September 20, 2009 10:58
MacSail/kphinney,
While RouteBuddy and the other TOPO apps that are compatible with the limited Garmin proprietary USB protocol are useful they don't have the responsibility of controlling an autopilot and steering it accurately to a waypoint via NMEA data or accepting AIS or instrument NMEA data or broadcasting NMEA data over TCP/IP.
So while it would not be so difficult to support the Garmin proprietary USB data for GPS position input, the challenge would be to continue to support the other NMEA data requirements of marine navigation.
There is a reason Garmin (and Raymarine) continues to support NMEA data on their marine GPS units - they know there is a whole world of marine instrumentation and software out there that relies on it. I do not know why Garmin does not support NMEA data over their USB cables like many other GPS receivers do. It could be that they want to keep costs low and not include a USB to serial chip inside their receivers instead putting it in their PC interface cables.
BTW Many of the non portable Garmin marine units do not even support the Garmin proprietary protocol (No USB port), instead only supporting NMEA-0183 and NMEA-2000.
Both MacENC and GPSNavX will continue to be updated frequently with no plans to ask registered customers to pay more.
While RouteBuddy and the other TOPO apps that are compatible with the limited Garmin proprietary USB protocol are useful they don't have the responsibility of controlling an autopilot and steering it accurately to a waypoint via NMEA data or accepting AIS or instrument NMEA data or broadcasting NMEA data over TCP/IP.
So while it would not be so difficult to support the Garmin proprietary USB data for GPS position input, the challenge would be to continue to support the other NMEA data requirements of marine navigation.
There is a reason Garmin (and Raymarine) continues to support NMEA data on their marine GPS units - they know there is a whole world of marine instrumentation and software out there that relies on it. I do not know why Garmin does not support NMEA data over their USB cables like many other GPS receivers do. It could be that they want to keep costs low and not include a USB to serial chip inside their receivers instead putting it in their PC interface cables.
BTW Many of the non portable Garmin marine units do not even support the Garmin proprietary protocol (No USB port), instead only supporting NMEA-0183 and NMEA-2000.
Both MacENC and GPSNavX will continue to be updated frequently with no plans to ask registered customers to pay more.
Scott Dillon
Sydney Australia
North Shore 38
CYCA
Sydney Australia
North Shore 38
CYCA