12vdc Marine Computers

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by travellerw

Any sized external monitor for one. Ever used a chartplotter with a 26" monitor, its pretty damn nice. It also makes a pretty good backup movie watcher in the salon!

Err I asked what was the advantage over a Nettop similar to mine... I can put any sized monitor on that.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by Littlechay

Err I asked what was the advantage over a Nettop similar to mine... I can put any sized monitor on that.

Sorry... My brain substituted netbook!

One advantage would be power consumption.. Your E350 processor draws 12W at idle. The Atom X5-Z8500 in the Kangaroo draws 4W at full bore. Its rated at about 2W idle.

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Littlechay

So where to source these cheap 12V screens that everybody keeps talking about?

Free shipping! 7 inch Raspberry Pi TN LCD Simple version With HDMI VGA AV Screen Display Module For Pcduino Banana Pi 800x480-in LCD Modules from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

INNOLUX 7" inch Raspberry Pi LCD Touch Screen Display TFT Monitor AT070TN90 with Touchscreen Kit HDMI VGA Input Driver Board-in LCD Modules from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

[verkerkbr]

There a lot of thin client systems available. Here I have one build in a Monitor running on 12 volt.

Made a bootable USB stick (fast one with 32 Gig) with Debian Jessie Linux and OpenCPN.

Such a bootable USB stick runs on almost every computer system which can boot from an USB device.

Removed the Windows internal partition.

Now everything is running perfect from the USB stick. Power consumption is very low with this Atom processor onboard.

There is only one Problem. The screen is too large for my small boat!

But other thin clients must have the same options.

Regards,

Bram

[verkerkbr]

Originally Posted by wdkester

verkerkbr,

How about a link to where you bought the screen.

Here the Details

Bestview nr. YT1042IP65, 10.4" waterproof touch monitor,1000cd/m2

Address: 5F, Building24,Longbi Industry Area ,Bantian Town, Longgang District,Shenzhen, China
Tel. 0086-755-28447130
Fax:0086-755-83388991
E-mail: sales009@szbestview.com
shenzhen bestview electronic technology co.,ltd.

Regards,


Bram

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by verkerkbr

There a lot of thin client systems available. Here I have one build in a Monitor running on 12 volt.

Excuse my ignorance.. but what is a "thin client"? An all in one system or something else?

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Free shipping! 7 inch Raspberry Pi TN LCD Simple version With HDMI VGA AV Screen Display Module For Pcduino Banana Pi 800x480-in LCD Modules from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

INNOLUX 7" inch Raspberry Pi LCD Touch Screen Display TFT Monitor AT070TN90 with Touchscreen Kit HDMI VGA Input Driver Board-in LCD Modules from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Thanks.. a bit small for me though. I want at least 10" for nav and preferably a couple of inches bigger so that I can use it for other stuff too.

I did use one of the Liliput 10" ones once which was OK but barely big enough reading email on, poor resolution and the touch screen kept going out of calibration so it ended up never being used as a touch screen.

Afraid to experiment with cheap screens since then.

[Tupaia]

I have just replaced my Atom N2600 Kino 12v truck PC with an ASRock BeeBox, this has the new Intel N3000 with SDP of 3W and TDP of 4W. This chip apparently has 3 power states Low, ECO and High. Haven't had a chance to play with the throttling yet and no way of measuring consumption off boat on AC. But in tick over mode running OCPN with monitor off this should be pretty low.

The Kangaroo SDP is 2W but as I understand it, the power is derived from the USB connection to the TV/Monitor therefore this has to be always on. Nice that it has a battery though.

The advantage of a separate TV/Monitor is you can leave the PC running with the screen off completely so overall this is probably has the lowest consumption.

The TDP and SDP figures only relate to the chip and the "real" life consumption will depend on the RAM, HDD, SSD or CF, Wifi, BT and a whole host of USB requirements. The SDP figures also assume a level of idleness that is never the case with navigation applications where instrument streams are always being processed so no idle time exists. Wifi is always a relatively large power consumer but I use this to transmit instrument data to an Android tablet running OCPN.

FWIW - I have used a Cello 22in TV as a monitor for over a year now and it has a rated consumption of 17W. This sounds high but includes the audio amplifier (2x3W) and an integrated DVD player, so the monitor itself is about 8-10 Watts. The 16inch version is rated at 13W so again the monitor itself is only about 5-7 Watts which compares well with many smaller stand alone monitors. Also because they are designed for trucks and RV's the 12v power is able to cope with engine starts and other on-board voltage spikes.

