Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2002 07:02:24 -0800 From: richard childers <fscked@pacbell.net> To: mobile@freebsd.org Cc: Bakul Shah <bakul@bitblocks.com> Subject: Re: using a laptop as a main machine Message-ID: <3DCBD200.F17F4127@pacbell.net> References: <200211071824.NAA20180@dreadnought.cnchost.com> <200211080925.45799.bts@babbleon.org>
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Regarding batteries, you can't do any better than to shop around for an after-market laptop battery designed to run for 10 hours or so. That is, there are available on the market, large, flat packages approximately the sise of a laptop, that are actually large batteries. The form factor is intended to correspond to the size and shape of the laptop itself, so that the battery can be slid into the carrying case, next to the laptop itself. The battery is actually an array of smaller, flatter batteries, arranged to be as flat as can be. It is charged up normally, and then attached to the back of the computer where the power supply usually goes. The battery does not supply 120 VAC; rather, when you plug the laptop into the wall, your wall socket delivers 120 VAC to the transformer, which steps its down to, say, 9 or so volts, DC (VDC). So your laptop actually has no problems when a battery delivering 9 VDC is used to replace the wall socket delivering 9 VDC. (I'm using '9 VDC' as an example. Your mileage may vary. Read the labels.) If you are at all familiar with batteries, AC and DC, you might even want to consider building your own battery. It doesn't need to be flat, either. It could be a gel cell, or a motorcycle battery, or even a car battery, provided the power is properly transformed into the format you need - Radio Shack has a wide variety of transformers available. So please don't feel that laptop battery manufacturers have rendered you helpless, if you cannot afford a second battery. The laptop batteries are hideously expensive but the actual batteries inside the packaging are not. -- richard > > On Thursday 07 November 2002 01:24 pm, Bakul Shah wrote: > | I am getting very tired of enegry wasting hot desktops with > | noisy, dusty unreliable fans, and the need for a separate UPS > | and all that and think it is past time to switch to laptops > | almost completely. I am sure a lot of you have gone through > | the same transition! So some questions for people who mainly > | use a laptop and lug it around everywhere: what features do > | you find most useful? I am not looking for specific model > | recommendations but it would be nice to know just how well > | your current laptop meets your needs and what would you > | change to make it better. > | > | I realize this is a broad topic and there will be different > | personal preferences but I am in fact looking for different > | points of views. > | > | Thanks! > | > | -- bakul > | > | To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > | with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message > > -- > Brian, the man from Babble-On . . . . bts@babbleon.org (personal) > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message -- Richard A Childers/KG6HAC -- Senor UNIX System & Network Administrator "Dont forget nothing." Maj Rogers, standing orders, 1st Ranger Bn, 1759 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message
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