Thank you so much Dan. That gave me a very good understandig as
well as specific advice - at a level, I understand. Very useful
indeed! Now, I've got someting to work with, so I will return to
'the lab'.

PS - I don't think Bill Gates needs some of my money, therefore -
if possible - I will work with vnc...
--
Flemming Torp
'Even the worst day sailing is better than the best day working'
....

"DC" skrev i en meddelelse
...
You will want to use VNC "server" on the laptop running your
chartplotter
software.

You will want to install VNC for PPC on the handheld. The
handheld will use
the client to connect to the server, and thus control your
laptop from the
handheld.

In order to do this you need an IP connection. This will mean
:

1) running WIFI on the laptop and PPC system.
- you can install a WIFI (802.11b) card on the PPC handheld as
either as SD
card, or in the MMC slot.
- on the laptop you have a choice of PCMCIA cards or USB
adapters for WIFI
- the advantage of WIFI is greater range
2) running a Bluetooth personal network between the laptop and
PPC system
- most common form for BT on PPC is an SD card on older PPC
handleds. Newer
ones typically have integrated BT
- for the laptop you will add a BT USB adapter if you don't
currently have
built in support for it
- the advantage of BT is lower power consumption over WIFI, but
you lose
range.

I have an Ipaq 5400 series PPC and when I enable WIFI it
seriously drains
the batteries. I leave Bluetooth always enabled since it's not
much of a
noticeable difference (the same on my cell phone, I always
leave BT
enabled).

The main point here is, as Nikki stated, you need a TCP/IP
connection and
that means some form of the above... or a physical connection
which is not
practical.

VNC (search for tight VNC as well, also free and better
performance) is not
the only solution. You could use Microsoft's own Terminal
Services on the
laptop and load the Terminal Service Client for PPC if you
wanted (to spend
money that is... because VNC is free).


If you decide on the Bluetooth solution you must make sure that
the
Bluetooth adapter (USB) that you purchase for the laptop
supports the
personal network service. Not all Bluetooth adapters are
created equal,
some have support for more services than others (for example,
my Ipaq does
not support the wireless headset profile, yet my laptop does).

Hope this helps.

R/
Dan




"Flemming Torp" fletop(kanelbolle)2rp.d(anmar)k wrote in
message
. ..
Thank you for your input. All I know, is that there is a cable
connection between the socket of my PPC and into a USB port in
my
notebook. The program is called Microsoft ActiveSync, and I
can
'see' the memory of the PPC from explorer on the notebook,
when
the PPC is in the craddle ... And via this connection I can
send
data back and forth. F.ex. synchronize Outlook, download maps
from PC to PPC.

I was naive, I understand, in assuming, that this connection
would be sufficient ... which reminds me of the old saying:
"All
complex problems has at least one simple solution, - - - that
does not work" ...

I'm really not too much worried about making the connections
totally waterproof ... if it really gets rough, I will use my
'back up system': Pencil and paper ... (+ GPS etc. in the
cabin)
... and put my PPC in the drawer. The solution I'm looking for
is
a kind of 'nice to have' ... the 'need to have' is in place!

--
Flemming Torp
'Even the worst day sailing is better than the best day
working'
...

"Nikki Locke" skrev i en meddelelse
...
Flemming Torp wrote:
As I'm very 'intrigued' by the wireless solution, I'm
curious as to what it takes to implement that set up in my
case ... I have been at the vnc homepage, which I find very
interesting, but hard to understand ... my age and my weak
background within this field - unfortunately ... If you
will
help me, I will be happy - thank you!

VNC is a cross-platform application for remote controlling
one
computer
from another. You can use any of Unix, Mac, Windows PC or
PPC
computers to
control any (or all) of the others.

The computers have to be connected together by a TCP/IP
network. In your
case, this would either involve a wireless LAN, or a network
cable (but you
would have to go to some trouble to make the connections
waterproof).

I'm not familiar with the PPC, so I don't know if it has a
network socket,
or wireless LAN. If it hasn't, then I don't think you can do
what you want.

--
Nikki Locke, Trumphurst Ltd. PC & Unix consultancy &
programming
http://www.trumphurst.com/