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Technology on the Road - laptops etc
Dear All,
Is anyone out there an expert on how to deal with things like laptops, the internet, SAT phones, mobile phones etc whilst on the road. ANY tips would be much appreciated as this is not my forte and since my friend and i are going to drive from Bangkok to the UK in a few months its pretty important! Thanks Ants www.tuktotheroad.com |
You are asking a "spoon feed" type question which is difficult to answer as I don't know which info is essential to you.
Tips: 1) Harddrives are prone to break from the vibrations generated by a motorcycle, as well as elements like dust and moisture. Avoid fixing this type of equipment to the bike directly and running it at the same time. If you need to run this type of equipment, i.e. an ipod, wear it on your body (it will absorb most of the wibrations - but still not fool proof). If you for instance plan to build a motorcycle computer, have the computer or harddrive suspended by bungee cords. When simply transporting a laptop, you should wrap it in some type of memory foam or other soft material which will absorb the vibrations. If you do bring a lap top, IBM's harddrives offer better protection from dropping it, etc. Some people will tell you that they have had their ipod fixed directly to their bike with no problems. I'd say that they have either been extremely lucky or not been riding long enough, it will eventually break. 2) Sat phones may not work inside cars, buildings or tree canopies. Keep it turned off and save the batteries for emergency use only. 3) Attatch a sigarette lighter outlet to your bike to power your gadgets. Make sure that it is protected by a voltage regulator so you don't risk frying your equipment. Also make sure that it is attached to a circuit which will shut off with the ignition (or you may otherwise risk draining your batteries). Use a fuse. 4) The most common batteries you will use on your trip is AA and AAA batteries. There are batterychargers available that can both hook up to your 12V sigarette outlet and 230v house outlet. There are some that can also charge DV cam batteries. Some even have aligator clips and other attachments for different types of equipment. Such a charger may save you lots of space and weight and costs of batteries. Make sure you only use rechargeable batteries. 5) Running lots of auxilary power from your bike, i.e. to power electric wests, seats, boot liners, handlebars, etc, may require that you upgrade your stator (rewire or purchase a high output stator). 6) Changing bulbs to LED bulbs (not headlight) may save you lots of power, and you will likely not have to change a single bulb your whole trip (these last a looooong time). A special relay might have to be fitted for the turn signals. 7) For your GPS, purchase a lockable bracket, this way you don't have to take it off just to walk to the cashier to pay for your fuel. A GPS will never outperform regular maps for planning, etc. Bring laminated ones... and they will never fail due to lack of batteries, and are also less prone to be stolen. 8) An great alternative to a pc is a hand held pocket pc (pda/palm). You can find ones that have WLAN, 3g, Bluetooth, GPS, quad band gsm, web camera, high resolution digital camera, full keyboard... all in one! As these use memory cards for storage rather than a hard drive, they are less prone to break. You can save lots of space and weight. You can use these for e-mail, writing a diary, watch movies, play games, surf the web, place calls, listen to mp3, or whatever your hearts desire. If you need to do touch up on your photos or store massive ammounts of info, this is not your best bet. 3) If you are a freak about security, bring a backup device to backup your entire hdd (mirroring), or at least your files. You can also use CDR(W) or DVDR(W, burn your files onto discs. Keep one copy with you and ship the other home by mail. You can also load up your files by FTP to a server somewhere, but internet connections some places may be reaaaaaaaaly slooooooow. 4) You get sat phones that combine as a GSM. I don't see that this provides much necessety for most travellers. I'd say you only really need it if you got so far away from sivilisation that your life would be in danger if you broke down, i.e. in the middle of the sahara (even then it might not help you out of your situation, though people will know where ypu died... if you had the gps coordinates ant satelites were properly alligned for you to place the call). 5) You can effortlessly fully integrate your bike to bike radio, your phone, your GPS, your mp3 player, etc by using a communication system like the one offered by outocom (google it). Attach the circuitry to your brake light feed and it will shut off when you turn off the eqipment. 