In car Laptop GPS, for travel + offroading

[navigator]

my understanding is Vista sucks, kind of like the old ME.
XP with SP3 is rock solid.
I am running 7 but my only complaint is getting drivers/software for older peripherals is a pain sometimes.
I think 7 is the refined version of Vista.

[djthumper]

Windows 7 is what Vista should have been, but it has its fair share of problems. XP SP3 is pretty solid. I say this coming from the I.T. view and working with the stuff daily. Apple even has its fair share of problems, I don't care what people say about it just works. I support 40 Macs along with the PC applications.

[fishsticks]

I use Delorme Topo 9 with a GPS stream from my rooted Android phone. It all works under W7 x64, no compatibility modes or VMs. I seem to remember having to install a different bluetooth stack to get it working properly. One from Vista IIRC.

Then it's just a matter of assigning Delorme to the correct serial port.


If you have an old Windows Mobile 6 phone lying around, there is an app called GPS2Blue, which actually allows you to USB tether to the phone's internal GPS. I used it for quite some time that way before I got my Android phone working.

[navigator]

LOL, GPS from your phone, ha, that is funnny........
I have a tracfone (see below) that is about 6 years old. It costs me about $7 per month for no more than I use it though.
I haven't had a need for another though the display is getting a little shaky. I might need to get another one. I keep waiting for my company to give me one.

[steveroche]

funny...thats looks like the exact same phone I got as my first phone...6 years ago

[NC_IslandRunner]

I had a tracphone once, it was a dark time in my life

[bartonmd]

OK, so with the upcoming trip, I'm contemplating going with this setup below...
http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeC ... tion=10091
http://www.ram-mount.com/laptop_mount/r ... p_desk.htm (with the screen stabilizer attachment, and buying it from a reseller for $50 cheaper)

The main change being that I'll be going with the flat arms to hold the laptop, so that I can close the screen...

It looks like the GPS unit that comes with the TOPO 9.0 above is either Bluetooth or USB, so I should be able to hook it up to the USB and not have to worry about having a separate charger on it...

In order to not screw up my $500 HP Probook that's 4 months old (and I don't buy extended warranties on stuff like this), I'm contemplating popping the $150 on an old Windows tablet like Bill has... A Motion Computing M1400 tablet...

As an aside, Back-Country Navigator has a pretty good software (that you can download the maps for, for offline use) for Android that I was going to try and use with my 10.1" Acer tablet, but I would need to figure out how to get a GPS signal to it (maybe from my Incredible?), because even though it has a full sized USB port, none of the GPS units that I can find are Android compatible...


Thoughts?

Thanks,
Mike

[NC_IslandRunner]

I was looking at getting topo 9 too, I have a HP probook that is 9months old and I take it everywhere. my laptop case is metal though. I use my htc evo for wifi.

[fishsticks]

I use an Android app called Bluetooth GPS for send NMEA to my laptop for Topo.

It's free IIRC, but I believe it requires root access.

[Regulator1175]

Mike, I can always produce another one of my ghetto laptop stands for you.

Also, Fry's has TOPO 9.0 in stock at a pretty reasonable price. In fact I may be picking it up next weekend myself.

[bartonmd]

I use an Android app called Bluetooth GPS for send NMEA to my laptop for Topo.

It's free IIRC, but I believe it requires root access.

I saw you had posted that, but I'm not wanting to root my phone... Maybe after I get Android 2.3.4 pushed in the next 2-3 days (people have been getting it since Wed morning, so I should be in the next couple days)... It is a year old, and I am now out of warranty, I think...

Talking to Bill, it would seem that the NatGeo TOPO! is really good, and it would seem that it does 1:100,000 maps, as opposed to the TOPO 9.0 which is only 1:24,000... Not quite sure how it works, though, as far as downloading the full USA, then updating portions before you go there, or what...

I'll be doing something like your mount, I think, Matt... Something to get it offset over a little bit...

Is anybody having problems with their laptop going through hard drives from the vibration??

I'm seriously considering, as I've said, a 12" tablet like Bill has, and since most of them come without HDDs, putting an SSD in it so vibration is not an issue at all...

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Mike

ETA: Reading a little more, it looks like maybe 1:24,000 is more detailed than 1:100,000?

[Regulator1175]

For what its worth, I have 25k miles on my laptop on my ghetto stand and have not had any issues with the it.

I will be down there Friday through Sunday if you want to check out my remarkable design prowess.

[bartonmd]

OK, cool... I figure it won't be too bad with the rubber balls softening the shock loads, but a friend of mine is an IT guy and has the "drop sensor" that parks the heads on his laptop HDD, and he says it does it quite a bit when he's driving down the road... Could just be the rapid down motion that's doing it though, rather than any actual impact that's happening...

I'm going to go ahead and order the RAM stuff, as well as the TOPO 9.0 software, today, so speak now or forever hold your peace!

I think I'll eventually do the tablet thing, but I'll probably just wait until there are setups for Android, as we've already got an Andriod tablet that I'd like to put to use... If they don't come out with anything in the next 6 months, I may go with a Windows tablet...

Mike

[fishsticks]

I have an SSD drive in my laptop. I recommend you look into one for whatever you decide to use. The 64GB ones are coming down to sane price levels and are plenty for an OS, maps software, and a few other things.

[bartonmd]

I have an SSD drive in my laptop. I recommend you look into one for whatever you decide to use. The 64GB ones are coming down to sane price levels and are plenty for an OS, maps software, and a few other things.

Yeah, that's why I'm not big on using my laptop long-term on it... Still may do the M1400 first, though... Just a thang... I can be in an M1400 for around $200 with a 60GB SSD, as opposed to using my wife's $400 Android tablet birthday present, or my $500 computer that has all my other stuff on it...

Definately getting the map software and RAM setup, either way, though...

Mike

[bartonmd]

Got the software and RAM stuff ordered, and was getting ready to nab an M1400 off eBay, and asked the seller what kind of drive was in it... IDE 2.5" laptop drive... One problem... They don't make SSD drives in IDE... Shit.

Mike

[fishsticks]

Got the software and RAM stuff ordered, and was getting ready to nab an M1400 off eBay, and asked the seller what kind of drive was in it... IDE 2.5" laptop drive... One problem... They don't make SSD drives in IDE... Shit.

Mike

Orly?

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-32GB-SS ... B000T9QRKE

[bartonmd]

Got the software and RAM stuff ordered, and was getting ready to nab an M1400 off eBay, and asked the seller what kind of drive was in it... IDE 2.5" laptop drive... One problem... They don't make SSD drives in IDE... Shit.

Mike

Orly?

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-32GB-SS ... B000T9QRKE

Have I told you lately that I love you?

By the way, are you running an SLC or an MLC? MLC is apparently horrible for operating systems, but SLC is through the roof expensive...

[bgwolfpack]

Have I told you lately that I love you?

PMs please guys!

[fishsticks]

Have I told you lately that I love you?

By the way, are you running an SLC or an MLC? MLC is apparently horrible for operating systems, but SLC is through the roof expensive...

I run this in my laptop. (It's an MLC)

http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs. ... T064M4SSD2

I have an HP DV7 which has two internal drive bays. The SSD is device 0 and has Windows/programs on it. The original 500GB is device 1 and holds all of my \Users\XXX folders via symlink. I house my swap file on the 500GB, but most machines with 4GB+ of RAM rarely swap to disk anymore. Having it set up this way makes sure 99% of the activity on my SSD are sequential read operations.

Resume from full hibernation takes about 5 seconds from power on to desktop.