LandCruiser Tough Laptop Install (GPS)

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alia176 said:
Tyler's rig doesn't see much off pavement action :D but if the vehicle sees lots of wheeling, then screws are not the ticket. Also, the heavier the laptop, the more chance of slop!

Cheers,

Ali
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This would be a simple upgrade to what I have, and I now remember that being mentioned on another thread. Maybe this summer I'll get under there, and do it again with the same size hardware, but nuts, washers, and bolts; all SS again.


Good reminder .. :beer:


If you're mostly street though, and you want a reliable setup till you can do the bolt-on setup, then go with screws for now. :flipoff2:


TY
 
Got back from my trip to CT on a very sunny day and am happy to report that even with direct sunlight hitting the screen it is still very viewable, not a good as in the shade of course but, still not bad. I was surprised. Puts my Fujitsu 3400 to shame. I think I will go the bolt route with fender washers and locknuts to really secure things.
 
I will jump in here with my .02 cents. I'm on my fourth laptop (issued through work) over the course of seven years. Since our company has a contract with Compaq and now, HP, I've using these brand of laptops. These are the Latitude models in the HP and now the NC4xxx series models in the HP/COMPAQ. We get new laptops every two years.

These laptops are NOT heavy duty and the HDDs are the standard 2.5" laptop HDD. They don't have any special monitors, keyboards and the CD drives were nothing special. All of the laptops went through Moab at least once annually along with countless washboards, Black Rock desert trips and many other bouncy off roading trips through every state west of the Rockies. All laptops were used for moving map software, DVD player and MP3 jukebox feature.

Anyone care to guess what parts broke? No, not the hard drives :D Not ONE broken hard drive in any of the laptops. The USB ports in the back of one of the laptops separated from the PCB. Even the dirt clogged keyboards worked great on each computer. After returning from a camping trip, I'd use a low pressure compressed air to blow the keyboards.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that laptops these days are very robust. Just about anything will work in vehicles, at least in coil sprung vehicles anyway ;) Of course, common sense applies here. I never tried to use the laptop outside in the middle of a rain storm!

Cheers,

Ali
 
Great feedback Ali.

I have never experienced a hardware failure during overland travel. However, I have had two hinge sets fail (plastic failed and the monitor fell off or wouldn't stay upright).

To remedy this, I use a flip down TFT touch screen for moving map...
 
The HP NR3600 is made by Itronix. It is their their ix260 GoBook II. Do an Ebay search for itronix GoBook and you will see several of the GoBook II's... They seem to sell for between $500 to $600.
 
how's it holding up?

am thinking of getting one of these. does anyone know if there's a source for harddrives to upgrade? processors etc. or are these machines pretty much as are?
 
I've picked up one of these with the 40 gig hard drive. It came stripped of all software (no operating system). I loaded Windows XP Pro on it. The touch screen function doesn't work. Does anyone else's work as advertised? Perhaps there is software to drive it that I need (computers are NOT my strong suit).

I can certainly live without the touchscreen. It wil usually just be running with the GPS to record the trails we're blazing or reopening. Don't need it for navigation (I prefer old fashioned methods). But it would be a nice bonus if I could get it working.


Mark...
 
Mark W said:
I've picked up one of these with the 40 gig hard drive. It came stripped of all software (no operating system). I loaded Windows XP Pro on it. The touch screen function doesn't work. Does anyone else's work as advertised? Perhaps there is software to drive it that I need (computers are NOT my strong suit).

I can certainly live without the touchscreen. It wil usually just be running with the GPS to record the trails we're blazing or reopening. Don't need it for navigation (I prefer old fashioned methods). But it would be a nice bonus if I could get it working.


Mark...
Click to expand...

you need to download the software for the touchscreen from www.itronix.com.
otherwise it won't work.

not sure if it's the case with all touchscreens or just this one, but it seems to need calibrating often.:cheers:
 
Found it. Thanks. I figured that it was a lack of a driver that was the reason that the touch screen wasn't active. I didn't think it would be that easy to get. Didn't even occur to me to check the Itronix website. To be homest I probably still wouldn't have found that particular item if I didn't know from your post that it must be there. ;)

Thaks again. Now I just have to download and see what happens.


Mark...
 
your welcome
hope it works

I read about getting drivers for them from one of the ebay ads.



anyone know how easy it is to upgrade the harddrive in these? or processor?
I got a 40gig one, all the 20/30 i've seen since have gone for more than I paid for the 40. some buy it nows are cheaper, but have my mind set on getting another 40, if I could upgrade it easy might just do that instead.

I didn't see any parts offered for the ix250 on the itronix site other than the stylus. only for ix260 and up.
 
Yep, worked perfect. :) Quick download and easy config.

Thanks again.


I plugged an external harddrive into the one I bought. Just a ten gig unit plugged intop the PC card slot. Kinda bulky, but I had it so I figured I'd see if it would work. It did.

I'm just gonna use this for GPS and *maybe* for downloading digtal pictures in the field, so the 40 gigs should be plenty. I wouldn't mind upgrading the ram to 512, but again, the 256 should be plenty for what I expect to be doing with it.


Mark...
 
Toughest laptop I have seen is an IBM thinkpad with titanium case system. Corportate issue. Tough SOB. I spilled a cup of coffee on mine, I shook it out and used a hairblower to dry. Never had a problem.

I just like em.
 
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