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Semi-Permanent Onboard PC?
Most boaters use laptops for onboard computing, but I want to see what
this group thinks about using a more permanent PC solution? My opinion is that laptops work fine most of the time, but they aren't really designed for life on the water unless you go with a very expensive ruggedized version. I have to be honest, so here's my "full disclosure". I started a company about a year ago to build and sell marine PCs (not laptops) to the recreational boating community. Out of respect for the newsgroup format, I'm not going to advertise here. I'm using my personal email address, not my business one. I'm just looking for ideas. Call it market research. I am interested in the general reaction and acceptance of the boating community to the idea of replacing their laptops with a more rugged and marine-focused solution. Would you consider it? Are you aleady doing it? If not, what kind of features might change your mind? If you are out there now just looking for the right marine PC system, what features are you looking for? Just FYI, my system currently includes "marine" features that are inspired from my own experiences and research, such as regulated 12VDC input, shock & vibration resistance, conformally coated circuit boards, and a small footprint (it's about the size of a shoebox). What else may be useful on your boat? Thanks in advance for any ideas! |
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I see a lot of good ideas from the other posts but the biggest issue I see
is having a LCD screen (or some other technology screen) in the cockpit that is readable in daylight. I have tried various laptops but none of them provide sufficient screen intenisty to be readable in bright sunlight. I know there are some expensivve monitors out there but the monitor should not cost more than the computer it connects to. So whatever the PC is or where ever it is located seem to be a secondary issue to having a monitor that is of use in the cockpit and doesn't cost $$$$. wrote in message ups.com... Most boaters use laptops for onboard computing, but I want to see what this group thinks about using a more permanent PC solution? My opinion is that laptops work fine most of the time, but they aren't really designed for life on the water unless you go with a very expensive ruggedized version. I have to be honest, so here's my "full disclosure". I started a company about a year ago to build and sell marine PCs (not laptops) to the recreational boating community. Out of respect for the newsgroup format, I'm not going to advertise here. I'm using my personal email address, not my business one. I'm just looking for ideas. Call it market research. I am interested in the general reaction and acceptance of the boating community to the idea of replacing their laptops with a more rugged and marine-focused solution. Would you consider it? Are you aleady doing it? If not, what kind of features might change your mind? If you are out there now just looking for the right marine PC system, what features are you looking for? Just FYI, my system currently includes "marine" features that are inspired from my own experiences and research, such as regulated 12VDC input, shock & vibration resistance, conformally coated circuit boards, and a small footprint (it's about the size of a shoebox). What else may be useful on your boat? Thanks in advance for any ideas! |
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Len wrote in
: Nice to write this letter to santa... :) Don't forget the NMEA RS-422 ports and the built-in NMEA 16 port multiplexers... -- Larry |
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"Terry Conner" wrote in message ...
I see a lot of good ideas from the other posts but the biggest issue I see is having a LCD screen (or some other technology screen) in the cockpit that is readable in daylight. Have you considered making a hood, like older radar displays and oscilliscopes had? If anyone has done this I would like to hear from them. Any enlightenment will be appreciated. Vic -- __________________________________________________ ______ Victor Fraenckel - The Windman victorf ATSIGN windreader DOTcom KC2GUI |
Red Cloud® wrote in
: That's not enough to overcome the problem. You need a display with a very high "NIT" number if you want to see it in daylight. That involves a high price. A hood won't come close to solving the issue. The average laptop screen appears completely blank in sunlight. rusty What's needed is a laptop display that's REFLECTIVE, like the LCD displays on your sailing instruments, wrist watch, PDA....instead of the TRANSMISSIVE backlit display they come with so you can see 'em in the dark. I'm looking at a large LCD thermometer display I took out into the sunshine, today, to see how high it would read. The bank clock was reading 102F when I came by it! -- Larry |
I have been looking for a PDA reflective type for some time now but
what we do have is a Solarism 15inch high brightness monitor. It is mounted inside a cut down electric box which has a fan assisted durad box on the rear to keep the display cool. http://princessownersclub.fotopic.net/p595958.html That is the actual view from the display on a bright cloudy day. Direct sunlight is just about readable but the thing is that the display is cheap and has multiple video inputs so we can use it with a bullet cctv camera for reversing (going astern ;-). Any websites I have seen with reflective displays usually don't display price ie. if you need to ask then it's too expensive... Hope this helps Markdj http://www.stronge.org.uk |
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