Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 11:22:46 -0800 From: richard childers <fscked@pacbell.net> To: Bakul Shah <bakul@bitblocks.com> Cc: mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: using a laptop as a main machine Message-ID: <3DCABD86.64BCA08@pacbell.net> References: <200211071824.NAA20180@dreadnought.cnchost.com>
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There are advantages to desktops, as well as to laptops. Consider the following scenario: you spill some coffee on your keyboard and suddenly your laptop is completely useless without around $200 - $1000 of parts and a week of downtime. What are you going to do? More importantly, what could have been done differently? Suddenly, lugging a cheap $10 external keyboard around and using it - and an external mouse - doesn't seem so bad. In this scenario, you always have a backup keyboard and a backup mouse, which you almost never use. Similarly, a larger display becomes ergonomically desirable. Flat displays are wonderful for reclaiming acres of desktop that you haven't seen since 1985, if you use the same desktop regularly. A cradle allowing graceful transitioning from desktop to mobile mode becomes desirable; then you can leave your external keyboard and high-resolution display permanently plugged in. Really, a cradle at each of your terminii is best. This leads towards the question of spares. Not just a spare hard drive, but also a spare laptop. No kidding; you might find it better to skip the gigahertz model and look for someplace where you can buy two or three of last year's model for the same price (unless you need to play DVDs, watch TV, or some such). Of course, when you do this, you're set. You have multiple cradles; one at home, one at work. If you spill coffee, you buy a new keyboard for $10. If your computer gets damaged, you pull the hard drive and memory and use the chassis for your favorite purposes - educational, ballistic, or both. (-; I haven't mentioned backups, but that's where your desktop server comes in. Your desktop server can incorporate a lot of functionality that your laptop can't. RAID controllers, high capacity disk drives, tape drives and other archival devices (IE, 8mm, 4mm, DLT, Zip, etc). A robust modern desktop environment might include the following. (1) A PDA device replicating via a cable, to a laptop. (2) A laptop replicating via a network, to a desktop. (3) A desktop replicating to hard drives, via a RAID card. (4) The hard drives replicating to an offline storage device. (5) The tapes being stored with other, similar tapes offsite. Hope this is helpful in understanding how your desktop and laptop complement one another. -- richard 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 -- 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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