OBSERVATIONS FROM SCOTLAND                            28 May 2008                                GM1SXX

Computers for Stroke Portable.

Well it *used* to be the case that choosing some sort of 'computer' for working portable involved many trade-offs and compromises. In the past, PDA's, Psion Organisers and all manner of gear have been pressed into service for the sort of jobs that radio amateurs want to do in the field. If you want to track satellites for instance, the choice becomes more limited because the available software will only run on certain models of machine. Sure, you can lug along a Win-Doze based laptop or notebook.... but just think of the weight, not to mention the fact that laptops are fairly fragile and easily broken.  What's really needed I suspect for most people is a sub-notebook sized, lightweight machine with a modest CPU (to conserve power) and decent connectivity. Battery life is important too.  Like many other radio amateurs, I've been praying for such a machine for a long time. A diskless PC would be ever better... one less thing to break, and guzzle precious battery power. 

It would be great to find a small (preferably Windows XP compatible) machine that could fit in a large jacket pocket, weigh a couple of pounds, run from it's own battery for at least three hours, be robust, and run all the applications I like to use outdoors.  Top of my list is MIXW MIXW an all singing, all dancing piece of Russian genius.  Mixw allows almost any data mode to be generated and decoded in software.... very ingenious!  Next on my list are NOVA for windows and my own software ROTRACK, to allow me to track amateur satellites. 

Well, it seems that my prayers have been answered. One of my workmates mentioned a new-ish machine to me yesterday. It's the ASUS Eee, a diminutive micro-laptop that uses FLASH memory rather than a hard disk. The Eee is a very popular machine, despite its fairly modest specification. It's getting rave reviews, and its easy to see why. It fills a gap in the marketplace that's been ignored by other makers.  With children (yup brats) as the target market, it has to be tough.  It's weakest point is the low resolution LCD panel, 800*480 pixels, but if you can life with this (and I can), the rest of the machine is a bargain for the asking price of a bit over £200 in the UK.  The demand for these micro-PC's is huge. I've placed my order for one.... a white one, because white ones are not so popular. Every UK supplier I tried was sold out of them, such is the demand.

The Eee does not come as standard with Windows. To help keep the cost down, it comes with a customised version of Linux Xandros and a suite of freeware applications to cover the usual office-type needs.  The good news is that is can support Windoze XP and drivers are included on CDROM.   Weighing in at just under 1Kg, this appears to be the ideal machine for amateur radio 'field' use.

After reading the specs and discussing it with my IT workmates, I ordered one of these machines.  4Gb of FLASH 'disk' and 512MB of RAM may not seem like much, but the RAM is upgradeable (by replacement) and the 4GB of FLASH storage can be expanded by means of an SD memory card placed in the side slot.  Oh, and it can take the fast SD cards.  Dunno about you, but I don't need a great deal of disk storage space for my /P operation.  I do need access to the audio in and out, to connect my radio gear for data modes, and the Eee allows this.

.Here's what the makers say about the Eee...

73 AL.
GM1SXX