July 2nd 2003
Xaxero Marine Software
USB Based Weather Fax 2000 and a completely new CD ROM.
As of the 15th July 2003 Xaxero Weather Fax 2000 – Demodulator edition will now ship with a USB based demodulator instead of the traditional RS232 based device. We will on special request ship a RS232 (COM port based) demodulator.
The purpose of this move is to utilize the ease and flexibility of the USB interface in general and is also a response to the fact that many manufacturer's are no longer putting COM ports on the newer laptops.
The hardware is a truly new USB solution with Xaxero Marine Software being registered as a bona fide USB vendor with the USB implementor's forum.
The hardware uses a fast microprocessor with a much higher sampling rate than the old demodulator and as a result gives even clearer pictures than before. Like it's predecessor it is programmable “on the fly” so software improvements will not require new hardware.
There are fewer layers of complexity during installation. The software is installed first and the Xaxero device plugged in. The Operating System will then recognize the device and automatically configure it. There are no longer any COM ports to select and no internal adjustments to the software needed. This is a true plug and play solution.
This solution is targeted at newer machines (less than 3 years old) running Windows XP or Windows 2000. The software has been tested on Win 98 SE and Windows ME with varying degrees of success however the USB implementation in these older operating systems is not as robust as it is in XP and 2000. So we will maintain a stock of RS232 demodulators and allow special orders for older systems.
Despite the higher performance we are pleased to announce that we will be able to keep within our existing pricing structure and there will be no price hikes at this time.
The installation CD ROM has been completely re-done. The user interface is written in MediaBuilder rather than PowerPoint and the installation process is faster and more intuitive. All our software and documentation products are on the one CD. The CD also contains the NOAA guide to Weather Fax interpretation as an added bonus.
We at Xaxero Software are very excited about this new offering and feel it will keep our company as the premier provider of Weather fax software for a long time to come.