I have used a SCS Pactor III modem and Airmail software on my boat for many, many years....to access Sailmail and Winlink networks.
Never tried Winmor and RMS Express yet but that is on my short list for later this summer.
But having said that an iPad is one handy device on boats....
An application to run Winmor and Pactor from an iPad I would think to be a very, very handy item!
Anyone aware of efforts along these lines?
And I would think an Apple OSX application is logical also?
John, W6JTB
I would like to hear more on this topic...
Capt. John,
I recently purchased a boat with a SCS Pactor II USB modem. I am a Mac OSX with MacENC installed.
Is there any update on Practor compatibility with OSX? Should I just plan on using my old Dell PC for communication?
Sorry to report nothing new here that I am aware of.
Boot Camp, Windows, Airmail....is the only way I know of.
Good News.
MAcbook Pro, with LATEST OS, OS X 10.8.3.
One can use Crossover with airmail and appropriate drivers for your usb-serial cable and have everything work WITHOUT having to use bootcamp, NO NEED for a copy of WINDOWS, no need for parallels, VMWare, VirtualBox etc.
Just Crossover, after installation of appropriate windows software insure you have a link to your com port driver in the appropriate 'bottle'.
Hope this helps.
I am thinking of making a full document explaining how this works, as well as making a little program to do the 'fixup' with links for the appropriate Crossover bottle if people find a need for it.
CaptJohn,
Have you tried running MaxSea TZ with CrossOver? I'd be interested in switching from Parallels if performance sailing programs like Expedition or MaxSea would run on it without issue.
Hi h20man
Did run SailMail under Crossover
But any help in getting the SCS PTC-llusb connection to the Modem to be seen by Sailmail would be great, tried
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/CrossOver/Bottles/SailMail/dosdevices ln -s cu.usbserial-PTU36A97 com1
But sailmail say there is no com 1 port
Cheers
MacOS X + VMWare Fusion work great - ANY Windows programs (of course SailMail) and drivers inside MacOS.
Wow!
I am running 10.8.4 on a MacBook Air....
And I use a 4 port Keyspan serial USB adapter, but an older model. Do I need Mac or PC drivers with Crossover? I assume PC....but what Windows versions? Thank you!
No sir, I have not! Sorry I can't help with this.
John
Interesting. I've given Wine Bottler a go, but with very limited success. I've avoided the whole SSB/Pactor/Email/Sailmail stuff just because it's not very Mac friendly. However, if Crossover is solid, I may take another look.
Hello!
I have a macbook pro, running on 10.9 OS. I have just recently bought a sailboat, so I'm fairly new at all this. If you could all help me get my head around it, I'd greatly appreciate it. I have a Pactor PTC-IIusb that I inherited with the boat, and I downloaded Crossover to my mac recently.
I did some research on the easiest and most economical ways to make my mac look like a PC and run PC programs, which brought me to Crossover. I didn't realize that it might not work with Airmail.
I have already downloaded and installed Airmail, and it seems to open up just fine, using Crossover. I am attempting to go through the set-up process, but I can't seem to get my macbook to communicate with the Pactor.
Maybe the problem is my connection- I assumed I could use the UBS Standard B plug on the back of modem, straight to the Standard A plug on my laptop. I'm confused with the serial adapters that I'm reading about here on the forums. Why not just USB B to USB A plug?
Many apologies if I'm ignorant on the process. If anyone could help me get my pactor to communicate with my mac, I'd be so grateful.
Thanks!