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
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.
Quote from: Godot on May 03, 2012, 02:34:11 PM
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
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...
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?
I thought tapa talk was a discussion of Spanish ala carte dishes.... ::)
Quote from: rorik on June 16, 2013, 11:21:06 AM
I thought tapa talk was a discussion of Spanish ala carte dishes.... ::)
;D. Grog for that one.
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...
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
Gee, Craig, why don't you tell us how you really feel? ::)
;D
Quote from: CapnK on April 10, 2014, 11:16:12 AM
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
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.
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.
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
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..
Frank with as much as you do for others, it is glad to hear I could offer you something!
(Typed on my IPad) :)
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.
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.
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
Quote from: Frank on April 17, 2016, 11:09:52 AM
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.
LOL- you guys are newbies ;D
Worked for IBM 1963- 1965, during which time the IBM 360 was introduced, then became a programmer with Prudential in 1966. IBM 705 and several IBM 1401's. The 1401's ran with 6 bit bytes and a check bit - 16k max in the system. When I left in 82, were running mainframes, with megs and megs of RAM
Several years ago I visited the Smithsonian, to find THE IBM 705 I used to program on as an exhibit. Talk about feeling OLD!!
From W. T.
My reply is within....
I'm a 10 finger typist, and can easily do 70 wpm,
*Braggart!!! I can't even talk that fast :o
and my fat fingers don't like cramped keyboards.......
* I hear Ya....I hate texting on my cell for that reason
One reason I dislike laptops. Have you tried voice on your Ipad?
* Nope.....didn't know you could...
Mine is of course full size. I've owned a small form factor tablet.... an Android,
* Android??? Is that like a Toyota? :'(
which is arguably a better OS than IOS
* Sounds too much like IRS to me :)
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.
* Yep....I know many worst than I am...
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.
* AGREED!! F.D.
H.W.
I would venture to suggest that virtually all cruising / voyaging boats have at least some sort of computing device on board.... laptop, tablet, smartphone, chart plotter, etc.
Of these, the tablets offer in my opinion the most versatile platform, with a large enough screen to be useful as compared to smart phones, which I personally don't own because I consider the tiny screen useless. You can get chart plotter apps for them, and they can be used to display radar and ais, not to mention hundreds of other uses from basic computing to apps to do specific tasks such as tracking onboard inventory..... what you have and where it is, to language learning, to music / entertainment, ebooks, service manuals for various things, and on and on and on.
The problem I see with any computing device is protecting it. Tablets have large easily broken screens, as do laptops, only more so. Of course the ocean environment and electronics or anything electrical are a match made in heck! Humid salt air will corrode connections and destroy about anything. Keeping your tablet or laptop in the cabin which hopefully is relatively dry will help, but it still needs additional protection from moisture and from being slammed around. Something like a chart plotter needs to be cockpit viewable, but that means exposure. However they will easily drive an external monitor, and that monitor can be protected by being enclosed. A large screen behind glass. But that of course makes it impossible to input anything. Any input would have to be done below decks right on the device itself. That's fine for a chart plotter, but what if I want to work on conversational french between the Galapagos and Nuku Hiva? Or Portugese while crossing the Indian Ocean between Christmas Island and Durban, or the Atlantic from Capetown to St Helena and St Helena to Brazil?
I don't doubt others have dealt with these issues already......... And I'd much prefer others be the pioneers, it's less work and less grief for me. I'm interested in hearing what solutions others have come up with. Waterproof floating cases exist, but at sea............... I have no intention of dropping electronic overboard. I've never lost, broken, or damaged a computing device or cell phone, and I've been building and using computers since the late 70's (before anybody ever heard of Microsoft or Apple).
What solutions work? And what computing devices to most folks here find most useful? I assume rigid mountings, protective cases, arms to hold them, etc, are all reasonable solutions to protection. I personally have a strong aversion to Windows computers and Apple computers other than IOS devices. Linux is my main OS and has been for many years now, I've always owned one or two Windows systems for reasons of having no choice, and I'm comfortable with both IOS and Android.
H.W.
Gotta have one. I use a 8 inch Android with opencpn mostly for planning and getting ssb weatherfax . do have a dedicated chart plotter in the cockpit that is my primary nav tool. From my experience computer screens are hard to see in bright sunlight but do great down below. Tablets for me die in a few years anyway weather on a boat or at home. A few weeks ago you could get an Amazon fire for 45 bucks with Amazon prime.
Quote from: Lars on February 26, 2017, 03:28:04 PM
Gotta have one. I use a 8 inch Android with opencpn mostly for planning and getting ssb weatherfax . do have a dedicated chart plotter in the cockpit that is my primary nav tool. From my experience computer screens are hard to see in bright sunlight but do great down below. Tablets for me die in a few years anyway weather on a boat or at home. A few weeks ago you could get an Amazon fire for 45 bucks with Amazon prime.
How do you get SSB weatherfax on a tablet? Does your SSB radio have a wireless interface to pass it to the tablet or something? Bright sunlight screws any screen up in my experience.
I've not had the issue with tablets dying...... My first Ipad is almost 7 years old. It was passed to a friend because I "upgraded", and still performs well and has decent battery life. The OS and many if not most apps cannot be updated, but that doesn't keep them from working as they always have. My Ipad Air II has more storage, and better performance..... as would be expected, and of course more features, many of which I do not use. The big thing is 4G which was a premium of over $100, but gave me an onboard GPS as well as 4G. When traveling I go to the local Verizon store and buy a 30 day plan for between $20 and $30, otherwise I use WiFi. I don't often use the camera, but it IS useful because it takes the photos right into the photos application. My new camera can connect wirelessly and import them "clunkily". I can't claim any great improvements in the OS really, or the basic hardware. My one Android tablet also was passed along, and now lives out it's life doing credit card processing in my GFs shop. I prefer having a file manager as Android does, but it's a clumsy one at best, and needs a rethink.
H.W.
I use a Kaito 1103, my 3rd generation IPad and an app called "HF Fax". Simply play the audio from the fax frequency (the app gives you the schedule)... The IPads mic picks it up and makes the pictures.
Like any other use of shortwave, crowded anchorages, marinas and interference like inverters of LED lighting can cause interference.