6) Purchasing a GPS, purchase one which has a transflective screen that you can see in the daylight, has exhangebale memory cards (allows you to store maps on different cards and not have to be dependant on a pc), it should ofcourse be weather proof. Remember that most GPS don't actually have a built in compass. The compass function is usually dependant on you moving in a single direction for some time to work. Some have built in compasses, but these are very small and inaccurate (bring a separate compass if accuracy is important). Your GPS should in addition to be able to autoroute you, be able to work as a trekking GPS. Buy a hand held GPS with these functions. The Garmin 60scx or 76scx is a good option. 7)Cameras are essential on a trip! Just about any digital camera will serve you, but they are all really slow (you push the button and nothing happens for a secon or three). These cameras are not that good for capturing movement or immediate moments, they are not that good at capturing anything far away either. A digital mirror reflex camera with exchangeable tele objective lenses are the best. Only a few have a digital screen which also function as a viewfinder. These cameras are large and bulky and you might want to sacrifice them if you don't know how to utilise them. Most regular digital cameras can also capture short video flics, though not of great quality, good enough for web publication (requires massive storage on memory cards, but a great alternative to bringing another bulky gadget, the DV cam corder): 8) Bring a dvd camera and lots of film, and keep the film rolling as you can allways editit/cut the thing you captured that you don't want at a later point, but you can never reconstruct a "Kodac Moment". Purchase an oversized battery. A helmet cam rather than simply attaching the cam to the bike will allow you to film in the direction you turn your head. It will also be less conspicuous and allow you to capture moments you otherwise would not do (like border crossings... hmmm, still don't reccomend it). Do remember though that these cameras are extremely suceptible to wind noice, even the smallest of butterfly winds. Purchase a separate mike and wrap it in low density foam or looong furry material. Cupping your hand over the original mike while filming also work wonders. If using it on the bike, concider using the mike inside your helmet (will allow you to narrate while filming, but will block out engine sound, etc. It might be better to add narration at a later point using a computer software like windows mobie maker. You might want to hide your mike out of the wind, but at a location where it will still capture the engine sound... Remember that regular DV cams do not offer TV quality if your interest is in making some sort of production to be broadcasted. There are semi pro DV format cameras out there now that can do this, but three times the size and price of regular DV cams. There are also helmet cams with sufficient ammount of lines for tv broadcasts, even helmet cams that work under water. 9) As for electrical equipment going on your bike, you should try to get equipment that can run on rechargeable internal batteries as well as on bike power. If one fails, you've got the other. 10) If you have multiple equipment running or recharging by a 230V battery eliminator, you might want to invest in a universal one to save weight and space. In turn you have to sacrifice the ability to run/charge more than one gadget at a time. 11) As for storing photos or gps maps, I'd rather bring lots of memory cards and writeable/rewriteable cds/dvds. This way you save lots of weight and space, and are less prone to loosing your files from a broken computer or having it stolen (memory cards are easy to hide). Whenever you come to an internet cafe, make a backup onto your discs. Make two copies, one which you bring with you, the other which you mail home (using a courier if you are paranoid or in the third world). As for taking notes, a notebokk is great! No power needed, bring it to the beach, etc... and no one would want to steal it, and it will never experience a crash or blue screen (well, some might). Memory cards do cost a bunch of dinero though, but so does a computer... I'd only bring a computer if I had to work while travelling, edit home pages or video, etc. Hopefully these things can wait until you get home. 12) Another great underestimated are LED only flashlights with a head band. It runs forever on a small battery, weighs less than 60 grams and bulbs never need replacement. It also offer superior white light for working on your bike, cooking, reading maps, or whatever else. Your hands will also be free to do other things besides holding the light. These lights are however pretty useless for signalling others (use your bikes head light) or for illuminating things at a distance more than a few feet (for this you need a regular flashlight). If money was no object and I had to choose between a regular flashlight or a LED only one, I'd go for the LED only. There are ofcourse ones that do both, but these usually have a heavy and bulky battery pack,and odd size batteries that you will use for nothing else. 13) A short wave radio may prove useful to get the BBC or other broadcast where you can understand the language, or for music. 