Are we there yet?
johnny July 20th, 2007
Today, I’ve been looking into some of the tech I expect to use on the road. Now, I’m a bit of a UNIX geek – earned a living on the command line for the past decade. However, in my old age, I’ve adapted somewhat and I can actually use windows machines for simple things like video games and web browsing. In fact, I picked up a Fujitsu Lifebook 1510 a year or so back and actually left Windows XP tablet edition installed. At home, I run a windows machine side by side with a FreeBSD machine, using synergy to share the mouse and keyboard between them.
As I already have a very nifty ultra-portable notebook running Windows with a working touchscreen, I figure I’ll try MS Streets and Trips for route planning and navigation. Google Earth will be a nice addition, but it requires bandwidth that won’t be available while we’re on the road. I figure we’ll us MS S&T for driving and then pull out Google Earth to do some daytripping via hiking / biking / scooters or whatever.
Jenn has found a couple more motor homes for us to check out tomorrow whose owners claim they have no water damage. I think I’ll try and get MS S&T installed tonight so we can use it for navigation tomorrow. I still haven’t decided what type of GPS to use. I just can’t seem to find a portable unit with a good display and blue tooth connectivity for $100.
Oh, and before I forget, this is the coolest mapping API project I’ve ever seen. I’m sure we’ll be using it to avoid asian bird flu and volcanic eruptions.
Emergency and Disaster Information Service
I will be bookmarking this blog to stay in touch with ya and to follow your adventures.
I posted a little slide show in your, “So long suckers” thread on the Infinity forum.
I hope you dig it!
You must get a hold of me if/when you get to the Seattle area.
You know it bro. We plan to get to Alaska eventually… maybe next summer.