A tablet to replace it ALL: how, which one, which apps?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by avazquez

Well I havent read all the threads but I think thats the best we can do for now. I want to do that.

I think all the possible NMEA to Ethernet gateways have been mentioned in this thread; some, like the Shipmodul are even available with wifi built in, but I would opt for just Ethernet and use a regular wifi router like the Apple Airport Extreme. If you need to buy any new sensors then go with NMEA2000.

I actually use my Furuno display to convert to Ethernet but that is not directly compatible with iNavX I believe. At the moment I purely use Splashtop2 to use the iPad as wireless touch-screen to my computer at the navstation which runs MaxSea, OpenCPN etc.

cheers,
Nick.

[foolishsailor]

Im fully furuno based but have a shipmodul multiplexor with wifi.

Works an absolute treat, wouldnt recomment the bluetooth variant as i have a metal boat and found issues sitting in the cockpit.

Absolutely love using the ipad as a nav tool, but as i have said repeatedly i would be very uncomfortable if it was my only interface to my instruments. As well as the fact that it cant controll the autopilot or receive radar info...

I know Furunos newer system works with ipad to display radar but i dont have that new system.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by foolishsailor

Im fully furuno based but have a shipmodul multiplexor with wifi.
[...]
I know Furunos newer system works with ipad to display radar but i dont have that new system.

I use MaxSea TimeZero for radar away from the plotter. It runs in a Windows 7 VM on my Mac (which fully supports radar, AIS and any instrument display over Ethernet or how Furuno calls it: NavNet3D) and then use Splashtop2 to mirror that to an iPad. MaxSea TimeZero is very much "touch-friendly" and this works surprisingly well on the iPad.

I now understand that a new MaxSea app for iPad is coming out...

[hellosailor]

Bluetooth usually is BT Class2 which is only a 10-meter effective range, by intentional design. BT Class1 has a 100-meter range, which makes it competitive with or even stronger than "home" Wifi. Both apparently have other technical pros and cons that could make either one problematic. Apparently BT is frequency agile and normally hops all over the place, while WiFi is more likely to suffer from interferance when something else is set on the same channel. And WiFi using the less common 5GHz band instead of 2.4GHz is less likely to be interfered with.

So how well either works for any particular installation, is not just a question of which name is on the box.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

And WiFi using the less common 5GHz band instead of 2.4GHz is less likely to be interfered with.

I know that Apple MacBookPro, Ipad and Airport Extreme all do 5GHz wifi. I also know that the iPhone 4s does not, only 2.4GHz. The rest you need to check your device specs. If it does support 5GHz then make sure to buy a wifi router that has it. The Airport Extreme wifi router wins in all the tests of consumer grade gear while it even is to be reckoned with for pro-level gear, so top choice

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I know that Apple MacBookPro, Ipad and Airport Extreme all do 5GHz wifi. I also know that the iPhone 4s does not, only 2.4GHz. The rest you need to check your device specs. If it does support 5GHz then make sure to buy a wifi router that has it. The Airport Extreme wifi router wins in all the tests of consumer grade gear while it even is to be reckoned with for pro-level gear, so top choice

Good router , I have two. As usual apple shuts down any technical setups, so its hard to tune.

My occasionally does lock up now and again.

Dave

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Bluetooth usually is BT Class2 which is only a 10-meter effective range, by intentional design. BT Class1 has a 100-meter range, which makes it competitive with or even stronger than "home" Wifi. Both apparently have other technical pros and cons that could make either one problematic. Apparently BT is frequency agile and normally hops all over the place, while WiFi is more likely to suffer from interferance when something else is set on the same channel. And WiFi using the less common 5GHz band instead of 2.4GHz is less likely to be interfered with.

So how well either works for any particular installation, is not just a question of which name is on the box.

Well its worth pointing out that the later wifi version like g/n squat over most of the band anyway.

Dave

[codefoster]

I'm anxious to see what hardware comes out for Windows 8. Since devices can be created by any hardware manufacturer, someone could make a tablet that could be mounted in the cockpit and withstand anything.

[goboatingnow]

Windows 8 Microsofts suicide note, Vista was just a cry for help

Dave

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Windows 8 Microsofts suicide note, Vista was just a cry for help

Dave

Yes, I can hardly believe anybody wanting anything Windows 8. We'll have to buy some extra Mac's before the masses finally (when it's over & out) discover Windows is a dead end street and start buying all the Mac's...

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Windows 8 Microsofts suicide note, Vista was just a cry for help

Dave

Yeah, as a former software engineer I always found Windows offensive but was stuck w it because of its industry dominance. Had the chance to try 8 recently and did not like it either. Also, I understand it is not backwards compatible w many applications...thus eliminating any reason for me to continue to be stuck w the ever changing, but not improving, world of Windows...just churn & buzz to sell product.

Originally thought I would go w Apple, at least they built a real OS from day 1, but have been playing w Android on my phone and like it. Also like that it is OpenSource.

My current thinking is that I will go w a tablet running Android.

[goboatingnow]

Im with Nick, us fanboys have to stick together.

Were still along way from a tablet being as good as a "proper" computer. Its only when you get used to a 27" desktop Mac you realise how Microsoft threw away the crown jewels, from about XP on.

The fact is once you open source and allow multiple often incompatible forks of the code, you eventually build a tower of Babel that fails , Therein lies the tale of Windows, and therein lies the future for Android, Google already regret the openness of Android, but not much they can do. If they could theyd start to close it down.

Users dont want open source, they just want the damm stuff to work.

Dave

[catakate]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The fact is once you open source and allow multiple often incompatible forks of the code, you eventually build a tower of Babel that fails

Dave

IBM's BladeServer platform, RedHat, Suse and many others prove you both right and wrong. Open Source can be a tower of Babel only if chaos is allowed. Have a look at Pentaho, open source business intelligence, Gartner did his best and could only keep it out for 3 years. Telefonica, 2nd telecom company as one of the customers... I have much esteem for Mac but would be sad to have no real competition. Us fanboys should keep singing as long as the good ones keep playing.

[belizesailor]

Yes, the tower of babel effect is a potential concern, but the millions of devices out there running Android are doing pretty well.

As pointed out consumers (including me) just want the damn thing to work and the Android based devices do (unlike Windows..although my old XP machine is now pretty stable).

Apple certainly has done a fine job on both fronts (change control and stability) and I admire them for that. But I did not drink the coolaid and still dont like the idea of rigid product control over what I can and cannot do on my own machine...thus Anroid has an appeal to me.

(like the old Apple commercial where the girl slung the sledge through the display...an Android variant ot that....)

And, in my case, I dont need a "real" computer anymore. Nav software is the heaviest thing I run these days. And even my little Samsung phone does a respectable job of running basic versions of that.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Yes, the tower of babel effect is a potential concern, but the millions of devices out there running Android are doing pretty well.

snip.

"Pretty well" sums it up. Certainly it's a great market success, but that's not the whole story. Google's terms of use aren't acceptable to me because I have privacy concerns about them. Also, the lack of vendor control and management is causing problems for users. Just google the words *android malware statistics* Depending on which source you read, between 2 and 4% of the Android devices are infected, and between 70 and 99% of the mobile device infections are on Andriod devices.