14) Ipods or other harddrive mp3 players offer themselves as a great backup device for your computer files. Purchase one with a large hard drive. It may very well be the only backup device you might need. Remember though, they are adored by theves and as they have a harddrive, are not a fully reliant backup device. Treat it like the egg of a species on the brink of extinction and you will likely be ok. I could go on forever, but it is important to remember that technology is often a hassle. Bring only what you really need. Gadgets consume space and weight. They also lend themselves to frequent failure and consequent frustration and worries. Concerns for theft and their monetary value is another issue. Conciderable time and effort learning to operate them and utelize them may also take away your attention from more enjoying activities, like the scenery. My priorities in terms of technology, in order of priority: 1) Regular road maps, compass and cheap watch 2) Notebook 3) A cellular phone (any with SMS) 4) Digital Camera Equipment 5) Flashlight (any small and light, preferably one that I can carry on my head and one with LEDs. 6) GPS (but not in place of regular maps and compass). 7) Spare memory cards 8) Backup CDRs x x 21 Entertainment (mp3) x x x x 41 Computer 42 Bike communication x x x x x x x x 3741 Sat Phone Ask yourself why the hell you want/need a sat phone. What problems can it actually solve for you? A phone is usually not too far away, and if it is, don't think for a second that a sat phone will likely get you out of trouble... unless you got lots of money or superior insurance, then maybe... Though it might be nice to have on x-mas eve in the desert to call home... Nice to have? Need to have? NO! If you post more specific questions I might be able to guide you further... |
Jeepers creepers.. that has to be the Post Of The Year! And you only had a couple of hours to write it.. it's going to take e that long to read and digest!
--Mike |
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Awesome response Wheelie - I can't thank you enough. this is invaulable information and will act as a brilliant starting point for me. Interesting about the palm pc idea, headn't thought of that.
Thanks a million and I may well come back to you at a later date for more info. Ants |
Hello Ants:
I ride quite a bit each year (about 20K miles), and can't escape having to tote an IBM T42p laptop around with me - due to work demands, I have to be able to both stay in touch, and complete projects on short notice. I've never had any problems with the computer in 5 years / 100K miles of doing this. I have a custom-made bag that I constructed with about $5 of bubble wrap, I just stuff the laptop in the bubble wrap bag, and put the bag in the pannier. One year a part (modem card) wiggled loose - I just went to the IBM service depot in the country I was in and they fixed it free. I make a point of only buying IBM machines (now Lenovo) because they have a worldwide service network - plus, they are tough laptops. I test GPS devices for Garmin, and always have a GPS with me. The GPSRs that are intended for automotive use are tough enough - just be sure to get one that is rated 'waterproof'. All I bring for communications is a small cell phone. I can find wireless internet anywhere - if all else fails, I just head for the most expensive hotel in a town, and buy a coffee in their lobby, and use their wireless service. I wouldn't bother with sat phones - that too 'over the top', I think. GSM works just about everywhere. Michael |
Wow. That is an amazing post Wheelie. I think I would agree on pretty much everything except for digital cameras being slow. We've had a few digital Canons and there seems to be almost no delay at all. Those would be the A40, SD200 and an S2 IS. I've looked at a couple of older Olympuses and they were both very slow, waiting 2 or 3 seconds before the "shutter" worked. Maybe they're better now though.
Another vote for the PDA concept. I've got an old Palm IIIxe (simple LCD screen, uses AAA batteries that last a month) and a portable keyboard that folds up into about the same size as the Palm. A neat advantage with the Palm is getting e-books. I can download a book in English at any internet cafe in the world. Though it is fun trying to hunt down an English language bookstore in a foreign place! Besides keeping a journal I also use the Palm for tracking fuel/repair/maintenance on the bikes. Have fun! |
Thanks Ekke and Pan European for your posts, again really helpful Seems that IBM and Garmin are the ones. We are travelling in a tuk tuk (see www.tuktotheroad.com) so should have less problems with vibrations than on a bike.
