View Full Version : Laptops on the AT
Goosegrass
12-10-2007, 06:16
As a Verizon customer and PocketMail user, the demise of their analog service will throw a curve into my journal plans. I stumbled across a couple similar alternatives the other day. One is the “One Laptop per Child” program. For about $400 you not only get a somewhat hardened laptop, but a second one is donated to their cause. Another is the Asus Eee PC 701 at about $250.
Anyone heard of/considered one of these?
Frolicking Dinosaurs
12-10-2007, 06:34
Most laptops weigh too much to be carried on a backpacking trip IMO. I'm sure the younger members will be along to talk about the palm pilots, Plam PCs blackberries and whatever else the youngsters have these days.
I bought one of my grandchildren a small electronic diary several years ago (at least a decade as she now has 3 and 6 year olds of her own) -- and I know it had a way to download the info to a computer.... surely such things exist in models that aren't pepto-pink with Barbie stamped on the front that use USB ports these days.
As a Verizon customer and PocketMail user...
Verizon Wireless WV6800 (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=3411)
If you plan hiking withing the next couple years Pocketmail should still work with any landline phone.
Besides weighing 3lbs and looking goofy...
From the website...
During Give One Get One, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution.
http://laptopgiving.org/en/index.php
Are they actually producing the 1LPC laptop now? I thought there were still some hold ups.
4eyedbuzzard
12-10-2007, 09:15
As a Verizon customer and PocketMail user, the demise of their analog service will throw a curve into my journal plans. I stumbled across a couple similar alternatives the other day. One is the “One Laptop per Child” program. For about $400 you not only get a somewhat hardened laptop, but a second one is donated to their cause. Another is the Asus Eee PC 701 at about $250.
Anyone heard of/considered one of these?
Weighs too much. Just get a blackberry or similar or a pocket puter running Windows CE with digital e-mail cell service.
max patch
12-10-2007, 09:20
Clark Howard uses the eee pc when traveling and thinks its great.
Wouldn't really be practical for what you want to do, though.
NICKTHEGREEK
12-10-2007, 09:31
If you really need it, the oqo http://www.oqo.com/store/shop.cgi/op/op_index.html is full featured, runs a real windows xp operating system and is 1 lb barebones. Very pricey, real truffles are cheaper by the pound. They have a zillion add ons to crank the price and weight thru the ceiling. The young guys I work with love them.
About once a week they try to get me to use one and I turn it down, too small to see with my blind old eyes.
wrongway_08
12-10-2007, 10:29
HP Palm Pilot, cost is around $400.00-$500.00 (look for them on sale for the $400.00)and weighs in at a few ounces.
The wife bought me one last week for my Thru-Hike next year but I would rather not deal with it, so it'll stay at home. Already bringing a phone and camera - thats about all the high tech crap I desire to deal with.
Almost any Palm Pilot will do what you need. I use a palm for my business, I have been using it for 3-years. It is light and seems to be fairly well built as I have dropped it numerous times and it’s still working great. I also listen to music on it, I put audio books on it and e-books. I have over 300 books I can read with me all the time. There are numerous sites with free (Shareware & freeware) programs to download. Just do a search for free Palm Programs.
There are memo, & diary (sp?) games, almost anything you can think of someone has written a palm program for it.
The web site for free e-books (thousands of them) is http://www.memoware.com/ (http://www.memoware.com/)
One thing I did to allow me to run my Palm away from a source of recharging is to make an external battery pack that plugs into the charging port. It’s made with a Radio Shack 4-d battery holder ($2.49) and with alkaline batteries it will run the palm for months of use. To lighten it up you could use lithium batteries.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money either. I was looking on E-Bay the other day and I found my model of Palm being sold for $40.00
PS for music you need a card, my palm uses a SD-card.
Palms also are fairly battery efficient, my palm will fully fire up in under 1-second. A laptop will take a min or more to load all the things it needs to work. All this time the hard-drive is spinning at top speed and that big screen is sucking up electricity. The Palm will also shut down just as fast as it starts. Again the computer will take time to turn off. This is not a big deal when you have 110-volts to recharge the battery, but out on the trail it can be a concern. Every Watt of power you don’t consume is a Watt of power you don’t have to try to go find to put back into the device.
Whatever you get it better be weather resistant. An a thru your going to have cold/rain/hot/humid conditions. As you hike its going to be constantly shaken with each step.
Panzer
Man, I'm such an old fart! Do you know how much paper and pens you can but with all that $$? No batteries needed, either.
The Old Fhart
12-10-2007, 13:32
In 1998 I carried an 11 ounce HP100LX palmtop that had a small (but complete) keyboard and ran off 2 AA batteries. The computer made it the entire way with no problems and generally rode in a padded pouch on my sternum strap so I could easily check the trail data. I had all the Data Book info loaded so I didn't have to carry that, and I used it for my journal as well. Closed it was about 6"x3.5"x1". I had 23 classic novels, the complete Bible, and lots of other stuff loaded.
