Monday, May 12, 2003 at 14:19
Rodney, I agonised over how to get the best result. The laptop could not be mounted in a manner that I felt happy with. When the screen was in the right place the keyboard wasn't. Nor was the laptop's display adequately visible in dalylight. I needed an adequate screen size as looking at a map on a PDA is like watching a peep show through a keyhole. The proponents of PDAs obviously haven't seen how much better a full screen display is than the cigarette box sized image they have. So I purchased a 15" Samsung display which has performed perfectly. I have the display plugged into the laptop which sits closed out of the way. The mouse is an optical mouse which sits on the centre console between the front seats (I rarely have to use the keyboard once Oziexplorer is running). The display is mounted on a bracket that rises up from the transmission tunnel. It is midline, and rises about 15 cm above the level of the dash so doesn't encroach on my view of the windscreen, but is easily visible to driver, and three passengers. Despite your concerns, cabling hasn't been a problem. Two cables run forward along the transmission tunnel to the display, two cables run back from the GPS which is mounted on the dash. The inverter and power board are located in the rear of the vehicle. The lap top sits in a pocket behind the drivers
seat. This arrangement performed faultlessly on a recent trip to the channel country and Territory on all types of track. I then thought, if this works so
well, why not use an old Wintel box instead of a laptop? After all, why pay for a display that isn't used. The computer could be easily located in the rear of the vehicle, an perform just as
well as the laptop, as mapping isn't one of the most processor intensive activities. So what I suggested is a low cost option for those that find the cost a laptop prohibitive, and the viewing area of a PDA grossly inadequate. So it may in fact be the "correct" solution for some people.
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12550