Thanks again and interesting to see you guys are from Canada - I lived there for 6 months doing a travel guidebook and loved it, particularly Vancouver Island. What a place. Happy travels, Ants |
Hi guys
What a fantastic post .......well gone- just what the HUBB is all about!!!!!!!! I agree with IBM and Garmin.Way to go!! 10,000 miles in a Tuk Tuk is cool just take lots of spares!!! Central Asia 58 days and counting !!!! Tim |
I use a laptop with garmin GPS as the receiver. This is in a 4x4, so driving like yourselves, rather than riding.
If you use a laptop remember to take all of the program CD's as well as a rescue CD, there's nothing worse than a corrupt file when you've got all the gear. A hand-held GPS can be used away from the vehicle which can be useful. What will you use as the power source. Easiest in a car is an inverter for the laptop and cig. lighter for the GPS. If you can get an inverter in the Tuk then it is useful for charging rechargeable AA batteries when not powering the laptop. If you use a laptop then you don't really need a fancy GPS. I know a lot of this has already been said above, just thought I'd add a little. Hey, GOOD LUCK with the trip. Kevin. www.4x4-travel.co.uk ------------------ Kevin www.4x4-travel.co.uk |
Hi Ants,
First of all, your trip sounds fantastic, good luck with it all. To reply to your question, my advice is to keep it simple. We are about to leave on a big RTW trip and spent a while thinking about what to take etc. We decided to keep it simple, a couple of mobiles, one with UK SIM, one with local SIM, an iPod, digital cameras. The more you carry, the more you have to worry about and losing expensive equipment is a nightmare. If you've less to look after you can relax more. If you need to post diary entries and pictures, write them longhand and write them up in internet cafes, that's what we plan to do... most towns, even in developing countries, have shops where you can download pictures, bung them on a disc and then upload them to your website also in an internet caff. The other issue is, if you're not an expert with this stuff (like me) and it goes wrong, it's another headache. Enjoy the ride! Em [This message has been edited by Em & Hame (edited 06 March 2006).] |
Thanks Em and Hame and Hob Nob and everyone for all this....
Pan Euroepean - do you by any chance have a contact at Garmin who we could ask about sponsorship? As our trip is for the UK mental health charity Mind we are trying to get kit like GPS' sponsored... Thanks again everyone - HUBB rocks! |
Thanks Stephano - I Googled 'Outocom' and got more Gay references than I knew where to stuff them.....was well baffled 'til I saw your post!
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I advocate going the PDA/phone route. I use an Orange SPVM2000 phone PDA combo running tomtom 5. All plugged into my Autocom system. The thing has a camera, a MP3 player, WiFi, Bluetooth, everything. I can go to a free WiFi zone and use SKYPE for free phone calls home! brilliant. Can send photos home, rec' EMails all in one unit! Got the thing free with a phone contract. Mounted in a Touratech PDA zipper bag on a vibe proof Touratech mount! Seems the best option to me!
Roger O |
For laptops, also have a look at Panasonic Toughbooks 'the rugged version'... These are on ebay a lot...
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Toshiba Laptops
For motorcycle travel my experience has been that Toshiba Laptops...Rock!
Ours has seen over 50,000 miles of travel in all conditions, been dropped, had coke spilled in it..it's beat up, but never fails. Just my 2 cents Cameron |
Laptop & Motorcycle Trips
I am planing a trip next May runnning through next September 2007. The trip will either be the western US or Canada. I have been researching laptops because I will need to be connected because of the business I own and I expect to have a web page that will keep up with my travel - that is the plan anyway and you know how the best layed plans of mice and men oft go wrong.
I have found two companies that specialize in rugged laptops. They both maybe out of the price targets that some have posted here. The one company is GETAC (www.getac.com) and they only specialize in "rugged" laptops for the military and "hostile" environments. I found this company because a rider with the Iron Butt Ass. used one of their Tablet PCs on his BMW. You can read a brief discription in a resent issue of Motorcycle Consumer News. The other company is Panasonic. I saw their laptops for motorcycle police officers at a resent convention. That is all I know about Panasonic. I will keep this forum posted on my research and purchase of a laptop. Sometime in the next week I will be sending emails to both Getac and Panasonic. Whitney |
Will be curious about your laptop purchase...
