Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 21:51:36 -0700
Reply-To: Tim Schneider <Tim.Schneider@SYNOPSYS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tim Schneider <Tim.Schneider@SYNOPSYS.COM>
Subject: Re: Road Haus Two (LONG . NVC!)
In-Reply-To: <20040506041006.0B892F4B7@kiruna.synopsys.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
At 09:00 PM 5/5/2004, you wrote:
>Big concerns and things we could use some help with:
>1. Laptop on the road
>2. Mac or PC...heard that Mac was much better at handling
>images...(pro/cons)
>3. How to get mail while underway
>4. Where to find a reliable msg service.
>5. Which cell phone company is worth the trouble )
>6. Is Onstar worth having
>7. Using the power of FREE CAMPING
>8. Working up a realistic budget
>9. The biggie...managing digital images on the road (camera and laptop
>suggestions appreciated)
One area that I actually do know a bit about..
I travel pretty much weekly for work. Use Macintosh,
Windows 2000 and Linux laptops, am a closet photographer
(enginerd by trade) And have to use a cell phone *alot*
For dialup access while on the road, with a host of
nationwide number, our company uses Sprint. AOL (snicker)
might be another choice for you as well.. The Qwest
VDSL connection I have allows me dial-up access in the
western states (old Mountain Bell region predominately)
For cellular, the only 'affordable' plan for data (IMHO) is
with TMobile. I cannot comment on their nationwide
coverage.. in AZ they work along the freeway corridors
and that is about it. I've had no problems in major metro
areas (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix, Dallas)
They have a $19.99 unlimited plan that you can tack on
to your basic voice plan ($30-40 per month) You can also
add their hotspot access (wi-fi) for another $19.99 This gets
you connectivity in any Starbucks (sic) or Kinkos (probably more
places as well) It's slow, (not any faster than 56K dialup) but its
wireless! For that just have to get connected moment it seems
to work.
Tried to discuss data plans with ATT/Cingular.. their equivalent
plan (higher speed purportedly) was $80 per month for unlimited
data! Verizon, was probably the next closest.. think theirs was
$50 per month (on top of voice) It's a tricky situation.. might be
better to bag it and just go with dial-up access and plan on
hitting the internet cafe's or some such?
I'll be able to better report on how well this works after our
summer trip from AZ to Yosmeite CA and back.
PeeCee or Mac? depends.. personally, if it were just digital
photography, email access, web access etc: I'd go Mac and
never look back. But, if you've got a heap of existing Windows
PC software, then maybe the pendulum swings the other way.
Linux? only if you're a techno freak and you have time to
dink around with your computer! (you probably need to save
the time for mucking about with photos, and the vanagon! :^8)
The Dell laptop that I use for work, has been solid and reliable
as well (running Windows 2000) I have photoshop on it as well
but honestly, I prefer working on the Mac, it syncs more seamlessly
with my Sony Ericsson phone, has a 'location' manager for
switching networking profiles.. can 'share' a wireless connection
(i.e. acts as a router) and overall is less confusing to setup/configure
but thats only been my experience, and if you're a really savy
user on Windows, then it's not that big of a deal.
Cameras? two mfg come to mind.. Canon and Olympus. They have
floated to the top of the heap with respect to the new digital age.
After this, I'd look at Sony, followed by Nikon.
I really *really* like our Canon Powershot G3 (my wifes) as
well as my Canon s400 (elph) mine. I do a lot of outdoors
stuff (backpacking, climbing, mtn biking) There is a *lot* to
be said for a small, portable form factor in a camera! The
s410, perhaps the s500 (or an s400 if you can find it.. cheaper!)
would be my pick for the camera to have with my in my
shirt pocket *all* the time! I truly like the s45 and s50 as
well as the powershot G3 and G5 (now the powershot pro
as well) If you only want to buy *ONE* camera make it the
s45/s50 it has most of the features of the more expensive
Powershot G3, G5 and Pro but a smaller form factor and a
clamshell type case.
I have also picked up and played with the Olyumps c750
(awesome zoom lens) and the Olympus c8080 (8Mp sweet
lens, nicely balanced prosumer camera) I didnt like the
viewfinder on the c750 as much.. and for my needs the c8080
is overkill, unless I decide to change professions? besides..
I hate spending over $500 on any camera.. they can be so
subject to abuse/breakage when/if dropped, gotten wet
etc.. depends how klutzy you are I suppose.
Amazon.com has some pretty good prices on such.. b&h
photo is another outfit on the east coast that I've had good
luck in mail ordering from.
If you dont have to have the latest and greatest.. pick up
a year old technology for considerable savings.. s400
cost me a shade over $300 from Amazon and the Powershot
G3 was like $550 last year from B&H Photovideo. Both times
I purchased.. the mfg/s had just announced/released new
models (more megapixels.. features) and the prices dropped
considerably on the older tech.
Canon has great Macintosh support and the photo quality
is amazing.. I'm a long time photo buff from way back in
my youth (learned on a fully manual Mamiya/Sekor and a
Zeiss Ikon large format) it's been over a year since I've
put a roll of fujichrome velvia into my Yashica t4 point
and shoot! :-) I can make my photos look like 'velvia'
using photoshop now anyways :-)
Look here http://timschneider.org click on the iPhoto
Library online for s400 and g3 shots (older stuff as well
mostly slide format Pentax K1000, and Yashica t4)
This bundled with a Macintosh Powerbook g4 (the 12 inch one
or splurge on the 15 inch one) combined with Adobe Photoshop
would be the killer setup for the road.
Also, dont discount video. If you go with the Powerbook (even
the iBooks) you may want to consider the Canon or Sony line
of small mini-DV camcorders. Video brings a dimension to a
travelouge that still photography cant... problem with video is
that updates over the road etc are out of the question.. This is
more of an archival, then deal with when you get home
later type of thing. See the DVD "The Journey" (do a google
search) as an example.
As an aside.. if you get a powerbook.. you might also want to
consider the 40Gb iPod to use either for music.. *OR* for a
backup hard drive/storage device for photos.
Of course.. if you get one of the models that has a DVD writer
in it.. then you can just burn backups to DVD.
enough rambling now.. email me off list if you want more details
and or have any other questions this post is getting *WAY* long and
off topic as far as Vanagon content goes..
for web hosting and access.. I'm not a good one to ask.. If you go
with a Mac, maybe consider the apple .mac account... although I
dont agree that it's worth the $99 that they are charging, there are
better solutions out there, but the take more technical knowhow
and are more difficult to administer/setup. .Mac is pretty seamless
and integrated with Apple iPhoto for web publishing etc
Rgrds,
-tim
90 syncro westy
mesa, az
