On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 01:47:52 -0400, rhys wrote:

Something else to consider is this: a 15 inch LCD display is well
under $500 these days and can also display chartplotter info, GPS,
radar and whatnot when hooked into the appropriate "black boxes"

To my mind, getting separate displays or "multi-function marine"
display at six or seven inches across is silly when you can have the
same info on an LCD screen in a waterproof bag on an armature in the
companionway. When needed, fire it up and pull the screen into
view...when finished, push it back into relative weather protection.

I have heard of people using infrared controls and wireless mice to
"click" between GPS, charts, radar and the evening news on LCDs hooked
into small PCs and the appropriate sensing units...the point is that
ANY relatively current PC is much more powerful and adaptable than a
single task-oriented "marine" display, like a chart plotter.

Of course, there's the "all eggs in one basket" argument, but that's
why you throw a handheld GPS with extra batteries into the "crash
box".

What you say has a good deal of merit, IMHO. Just to be fair and
balanced, I'll mention the two downsides I've observed. First,
daylight visibility of commonly available and reasonably priced
displays is poor. Second, when the chips are down and the seas are
high, screwing around with a mouse and standard keyboard to setup
waypoints is a bit problematical. I have some thoughts about that, but
I haven't had a chance to experiment. My current approach is to keep
the standalone instruments, using the PC as a repeater. That gives me
the best of both worlds. Please excuse the blatant commercialism in
my standard sig. At least it's on topic...
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Glen "Wiley" Wilson usenet1 SPAMNIX at worldwidewiley dot com
To reply, lose the capitals and do the obvious.

Take a look at cpRepeater, my NMEA data integrator, repeater, and
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