Thanks for the post.
I will be curious A. What is the cost differential between a "rugged" laptop and a conventional one. AND B. What conditions are you using it in? My aforementioned Toshiba is in the shop right now, for a repair unrelated to motorcyling, and have been traveling with an older IBM think pad that I got as a refurb for a backup. I don't say this to be contentious in any way, just a matter of curiousity for ALL on this thread actually; unless you are going on Safari why all the fuss? A decent laptop inside a good case in a solid M/C trunk or saddlebag has always worked for me. If you are riding on the street in countries with good roads, etc. the environment just doesn't seem that hostile. But my experience may not be typical. Please keep us posted! Thanks Cameron |
I've travelled almost every day for three years with my laptop (Compaq Presario) in the top-case of my bike. Around ~8.000 km/year with the laptop. Normally only on good roads. I have had no problems with it. I carry the laptop in a commercial bag with some kind of foam in the back side. This seems enough ...
About photgraphic cameras, I have had some problems with a reflex camerathat I carried for 8.000 km in my tank bag (this august in Turkey). A couple of small screws on one of my lenses got loose, I suppose because of vibration. I had to periodically re-screw them. Next time I will use a custom made foam protection for the camera/lenses. Another lens had some oil drops in the inside of the glass. I think the oil leaked from the diaphragm because of vibration or excessive heat. I have heard that excessive heat can also cause some fungus to grow inside your lenses. Protecting equipment/film from heat can be more difficult if travelling under the sun in warm countries. |
Do you need to protect PDAs from vibration?
Hi there,
I was looking at them today and they use SD memory sticks. Being different to a conventional hard drive, will they be a better option? I'm thinking just lump it in a camera case. |
Carrying CD's
Quote:
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HardDrives in vehicles ....
As mentioned earlier ... harddrives, when spinning, WILL break if shocked!
So here's an idea: An alternative would be to replace the HD with solid state memory, such as flash-cards. For only a few euro you can buy adapters (like ths one) to modify your laptop (or pc). If loking for a laptop, Asus Eee PC is small, wighs 0.89kg, builtin camera & mic for logging, usb for your gps(-logger)/camera/printer/scanner/usb-rocket-launcher... and has flash mem. instead of a HD... al in all seems like a good candidate for 'this sort of thing' ... |
USE USb DRIVES
why not just leave the cd's at home, buy a few USB drives and copy all the drivers/apps to it. 2GB versions go for about 15 euro...
maybe just take the rescue cd ... or put even that on a bootable usb drive ... remember to test it out ... Quote:
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Much chat about the Asus and other options over on
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...for-road-28378 m |
iBook
Hi
I've been travelling around Africa (website Home as you ask) a year now with my old Apple G4 iBook, and haven't had any problems - touch wood. I knew when starting it was an indulgence, but it is really robust, and now I can't imagine being without it.:mchappy: Hugh |
Thank you very much wheelie
That said it all, I was 'going' to post a question about all the issues mentioned... plus the 'Sat Phone'... and, nice but no... but I've been answered. I salute you sir:thumbup1:
:clap:Dave. |
I am currently on the road with the following gadgets:
1. Asus EEE pc. Weighs less than 2pnpd (920gram) does not have a harddisk that can break, is very rugged, has everything except a drive for cd, dvd. At a price of only 400$ this is simply an amazing gadget and you can afford to loose it too. No problems going off road with it yet. Another plus is that the charger is quite compact and has a long cable. Everyone I meet inquire about it and where to get one! 2. Garmin Vista HCX. Very usefull gps in a compact design and at a good price too. I chose it over all their other models because it has: Light weight, long battery life, can use standart AA rechargable batteries, has slot for memory card, is affordable to loose, is small enough to put in your pocket while sightseeing on foot in a big city (very cool IMHO) I have a RAM mount which is simply fantastic. I have done nasty nasty offroad with it and it takes it. 8 AA rechargable batteries + charger that can be used with wall plug or cigar lighter. Comes with a USB cable which can also power it and you can therefore have it permanently powered from the bike. Never needed to do it yet though as one set of batteries last more than a full day. Note that the "H" in "HCX" stands for "high something" which practically means that the gps can catch the signal inside