Dell Latitude 486DX2

[D. Doyle]

I recently purchased a Garmin GPS 12 and am considering installing an auto-pilot on our C-22 this spring since most of our cruising is long distance (60 - 200 miles per trip). Fortunately, my outboard is also equipped with a 6 amp alternator. With that in mind, the next logical piece of equipment would be a computer and navigation software to tie the two components together. I have an older but bullet proof Dell latitude. It is not quite enough computer to handle my office applications so it gathers more dust recently than anything else. Is there any version of Captn' Jacks or other software that will run sufficiently on a 486DX2, 8MB RAM, 500GIG Hard Drive?

 

[rregge]

500 GIG?

Assume you mean 500 Meg?I am thinking about doing the same thing.RRegge

 

[Steve Dion]

Most need P-power.

Doyle:Most of the software needs a pentium at the low end of the spectrum (P133 or better). With only 500mb (assume that you don't have 500gb) you may also need an internal CD depending on how much other stuff you load on the machine.I am running the Captn software on a P233MMX and a 2gb disk. This setup work very well. We have the charts loaded on the hard drive. It work very well. Don't see that we need much more on board.Just a couple of things. If you are going to leave a laptop on board you may want to consider leaving it running on shore power when you are not there. This keeps the unit warm and prevents many of the problems with corrosion that often effects electronic equipment. If you cannot leave it running you should consider taking it home when you are not going to be using it for extended periods of time.

 

[Thomas Ehmke]

got a battery?

If you're going to install an autopilot , you will need a DC power source because the outboard is not always running. A 6 amp output from an outboard does not charge a battery very fast. What other electrical equipment do you have on board?

 

[Rich Lemieux]

8MB

I use the Nobeltec Visual navigation Suite on our C-36. Your biggest problem is the amount of RAM. 8MB is no near enough. I currently run on 150mz Pentium with 80MB and it is just barely OK. I had tried it on a 75mz Pentium with 32MB and it was not usable.Get a bigger system.Rich LemieuxAmitie, C36 1621Noank, CT