Hi Luke. Yes, we're still travelling, probably until about June, then it will be time to work at refilling the coffers somewhat. How's your travelling coming along?

I didn't bother with a computer case, btw, I fitted the power supply and a 3 x 5.25" drive enclosure directly into a cupboard in the vehicle. The MB sits in the same cupboard on a sheet of sponge-foam. A fan inside the cupboard keeps the whole thing reasonably cool. Every now and then I blast the whole shebang with air from the compressor, as quite a bit of dust settles.

I fitted the notebook drive and a standard 200GB drive into removable caddies (the simple type with no hot-swap facility). That way, I can keep a full backup on the big hard drive, and then keep that backup in a different part of the vehicle, in case of flood, fire, theft, etc.

A.B., I was also considering changing to an all-singing/dancing Micro-ATX MB, but haven't yet got around to it. One downside is that if something dies on the MB, it might be necessary to find a complete new one. Windoze doesn't like to reconfigure lots of stuff at once, and XP probably would need to be re-activated. On the other hand, I agree that the integrated components tend to be much more reliable in the first place than expansion cards.
(I just re-read your post, and your simple and sensible idea of carry a second identical MB is an ideal solution).

For anyone building-in a computer these days, I would suggest that they consider a wireless NIC, with a good external high-gain antenna. In Europe, North America, and many other places, it is very common to find several available wireless signals, especially in built-up areas. Often these have an open internet connection, which is very handy! (We are careful not to make a nuisance of ourselves by hogging the owner's bandwidth).

We also carry a repeater-type wireless access point, and a second wireless "NIC" of the USB type. That way, we can pretty much connect to anything available in guest-houses etc. No such thing as too much technology! (Well, as long as you have a good Plan B).

Regards,
Michael
www.expeditionoverland.com


[This message has been edited by SandyM (edited 20 January 2005).]

[This message has been edited by SandyM (edited 20 January 2005).]

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Michael & Sandy
http://www.expeditionoverland.com