Recommendations for Windows laptop for OpenCPN

[Sailerboy]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Agreed, a different operating environment from a larger and dryer (interior) boat.

But at the cost of a waterproof PC (not of just a waterproof case for a regular tablet) why not just buy a cheap chart plotter? Lots of units integrated with fish finders for the trailerable launch fishing types.

As an aside, my Navionics chart card shows similar detail in most places compared to my iSailor chart (Transas) and the official Australian oeSENC chart for Australia in OpenCPN. But only the Navionics chart shows all of the Gordon River (Tasmania) and the actual reef outlines at Bait Reef (Queensland). That’s just two examples. So the suitability of the tool matters as well.

Though of course, using MBTiles or KAP files in OpenCPN provides satellite photos in a plotter environment, which the MFD cannot AFAIK. That’s a killer feature on its own (in clear water at least).

Hi fxykty, Yes, I agree with most of your comments.... But,
I have a Samsung tablet running Navionics, that I have in a waterproof bag to use in the cockpit. That protects it from rain and spray, but as my boat is an open cockpit, with no bimmini for shade, the tablet quickly overheats and shuts down. I am then stuffed, at possibly the worst time when negotiating entry to an anchorage, or worse, coral reef passages. If I leave it below I cannot view it from the tiller.
I have a chart plotter, and as already stated, that works well, being daylight readable and waterproof. However, the 2008 embedded maps cannot be updated. Not backwards compatible with the new charts.
I intend using OpenCPN in conjunction with SAS Planet. In case you are not already aware, this free open source software, whic allows one to download satelite images from multiple sources (not just Google satelite), to get the best resoltion for the reef of interest. In my case this is Lady Musgrave and the Bunker group up to Heron Is in the lower Great Barrier Reef.
I have purchased the paid oeSENC hydrographic charts, but was actually quite disspointed with the detail. In Moreton Bay, my home waters, there were actually cardinal markers that were not shown. I queried O Charts about this but they refered me to the Hydrograhic office. I shall be contacting them later.

Has anyone else found the level of detail (even at full zoom), lacking in the oeSENC Charts?

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Sailerboy

Hi fxykty, Yes, I agree with most of your comments.... But,
I have a Samsung tablet running Navionics, that I have in a waterproof bag to use in the cockpit. That protects it from rain and spray, but as my boat is an open cockpit, with no bimmini for shade, the tablet quickly overheats and shuts down. I am then stuffed, at possibly the worst time when negotiating entry to an anchorage, or worse, coral reef passages. If I leave it below I cannot view it from the tiller.
I have a chart plotter, and as already stated, that works well, being daylight readable and waterproof. However, the 2008 embedded maps cannot be updated. Not backwards compatible with the new charts.
I intend using OpenCPN in conjunction with SAS Planet. In case you are not already aware, this free open source software, whic allows one to download satelite images from multiple sources (not just Google satelite), to get the best resoltion for the reef of interest. In my case this is Lady Musgrave and the Bunker group up to Heron Is in the lower Great Barrier Reef.
I have purchased the paid oeSENC hydrographic charts, but was actually quite disspointed with the detail. In Moreton Bay, my home waters, there were actually cardinal markers that were not shown. I queried O Charts about this but they refered me to the Hydrograhic office. I shall be contacting them later.

Has anyone else found the level of detail (even at full zoom), lacking in the oeSENC Charts?

Can't figure out how to multi-quote reply on my Mac in Safari, so will go point by point.

- My iPhone overheats as well if I'm not careful to put it in the shade. Doing that loses my iSailor chart for several minutes. When we got our boat it had a plotter inside at the nav table and a old Raymarine A50 in the cockpit, which only takes CF cards. We got rid of that plotter and used iSailor on phone and tablet and a few time OpenCPN on a tablet (VNC viewer) in the cockpit until I finally got fed up with the limitations of both of those - no radar, no sonar, battery depletion, poor daylight visibility, occasional freezes, and occasionally incomplete charts. Finally bought a new plotter with built in sonar engine, bought a sonar transducer, and mounted the plotter in the cockpit. With a network switch to carry the radar signal to the cockpit we now have a full featured plotter with all data sources in the cockpit where it belongs. We use a laptop with OpenCPN at the chart table for planning and tracking purposes. iSailor is pretty much only used in the dinghy and for basic trip stats. We bring the laptop with OpenCPN into the cockpit when navigating an area using satellite images.

- We use SAS Planet and Sat2Chart to make MBTiles that we display in OpenCPN (there's a excellent tutorial in CF somewhere and at http://www.svocelot.com/Cruise-Info/...nt/mbTiles.htm). We use chart groups to organise the satellite images by geographic area and chart type, with the free CM93 file used as a base chart in each group (as the MB Tiles don't display properly when in the same group as the oeSenc chart). These are an awesome tool and excellent where there is clear water. Around Tasmania's coast a lot of the water is dark brown due to tannins in the river water so satellite images don't help. Using the satellite images as MBTiles in OpenCPN means that all the chart plotter data and tools that you have for a regular chart also work on your satellite image - much better than simply viewing the satellite image in a browser.

- We had also purchased the oeSenc Australia chart from o-charts so as to have the most recent updates and a second (third?) source. It does not show as much as the CM93 (especially apparent around the Gold Coast), nor in some places as good as Transas or Navionics. I asked on here and someone from o-charts replied that the official chart is as it is, they (o-charts) haven't trimmed it. Weird.

