April 23, 2010 12:32
Well then, what about running Maxsea on a mini? I just took the plunge to purchase said package myself and came here hoping to resolve some nagging fears about dongle recognition, GPS port sharing, etc. Readers will note that the thread devolved from that.
I should first clear up some misconceptions. There are now something like 11 versions of Maxsea. If it has a TZ in its name, it is a stripped down recreational version, and I don't think it requires a dongle. If it doesn't have a TZ in the name, it costs a whole lot more and still requires a dongle. I'm hoping that somebody has been through the experience of making the dongle work in Parallels.
As a commercial guy I can walk through the harbor and talk to plenty of Olex, Maxsea, Nobeltec, Globe and other users. Commercial boats generally don't stick with ancient Decca units. Rather, they add to them until they can't squeeze into the wheelhouse any more. Every package has all the same basic navigation functions, though some are extremely cumbersome. It boils down to the main focus. Olex is strictly a high end bottom mapping package with dedicated hardware. It's the ultimate 3D package, and it is such a pain that almost nobody uses the navigation functions. Globe is made to manipulate objects on the screen, with add-on bottom mapping and 3D views. It is just as much of a pain for navigation. Maxsea was similar to Globe, but newer versions are drawing the rave reviews that you can read in this thread. I would say that Maxsea has been turned into Nobeltec. Some would also say that Nobeltec is a pain.
I really don't care if Maxsea can steer the boat or zoom better. I want to map the bottom and then turn everything off (Parallels, Windows, etc) when I don't need it. Maybe one day I'll get so used to Maxsea that I won't use MacENC any more. Meanwhile, I want to figure out how to make MacENC and Maxsea play together with my gps, Shipmodul mux and read the same chart files. Has anybody done this yet?
I should first clear up some misconceptions. There are now something like 11 versions of Maxsea. If it has a TZ in its name, it is a stripped down recreational version, and I don't think it requires a dongle. If it doesn't have a TZ in the name, it costs a whole lot more and still requires a dongle. I'm hoping that somebody has been through the experience of making the dongle work in Parallels.
As a commercial guy I can walk through the harbor and talk to plenty of Olex, Maxsea, Nobeltec, Globe and other users. Commercial boats generally don't stick with ancient Decca units. Rather, they add to them until they can't squeeze into the wheelhouse any more. Every package has all the same basic navigation functions, though some are extremely cumbersome. It boils down to the main focus. Olex is strictly a high end bottom mapping package with dedicated hardware. It's the ultimate 3D package, and it is such a pain that almost nobody uses the navigation functions. Globe is made to manipulate objects on the screen, with add-on bottom mapping and 3D views. It is just as much of a pain for navigation. Maxsea was similar to Globe, but newer versions are drawing the rave reviews that you can read in this thread. I would say that Maxsea has been turned into Nobeltec. Some would also say that Nobeltec is a pain.
I really don't care if Maxsea can steer the boat or zoom better. I want to map the bottom and then turn everything off (Parallels, Windows, etc) when I don't need it. Maybe one day I'll get so used to Maxsea that I won't use MacENC any more. Meanwhile, I want to figure out how to make MacENC and Maxsea play together with my gps, Shipmodul mux and read the same chart files. Has anybody done this yet?
Edmund