Question about my vintage dream PC

No. Buy an iPad and get with the program.

How can a dream of the "most advanced" anything be vintage? Just saying...

The UMC-386DX-40 and other boards from 1993
http://redhill.net.au/b/b-93.html

You might be able to run a 2X CD on 3.0. I don't recall if I had one or not. Most software was floppy based at that point.

It looks like you are limited to a max 540MB hard drive.

You get a whopping total of 32Mb of RAM if you max it out.

You can probably get it for a lot less than the $2000.00 it would have cost you back in 1992-3 on ebay.

Buggy whip? Ice box ?

did nthey put a usb on the new iOPad yet? The iPqad seems a perfect solution to download field stuff, ( wellbore transducers, seismic jugs, soil motion detectors, etc etc). Most really sensitive data packs dont radio transmit because of the extreme battery drain0

No USB, but there are several apps which turn the iPad (and the iPod's) into wireless storage devices. So it's easy to move files onto/off-of the iPad/iPod's.

so I guess that means that unless a gizmo has a radio or internet output, Im **** out of luck?

I use several handheld PDA's for data collection and these are nice and small but they dont allow any keying in of comments because they are essentially a big flash drive with a small screen for viewing data and several keys to reset the instruments>

The iPod/iPads (as well as most tablet devices) are all WiFi enabled by default. The "App" you can install on them simply allows you to copy files onto/off them over the WiFi without having to plug them into anything.

There are also ways to access the stored files on the device through the standard port that it uses to connect to the computer, but I haven't used those methods before so I'm not clear on the details for how to use them. But the WiFi connection is much better anyway.

The iPod is essentially a big flash drive as well, except that it has a more advanced OS installed onto it, and it uses WiFi instead of USB to copy data.

trouble is , most all field data only downloads by a diorect cable link. Its a style of data collection that is parsimonious with battery wear, cant afford any wireless drain.

I guess Ill stick with PDA's for now. I got an iPad last year and while its ok, its primarily a USER of stuff, not a generator of stuff. I do not like typing on the screen so I got a wireless keyboard . SO now Ive got just as much **** to carry as a small ibook. Im not gonna get a new iPad, but I may get the iBook jr (runs about 1100) and its got all that the iPAD does but also has the ability to act like a real laptop.

course, when molybdenite chips replace silicon in the next few years we will have a whole new generation of even smaller tools and maybe RFID data transmission will be avalilable for field instruments

Sounds like you want a MacBook Air. Those are high quality, durable, light and fully functional.

Most other "NetBook" type machines would probably also work for you (although I prefer the elegance and reliability of Mac products). And a lot of the other NetBooks are much less expensive than Mac equipment.

If I was going to buy a generic NetBook type machine, I would probably load Linux onto it. And I would try to get one with solid state storage instead of a disk.

The MacBooks are pretty tough, but I think other companies also make some really durable military grade NetBooks (higher cost) if you are looking for a "jeep" type of computer. The brand that used to specialize in roughneck computers was "Grid" if I remember correctly.

you can do everything a n iPad does plus you have the capability of doing direct linkage and keypad writing like a pc (with an iBook AIR?). Is this a bit smaller and lighter than the normal iBook?

I recently bought a Dell laptop and, while its got a nice sized screen, its huuuge and heavy. Not what I want to pack and schlep over hill and dale in my field vest.
Im gonna wear my field vest to a Mac store.

fm -
You might want to look at this dongle to add USB to your ipad.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A

For 70 dollars to a 100 dollars you can pick up a fully function netbook with XP that weight in at 16 ozs or so and have everything build in but for a DVD/CD drive on ebay.

The Eee netbook is a dream and so cheap that if something happen to it who cares just order another one and do a full restore from a USB harddrive backup.

Eee is the brand? I want to get away from using a PDA because of its limited flexibility

Asus PC Eee is the brand and the XP type I am using that can be gotten cheaply on ebay is 1000 HD or HA depending on whether it had a web camera build in or not if memory serve me correctly.

Battery charge fully up and accessing it hard drive run around two hours and a half in real life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asus_Eee_PC

Eee 1000 series
Black 1000 series; 1000HD model shownThe 1000 series launched at Computex Taipei on June 3, 2008.[10] It featured a new 10-inch (254 mm) screen and a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU, although built in power management software can increase the speed to 1.7 GHz. The 1000 model ships with Linux, an 8 GB SSD and a 32 GB SSD (totalling 40 GB); the 1000H model ships with Windows XP Home or Linux and an 80 or 160 GB SATA HDD. Both the 1000 and the 1000H support up to 2 GB of DDR2 RAM of 667 MHz clock speed. The 1000 has a rated battery life of 4.2–7.5 hours, while the 1000H is rated for 3.2–7 hours. It also offers a keyboard that is 92% the size of generic notebooks, aiming to make it more comfortable to type. Like the Eee PC 901, the new machines feature 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. WiMAX is not currently supported.
The 1000HD (released in September 2008) is a slightly cheaper version of the 1000 series. It features the same specifications as the 1000H, except it uses a 900 MHz Celeron CPU chip.
The 1000HA (released in October 2008) also costs less than the 1000H, but has the same Intel Atom 1.6 GHz CPU, a 160 GB HDD, and 1 GB of RAM. It also has wireless and on some models, Bluetooth.
The 1000XPH has the same Intel Atom 1.6 GHz CPU, an 80 GB HDD, and 1 GB of RAM. Other amenities include 10/100 LAN and 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN adapters, an integrated webcam, but no Bluetooth.

In February 2009, Asus unveiled the 1000HE, using the new Intel Atom 280 processor with a 10-inch LED-lit display, 6-cell battery, 160 GB HDD, Bluetooth, 802.11n wireless networking, 1.3 megapixel camera, and revised keyboard.


Asus 1005HA-V, with "seashell" design; the screen hinges to sit behind the baseAt CeBIT 2009, Asus unveiled the 10-inch EEE 1008HA, introducing the new design concept "Seashell".[11]

The 1005HA comes in three models, from least-to-most expensive, they are the 1005HA-B, the 1005HA-V and the 1005HA-P. The 1005HA-B has a removable 3-cell battery with a rated 4-hour life per charge, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and uses the N270 processor. At the higher end, the 1005HA-P has a removable 6-cell, 5600 mAh, 63 W/h battery with rated 10.5 hour battery life, a 1.3 megapixel camera and uses the N280 processor. There is also a 1005HA-H model, sold in Poland, equipped with a 6-cell battery, an N270 processor and a 0.3 megapixel camera.[12]

Asus officially announced the first Eee with Nvidia ION graphics, the 1201N, on November 19, 2009, later replaced by the 1201PN and then 1215N, with a more powerful Atom D525 dual-core processor and ION2 graphics.

The 1215 series then saw the release of the 1215B,[13] which came with the AMD E-350 processor, a "Zacate" APU. The 1215B has USB 3.0 ports, as well as a CPU and BIOS that support full hardware virtualization in Linux via (kvm or xen) or Windows via (XP mode, Virtual Box, Vmware). The 1215B is the first of the EEE PC line of computers that support 64-bit instructions and virtualization.

It's called a MacBook Air. You can see it here: http://www.apple.com/macbookair

I'm not even sure they sell iBooks any more.