are people using computers for, gps plotting, email, playing music?

I'm thinking about puting a computer permenantly on board and wondering how long it'll last.

Thanks, Michael

<hr width=100% size=1>http://www.matesahoy.com, A place to find old and new crew, yachts, boats and ports.

 

[colvic]

We installed a P2 Pentium desktop-tower- pc on our motor sailer almost five years ago. It was installed down below and had a printer connected at all times. The monitor was the standard 15 CRT, and we used it for:
Internet/e-mails with a Nokia 6110 and Nokia data suite with serial cable.
Chart plotting using Arcs charts and Navmaster with the GPS connected via a second serial port. Weatherfax via a SSB radio was connected to a third serial port and the digital camera connected to the fourth serial port. A DVD drive allowed us to watch movies and a TV card gave access to TV as well as videos via a video recorder. A CD copier allowed us to download photo's etc. on to disk.
We also used it for both sending and receiving faxes. No alterations were made to the computer and all components were standard. The only failure we suffered was when a port hole failed in heavy weather and water ran down the back of the PC, and the only casualty was the Nokia data suite cable.

After a year the installation was moved to the wheel house- we have a colvic watson- and a LCD screen replaced the standard monitor so that it can fold away up to the roof out of the way. A scanner was added and this is kept in a drawer near-by. 18 months ago we upgraded to a P3 but the difference in performance wasn't really noticeable. We run Win 98 as the operating system.

We elected on using a mains powered set up as we live on board and over the year more time is spent in the marina than out at sea. When at sea an 800/1200watt invertor has run it with no problems.

Phil

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[chriscallender]

I picked up a Panasonic CF-25 notebook from Ebay for about £120. Its a toughened notebook which can survive drops, waterproof etc. Its rather old spec by todays standards (I have put max memory in mine of 72Mb, it has 1.2Gb hard disk and about 150MHz processor). However its fine for running Win 98, in fact it beats our home PC at booting up.

I've installed Seachart (free chart plotting software, OziExplorer is a free alternative) and scanned most of my paper charts (real pain to scan & calibrate but good once done). I've got it hooked up to the GPS for plotting.

I've installed some tidal height calculation software which seems to work reasonably well.

Email is via infra red and I have GPRS connection on my mobile phone. I'm using Outlook Express and Internet Explorer for any internet access and the speed isn't too bad - not good enough for surfing but if you just want to go to something like the inshore waters forecast from the met office and its in your bookmarks then its fine.

I have also hooked it up to NASA HF-3 SSB receiver and can decode NAVTEX, RTTY weather forecasts and weatherfax. As the PC does not have any sound input, I had to make a small circuit to interface the radio to the PC serial port (NASA also make a version of the HF3 with this circuit built in). The big disadvantage of this way of connection is that only DOS mode software (which I found free for download) can decode the signals. So you have to shut down to DOS mode to do anything with the radio. I've got much better windows based soundcard radio software (seatty + wxsat) on my other PC at home.

Other problems that I've had to solve include

- The PC came from Ebay with a boot sector virus on it. Fortunately I realised straight away as I put a floppy from it in our home PC which has Norton on it.

- The cache on the PC was switched off so it ran very slowly at first until I figured out something was wrong.

As to how well it works, I have only just finished installing all this so don't know how robust it will be in the long run. However it is possible to do most of this stuff on quite a small budget if you don't mind a bit of head scratching and problem solving. Most of the applications that you might use are available as freeware. You won't have the latest and greatest system but I would say that for sub £200 it is possible to come up with a system that is usable and useful. Of course you do get what you pay for to an extent.

Anyway, its certainly way cheaper than a dedicated chart plotter and more flexible in what you could use it for, although also less reliable and robust I expect.

In the end I'm quite impressed especially with the chart plotting. So far I haven't bothered much with NAVTEX etc since its less of a fiddle to just listen to the forecast on VHF. Not sure if I'll use internet/email much on the boat, its nice to get away from it all when I go to the boat. But I can see that its a good alternative way to get forecasts.


Chris

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[seashaw]

I've just bought a computer from Mariner Computers and will fit it onboard this weekend. It runs on 12 and 240 volts and is about the size of a laptop but has a seperate screen and keyboard like a normal computer. Even with the two screens i bought (one for the boat and one at home) it is still cheaper than a laptop.
Will be using it mainly for navigation onboard.

Mark

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[colvic]

We've just upgraded our home computer to Win XP, only at the suggestion of Tiscali.co.uk, and it now takes longer to boot up than before. Don't like it at all and when we change to BT for the internet going back to Win 98


Phil

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[mike_kolling]

Have they got a web page?

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[kevinmo]

Don't give up on WinXP. In my view it is much better than Win98, although you might have to upgrade some hardware and 3rd party software as well.

