Since the arrival of the ARM-based Mac (M1… M3…) and the system macOS 11 Big Sur, Weather4D Routing & Navigation runs natively on our favorite computers (¹). But this happy event was not going to, since then, without a few small restrictions. The most annoying one for users was, to date, loss of distance calculation. This is done on touch devices by a two-finger long press, there was no function to translate this gesture on Mac. The mouse has only one pointer, not two ! Read more …
Category : MacBook
MacENCx64 finally offers global charting
Since taking over MacENC at the end of the year 2020, become MacENCx64 (¹), it took three painstaking years for the company NavStation LLC to finalize the implementation of a global charting. Since January 1 2024 is now done. A long negotiation with the ENC charting distributor ChartWorld (²) has enabled the creation of a range of vector charts in ENC S-57/S-63 format (³) as in-app purchase. Read more …
Connecting USB/Bluetooth GPS with Mac M1 [Update-2]
The arrival of Macs with Apple M1 processors and macOS systems 11 "Big Sur" and macOS 12 "Monterey" had caused disappointments among GPS users connected via USB and/or Bluetooth for their navigation applications..
In USB, Latest DriverProlific V.2.2.2 is now universal for GPS BU-353xx by GlobalSat. As for theGNS3000 (¹) in Bluetooth it always undergoes an instability of the interface for the connection of multiple devices, instability that unfortunately does not yet seem to be fully fixed. Read more …
Weather4D with Mac M1
We've been talking about it since 2020 in the Facebook group of Weather4D users, the messaging app Weather4D Routing & Navigation (¹) now works on ARM-based Mac : Mac M1 and later, from the system macOS 11.x ("Big Sur" and following). All you need to do is connect the Mac to a GPS receiver or a NMEA gateway via Wi-Fi to receive the position and navigation data from the instruments.. Read more …
MacENC is back
MacENCx64 is now the name of the MacENC application which has just been released by its new developer NavStation.
MacENC has been fully adapted and recompiled in 64 bits for recent MacOS systems and new processors, which explains the new denomination. I continue to ensure the French translation. But beware : to date the Navionics cartography is no longer available. So there is no charting yet for the coasts of Europe, except ENC S-57 and S-63 available by Chartworld (see page Digital charting). Read more …
Connect Miniplex-2USB with GPSNavX/MacENC
Multiplexer Miniplex-2 USB (¹) by ShipModul company can connect all the instruments on board directly to a USB connector on your Mac. GPSNavX and MacENC software can receive and display NMEA instruments, and if necessary forward to an autopilot, a VHF DSC, chartplotter, a Radar or any other repeater.
A utility "Miniplex2" to configure the input channels and output device, choose from several operating modes, and offers advanced options for complex installation.
For a conventional implementation is quite simple, and Miniplex2 Help in French is integrated into software for detailed explanations of the various options available. Follow the guide… Read more …
Question of choice
A reoccurring question comes regularly by email from my visitors : which computer equipment to choose for yachting ? Actually, cope with the dramatic growth of material available for yachtmen, it becomes very difficult to form an opinion. By dint of giving partial answers to each other, often unsatisfactory, I ended up going to the evidence. Actually, choosing a navigation system based primarily on the answer to a question : for what need ?
So I tried to define these needs and to meet each an appropriate solution. This may seem a bit simplistic, but it was mainly the merit of simplicity. I took the opportunity to calculate the current budget to each of the solutions put forward a criterion that seems fundamental : the Need/Coast ratio. Let's go… Read more …