a building or in a dense forest. This is amazing and as a former owner of a non "H" unit I would never ever buy a Non "H" unit again. No matter how cheap it is on ebay or whatever. The "H" rocks and my GPS is way more effective than Garmins gps 60 units or other more expensive models. (you can of course get a 60 with H, but just make sure you do!) 3. Olympus SW790 Camera with 2 batteries. Camera is waterproof to 10ft (3 meters) and it really is. I wash it under the tap when it is too dirty. It is also shock resistant. Doesnt take as nice pictures as canon fx, but it is the most convenient camera I have had. I always carry it in my pocket and I never have to worry about rain, or sitting on it etc... 4. Petzl Tikka plus torch with headstrap. Compact and fab. I use rechargable batteries and have 2 sets (6 pcs) 5. Thingy that has a cable with a male cigar plug and a box with 2 USB and 2 female cigar plugs. 6. Cellphone with USB charger. Meaning than you can only charge by USB. I can charge it either from the bike or from the laptop. USB chargeunit is much smaller than standart wall charger. 7. Creative ZEN Vision:M (use whatever you fancy) I only have the USB cable with me to save on weight as the wall charger is heavy. Can charge same way as cellphone. I use this for music on my laptop too since the ASUS doenst have room enough for my MP3 collection. But the speakers are decent and it does nicely as a stereo. Another plus is that I get my ZEN recharges at the same time from the USB. 8. Power inverter for charging the laptop on the road. Never used it, but maybe convenient when I get to bolivia. I wouldent know how to list them as I find everything very convenient and it is a daily joy to have on the road. The inverter and the cellphone is the least used item i have, but I would bring them all the same. I have some cds with me in a fake leather carrying case (the cheap ones with plastic folders for the cds) Light, cheap and works like a charm. Dont put underneath your toolset though (-: |
PC on the go
Yes the Toughbooks (used by US miltary amongst others) are good , i fact the original ones were even smaller than current models. Worth a look.
However I noted today a new product called EEE pc., from company ASUS. http://www.asus-uk.com/eeepc/about/Asus-epc-306-s.jpg It is a "simple PC" aimed at children . Its not Windows (uses Linux) but for email, notes and photograph storage and sending its 100% OK according to the reviews I've seen. PC Pro: Product Reviews: Asus Eee PC 900 It comes loaded with all software and get this, weighs 2lbs and measures 9X7 inches. Its a solid state drive so none of the hard drive issues to worry about and you can just use USB sticks for extra storage. Sounds like a great system for travellers! I'm not off anywhere myself (although I have an idea for a round USA Trip based on a 1942 travelogue!) but If I was I think I would be checking this out . Google "ASUS EEE PC" |
Disagree on the satphone being at the bottom of a list. This depends on where you are. I can think of many places without wifi and internet cafes and cell phones, most of which are travelled by the likes of HUBB types looking for the road/trail untravelled. Check where you are going to see if there will be 100% mobile coverage before finding out there isn't.
If you have a crash in the middle of no-where (ie no cell phone) and have a bone sticking out your leg, well I would certainly pay $400 to get myself out of that situation. As this is the cost of renting a sat phone for a few months, I've taken one in the past. It would suck to know that all around me were electrical signals yet I was too cheap to take the technology on the trip to use them. And I would call my parents first, then someone with medical advice, then my insurance company. There seems to be this bravado of not taking GPS and Satphones on travels, which for me makes no sense if they are readily available and cheap. You don't have to use them, but just having them in case is surely a sound idea. My 2 cents. |
Travel Computer-Solid State Drive
Fellas,
I'm no computer expert but I've done a fair bit of traveling. Laptops, notebooks, netbooks: get a Solid State Drive or SSD to replace your Hard drive or HDD. Here is the difference, a hard drive, which most computers come with have spinning parts that are prone to breakage when subject to jolts, falls, spills etc... But a SSD has zero moving parts and it is very difficult to break, its the same kind of processor in you cell phone, or IPod, just larger, faster and a bit more expensive. Granted, they are more expensive for the same amount of memory (32GB SSD=250-400GB HDD) but how many of us travel with 400GB of Metallica songs? My own 2 cents, best of luck. |
Its been a while since I wrote my article on electronics on the road - and so much new stuff is happening on this front that a post every six months is really needed to be on track.