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[colvic]

Have already replced CD writer. The new printer took quite a time to sort itself out and the chart plotting software we use on the boat won't run on XP. But I would like it work as I've now spent over £200 on this upgrade.


Phil

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[kevinmo]

Which Chart Plotting software? A reputable supplier should create a version that will run on XP. I have successfully tried OziExplorer and SeaClear.

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[craigbalsillie]

Did Tiscali ask you to check that your hardware was compatible with XP...
I bet they didn't...

I would agree with the otehr guy and advise you to stick with XP.. Infinitely better the 98.. Good Luck with it anyway,,
I'd upgrade to XP in a flash but this old dog couldn't handle it.. (the pc not swmbo..)

cheers..

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[colvic]

They told me mynew Athlon XP+ processor and motherboard with VIA chipset were not designed for Win 98 and I needed to upgrade to XP. Did so and no improvement. Then told that there is a problem with two subscribers using all the bandwidth and it will take upto six weeks for new software from Cisco? to be installed to ensure an even spread of the bandwidth.

Not at all impressed so send a recorded delivery letter to Tiscali MD pointing out that I had spent all this money when I needn't have done so and could she assure me that things would run OK in May and what speeds could I expect. Ten days later still no reply.

Phil

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[craigbalsillie]

They're all the same...

NTL sent out a bloke to get a mates sister all broadbanded up,
he did his bit with the cable and set up the cable modem, then as a parting shot,
he said .."oh it wont work with wondows 2000.."..

she got my mate to go and downgrade her pc to win98, which he did, then when he went to install ntl's software, it did a check and said the pc didn't have enough memory or processor to run the software... and the pc was so old upgrading
wasn't an option.. she's had to buy another PC.



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[Oldhand]

I have a "Cappuccino" type Micro PC installed on board with a semi-marinised 15" TFT display, panel mounted at the chart table and use a compact Airkey wireless keyboard which has built in mouse functionality. It all works very well and seems reliable. The PC is mounted on an a/v mount intended for poratable CD players.

The PC has the lowest power processor I could get (800Mhz Celeron) and Win'98 for the lowest power consumption. It is powered from a very efficient Kiwi made 12 to 18v DC/DC converter. With the display in power saving mode and the PC just chart plotting without user interference it only draws about 1.5A form the 12v domestic supply. Heat generation is also lower than with conventional PC's.

I use the PC for a) navigation and chart-plotting using MaxSea, b) combined with an Icom PCR1000 coms. receiver for weather information including weatherfax, using Bonito Radiocom software and c) assitance in translating local French weather forecasts with Encarta's great language dictionary.

Have a look at www.Micro-PC.co.uk for the best prices for these minute and robust PC's.

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[Heckler]

old bossy boots

moi agree, as a crust making computer man now, i find xp to be the best thing since sliced bread, as long as the hard ware is relatively new it just works !!
it runs maptech and oziexplorer just great and belfield tide prog is gobsmackingly delightful to use on it.
stu

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[Sam_Steele]

This seems a really good set up you have. Where did you get the semi marinised screen and the wireless keyboard from?

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[seashaw]

The website is www.marinercomputers.co.uk but I think they are redesigning it at the moment. I am sure they will email the details to you in the meantime.
They do the airkey keyboards as well, as I got one with my system.

Mark.

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[Oldhand]

I inherited the TFT display already installed in the boat. It is basically a standard unit mounted in a metal box which is sealed form the environment. Marine Computing International at Hamble market suitable products for boat installation and there is the new Raynav display but I haven't seen the price of the latter.

The keyboard I found at at Computer fair for £15. I was so pleased with it I went back to the next one and bought a spare! Try an Internet search for "Airkey" and I think you will find a supplier. I think its actually manufactured by or fro Acer.

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[Guest]

Join GPS Nav group and .....

URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gps-navigator/

We are a group of peoplewho are into PC and nav on boats etc.

Join up and I;m sure you'll get a load of answers etc. etc.

............. over 200 members and we are grwoing into one of the best sites dedicated to this important arena.



<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[Guest]

Seems I\'m about to be shot down again !

My office has a mixture of PC's ..... from Celeron 500's up to P4's ........ we have 2000 Pro, Me, 98 1st edition, 98 SE, and to be honest the older machine with 98 1st edition gives us less hassle, crashes less, boots up faster .....

Sorry but I sincerelt believe that Bill Gates should be shot for the 'buggy-rubbish' he inflicts on the market ...... if each successive version of windows is so much better than previous - then please explain to me why he makes so much out of upgrades / patches / workarounds etc. etc.

Humbug !!



<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[Heckler]

yawn yawn

weve been this route before. i tell it how it is in the real world, i personally think that the gates biz model is the pits but the latest version works okish and is more stable than 98.


stu

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