"thuss" wrote in
ups.com:



For folks who want to use Bluetooth or who are on a budget, you can't
go wrong to checkout Shipmodul's Bluetooth multiplexer, it's very cool.
Either way, I'm excited by products of the likes of TackTick and
Shipmodul that are making out of the box wireless navigation a reality
today!

Best,
Todd


Now, if we could just DUMP all this old serial, one talker, crap and get
"them" to put in a DHCP compatible TCP/IP addressable port on every piece
of marine electronics....oh wouldn't that be nice....(c;

Talking to marine electronics reminds me of talking to a Commodore 64 with
no tape drive....

I'm not sure Bluetooth is the answer. Bluetooth doesn't have enough RANGE,
made for 32 ft like it is. That's 32 ft of FREE space, not 32 ft buried in
the wiring of a boat with all the noises generated by all the unshielded,
plastic-encased electronic transmitters square-waving the spectrum.

No, just bury the Ethernet cabling into the hull to a nice router/hub
system and plug all the toys into it. Any toy can talk to any other toy
through the IP addresses the router has a virtual unlimited (not 16) number
of. No conflicts with too many talkers and the packets are all taken care
of by the system. 802.11x wireless is fine. All the operational notebooks
are already configured to let the ship's DHCP server automatically
configure them, whether they be hard plugged into a port in your stateroom,
the bridge, the salon or on wireless laid out next to you in your deck
chair. No "interface" is necessary and the world is already full of off-
the-shelf stuff to make it happen.

Hell, we can even connect the ship's VoIP phones and Satphone data ports to
everything. Who would need the mostly-nonfunctional GMDSS, which I don't
think will ever work properly, because of its idiotic limitations? Got an
emergency aboard? No problem. Press the red-button and the ShipLAN calls
USCG's server...DIRECTLY...to report our position. Pickup any phone on the
boat and talk from our VoIP phones to the USCG operator-on-duty. That
wouldn't be new technology. It's already installed! All I need to make it
happen is Ethernet-enabled marine instruments.....like industry has been
using for years.

Of course, this would require NMEA's manufacturers to stop leaving
unshielded, unbalanced wires hanging out of some $50, proprietary rubber
plug noone can get after the manufacturer loses interest in this
model.....(c;

Bluetooth is too weak to depend upon for life-or-death data. All the
important instruments need to be hard wired with Ethernet to a central
router, or even redundant routers. Being able to have a hub any place you
like connected to just ONE Ethernet between points, such as the hub at the
helm to the hub at the nav station someplace else makes sense, too.

Just dreaming.....We'll be stuck with NMEA or some other proprietary
nonsense like Raymarine's or B&G's or other non-compatible stuff forever.

As long as they'll keep BUYING IT......