[Tambourine]

Am I the only one that is frustrated with the lack mac software for SSB communications and the use of a pactor modem.

There is great software for navigation but nothing for SSB communications.

Without this missing communications piece getting filled in (without doing work arounds like running bootcamp and Windows) the mac adoption is not reaching its full potential.

Anyone else agree or I am missing something.

Steve

[GPSNavX]

Good question. Why haven't the SailMail folks supported Mac?

We offered to port, but they never provided the technical details to work with their system.

[greyghost]

Richard,

This would be a nice addition to the MacSailing community. Did you speak with Jim or Stan? Would you like me to follow up with them?

Cheers,
Doug

[GPSNavX]

I had ongoing discussions about three years ago with Jim. It went dead so we moved over to supporting GMN XGate and WeatherNet which is for use with Sat Phones. Nice thing with XGate is one can use any mail client they want.

[Tambourine]

what would it take to reengage?

How can users like myself help support this development opportunity besides being your first paying customers for this app?

Any emails we could send to show support?

Let us know what you need.

Steve

[GPSNavX]

No plans to re-enagage, but I suspect if enough users ask SailMail for a native Mac OS X solution it will get done. Hopefully in a similar way to XGate such that it creates a local mail server on your Mac allowing any OS X mail client to be used.

[jagasail]

Steve,
I went through this same thing several years ago and gave up. I now use an eeepc my son gave me for sailmail and use their gribviewer, though when critical I transfer the grib file to my Mac with a USB drive. Not slick but works. Just wish I could get the grib into my iPad, which has become my primary computer on the boat. Oh, I originally used parallels and fusion, but got extremely frustrated with them after foolishly loading Win7 and it slowed to a crawl. Even after rolling back to XP it crawled and gave up trying to fix it - wasn't worth the time.

You'd think there was a reasonable amount of interest in a Mac version considering the time and space on Sailmail's website telling you to set it up with Parallels. I believe the issue is money - I think Rich offered to do it but needed the required hardware (I.e. Pactor modem and possibly a radio), not an easy thing for essentially a volunteer organization. Now if someone had some spares laying around... What would be even better would be an iPad version

Though I haven't met him personally, Jim only lives a mile or so from where I'm anchored. I really should go introduce myself, if I was just a Mac programer.

Scot

[GPSNavX]

I think it had a lot more to do with intellectual property than cost of equipment.

[jagasail]

Should have added that was all pre-iPhone/iPad, so it's unlikely Rich would have the time anymore. I understand why he went to support xgate, but I find it just too expensive for a cruising budget. I also know virtually no cruisers with sat phones, and most of the one I did know got rid of them as just too expensive.

Scot

[GPSNavX]

Iridium claim to have 360,000 customers ..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_e...212836.stm

[jagasail]

Rich,
I'm sure you're right, but I suspect a significant number of those are corporate users - I know both of my life's major employers used them extensively in their overseas operations - and still grumbled about the cost. Many more are on the mega yachts on Roche Harbor and elsewhere... Not many with the 'common' cruiser. If you look at the SSCA equipment survey (last in 2008), only about 15% have sat phones, a little over half of which are Irridium. Compare that to nearly 80% that have some sort of hf radio (ham or ssb). The survey is not a perfect source of data but probably the best you'll find for this.

Scot

[outbound_sailor]

You could try using WINE or Parallels with Windows. This is discussed on the SailMail site

http://www.siriuscyber.net/sailmail/

[jagasail]

I used parallels and fusion two years ago successfully on a trip, but since updating to Win7 everything came to a crawl with either. Even rolling back to XP didn't cure the problem and I got very frustrated trying to fix it, to the point I gave up. Was simply easier to use the eepc my son gave me (his old one). Much less frustration. Uses less power anyway.

Have't tried wine, but at this point I'm not willing to waste any more time with it. Just too frustrating. Rather play with my iPad.

Scot

[outbound_sailor]

Fusion and Parallels have both come a long way and the hardware just keeps getting better and better. Though, I am disappointed that Apple chose to put another Core 2 Duo in the new Mac Mini instead of the new i5 processor which is much more efficient and faster. I have had Windows XP and Bootcamp with Parallels which has worked out fairly well when I need it. As a software developer, I sometimes have to work on Windows stuff, but now I rarely boot into XP anymore, I just use Parallels.

[AugustH]

Fusion and Parallels have both come a long way and the hardware just keeps getting better and better. Though, I am disappointed that Apple chose to put another Core 2 Duo in the new Mac Mini instead of the new i5 processor which is much more efficient and faster. I have had Windows XP and Bootcamp with Parallels which has worked out fairly well when I need it. As a software developer, I sometimes have to work on Windows stuff, but now I rarely boot into XP anymore, I just use Parallels.

Well, to be fair to Apple, the Mac Mini is more of a way to transition former Windows users to the Mac and not lose the investment in displays etc. So to not put an i5 or an i7 into the Mini makes sense. The Core Duo 2 is still a pretty hot processor and for almost all tasks is way beyond adequate.

What I would like to see is a software-only pactor-compatible modem that would eliminate the need for the Pactor completely. Hardware now is fast enough to decode the signal internally, but since Pactor-III is covered by patents I suspect we'll never see such a beast, nor will pactor ever be completely mac-compatible. Heavy Sigh.