Linux box on a sailboat

Hi all.

I am in the process of buying a sailboat and am looking at a low wattage
small PC running some flavor of Linux.
It will be used for logging data from a GPS plus showing electronic charts,
and if possible interfacing to a radio modem for email.

I know of at least one Linux application for interfacing to GPS.

Anyone with any experience with/knowledge of this?

Gunnar

> I am in the process of buying a sailboat and am looking at a low wattage
> small PC running some flavor of Linux.
> It will be used for logging data from a GPS plus showing electronic
charts,
> and if possible interfacing to a radio modem for email.
>
> I know of at least one Linux application for interfacing to GPS.
>
> Anyone with any experience with/knowledge of this?

It depends on how low of wattage you need. You can get the Via-powered
mini-ITX boards where the entire motherboard (including processer) draws
less than 20 or 30 watts peak, depending on the model. You can even buy
power supplies for them made to run off of the nominal 12-volt system that
(I guess) your boat will have. Cheap, easy, and effective.

If you want to go much below that power level, then things start to get
significantly more difficult and expensive.

steve

Gunnar wrote:

> Hi all.
>
> I am in the process of buying a sailboat and am looking at a low wattage
> small PC running some flavor of Linux.
> It will be used for logging data from a GPS plus showing electronic
> charts, and if possible interfacing to a radio modem for email.
>
> I know of at least one Linux application for interfacing to GPS.
>
> Anyone with any experience with/knowledge of this?

Go with a notebook.

On 2005-07-21, Steve Wolfe <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> If you want to go much below that power level, then things start to get
> significantly more difficult and expensive.

Also, consider the necessity for seawater-proofing all the electronics,
connectors, cables and so on. Seawater-moisture is quite corrosive on
everything that is not well protected.

Davide

--
We are using Linux daily to UP our productivity -- so UP yours, Microsoft!

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 16:52:22 UTC, "Steve Wolfe"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> > I am in the process of buying a sailboat and am looking at a low wattage
> > small PC running some flavor of Linux.
> > It will be used for logging data from a GPS plus showing electronic
> charts,
> > and if possible interfacing to a radio modem for email.
> >
> > I know of at least one Linux application for interfacing to GPS.
> >
> > Anyone with any experience with/knowledge of this?
>
> It depends on how low of wattage you need. You can get the Via-powered
> mini-ITX boards where the entire motherboard (including processer) draws
> less than 20 or 30 watts peak, depending on the model. You can even buy
> power supplies for them made to run off of the nominal 12-volt system that
> (I guess) your boat will have. Cheap, easy, and effective.
>
> If you want to go much below that power level, then things start to get
> significantly more difficult and expensive.


It depends on what you really want to do. If all you need is to log
NMEA position data output from the GPS so that you have a log, then
you can collect that with something as simple as a Hewlett Packard
Calculator, or a Palm PDA. The Palm will allow you to do e-mail too.
Of course, you don't get digital maps etc. on a calculator. You can
get them on a Palm.

You can even get the PDA and the GPS built together: see the IQ3200
and IQ3600 with builtin GPS, interfaced to digital maps.

The VIA mini ITX motherboards on the other hand are fully PC
compatible, can be totally fanless in the 800MHz versions, drawing
about 14watts peak when running a benchmark (that is without CD or
harddrive running). Some will boot from Flashcard and use that for
longterm memory...no moving parts. Some versions can drive LCD screens
directly. They all have builtin hardware mpeg decoding so you can play
DVD's with the 800MHz versions at about 30watts (15 for the DVD). Uses
standard keyboard and mouse if that is what you have.

So it all depends on what you want to do. On the other hand, the
Deckman software really requires stronger hardware.

Geoff

"Davide Bianchi" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) .net...
> On 2005-07-21, Steve Wolfe <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> If you want to go much below that power level, then things start to get
>> significantly more difficult and expensive.
>
> Also, consider the necessity for seawater-proofing all the electronics,
> connectors, cables and so on. Seawater-moisture is quite corrosive on
> everything that is not well protected.
>
> Davide
>

Yes, seawater is a killer for electronics. As another poster suggested, use
a notebook, and I will, but would still like a second PC for backup. Power
supply off 12VDC sounds good.

Gunnar.

"R. G. Newbury" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:JcldVHe8EppF-pn2-xP5IVMwLY8TR@Tor2...
> On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 16:52:22 UTC, "Steve Wolfe"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> > I am in the process of buying a sailboat and am looking at a low
>> > wattage
>> > small PC running some flavor of Linux.
>> > It will be used for logging data from a GPS plus showing electronic
>> charts,
>> > and if possible interfacing to a radio modem for email.
>> >
>> > I know of at least one Linux application for interfacing to GPS.
>> >
>> > Anyone with any experience with/knowledge of this?
>>
>> It depends on how low of wattage you need. You can get the Via-powered
>> mini-ITX boards where the entire motherboard (including processer) draws
>> less than 20 or 30 watts peak, depending on the model. You can even buy
>> power supplies for them made to run off of the nominal 12-volt system
>> that
>> (I guess) your boat will have. Cheap, easy, and effective.
>>
>> If you want to go much below that power level, then things start to get
>> significantly more difficult and expensive.
>
>
> It depends on what you really want to do. If all you need is to log
> NMEA position data output from the GPS so that you have a log, then
> you can collect that with something as simple as a Hewlett Packard
> Calculator, or a Palm PDA. The Palm will allow you to do e-mail too.
> Of course, you don't get digital maps etc. on a calculator. You can
> get them on a Palm.
>
> You can even get the PDA and the GPS built together: see the IQ3200
> and IQ3600 with builtin GPS, interfaced to digital maps.
>
> The VIA mini ITX motherboards on the other hand are fully PC
> compatible, can be totally fanless in the 800MHz versions, drawing
> about 14watts peak when running a benchmark (that is without CD or
> harddrive running). Some will boot from Flashcard and use that for
> longterm memory...no moving parts. Some versions can drive LCD screens
> directly. They all have builtin hardware mpeg decoding so you can play
> DVD's with the 800MHz versions at about 30watts (15 for the DVD). Uses
> standard keyboard and mouse if that is what you have.
>
> So it all depends on what you want to do. On the other hand, the
> Deckman software really requires stronger hardware.
>
> Geoff
>
>

thanks to all for the suggestions.

