Tricks to increase display on slow PC

[conachair]

I have opencpn v2.5 ( & CM93) running on a Via Epia 533Mhz machine, with a compact flash card as a hard drive. Using a samsung syncmaster sa300 as a monitor. Works OK, gps in through a com port and ais through a usb adaptor.

Well, sort of works OK, the low current draw (about 0.8a for the computer) is great but the display is painfully slow to update if you zoom or move. I have the computer display settings turned down to minimum which helps a bit,

but any tips how to speed things?

TIA

[Zoef]

What might help is

a smaller screen
more ram (I think 1Gb is the maximum)
a faster flash card

Good luck.

[hellosailor]

I suspect you can only do two things: Check for a faster memory card, and replace the computer. 533Mhz is about 12 years behind the times, it would count as a terribly slow cell phone these days too. If the computer is running any other processes or programs, shut them down. If your video display offers any optons for fewer colors, or different refresh rates, sometimes that speeds up the display. (Sometimes not.) Check for updated hardware drivers in general.

Or, just consider how long it would take to roll up the chart, find the next one, roll that out...See now the computer has gotten way way faster.<G>

[conachair]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

I suspect you can only do two things: Check for a faster memory card, and replace the computer. 533Mhz is about 12 years behind the times,

Yep, I know that. Which is why it draws about 800mA or less if it´s doing nothing. And costs less than a round of drinks

Might look into faster card. The one in there is 133x. Though the cards actually cost more than the motherboard.

Will the Raspberry Pi work with opencpn, that´s what we all want to know. Got one on order, might get it one of these months.