On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 14:09:57 GMT, "BillP" wrote:

Triggered by the above remark I wonder why no company has yet written a
decent navigation package running on Linux.

Because once they made three sales to people who actually use Linux on their
boat, they'd have 100% of the potential market...

Make it four. I would gladly drop WIndows on any machine that didn't
need it for a particular app.

Mandrake Linux is the slickest and most troublefree installation I
have ever tried. You don't have to be a geek to install it. Indeed it
practically installs itself.

So, for a boat computer, what do I need.

A word processor for the log--Xemacs is fine

A program to monitor the serial ports and log NMEA inputs and
time-stamp them into a text file, that can be pasted into the log
on xemacs.

A nav-chart program that uses free vector charts.

If I take it ashore to a modem connection, I use Windoze because I
can run PMMail, a converted OS2 program that lets me check headeers
on the POP3 server, and delete spam before I download messages. I
haven't seen a linux app that works that way.

All easy except the last two.



I have no financial interest, etc etc.


Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC


We have achieved faith-based science,
faith-based economics, faith-based law
enforcement, and faith-based missile
defense.
What's next? Faith-based air traffic control?