wkearney99
Active Member
- Feb 23, 2006
- 583
- Boat Info
- 47'
- Engines
- Twin Caterpillar C-12, Twin Disc straight shaft inboards.
I got my Maptech CNP from either ******* or defender (can't recall which). It was around $350 and it included CDs with charts for the entire US (13 of them). It's been well worth the price, so shop around for the best deal on it.
A chart plotter, or any embedded system, often doesn't need much in the way of pixel resolution. Since the gear is a 'known quantity' they can pre-process all the graphics to be utilize both it's pixel and color resolutions. This also means the unit won't have to be utilizing the latest and greatest CPU, RAM, etc. That lets them spend more on the display (at least in theory).
Personally I'd rather do something like have the chart plotter be integrated with a KVM switch (keyboard, video, mouse) and a separate PC box. Given what it takes to boot and load applications on a PC (or Mac, or linux, or whatever) I really wouldn't want that interfering with the chart plotter operations. I can "sort of" do that with an E-80 now using video input but it looks too grainy to be of much use, due to the low resolution of the display (and quality issues with video converters).
As for "the future", most chart plotters are already running a computer operating system. Raymarine devices run on an embedded version of XP. But since they're single-purpose devices all you see is the main 'application'.
A chart plotter, or any embedded system, often doesn't need much in the way of pixel resolution. Since the gear is a 'known quantity' they can pre-process all the graphics to be utilize both it's pixel and color resolutions. This also means the unit won't have to be utilizing the latest and greatest CPU, RAM, etc. That lets them spend more on the display (at least in theory).
Personally I'd rather do something like have the chart plotter be integrated with a KVM switch (keyboard, video, mouse) and a separate PC box. Given what it takes to boot and load applications on a PC (or Mac, or linux, or whatever) I really wouldn't want that interfering with the chart plotter operations. I can "sort of" do that with an E-80 now using video input but it looks too grainy to be of much use, due to the low resolution of the display (and quality issues with video converters).
As for "the future", most chart plotters are already running a computer operating system. Raymarine devices run on an embedded version of XP. But since they're single-purpose devices all you see is the main 'application'.
