Joe, very good point (and even better practice).
However, this requires discipline. We all have weaknesses and it is quite normal that with time the dedicated computer becomes less than dedicated. If you can control this, that is great. If you were a marine instrument vendor, you could not rely on users’ discipline for not having any conflicts or stability issues with other apps or applications. I hope that this sounds like I am agreeing with you (because I am). One of the issues is that many of us don’t really need any of the navigation devices that we have, use or want to have. Most of us sail in the same waters for years, so we know most of the hazards by heart. As someone mentioned, we probably sail within 100 miles from the home port (at best). A handheld GPS for $150 is enough or probably even too much for what we really need. This is why we don’t care that much if the chart on the tablet is not overly reliable (sun light, water, s/w glitches), because in a pinch, we can easily find our way without it. A tablet with navigation software is a great gadget and it comes at a very reasonable cost (especially, if you bought the tablet already) and it can handle additional tasks (movies, music, business apps, games). But for a while yet I do not see it as replacement for the dedicated marine instrument. A disclosure: I am a gadget guy; I have a few tablets, 1/2 dozen laptops and a whole bunch of various GPS devoices. I even ski and bike with a GPS, but not because I need to, only because I want to. So it is not that I don’t like tablets, I do, but I don’t subscribe to the idea that they are much more than what they are: very nice and somewhat useful gadgets. Marek ------------------------------ Message: 9 Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 09:44:09 -0500 From: "Della Barba, Joe" <joe.della.ba...@ssa.gov> To: "cnc-list@cnc-list.com" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Subject: Re: Stus-List Marine systems Message-ID: <1073606396712942aee54d9a960e45a71e15168...@hq-mb-07.ba.ad.ssa.gov> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" * this particular instrument won?t go suddenly into a BSOD only because you installed an app for watching movies or playing music.* This is why my navigation laptop does NOTHING else. It is never ever connected to any network, has no anti-virus software, no movie players, no office, nor anything else but the basic operating system and OpenCPN. Any file that goes on there goes via thumb drive or CD and is virus-scanned at the source. We have other devices and laptops for entertainment. Something to consider: If you have a GPS like mine that is a rail mount marine unit with no controls or screen, if the laptop dies you have no way to read it anymore unless you have another NMEA device someplace. My VHF can display LAT/LON from the input for the DSC, so that is one backup to get at the info. Joe Della Barba Coquina
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