[rirvine]

I have been using a G4 Powerbook and the Keyspan / Raymarine E58001 Seatalk to NMEA convertor combination for a number of years with great success. Yes, it takes a while to render the first chart but after than it can keep up with sailing along at 7 knots. The only issue with the E58001 is that it does not convert all the fields in some navigation NMEA sentences. I use two NEMA connections – one for the instrument data and one for the navigation / AIS data. Also if you send data from the Powerbook to Seatalk, it can confuse the ST4000 autopilot – gets it into a state that requires a power off to recover from.

Diagram here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crews_nest/549486483/

Ray