wrote:
Hi All: I'm new to the group, but I do have a serious question.

In April I bought a new DELL XPS Laptop... great machine, but I'm not
doing a commercial here.! My problem is, I want to hang a GPS on one
of the inputs and, possible an autopilot on the output. I have a
Garmin handheld but will replace that with something that runs off
boat power and my old autopilot died a couple of years ago so that
will be replaced as part of this package replacement project.

Does anyone know a good place to go for recommendations or does anyone
on this group have any? I've already looked at the Garmin site but I
don't really know if that's where I want to go.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Mike

Your post doesn't really indicate precisely what you want to do, having
connected a GPS to your Dell. Assuming that you require software to
navigate, the choice is pretty daunting, as there is a huge selection of
software to achieve this purpose.

I personally would consider either Garmin Bluecharts for their excellence of
detail and vector functionality, or Oziexplorer for even more functionality
but using raster charts. Both are available to purchase fairly easily, but
with Ozi you have the option of a free Trial version downloadable in a few
minutes from www.oziexplorer.com

Dont expect either to be an easy learning curve. Think about months, rather
than weeks, even to master the basics.

Hope this helps.

Dennis.