The Great and Mighty IPad.....

[marujo_sortudo]

So, I got on refurb iPad 1 with a wireless keyboard to be a low power both computer with built-in 3G data access.  Downloaded a neat app for accessing forums,but it requires some kind of support on the forum operator's end.  Anyway, would it be possible to add support for it? See here for more info:

http://tapatalk.com/faq.php

Thanks, Colin

[Godot]

tapatalk would be great. I've used it on other forums from my phone, which is far better than trying to use the web interface. It should be compatible with this forum software.  The basic version is also free.

However!!!!

Maintaining and upgrading a web forum can be quite time consuming (I did it myself quite a few years ago...it had its' share of frustrations). Given the good Cap'n is basically donating this forum to the world, that time is not compensated, I hesitate to ask him to put in the extra feature, even though  the mobile nature of those actually sailing far (as opposed to those of us just discussing it), I think it would be a great feature here. Maybe we can bribe CapnK somehow? He deserves to get a few silver pieces out of this enterprise.

[Captain Smollett]

Maybe we can bribe CapnK somehow? He deserves to get a few silver pieces out of this enterprise.

I think rum is his bribe of choice, delivered in person.   ;D

[marujo_sortudo]

Well, we're planning to cruise further this year...direction south, destination unknown.  There's frequently at least one bottle of rum in our ship's *emergency* stores, so I'm sure something could be arranged if we were so lucky to cross paths...

[s/v Faith]

I frequent a bunch of sites, and forums that have their own 'aps'.  I can not figure out why...  ???

My ipad works just fine using the supplied Safari browser....

What advantage are "tap talk" and similar apps?

[rorik]

I thought tapa talk was a discussion of Spanish ala carte dishes....  ::)

[s/v Faith]

I thought tapa talk was a discussion of Spanish ala carte dishes....  ::)

;D. Grog for that one.

[marujo_sortudo]

Basically, it just works better on slow Internet connections, which is a boon when you've got some modem speed cell phone signal supplying your Internet is some distan, scenic anchorage...

[s/v Faith]

I love my ipad.  I have cruised with it as my only "computer" for 2 years now.

I just works, and works well.  It is the best camera I own, it plays movies, decodes weather faxes and receives 3/4G cell service from over 10 miles offshore.  It's wifi works from great distances, and its GPS works better then my installed (raymarine) chart plotter.

Mine is a 32gig, AT&T compatible, 3rd generation.  My next one will be a ipad lite, the latest and I will probably go up to 128gig.  I will post more in a bit, need to get underway.

BUT REALLY I LOVE ANDROID SO MUCH MORE. SO MUCH MUCH MORE. I EAT SLEEP AND DREAM ABOUT ANDROID TABLETS. WHEN I FINISH SAVING UP THE MONEY FOR MY MACGREGOR 65, I WILL BUY MYSELF A ANDROID TABLET TOO. SIGNED, CRAIG JOBS

[CapnK]

Gee, Craig, why don't you tell us how you really feel?  ::)
















;D

[s/v Faith]

Gee, Craig, why don't you tell us how you really feel?  ::)

Skipper,

  My friend once the captain has gotten into his cups a bit too much it is wholly appropriate for the crew to mutany and take over control of the ship for the good of all.....

  ... Just saying.  :D















;D

[s/v Faith]

The Garmin app (free) has the best functionality of Any I have tried.  Charts for the entire northern / Western Hemisphere were $29...  Great detail and active captain data is imbedded in the charts...   I am not much a fan of active captain but if you lacked for a cruising guide it is better then nothing.

[Zen]

I love my ipad. My wife and I both had them ( and saved them) on our cruise. I have some very helpful apps. And iNavx is great, more when paired with  the laptop version. There are some new players on the chart field now, however since iNavx works and the chart i need is paid for. I am happy. PredictWind and Blusea (sp) also came in handy.

[Frank]

OK.....I gotta clear 2 things 1st. 

1-Thanks to Craig for showing how versatile these lil things are. He visited us on Manjack few years back sailing Emerald Tide. Went with him through a very shallow area and his darn IPad had better charts than his Garmin. Then...he was taking pictures, doing emails and whatnot....all the while doing an IPad promo as if he was on commission from Steve Jobs. For that...I thank him!!
2-..I'm not a geek. But once you get playing around on these...they are pretty user friendly. Figure if I can use it a bit...anyone can!

Now...the good stuff.
I got the mini. Less space taken up AND it fits in my jacket pocket while walking. I got cellular on it so I could get wifi up coast here. The data plan is $5+mth depending on usage. CHEAP!
ISailor is downloaded free...then I got west coast charts for the entire area. About $25 by memory. As well...I found out about "tides and currents" for $12.  With the varied tides and tidal rapids out here....what an investment.
So...for about $37 there are all the charts I need plus tides and currents for multiple locations throughout the PNW. (yes...I still have paper for both)
So...I do my emails, my banking, my 'boat porn', my route planning, documents (on 'pages' app) calls home on skype and now Picture taking!! ..all on this lil bugger.
Too cool
Thanks Craig

[yachtsailing.gr]

It is very nice to see people being happy with "every day things" of our days. Most people are having a tablet or a smartphone where can be used as everything as you already found your self! Many times we used our devices while sailing as a secondary gps plotter with navionics installed. You can bring it everywhere in the boat and checking what is happening. Techonogy really makes our trips easier..