Even back then the people trying to use laptops realized they weren't suited for the trail for several good reasons, including weight and size. The current choice of PDA, Blackberry, and phone type devices have far greater capabilities than what I used back then. GPS, WIFI, and other features can be used as well.
ARambler
12-10-2007, 15:06
Stumpknocker is not only giving up Pocketmail but his camera.
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=212588
Pretty sure this is the way of the future. However, I have enough trouble getting good shots from my 8 MP camera, I'm not going to be using the cell phone camera anytime soon.
Rambler
Whatever you get it better be weather resistant. An a thru your going to have cold/rain/hot/humid conditions. As you hike its going to be constantly shaken with each step.
Panzer
Yea, water would be a real concern that you need to address. My Palm came with a hard case that so far has protected it well.
When I’m camping I keep it in the hard case inside 2 zip Lock freezer bags.
I camp a lot and so far this has worked for me.
Man, I'm such an old fart! Do you know how much paper and pens you can but with all that $$? No batteries needed, either.
Yea but I like my tec-toys, and I use it to schedule work for my business. A palm Pilot and cell phone gives me a completely portable office.
And all the other things it does are cool to play with.
I do agree that paper & pen would be the most reliable and simple thing to use.
As with most things there are many ways to do it, none of them wrong, just different.
Jan LiteShoe
12-10-2007, 15:55
Yea, water would be a real concern that you need to address. My Palm came with a hard case that so far has protected it well.
When I’m camping I keep it in the hard case inside 2 zip Lock freezer bags.
I camp a lot and so far this has worked for me.
Re: water and electronics:
I zapped and then recovered a Pocketmail when the LCD screen got a few splashes of water on it (Mooney Gap, the rainiest spot on the AT). The water was dripping from tent condensation and 100 percent air humidity. A drizzle at NOC took it out fully.
After that, I was scrupulous about exposing the screen when any moisture was present, including spraying beer (a friend hand-carried in a beer from me, bless their hearts; it was all shaken up, then opened with a "flourish."). A ziplock bag and caution did fine for the rest of the trip.
If your electronics get wet, pull the batteries immediately without turning anything on. Dry thoroughly (thoroughly-thoroughly) before reuse. Possibly, you may save the device.
Jan LiteShoe
12-10-2007, 15:59
Stumpknocker is not only giving up Pocketmail but his camera.
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=212588
Pretty sure this is the way of the future. However, I have enough trouble getting good shots from my 8 MP camera, I'm not going to be using the cell phone camera anytime soon.
Rambler
I saw that. He can even pull up web sites (though you can only see about an eigth of a page) and, of course, post his journal and photos. But everything is so tiny, including keyboard and screen. I don't think I would like it - and I agree, it's probably the future.
Here is a web site for a free Palm program download that is a daily journal.
http://www.freewarepalm.com/hobbies/lifeasiseeit.shtml (http://www.freewarepalm.com/hobbies/lifeasiseeit.shtml)
Okay, I get the virtue of small all-in-one phones, with email built in, but I don't get how you type any decent journal-length stuff on that tiny a keyboard. Text messaging, sure, but actual journaling??
Would some folks who have actually done this fill us in:
Do you have to use thumbs-only? Hunt and peck? What about using all finger like on a regular keyboard? It's SO much faster - hate to lose that option.
Also, mention the make and model of what you used - that'll help, too.
Thanks.
There are different approaches --- the all-in-one that I use does have a slider "thumbs" keyboard. In retrospect I think I would have been better with the slightly lighter version of the device that has no built-in (hardware) keyboard. FWIW, my device is an ETEN Glofiish M700.
Different approaches:
(1) type up notes using "thumbs" keyboard on the trail.
(2) carry a bluetooth keyboard and use that. Downside is extra weight, plus another device that requires (perhaps different type of) batteries.
(3) my device has an integrated voice recorder. Take voice records periodically, have the bluetooth keyboard in bounce box, infrequently in trail towns transcribe and flesh out voice notes to update journal, and post or otherwise send out journal entries at those times.
#3 is my tentative plan for my PCT hike. I keep my device very handy (on shoulder strap), and in various shake-down trips this past summer I found myself very willing to save voice notes, but wasn't too inclined to type out longer notes using the little keyboard. Back home, transcribing the voice notes is a little tedious, but entirely do-able, and the exact date and time of each voice recording is just automatically part of the file information for the recording. That combined with a review of photos (also date-stamped) can do a lot to jog the memory.
To be really clear here, I have NOT thru-hiked a major trail, the above is just based on thinking about it and doing a few hundred miles of prep hikes.
Also note that I suspect that there's a fair bit of "individual preference" at work here. I'd bet there are folks who would be happy typing up journal-length stuff using the little built-in keyboard, and others who would think it well worth the weight to carry a bluetooth keyboard.
Yup, I guess I'm going to miss the elegance of the pocketmail device, slim, but decent size keyboard - no reason someone can't make a PDA type phone that shape for keyboard enthusiasts.Must be a lot of us out there, given the popularity of blogging.