On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 09:20:02 -0500, Harry Krause wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 00:42:33 -0800, Tamaroak
wrote:
Why doesn't someone come up with an adapter cord that connects a cheap
DVD players loaded with those charts to a C Map
NT+/BlueChart/Navionics chip adapter thingy so those of us with
chartplotters that use these antiquated systems can access all those
charts without buying all of the
individual chips?

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The electronics of creating your own C-Map chips is not all that
complicated so the real challenge would be to create some software that
would convert NOAAs ENC vector format charts (free) into C-Map chips
that you could plug into your chart plotter. I'd be surprised if
someone doesn't try to do it. There may be licensing issues however
since I believe the C-MAP format is proprietary.



What's needed is a water-resistant laptop PC with a bright screen that
sells for about a grand. That'll be the kiss of death to the overpriced
"chartplotter" business.

Well, a Toughbook fits that description except for the price.

I've been using Pocket Navigator on a PDA, and I like it best so far. It's
not waterproof, but a PDA could be. I think the ultimate solution is
either a waterproof PDA or a tablet PC, which is basically a PDA with a
larger screen. Supposedly tablet PCs will eventually sell for like 200
bucks.

Matt O.