Category: Geocaching

New Toy for the Defender

by sf Email

....okay it's a pretty ancient toy but new to me. After the screen on my omibook500 froze (and I mean FROZE in the non I.T sense) when it got wet in the truck during the winter I was left without a carpc to use.

Hadn't noticed before but ToughBook prices for old low spec models are really cheap. I think a ToughBook is just the ticket for life in harsh careless life the Landrover.

It's a ToughBook CF-27 MKII. PII 300Mhz processor. 256MB RAM and a 100Gb HDD (which I added myself after digging out the 6GB it came with). Unfortunately its not fitted with a touchscreen like some are.

I chemically stripped back the lid to bare magnesium alloy as that's the way I like it. I fitted a low profile thumbnail bluetooth dongle but had cut the rear cover to accommodate it. I will reseal this over with a moulded bump. The BT is for the Holux BT GPS I use. WIFI is via an old PCMCIA card. There is an internal GSM modem but haven't investigate that yet.

I reluctantly set the machine up with Windows XP (a barebones release) so that I could use the HAM radio software I have which are difficult to emulate under Linux on a low spec machine. MemoryMap OS5 is installed along with the entire UK's 50k and 25k maps. The only other stuff I need to store on there is the landrover workshop manuals.

Anyhows... will see how long it lasts.

Otterbox mounted

by sf Email

Ipaq PDA housed inside an Otterbox 1900 Armour case, slid into a 1900 R-A-M mount Cradle attached to Series1 landrover via a bespoke fully adjustable ball mount clamp and pedestal.

Sorted.

DIY Ipaq PDA Otterbox 1900 R-A-M Cradle

DIY Ipaq PDA Otterbox 1900 R-A-M Cradle

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