[verkerkbr]

Originally Posted by Littlechay

Excuse my ignorance.. but what is a "thin client"? An all in one system or something else?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client

A small system that boots and runs from a server. No HD only a small memory.

But if this thing can start form a USB stick, you can use it as a normal system.

I have one with the Atom thin client build in the monitor as shown on the image. But most Thin clients are without a monitor.

But you have to take a powerfull one with good graphics.

I have made a bootable USB stick with Debian 8 Jessie Linux and the latest version of OpenCPN. This works on almost every computer system, that can start from an USB device. However for a system with an Eufi boot to have to switch this to off.

If you take a fast (10) USB stick of 32 Gig there is also plenty of room for a lot of Charts.

With this USB stick I can use the thin client as a stand alone system. I'am surprised how good this works.

But it works also on most of the other computer systems and you can take the stick for an update to your home.

Regards,

Bram

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by verkerkbr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client

A small system that boots and runs from a server. No HD only a small memory.

If you take a fast (10) USB stick of 32 Gig there is also plenty of room for a lot of Charts.

With this USB stick I can use the thin client as a stand alone system. I'am surprised how good this works.

But it works also on most of the other computer systems and you can take the stick for an update to your home.

Regards,

Bram

Thanks.. internet is flaky here and at the time it was too frustrating to try and google !

Sounds like something worth a look but I suspect that I'm better off with a fat client; being live aboard cruisers we use the boat computer for everything.

Of course we have backups, a netbook and we both have powerful laptops but the built-in one is the one that we use most of all. Charging the big laptops pulls too much juice to use very often although I have to fire up my XPS 15 for photo processing etc..

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

The Kangaroo SDP is 2W but as I understand it, the power is derived from the USB connection to the TV/Monitor therefore this has to be always on. Nice that it has a battery though.

The Kangaroo has a power jack that takes 12V. The monitor can be turned off or disconnected, and uses a HDMI connector. I have also run a USB monitor with the Kangaroo, and the Kangaroo provides power for this via the USB connector. I connect the Kangaroo to an un-powered USB hub, which connects to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, USB/Serial ports, and satphone.

The Kangaroo has WiFi, but no RJ-45 Ethernet jack.

I don't know if the Kangaroo has any advantages compared to other small form-factor computers, but the price and packaging were interesting enough that I decided to get one to play with. It comes with Windows 10, and that is what I am running on it.

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

The Kangaroo has a power jack that takes 12V. The monitor can be turned off or disconnected, and uses a HDMI connector. I have also run a USB monitor with the Kangaroo, and the Kangaroo provides power for this via the USB connector. I connect the Kangaroo to an un-powered USB hub, which connects to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, USB/Serial ports, and satphone.

The Kangaroo has WiFi, but no RJ-45 Ethernet jack.

I don't know if the Kangaroo has any advantages compared to other small form-factor computers, but the price and packaging were interesting enough that I decided to get one to play with. It comes with Windows 10, and that is what I am running on it.

Thanks Paul. I have never had much luck with un-powered USB hubs. Could you share what you are using please?

Chris

[petter5]

I found this computer that might be a candidate to run Opencpn ??


STC-1006/1206/1506 - Panel PCs & Monitors - Smart Touch Computer - ADLINK Technology

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

The Kangaroo has a power jack that takes 12V. The monitor can be turned off or disconnected, and uses a HDMI connector. I have also run a USB monitor with the Kangaroo, and the Kangaroo provides power for this via the USB connector. I connect the Kangaroo to an un-powered USB hub, which connects to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, USB/Serial ports, and satphone.

The Kangaroo has WiFi, but no RJ-45 Ethernet jack.

I don't know if the Kangaroo has any advantages compared to other small form-factor computers, but the price and packaging were interesting enough that I decided to get one to play with. It comes with Windows 10, and that is what I am running on it.

Just a word of warning the forced updates and P2P settings in Windows 10 can lead to severe problems with bandwidth when using a satphone or when on paid data when in port. There is NO way to switch updates off completely even when set as metered connections. You need to operate a satphone through a router and lock it down. Iridium only uses 1 port so I believe it overcomes this. The data usage has been so bad I am regressing my on board systems back to Win 7. (Maybe Linux?)

[TheOffice]

Why not use an Intel ComputeStick?

Intel Compute Stick (2016) Release Date, Price and Specs - CNET