Cheap Laptops - Members Discount - Just the thing for Memory Map

[Chastiser]

I have been able to get a member discount for the mud club with the company where i work.

We supply new and refurbished laptops. The refurb ones are an ideal way of having memory map in the car, with much less risk of financial loss if you flood the car or simply drop your laptop.

web site is....

www.cheap-it.com

simply put in coupon/discount code CCTMCF when going through the cart and you will get 5% off all refurb units. Unfortunatly discount only applies for the refurb units.

Mike

[Chastiser]

currently got a good deal on Acer Aspire 5332 4GB -

[Frankie-Boy]

I bought a Panasonic Toughbook from them today, I hope it does what I want.  ;)

[Saffy]

I bought a Panasonic Toughbook from them today, I hope it does what I want.  ;)

The CF-27? I got that model for a knock about pc in the defender, some of them have a touchscreen but not all. I put in a 100GB harddrive no problems and have all the UK memorymaps on it along with landrover manuals and such like. Runs a trimmed down release of winXP.  Tricking getting a wifi card to work with it, one of my really old pcmcia 802.11b cards worked. I don't keep the card in as it's a liability for damage. I fitted a micro bluetooth dongle to the rear to use with my GPS, that's size of thumbnail and I machined a slot in the cover to accommodate it full time and keep cover closed. Decent battery life on the one I got off ebay, over an hour. I like it, and I like that I can leave it loose in storage cage in back of truck and it will survive.
http://www.stonefisk.com/index.php/2010/05/12/new-toy-for-the-defender

[Chastiser]

Just got a load of Dell Vostro's in - great when using your club discount...

http://www.portableuniverse.co.uk/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=vostro

Mike

[Frankie-Boy]

Hi Saffy,

The machine you show is identical to the one I have, no touch screen on mine either  :(

I also installed MM on it but still with the Windows 2000 OS and it seems to run ok, the mapping is all running from the DVD drive so fairly quick.

I'm glad I read your write up about it and now I know that its possible to upgrade the hard drive to something more usable so I'll be looking out for a better HDD.

Annoyingly I'm having some difficulty getting it to see my GPS, I'm using a Garmin Streetpilot 3.

I'll keep at it until I get it sorted  :)

[Saffy]

I'm glad I read your write up about it and now I know that its possible to upgrade the hard drive to something more usable so I'll be looking out for a better HDD.

yes the hard drive just a normal laptop drive but it's inside a gel filled housing. Just need to unscrew that housing and pull out one  side of the gel pack to remove drive. It's all pretty straight forward .

[M6GKX]

Saffy: Thanks for the links to your piccies, you've got some nice piccies there of your vehicle and your laning trips.

Frankie: The SP3 is quite easy with MM. You can set it up in MM to recognise it as a Garmin or a NMEA feed. Just set the serial port to match where it is and away you go. I've got an SP3 here which I was intending on using for APRS which is currently on hold, but have used it as GPS and it great at it. I've got the split power/data cable from pfranc (

[Frankie-Boy]

Hi M6GKX, sorry don't know your name,  :)


we have tried all sorts of things to resolve the connection problems but without any luck so unless you have a magic wand to wave I don't know what to try next, we've tried using different laptops, different Garmin GPS units and combinations of all the components and settings, we've even tried new connecting cables but the machines just don't see each other, its got me flummoxed anyway.

[M6GKX]

Well, you're over in Northants, so not far. Will you be coming to Stoneleigh as well or to the M/C event at Billing?

I shall try and get all my hardware together so I can swing by for a visit. Not sure when it would be as on lates with work. Are you a 'normal' 9-5, mon to fri kinda guy ;)

Elwyn

[Frankie-Boy]

Hi Elwyn,

Unfortunately I wont be able to attend either of those venues I'm afraid, I'm working over the bank holiday weekend and I work permanent night shifts although I do have quite a lot of time off during some weeks, but if you find your way over this way sometime, I'd be happy to buy you a pint and maybe show you around some of the Northants lanes too.

 :)

I have been offered the use of a bluetooth PCMCIA card and a bluetooth GPS to try out and see if that works on it.

Frank

[M6GKX]

That's OK. I've got a month of lates ahead, but if you let me know by PM your days/nights/etc then I can work around you ;)

Some laning does sound like a nice idea. I should have some sort of 4x4 with me ;)

The bluetooth should work but the beauty with the SP3 is that you can program it up and have the laptop switched off and just use the SP3 solo or display only. I'd reccomend keeping the the Sp3 in use if you could for those reasons ;)

[Frankie-Boy]

Ok,

I'm now off until Monday night 2nd August, then alternate weekends off after that  :) my long weekend consists of 5 nights off, nice lol

I would like to get the SP3 working with the Toughbook if possible but have run out of ideas, maybe a fresh pair of eyes might spot the trouble.

Let me know if and when you might pop over or alternatively I could meet you somewhere if thats easier for you.

[M6GKX]

Well, my magic wand didn't work. Alas. But the fault was narrowed down wasn't it ;)