I'd like to interface my raymarine instruments to a PC without having to
install (and pay for ) a Seatalk to NMEA interface box. Are the Seatalk
specs available anywhere?

Tony MS

--
..

Found the answer - http://www.thomasknauf.de/seatalk.htm

--
..
"Tony MS" wrote in message news:...
I'd like to interface my raymarine instruments to a PC without having to
install (and pay for ) a Seatalk to NMEA interface box. Are the Seatalk
specs available anywhere?

Tony MS

--
..

"Tony MS" wrote in
:

http://www.thomasknauf.de/seatalk.htm

Thank you for the link. I didn't have that one....

Don'tcha just love it when they invert the data and try to obscure
everything just so noone's proprietary equipment will talk to each other
without paying extra for inter-operability punishments.

ETHERNET - ETHERNET - TCP/IP - TCP/IP - ETHERNET - ETHERNET.....SOONER THE
BETTER! Lots of talkers on every LAN, all with addressable control.

Larry W4CSC wrote:

"Tony MS" wrote in
:


http://www.thomasknauf.de/seatalk.htm


Thank you for the link. I didn't have that one....

Don'tcha just love it when they invert the data and try to obscure
everything just so noone's proprietary equipment will talk to each other
without paying extra for inter-operability punishments.

ETHERNET - ETHERNET - TCP/IP - TCP/IP - ETHERNET - ETHERNET.....SOONER THE
BETTER! Lots of talkers on every LAN, all with addressable control.

I lost my latest interrupt driven Seatalk viewer in a laptop crash and
as I was concentrating on getting timestamped realtime logging going so
I could work on a Windows version (I only have occasional access to the
Seatalk as it's on a yacht I crew on and the owner has a don't mess with
critical systems in the season policy :-) )

Its not too tough to crack and a week on board, mostly in a marina berth
(or maybe swinging at anchor would be better), with a laptop hooked up
as per Thomas Knauf's diagram, a C compiler, a driver that allows
direct serial port access and a berth full of programming books :-) will
let you get a multifunction repeater going.

It would be worth checking out something like a microcontroller
development kit that can easily bridge from the 9 bit protocol to PC USB
as the number of laptops with a true hardware serial port is rapidly
declining. http://www.chipcatalog.com/Cypress/CY7C64613.htm looks
interesting (8051 + USB, program loadable via USB from PC) and there are
others. Seatalk/NMEA 0183 programmable hub with USB monitoring, anyone?


--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Tony MS" wrote in
:

http://www.thomasknauf.de/seatalk.htm

Thank you for the link. I didn't have that one....

Don'tcha just love it when they invert the data and try to obscure
everything just so noone's proprietary equipment will talk to each other
without paying extra for inter-operability punishments.

Coincidentally this is not the reason with Raymarine. First of all, there's
no paying involved because Ray keeps the protocol to themselves. But, for a
very good reason: they claim that their equipment is safe and that you can
rely on it, no matter what. The moment they allow someone else on "their"
Seatalk bus, they cannot hold that claim anymore because they're dependent
on someone elses reliability. You wouldn't believe the amount of testing
they did on my multiplexers in order to become an approved supplier to them.

Meindert

"Ian Malcolm" wrote in message
...
others. Seatalk/NMEA 0183 programmable hub with USB monitoring, anyone?

You mean as in my multiplexer with USB port and seatalk translation :-) ?
It also dumps unknown Seatalk datagrams in a proprietary NMEA sentence
format as hex numbers.

Meindert

"Ian Malcolm" wrote in message
...
Well, I did'nt know you had that feature set :-)
I can't find which multiplexer at http://www.shipmodul.com/ has that
feature set (I haven't bothered downloading all the manuals). Perhaps
you could post a link or at least a model number or is it still under
development?

Although not adevertised yet on my site, all -41 models have it. And within
a few weeks the -42 models as well. I mention it on the -41 page, but forgot
to copy that text to the -41USB and -41BT pages, as one of my customers
pointed out to me yesterday :-(

Meindert

Meindert Sprang wrote:
"Ian Malcolm" wrote in message
...

others. Seatalk/NMEA 0183 programmable hub with USB monitoring, anyone?


You mean as in my multiplexer with USB port and seatalk translation :-) ?
It also dumps unknown Seatalk datagrams in a proprietary NMEA sentence
format as hex numbers.

Meindert

Well, I did'nt know you had that feature set :-)
I can't find which multiplexer at http://www.shipmodul.com/ has that
feature set (I haven't bothered downloading all the manuals). Perhaps
you could post a link or at least a model number or is it still under
development?


--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.

Ian Malcolm wrote in
:

It would be worth checking out something like a microcontroller
development kit that can easily bridge from the 9 bit protocol to PC USB
as the number of laptops with a true hardware serial port is rapidly
declining. http://www.chipcatalog.com/Cypress/CY7C64613.htm looks
interesting (8051 + USB, program loadable via USB from PC) and there are
others. Seatalk/NMEA 0183 programmable hub with USB monitoring, anyone?



Aboard the boat, I have installed a Webfoot...
http://www.stayonline.com/serial_to_ethernet/3311.asp
It interfaces the NMEA multiplexer's (not Mindert's unfortunately) serial
port to my beloved Ethernet LAN, and is plugged into one port of a Netgear
Wireless Router's 4-port hub. Seatalk to NMEA conversion is done by the
RL-70CRC Color radar/chartplotter display unit. Simply turn on all the
statements to the NMEA output you want converted from any Seatalk
instrument, at least any we have aboard...Raymarine GPS receiver, Raymarine
Gyro/compass sensor, the display's chart plotter outputs...

Webfoot came with a virtual serial port software that lets the wirelessly-
connected notebook connect The Cap'n to the serial port the Webfoot is
connected to quite seamlessly. The Cap'n just thinks it has a live serial
port on the NMEA network. Of course, I can also use just any serial data
monitor or logger to read or store what the Webfoot is looking at, too.
I've never had more than one computer aboard, so can't say whether the
Webfoot will send/receive the serial data to more than one station on the
LAN at a time. I'll have to try to remember to look that possibility up
when I'm alone on the boat with time on my hands.

Not being tied down is a real boon, as long as the Compaq Latitude has 12V
available to extend its battery runtime. You can navigate and have control
of the B&G Network Pilot autopilot from anyplace on the boat with it. If
you're anchored out, you can leave the appropriate sensor online and carry
the notebook ashore to monitor its parameter, such as depth or wind from
the beach laying on a blanket. I want to try to see if we can read the
boat's network from the bar at the yacht club, now that we've moved it to
what should be in range....(c;

Since I got the Webfoot, there's been lots of new serial to Ethernet boxes
show up. I suppose they can do the same thing.

"Meindert Sprang" wrote in
:

You wouldn't believe the amount of testing
they did on my multiplexers in order to become an approved supplier to
them.

Meindert


Wish they had done that much testing on our 2KW radome. Then they could
have fixed it so the damned thing didn't FILL UP WITH WATER AND ROT THE
CHEAP POTMETAL BOX THE RADAR IS MOUNTED IN!

As you may tell, I'm not really impressed by Raymarine any more. It's NOT
a Raytheon.