Navico GoFree; Link; App? And 0183 over Ethernet

[Dockhead]

I have changed my old Gen 1 Zeuses for Zeus 3S's.

.

The new ones have built-in wifi, and at last are compatible with the current version of the remote control softward, which is Link, having replaced GoFree.


I was really irritated a few years ago when the GoFree app suddenly started insisting it be upgraded to Link, whereupon it would stop working with the Gen 1 plotters . To get back to the old software, you had to find a third party source for the old APK. Great work, Navico! Not.


Well, they've done it again. Link has now disappeared and has been replaced with something which is apparently just "The B&G App". When I try to download it, it says "Not available in your country!"


That's Denmark, next door neighbor to Navico's home country of Norway. Great work, Navico! Not. This is unbelievable incompetence.


So once again I found a third party source for the disappeared Link app, and all is well, and I do like the new plotters a lot better than the old ones.


However, one odd problem. Navico plotters going back to the original Zeus Touch, translate N2K network data to 0183 and make it available over Ethernet. So I have always run OpenCPN via an Ethernet connection to my boat network, setting the IP of the plotter as the network source.


I can't get this to work. The Ethernet connection does indeed run the new Halo24 radar, but no other data. Then I connected to the built in WiFi of one of the new plotters, and suddenly there's all the data.


What in the world is this all about? All tips gratefully received.