Navigatrix.net

[wadda]

The people behind Navigatrix, billed as the operating system for Navigators, have come through with a release.

It's built on solid Linux foundations with the tools and information used by people on boats.

Check it out: http://navigatrix.net

It just received the highest rating for Airmail, the Pactor/SSB application, under Wine (a Linux thing) of any Linux distribution so far.

OpenCPN and Gnuais run out of the box plus additional features, tools and information.

The hardest thing is learning to boot from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card.

There's a Support Forum for any questions.

Check it out and download a copy...at least for a backup.

[Charlie]

Thanks Wadda. I did that the day before Thanksgiving and it worked well. I have found the program to be very stable. The problem that I had was that I wiped out my windows program. If you load it on a hard drive make sure that you know how to partition your drive and save to it. Now does anyone know how to recover a windows 7 OS that has been wiped out by Linux. It may still be there but I don't know enough to open it and I do not have a recovery disk since it is a netbook.

[wadda]

While it's slightly off-topic, I can relate. I picked up a new netbook in July. It had Windows 7 on it. I say had because I don't know enough to leave things alone. Considering my time frame, budget, and inability to deal with people who know frightfully less than i do and could care less about fixing my problem.

I tried a version of Linux called Ubuntu. Specifically I tried the Ubuntu Netbook Remix. It was nice and graphically lush. I liked it. I still like it.

There was a young woman passing though on a lower budget than me. She picked up this cute little job about 2/3 the size of the 'standard' netbook. She bought it nearly used for a good deal except now the bogus copy of Windows 7 had just become non-functional by design.

Well that was part of the problem. It didn't have a CD drive to put on the any number of XP bootlegs floating around.

I gave her the sales pitch "Here. Try this. It doesn't work now. What's the worst that could happen?"

There were some computer guys talking and periodically giving their free advice to me. But we eventually agreed that while other versions of Linux might have better attributes in some areas, for this sailor, and where she was coming from; in the way she thought about and used a computer; the Ubuntu Netbook Re-mix was the best choice for her.

Somebody in the Linux community aslo created a tool so I could put this netbook remix onto her machine, and 'fixed' the problem by putting on a system that was designed to work even if there is no CD drive.

She was apprehensive as I was giving my "No, really, you will like this.... It's not ~that~ different" demonstration tour.

She was glad she could send emails, and well, she was glad ..at least the email thing was ok. She would give it a try.

I felt responsible. Two weeks passed. I had to ask. She likes it. Glad it works. Two months pass and she's quite happy no reason to change or wish differently.

I gave her and her partner a copy of an earlier version of Navigatrix that those computer guys with their free advice had been cranking on. "Here, you might want to try this and tell those guys what you think."

They just came back into the anchorage after being gone a while. The guy's Mac is in for repair and they have Navigatrix installed on the 2/3rd mini netbook.

I haven't seen them enough to ask why they've switched.

There are some partition recovery programs out there. If you're like me; by the process of figuring out how to do it; I changed my mind and began to think how much had been over written. I'm sure there's some forensic guy who could read a fire damaged drive, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money on something I didn't backup.

Sentimentality has a price, but being cheap, that price is low.

I've just installed Navigatrix on the boat computer and taking a break from putting the Nav station back together after our little lightning strike. The netbook I acquired 4 months ago has just been replaced because of a defective screen. I put Navigatrix on the new machine straight out of the box and added some personal non-boat related software.

There are some things I don't like about Navigatrix.... but that will have to wait. Those folks have done a good job on this and I think they should be encouraged.

Give it a whirl.

[Charlie]

Wadda:
I must agree that Navigatrix is perfect for using on a boat. I need to try out the SSB modem software but it is a great stable program and boots up much faster then Windows 7. If I didn't need this computer for work I wouldn't worry at all about not having Windows.

[wadda]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Wadda:
I must agree that Navigatrix is perfect for using on a boat. I need to try out the SSB modem software but it is a great stable program and boots up much faster then Windows 7. If I didn't need this computer for work I wouldn't worry at all about not having Windows.

I don't know what you need for work, but try this little experiment.

In the lower left corner is the Manta. Click on the manta; Preferences; Package Manger.

Enter your password.

The program that opens is called "Synaptic". After it's done building it's search database type in openoffice.org in the quick search box.

Down the list of packages you will see openoffice.org. 1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1.

Right click on the little box in front of it and left click on the highlighted Mark for installation.

Another window will immediately pop up saying that additional software package need to be installed.

Mark them.

That window goes away and you will see the original Synamptic program.

Mouse up to Apply and give it a left click.

A summary window pops up to tell you what's going to happen, and give a warning that some of these files are not authenticated....in this case it's ok. Click on the Apply button.

After it cranks and downloads and installs you can close any remaining windows.

Now, goback to the Manta; click; scroll up to Office and look for OpenOffice...a near equivalent to MS Word, Excel, etc....

Since you have a netbook you can do the same process with Cheese in the Quick Search box of the Package Manager.

When it's done grinding. Go to Manta; Sound and Video. There you will see Cheese, a fast easy webcam program to create video proof of yourself working.