Its not often that I would reccomend going dirt cheap, but in terms of a travelling computer, with the changes in technology, quality and prices, this is exactly what I reccomend. I would actually reccomend a small portable netbook, type Asus Eee with a screen of plus minus 10 inches. They are more robust and capable than most people think. As many don't have the typical spinning hard drives or DVD player/burner, they have no moving parts, and are therefore less prone to break. Also, many netbook models have battery time of plus minus ten hours, which is very convenient when travelling. Even though the netbooks are extremely light and portable, the keyboard is close to full size and quite comfortable. You get very quickly used to the small screen, and the small compromise should not pose a problem for most. I've got so many lap tops lying arround I've lost track how many I've gotn (Dell, IBM, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Asus, HP, Whitev\box hommemade, and more). Still, my tiny asus Eee is by far my all time favourite and the one I use 95% of the time (in fact, I'm using it right now even though I have a much larger, brand new, and much more expensive and capeable lying only two meeters away). I've used it for all types of office apps, uploading and downloading files, ftp, and even constructing entire websites on it, listening to music and watching movies in dvd quality (HD quality is a no-go), I've connected it to projectors for businesspresentations, carried out video chats accross the globe with the built in webcam, and much more. The only things I've not used it for is editing media (video/photo) and gaming - something I would not do while traveling anyways. As for video editing, allmost all video these days is captured in HD. You will have a difficult time to edit this on any current laptop (there are a few haulable out there, but no portable, that can edit HD video). As for photo editing, I'm sure the basics could easilly be done on a Netbook. Still though, get as much memory as you can. If reliability is absolutely cruicial, and massive ammounts of storage space is less so, then a Netbook with an SSD (Solide State Drive instead of a standard type harddrive that spins) ought to be conscidered. These have no moving parts and are less prone to breaking, and also improve the speed of the computer a bit. But, in terms of the ammount storage you get for your money, you get very little. Fortunately though, the costs are coming down every month and disk capacity is getting bigger. Personally I've not opted for the SSD as I've found a much betterway to secure my data - which I will explain in the following: If you really want to secure both your data and your ability to "compute" while on the road, you should get yourself a smartphone in addition to your computer - these can do allmost everything your computer can, and they also serve as a great backup device for your files. In addition to using the phone to backup your files, you can even use it to write emails, browse the internet, write and read both documents and spreadsheets, watch movies, the list goes on and on. By now most people should be familiar with these types of phones, so I'm not going to go into detail of their capabilities. If you allready don't own one - then you rellay should get one regardless of what you conscider your needs to be - you don't know until you've tried... With a phone as a backup device, if your computer is lost or broken, it will be inconvenient still, but atleast your files are backed up and you can access them on the phone or transfer to another computer. Personally I use an iPhone 4g with 32 GB of storage, which is more storage than i need on a trip. Unless you plan to capture a lot of HD quality video, there will no longer be a need for DVD/bluray burners to back up your files. But if you do plan to capture a lot of HD video, I would reccomend getting an external USB Blueray burner so that you can burn copies and ship a copy home and keep a second copy with you... alternatively a bunch of flash mememory sticks (it all depends on how much video you will capture). Economy set aside, the flash memory sticks is a better storage option than a portable burner and disks. Since my first post in this thread, there are many new options to secure files and software. And there is one in particular that I can highly reccomed, the service is Dropbox. It comes as a free version with limited storage, or a paid version with unlimited storage. You might as well pay the few dollars a month that it will cost you to have a fully fledged service as once you implement it, you will quickly find that you will want to backup just about all your digital files on it. Dropbox is a service that allows you to store your files in the "cloud". Basically you can mirror all your computers, and even your iPhone on it. This means that you at all time will have the same folders and same files on all your computers, and your files will be available both offline and online. You