- Level of detail in the oeSenc chart is generally pretty good but missing in some places - we've just arrived at Three Hummocks Island on the NW coast of Tasmania and the over zoom tiles come up at 1:69,000. In other areas we can zoom right in to 1:8600. In iSailor the Transas chart has similar fidelity, so that must be what the Australian Hydrographic Office specifies. But the Navionics chart card shows much more bottom and depth details - is that from community edits or fanciful extrapolation of the actual survey data?

[Sailerboy]

Thanks to all those that have taken the time to respond.
Its quite interesting to get the different perspectives. At the end of the day its what suits ones own needs/budget the best.
However, I do want to keep it simple. Overcomplicating a basic requirement just makes life harder......and takes time away from enjoying the sailing experience.

[JonathanX]

Hi Sailerboy, finally I did received the 10.1 inch 1000 nits, Windows 10 PRO rugged tablet,
4 GB Ram, 64 GB SSD. I run OpenCPN on it without any problem, respond very good and man 1000 nits that is really, really good for a US$600.00 including UPS shipping. If you need more just ask.
Gilles

[RaymondR]

I used a 10" Asus running OpenCPN with a subset of CM93 charts with Win 7 to navigate the Australian coast north about between Sydney and Exmouth and I had it providing nav information to my autopilot through a RS422/485 to USB converter for a number of years. It worked very well provided I had only OpenCPN on the machine but was inclined to crash if I put other software on it.

I now use Navionics charts on a MFD having found it is much more detailed than the comparable Cmap product particularly once one moves away from the seaways used by commercial vessels.

[boatman61]

I have just bought a 14" Prixton Windows 10/11 laptop for €229.00
My old 10" Asus Notebook which was loaded with the Nimble Navigator program () is getting on a bit and I don't fancy it crashing mid trip.. unfortunately I have not managed to transfer it to the Prixton and, not being sure if Mike Quinn is still alive I'm reluctant to order one of his bells & whistles Memory Sticks from his site.
So.. downloaded the latest CPN and after a couple of hiccups have got it working, also managed to transfer the CM93 World Charts from Nimble.. Ya ay
My old GPS Puck also works so all seems good sitting on my verandah.. just gotta wait till March for the sea trial from Spain to Greece.. Its gonna be great 2 B back on D water.

[JonathanX]

Hi RaymondR, now that I have my tablet to work with, now I could keep going in my project witch is to run in Wifi mode with ESP32 to control my environment and to control too the ST4000+ and if defect use my own auto pilot. Mind you I have Navionics map running on OpenCPN. As well I did installed last year an electrosonic wind speed/direction (no moving parts) with RS485 and work OK.
So RaymondR you raise some questions about your setup if you wish to share, what is your auto pilot, what you use or how do you communicate with your auto pilot, wiring or what. My intend no wiring at all only 5 volt to my tablet if need to recharge.
Gilles

[Sailerboy]

Hi Giles, Glad your tablet finally arrive. Yes please send details of make, model etc. I am in Australia so don't know if it will be available here.
I would be like to hear what you think of it after a longer term test.
Are you integrating any satelite charts or just running OCPN?

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by JonathanX

Hi RaymondR, now that I have my tablet to work with, now I could keep going in my project witch is to run in Wifi mode with ESP32 to control my environment and to control too the ST4000+ and if defect use my own auto pilot. Mind you I have Navionics map running on OpenCPN. As well I did installed last year an electrosonic wind speed/direction (no moving parts) with RS485 and work OK.
So RaymondR you raise some questions about your setup if you wish to share, what is your auto pilot, what you use or how do you communicate with your auto pilot, wiring or what. My intend no wiring at all only 5 volt to my tablet if need to recharge.
Gilles

I had a cable from the ES 422/485 converter at the nav station to the nmea 0183 terminals on the ST4000 head at the helm position. I used a BU353 GPS with a usb connection. A simple system which proved very reliable and efficient as long as I only ran OpenCPN on the computer.

I suspect the crashes were caused by memory clashes, apparently Microsoft takes a rather cavalier attitude to memory and register allocation which contrasts poorly with the system used in Linux.

[JonathanX]

Hi SailerBoy, at the moment no satellites, is either NOAA, Navionics or Canadian BSB/KAP, I have a bunch of them, all running with OpenCPN. Go to this site:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...61ec2a7ce0jEvi

Look for model TPC-GS1081 for Window or TPC-GS1081T for Android. Of course you want the screen to be 1000 Nits, you could have all kind of options there.
You could contact frank@geshem.cn there, nice guy.

Gilles

[JonathanX]

Hi RaymondR, you said (ES 422/485 converter at the nav station to the nmea 0183 terminals on the ST4000 head) is that a dongle that you purchase or you made it yourself?. If you made yourself, so what are the physical connections.

Gilles

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by JonathanX

Hi RaymondR, you said (ES 422/485 converter at the nav station to the nmea 0183 terminals on the ST4000 head) is that a dongle that you purchase or you made it yourself?. If you made yourself, so what are the physical connections.

Gilles

The RS422/485 to USB converter I use is manufactured by Digitech. Google it for your local availability. The converter has screw terminals in a block on the side. The autopilot head has two 1/8" male spade terminal connections. There are also two slide switches on the side of the converter which must be set.

[esarratt]

I have an old 32 bit Panasonic Toughbook that I got off Ebay for $150 (?). I had to provide my own power cord ($75). It has performed quite well, but is being stretched as everything is moving to 64 bit.

I dual boot Windows and Ubuntu Linux. I run OpenCPN on Linux.

My next computer will be an Ebay Panasonic Toughbook 64 bit with the same setup.