I am just starting to look into this and no doubt there are numerous
solutions, most of which involves MS Windows I suspect.

Guess I should try posting to some of the sailing groups and see what
solutions other people have...

Gunnar.

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 23:36:37 +0000, Gunnar wrote:

>
> "R. G. Newbury" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:JcldVHe8EppF-pn2-xP5IVMwLY8TR@Tor2...
>> On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 16:52:22 UTC, "Steve Wolfe" <(E-Mail Removed)>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> > I am in the process of buying a sailboat and am looking at a low
>>> > wattage
>>> > small PC running some flavor of Linux. It will be used for logging
>>> > data from a GPS plus showing electronic
>>> charts,
>>> > and if possible interfacing to a radio modem for email.
>>> >
>>> > I know of at least one Linux application for interfacing to GPS.
>>> >
>>> > Anyone with any experience with/knowledge of this?
>>>
>>> It depends on how low of wattage you need. You can get the
>>> Via-powered
>>> mini-ITX boards where the entire motherboard (including processer)
>>> draws less than 20 or 30 watts peak, depending on the model. You can
>>> even buy power supplies for them made to run off of the nominal 12-volt
>>> system that
>>> (I guess) your boat will have. Cheap, easy, and effective.
>>>
>>> If you want to go much below that power level, then things start to
>>> get
>>> significantly more difficult and expensive.
>>
>>
>> It depends on what you really want to do. If all you need is to log NMEA
>> position data output from the GPS so that you have a log, then you can
>> collect that with something as simple as a Hewlett Packard Calculator,
>> or a Palm PDA. The Palm will allow you to do e-mail too. Of course, you
>> don't get digital maps etc. on a calculator. You can get them on a Palm.
>>
>> You can even get the PDA and the GPS built together: see the IQ3200 and
>> IQ3600 with builtin GPS, interfaced to digital maps.
>>
>> The VIA mini ITX motherboards on the other hand are fully PC compatible,
>> can be totally fanless in the 800MHz versions, drawing about 14watts
>> peak when running a benchmark (that is without CD or harddrive running).
>> Some will boot from Flashcard and use that for longterm memory...no
>> moving parts. Some versions can drive LCD screens directly. They all
>> have builtin hardware mpeg decoding so you can play DVD's with the
>> 800MHz versions at about 30watts (15 for the DVD). Uses standard
>> keyboard and mouse if that is what you have.
>>
>> So it all depends on what you want to do. On the other hand, the Deckman
>> software really requires stronger hardware.
>>
>> Geoff
>>
>>
>>
> thanks to all for the suggestions.
>
> I am just starting to look into this and no doubt there are numerous
> solutions, most of which involves MS Windows I suspect.
>
> Guess I should try posting to some of the sailing groups and see what
> solutions other people have...
>
> Gunnar.
Two things.
What kind of sail boat?
Where will you be sailing?
I had a boat for years and love sailing. Mainly on the Hudson but some
stuff off the Jersey Coast too.


--
Mike McGinn
Registered Linux User 377849
"more kidneys than eyes!"

Gunnar <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I am in the process of buying a sailboat and am looking at a low wattage
> small PC running some flavor of Linux.
> It will be used for logging data from a GPS plus showing electronic charts,
> and if possible interfacing to a radio modem for email.

Given the Fact, that you want to run the whole thing on a boat I would
suggest to use a laptop. No cables, no separate screen, small footprint,
easy to strore in a small cabinet when not needed, battery power if
electricity suddenly fails...

Since you probably need to rely on the thing for navigation it is
desireable to have a backup machine in case of hardware failure. To me,
it sounds like you are not going to need an awfull lot of computing
power so my suggestion would be to get two (preferably identical)
vintage laptops - maybe refurbished thinkpads. That way it's even going
to be fairly cheap: Here in Germany you can get Thinkpad T2x or A2x
models for 200-300 Euros on Ebay. In the US it's probably even cheaper.
I am writing this on my tried and true A21m which has been serving me
well for years and still feels like on the very first day.

cu
Philipp

--
Dr. Philipp Pagel Tel. +49-89-3187-3675
Institute for Bioinformatics / MIPS Fax. +49-89-3187-3585
GSF - German National Research Center for Environment and Health
http://mips.gsf.de/staff/pagel

"Mike McGinn" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed). ..
> On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 23:36:37 +0000, Gunnar wrote:

>>>
>> thanks to all for the suggestions.
>>
>> I am just starting to look into this and no doubt there are numerous
>> solutions, most of which involves MS Windows I suspect.
>>
>> Guess I should try posting to some of the sailing groups and see what
>> solutions other people have...
>>
>> Gunnar.

> Two things.
> What kind of sail boat?
> Where will you be sailing?
> I had a boat for years and love sailing. Mainly on the Hudson but some
> stuff off the Jersey Coast too.
>
>
> --
> Mike McGinn
> Registered Linux User 377849
> "more kidneys than eyes!"
>

Hi Mike, I am planning to purchase a used Hans Christian 38 or similar
type/size of vessel. Will be sailing on the west coast of Canada/Alaska for
a couple of years to familiarize myself with the boat then circumnavigation
if everything falls into place...

Gunnar.