can access your file from any computer on any internetbrowser, or through your regular file hierarchy on any computer where you have installed the Dropbox client (like you are used to accessing your files). You can even access your file on your phone if need be, or upload files to your computers from your phone. Every time you get an internetconnection you wil auto sync your local files on your computer/phone with all your other computers with the client installed, as well as having acopy stored on the internet in your secure Drop Box account. If your computer gets stolen, lost or broken, your files are secure if you have passwrod protected your computer. If this should happen you can access your account from another computer and disconnect the computer that was stolen, and even delete the files on it. Dropbox also give you a public folder, i.e. for photos so that all who knows the address can access them. The public folder is also a convenient way to host photos that you want to publish on horizonsunlimited or other forums. And, with the drop box you can very easy share files or entire folders with other people who have a Dropbox account, easier than sending an email with an attachment. It is just like working in an offoce where many people share the same folders on a server. With Dropbox you have a copy stored locally so that you can accesss them while offline, and you can choose under which conditions your computer is to sync (i.e. when idle, all the time, or when you tell it to do it). Personally I use my dropbox on all my computers, and my wife and I share an account so we have access to eachother's files. And, on my iPhone 4 I've set it up so that the phone only stores the last 5gb of the last accessed files - this so I don't have to take up too much space on my phone and s that I don't have to download the most used files every time I need them - and remember, 5GB is a lot of files. The rest of the files on Dropbox is still available on my iPhone, but I will need to be online to access them. The only files I don't store in my Dropbox are movies and tv-series that can readily be replaced - I never watch a movie twice anyways. In other words, a cheap computer paired with an iPhone or android based phone, plus Dropbox, is really the way to go if you can't live without computing capabilities or your files. If your computer is lost or broken you can still access your files from an internet cafe or your phone until you have replaced the computer with another dirt cheap one. Also, if you make copies of your software, then if your computer is stolen, it is not the end of the world. Remember though, your files will be useless if you don't have the right software to access them. Even though there are free software out there to handle most your needs quite adequately, chances are that your prefferred software is expensive, and that you will want it back. I won't discuss how you backup software here as it is a chapter in its own - I reccomend you talk to a fourteen year old computer geek - he will know the latest best means to do it. All I can say that it is a bit of a hazzle if you've never done it before, and sometimnes right down problematic. Personally though, I don't backup anything that can be replaced for money or found legally free on the internet, including software - I only backup my personal stuff. For mail I use g-mail as I prefer it over Outlook for many reasons that I won't go into. Many documents and spreadsheets I also store/make in google docs as you can access them anywhere and allows for two people to collaborate in the same instant, something which can't be done on the microsoft alternatives. In short, you can probably buy three or four Eee computers for the price of a good "rugged" computer, and paired up with Dropbox and an iPhone, you will be far more secure. You can take steps to secure yourself even further, but I'll leave it at this. |
Charging On Bike
Woow ,all my nagging questions answered in one thread.EXCEPT ONE. May be the most basic question of all.
When charging net book or lap top off ciggy charger on bike, do you have to upgrade the battery or altenator for more output. My smart phone charges ,no problem but I ve been told that the net book will need more power to charge . I intend to charge up whilst riding and maybe the last hour of the days ride disconnect to fully recharge bike battery :helpsmilie: |
I just took an EEEpc from canada to argentina and I swear by it. Small durable and cheap, so no big deal. It was in my tank bag (wolfman expedition) and didnt mind at all going down at 100kmh in peru...
Hostels have wifi everywhere but not always good pcs. Netbook. Seriously. |
Buy a small laptop 12 inch or smaller, that way it will fit in your tankbag.
ive bought a lenovo x200t, 2 generations old and plenty fast enough! pro: it has an internal stand alone gps module, so you can always use it as backup map/gps |
Bravo, great post. Thanks for all the information.
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