Perfect platform for OpenCPN or other Boat PC? Raspberri Pi

[night0wl]

Hi All,



Has anyone seen this bit of tech news:


Raspberry Pi | An ARM Linux box for $25. Take a byte!


Linux system on a pcb that will eventually be the size of a credit card.

$25 is the targetted cost

Will have HDMI out, USB, and audio

Micro-SD for storage



The system is capable of running Quake III, which if you all recall from the 2000 era, is no graphics slouch. I recall buying a multiple-hundred dollar video card just to run this game.



Seems to be the perfect beachhead to launch an embedded OpenCPn. It may be time to shift focus on developing OpenCPN from being an app controlled by mouse & keyboard to *TOUCH* based. That seems to be the direction things are going.



Then, all we need to do is find a way to cheaply source a exterior grade 7-12" touchscreen and you no longer need to have a plotter at the helm!



Except for Radar. Has anyone figured out a radome or platform that displays the full radar image (not just acquired targets) on a plotter overlay?



Love the thoughts of the group on this nifty technology that seems to be getting a lot of buzz in the industry today.Here's a video demo of them running Quake III on the device:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_mDu...layer_embedded

[aeventyr60]

Partion your hard drive on a laptop. Use Linux to run open CPN. A wire less mouse as good as a touch screen.

[night0wl]

Originally Posted by aeventyr60

Partion your hard drive on a laptop. Use Linux to run open CPN. A wire less mouse as good as a touch screen.

Respectfully, I disagree. Look at the direction major plotter makers and tablet makers are going. Touch is intuitive...its what humans were meant to do. And Apple got that, hence the revolutionary iPad.

I cant imagine being at the helm, looking at my screen and then having to find a mouse to manipulate in the middle of a stiff blow at heel....the twist, twist, twist, press of the Raymarine C80 is maddening enough. Especially when it comes to keying in keyboard values.

My hope is that this would be a remote boat pc with a exterior grade touch screen at the helm that can be made waterproof so that it can replace a chartplotter altogether

[aeventyr60]

mouse fits in your pocket. Waterproof touchscreen? Hope you got a lot o money. My solution is 200 bucks. easily replaceable. raymarine service is crap,user interface is from the 19th century, hell a celphone is easier to use then raymarine, when the radar dies I'll be done with raymarine...

[night0wl]

This gets more and more exciting.

I used to dabble in car-pcs, and the lilliput 7" screen was legendary in those circles. Soooo, I looked it up.

Now, they have a USB Monitor available. No vga card...just plug it into usb and you have a screen:

ThinkGeek :: Lilliput Mini USB Monitor

On lilliput's site and Amazon, there is *EVEN A TOUCHSCREEN* version of this (though I cant get it for $99) like Thinkgeek.

So,

$25 for embedded system
$170 for touchscreen version of the screen
$??? for waterproofing enclosure to keep at helm
$30 for USB hockey puck GPS receiver
$200 for AIS receiver (Nasa AIS or other similar receive only)

This could be viable if I can find a waterproof enclosure for the helm!!! Just need linux drivers for the screen dammit!

[RhythmDoctor]

Make sure to look at the screen in daylight before you soak too much time and money into it. My Wind netbook is real bright and has a matte finish, so it does OK in the cockpit. But it's brighter than any screen that I've seen before (and better in person than the pic below shows). And it's wider and higher resolution than the Lilliput, so I can run split screen (under Windows) to give a zoomed in and zoomed out view simultaneously:

[night0wl]

Originally Posted by RhythmDoctor

Make sure to look at the screen in daylight before you soak too much time and money into it. My Wind netbook is real bright and has a matte finish, so it does OK in the cockpit. But it's brighter than any screen that I've seen before (and better in person than the pic below shows). And it's wider and higher resolution than the Lilliput, so I can run split screen (under Windows) to give a zoomed in and zoomed out view simultaneously:

Yes...my big concern is screen brightness/daylight viewability/viewability under polarized lenses.

Actually, I have several concerns. Protection from weather/waterproofing the touchscreen is one. Drivers under linux for all these components (screen, ais, gps, etc) is another.