and a GlobalSat BU-353 USB GPS Receiver
, and installed OpenCPN rather than buying a chartplotter. It was terrible - every time we really needed it, either HP or Windows was busy updating something, had crashed, or had lost connection to the GPS. The only way to re-gain GPS connection was to reboot, and we never - not one time - got the machine to shut off on it's own. So you have to hold the power switch until it dies, then deal with the "oh geez, Windows got all crashy" errors after it restarts - in about 5 minutes.We installed Ubuntu Linux, and so far so good. The install was a little tricky due to HP's use of a non-standard network card, but there is good help available on the Internet. A cold boot, from pushing the power switch to looking at a chart in OpenCPN with a GPS fix now takes 35 seconds. Total number of Linux crashes to date: Zero.
However, we're still ogling the Garmin GPSMAP 740s
. Not being able to see the laptop screen in bright sunlight is inconvenient at best, and the option of radar and depth information integrated with charts is VERY appealing. There's also the weatherproof factor - we KNOW we're eventually going to get the HP wet and it will die, we just hope it doesn't happen at an inconvenient time. The Garmin will happily ride out weather in the cockpit with us. Decisions, decisions....
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