Sumner,
We use a compact disc drive which is only about 1/2" thick and is about 5" square. You need 2 USB hubs to operate it but does eliminate the need for a built in disc drive.
If you want to add AIS I suggest buying a Standard Horizon Matrix VHF radio. Practical Sailor rated it number one when it first came out. I saw someone in the classifieds had a slightly used one for $275. They can be bought new for about $350. It has an AIS receiver built into it (mainly because the frequency range is close to the VHF spectrum they already use and the cost to add AIS is minimal). The radio has 0183 inputs and outputs that hook on to your computer so you can get your AIS information. In turn you can feed your GPS information back to your radio which provides the information it needs for emergency DSC information. This way you only need one VHF antenna and no expensive dedicated AIS box. I gave an example of what AIS looked like on the free software we use. It also can be added to Open CPN another outstanding free program that does an excellent job with AIS displays on your chart.
If you are interested go to the Open CPN site and you can see how it can predict point of impact based on your speed and that of the ship you are trying to avoid. Since AIS information is right at your radio it is very easy to contact that ship by name. We tried it out in a real life test and it works very well.
We have thought about marketing our computer but we would like to have some other people test it first for feedback. Hopefully we can avoid unanticipated surprises. We are looking for testers who are sailors that have only average computer skills.This way we can measure how much difficulty they may have hooking up all their instruments in order for them to talk together. Our three lead RS 232 ports are easy to understand and can be quickly guessed at even if you do not understand how the signals work. This we think will be key to whether or not our computer is marketable.
We use a compact disc drive which is only about 1/2" thick and is about 5" square. You need 2 USB hubs to operate it but does eliminate the need for a built in disc drive.
If you want to add AIS I suggest buying a Standard Horizon Matrix VHF radio. Practical Sailor rated it number one when it first came out. I saw someone in the classifieds had a slightly used one for $275. They can be bought new for about $350. It has an AIS receiver built into it (mainly because the frequency range is close to the VHF spectrum they already use and the cost to add AIS is minimal). The radio has 0183 inputs and outputs that hook on to your computer so you can get your AIS information. In turn you can feed your GPS information back to your radio which provides the information it needs for emergency DSC information. This way you only need one VHF antenna and no expensive dedicated AIS box. I gave an example of what AIS looked like on the free software we use. It also can be added to Open CPN another outstanding free program that does an excellent job with AIS displays on your chart.
If you are interested go to the Open CPN site and you can see how it can predict point of impact based on your speed and that of the ship you are trying to avoid. Since AIS information is right at your radio it is very easy to contact that ship by name. We tried it out in a real life test and it works very well.
We have thought about marketing our computer but we would like to have some other people test it first for feedback. Hopefully we can avoid unanticipated surprises. We are looking for testers who are sailors that have only average computer skills.This way we can measure how much difficulty they may have hooking up all their instruments in order for them to talk together. Our three lead RS 232 ports are easy to understand and can be quickly guessed at even if you do not understand how the signals work. This we think will be key to whether or not our computer is marketable.
, I have Open CPN on the computer also, but so far like SeaClear better. It did a good job getting us all over southern Florida. It also has AIS, but I need to use CPN more and then make a better decision as to which we will use more,
