I've just came from the
cruise Southampton-Hull
We've used
OpenCPN all the way up on Toughbook with WindowsXP, with AIS/GPS signal from Navicom rt-650
VHF through RS2232.
Worked great, perfect I would say, easy to use, clear and simple.
I could talk about good things for ages, so let me mention the downsides only, as there are just few, and they are subject to personal preference only anyways:
-No
instruments display. I know the devs say: NO - HELL NO! Still it would be great not to use COM splitters and another
software (PolarCOM) to display SOG,COG etc.
-AIS target query - must be chosen from tiny menu. With touchscreen during bumpy
passage it's kinda hard to do this, especially holding tiller at the same time, not mentioning when there are
water drops on the
screen, it's even hard to see the option in submenu.
-Night colors - couldn't see a thing. With touchscreen's angle of view and those colors somehow object's were barely visible.
But those obviously are matters of personal preference. Apart from that - the
software is fabulous, easy to configure and in-action use.
Thanks very much to all devs team