Tsunami Navigation Software

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CYaBro

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#56463 14-Jan-2010 07:41

Hey. Anybody ever setup a system on a boat using the Tsunami software?
I sold a customer a new laptop as their old one had died. It is used on their boat to connect to a gps system so they can see and track their movement on the charts.
They can't get it talking to the gps system and now want me to go up to Opua and sort it out.
I know nothing about this software so any help would be appreciated.
I know the gps system connects to the laptop via the serial port. I made sure the laptop I sold them had one.

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wallop

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#289871 14-Jan-2010 08:29

Is the serial port enabled i.e. not disabled in the BIOS? If they have done a clean install of the software you proberly have to setup the baud rate, stop bits etc in the software somewhere to match the GPS's settings.

xpd

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#289880 14-Jan-2010 08:54

If you were only asked to supply a new laptop, then Id suggest they goto the software supplier and ask for support.... if it proves to be a hardware issue then obviously you take over....

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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CYaBro

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#289910 14-Jan-2010 10:22

xpd: If you were only asked to supply a new laptop, then Id suggest they goto the software supplier and ask for support.... if it proves to be a hardware issue then obviously you take over....

Yea problem is that they bought the software 2nd hand off a friend so the software supplier won't help them as they aren't the registered owner. Also is quite an old version so the supplier, who are in Australia, just want to try and sell them the new version which isn't cheap.

Any idea how I can found out what the settings are for the GPS unit?

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xpd

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#289920 14-Jan-2010 11:02

What died on the old laptop ? If you can recover the HDD and boot into it, you might get the software working and copy the settings :)

Most of those sorts of devices though run at something along the lines of 9600 8 N 1 (eight (8) data bits, no (N) parity bit, and one (1) stop bit)

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manta

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#296532 5-Feb-2010 22:44

I used Tsunami charts on a tosh that talked to the GPS. For a start, you can *guarantee* that the charts are cracked copies; they a full set of Tsunami charts costs thousands of dollars. Boaties simply do not not stump up that kind of cash when they can get a plotter for hundreds.

It is reasonably easy, as far as I remember, to get the gps and the charts, via the pc, to talk but you cannot do it over the phone.

The gps will need an output lead that terminates in a serial port; these are often homemade (as premade are v expensive) and often are wired incorrectly. Presumably they were using it before their new laptop?

The laptop needs to be outputting NMEA data (the higher the NMEA version number the better), and the charting software needs to be told to expect data from the serial port. There is a separate utility that comes with the charts that allows you to setup your GPS connection and check that the charts and the GPS are talking, before you even get to opening the charts.

It took me ages to figure this out on my laptop

CYaBro

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#296542 5-Feb-2010 23:37

Thanks for all the replies.

These charts are legit as they had the dongle and Tsunami wouldn't load without it plugged in.

I went up to Opua over the weekend and it was straight forward. Just had to run the config and then the auto scan function and it picked up the gps automatically on com1.
Then I got a quick cruise around the Bay of Islands to make sure everything was working!

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.