[s/v Faith]

Frank with as much as you do for others, it is glad to hear I could offer you something!

(Typed on my IPad)  :)

[lastgreatgeneration]

Posting from my iPad 2. I have a life proof case and it is totally waterproof, shower, pool, and around the water. Where do you find Internet for $5 per month? I have the wifi version, they wanted $750 for the gps enabled 16 gig. I have an app called skipper, not very helpful except for zoomable detailed charts of North America. I can't say anything bad about the iPad. Keep it in the case and it will be good for a long time. I do find that a little dielectric grease keeps the charger and terminals from getting green and corroded.

[Owly055]

    I use my Ipad for an incredible array of tasks.  The "app" concept is great.  There are countless little tasks that have apps specifically tailored to them, usually with several to choose from.  I'm currently on my second Ipad, and AirII, after 4 years of use on the first generation Ipad, which I gave away and is still going strong, and amazingly the battery still is holding up.  I got the version with G4... or is it G3, I forget, but the cellular connection and GPS that you get for the extra $125 or so is easily worth it.   The GPS works great.  There are as was mentioned, several chart plotter application, I have numerous books, I use it for laying out electronic circuits, and identifying parts.  I use the camera a lot, particularly if I'm taking something apart, so I have photos in a decent size to refer to for putting it back together, it's great for music.  I have a map application that gives me accurate elevations from my desktop, accurate enough that we were able to plot an irrigation ditch on grade for several miles with it.   Going to French Polynesia?   How about learning French on the long passage with one of the French language apps?   
     The Ipad is far and away the most versatile computing tool I've ever owned, and I've owned and used computers since BEFORE DOS came out  (early '80's), and first used a computer in 1967 at age 12.  Where it falls down (a little) is in data entry, but I have a full size keyboard I can connect to it via bluetooth, and it is very good with speech recognition.   A good tool for keeping an electronic log/blog.       I don't ever use a laptop anymore though I own two of them.

                                                                                     H.W. 

[Frank]

Yep....

In my original post to start this, I forgot 'music'
My CD's are downloaded and purchased one of those little Bose satelite speakers. Only abot 2" high and about 8 or 9" long....it sounds amazing!
So portable too... be it here on the boat, friends boats, beach party's or at home back at the cabin.
Also purchased a little mini keyboard that folds up and is the same size as my mini. Make 'pecking' out a note easier for me.

H.W.    We are similar age, but very different.  Although I purchased computers for our office starting way back in the early 80's....I couldn't (or, honestly, was afraid to) turn one one until about 2002

[Owly055]

Yep....

In my original post to start this, I forgot 'music'
My CD's are downloaded and purchased one of those little Bose satelite speakers. Only abot 2" high and about 8 or 9" long....it sounds amazing!
So portable too... be it here on the boat, friends boats, beach party's or at home back at the cabin.
Also purchased a little mini keyboard that folds up and is the same size as my mini. Make 'pecking' out a note easier for me.

H.W.    We are similar age, but very different.  Although I purchased computers for our office starting way back in the early 80's....I couldn't (or, honestly, was afraid to) turn one one until about 2002

     I'm a 10 finger typist, and can easily do 70 wpm, and my fat fingers don't like cramped keyboards....... One reason I dislike laptops.   Have you tried voice on your Ipad?   Mine is of course full size.  I've owned a small form factor tablet.... an Android, which is arguably a better OS than IOS in some respects, particularly with regard to having a file manager, pathetic as it is.   

     There are many people in our age range that are computer hostile, so you are not alone.  Computers were not especially useful to me, just a "hobby" up until the Internet changed the world.   At 12, I was just playing in basic on a computer 200 miles away that took up 3 floors at a university at a processing cost of $20 per minute.  Not as bad as it sounds because my programs normally took less than a second to run.   I would write code and punch it in on a teletype, giving me a strip of punch tape, which was then fed in to a reader attached to the phone via an acoustic coupler.   Primitive stuff.
     On the other hand, I'm totally TV hostile......... I've never had one and probably never will.  While I understand that there is stuff out there that has redeeming value on TV, I consider it the most insidiously negative force in our society.  It's ability to influence people's thought process and change their minds is downright scary.   The internet is also a very powerful influence, but it is extremely diverse, and not controlled by a relative few powerfully influential sources.   You choose where to go and what value to place on the various sources much more actively, you don't just sit on the sofa while Hollywood pours s__t over your head absorbing it indiscriminately.   There are intellectual skills that are important to the ability to sort the wheat from the chaff, and I feel that they are not really being actively taught to young people and should be an important focus in the school system.

                                         H.W.