textfiles/computers/travel.txt

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                       TRAVELLING WITH A LAPTOP COMPUTER

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       Laptops are made to travel. Their small size and potent features 
       make computing on the road a snap. Consider using this 
       assortment of tips which seasoned laptop owners have come to 
       rely on.... 

       Airports are a frequent transit point for laptop owners. Be sure 
       to be prepared for a SPEEDY passage through airport security by 
       being aware that in most cases you MUST boot up the laptop so 
       that a DOS prompt, menu or other sign of visible activity is 
       displayed on the screen. Security officials do this for a 
       reason: if a laptop computer has been tampered with or hollowed 
       out to serve as an empty shell for explosives or weapons, the 
       machine will not boot up or operate. By forcing the laptop owner 
       to activate the machine, airport security is effectively 
       screening for tampered machines. 

       Once you know this, several important tips are quite useful. 
       Always carry a BOTH a fully charged battery and AC adapter with 
       the laptop. No power means no possibility of booting the machine 
       and your laptop might be forced to remain behind! 

       To speed the process on laptops equipped with hard drives try an 
       experiment. Prepare a bootable floppy disk with DOS system files 
       and a short AUTOEXEC.BAT program which boots the machine rapidly 
       since DOS usually tries to boot from a floppy first and then the 
       hard drive second. Now time how long it takes to boot from the 
       floppy as well as the hard drive. Whichever is faster is the one 
       you want to use to speed your trip through airport security. But 
       ALWAYS take the bootable floppy as well. Why? If your laptop 
       hard drive becomes damaged in transit - a possibility in today's 
       airport environments - then you have a floppy backup which will 
       also get you through airport security. 

       Cursor size and blink rate on many laptops are atrocious. Third 
       party software utilities are available which can alter both size 
       and shape of the cursor - we will discuss these in more detail 
       in the software section of the Laptop tutorial. However the 
       point to be made is that you might find one ideal cursor size 
       and blink rate for airplane use and a DIFFERENT cursor size and 
       blink rate better at the office or in the airport. Try various 
       combinations in various lighting. Several different cursor 
       configurations are quite handy when travelling under varying 
       lighting conditions. By the way in a pinch, The WordPerfect word 
       processing package has just such a utility you might want to dig 
       out if you own WordPerfect but have never used software cursor 
       control utility! 

       Did your portable printer malfunction and crash while you are on 
       the road? Or maybe you just don't want to carry your printer at 
       all. Here's an obvious idea: use your laptop and modem/faxboard 
       to fax your file to the hotel front desk fax machine and pick it 
       up there! If your modem lacks fax transmit capability, send the 
       file via modem to CompuServe and let them re-send it to your 
       hotel fax machine using their fax transmission capability. 
       Worried that the fax image might fade or curl with heat or 
       handling? Then xerox copy it onto standard paper which is a more 
       permanent material than fax paper. 

       Speaking of modems, the smallest and most "laptop useful" modems 
       are available from U.S. Robotics (call 708/982-5010.) Their 
       World Port modem is truly tiny, fully-featured and ruggedly 
       designed for travellers. Hayes has also produced the Pocket 
       Modem (call 404/449-8791.) Some of the most clever portable 
       modems do not even need battery power - they draw current from 
       the computer or telephone line.

       Hotels and airlines always have carpeting. And carpeting is 
       productive of electrical static. Shuffle across the floor in 
       most travel facilities on a dry or cool day and you get a spark 
       when you touch the doorknob. This same static electricity 
       buildup can ruin the EPROM chip in your laptop keyboard when you 
       sit down to use the laptop. Be sure to first touch a bathroom 
       faucet with a coin. To eliminate static in your hotel room, 
       just take off your shoes and socks! 

       Carry extra charged batteries on long flights or international 
       flights. Seems like a simple tip, but that battery pack you 
       bought two years ago may finally decide it has a one hour life 
       somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Rechargeable batteries cannot 
       be recharged forever - after two to five years they begin to die.

       Be sure you know how to turn off the speaker beep facility in 
       your laptop. Crowded airplanes indicate courtesy. Third party 
       software utilities exist which will provide this capability if 
       you own an older laptop without this software or hardware 
       feature. More about this in our software tutorial. 

       Conserve power on long flights. Turn down the screen brightness 
       to save power. Use the auto-resume feature if your laptop 
       contains the capability. Switch to slow mode or lower the 
       processing speed of your CPU chip. Your instruction book may 
       mention some or all of these features. 

       Some laptops have a variation of the auto resume feature that 
       even allows you to change batteries right in the middle of a 
       program. Check your manual. Might be a lifesaver on a plane 
       trip. 

       Save still more power when travelling by investigating software 
       ram disks or virtual disks which, unlike a spinning hard drive 
       or floppy, use far less power on long airline flights. DOS 
       itself comes with a reasonable although rudimentary ram drive 
       called VDISK which all laptop owners should check out. You can 
       also obtain third party shareware, commercial and public domain 
       ram disk software. Of course be sure to save your work to a 
       floppy or hard disk before you turn the machine off since a ram 
       disk operates purely in memory and MUST have power to maintain 
       your data. 
       
       If you travel out of the country, be sure to register your 
       foreign made laptop with U.S. Customs when you depart - so that 
       upon return you are not forced to pay duty on a machine you 
       bought in the U.S. but which customs officials will suspect was 
       purchased overseas. This can be a sticky subject. Contact a 
       local customs office for instructions on registering your 
       machine prior to departure.
              
       Travellers should also consider etching your name, address, 
       telephone and social security number onto the machine in several 
       places. Although this may decrease the resale value of the 
       laptop, it also increases chances of recovery in case of theft. 
       Don't make the mistake of etching ONLY your social security 
       number onto your laptop. Federal privacy laws prevent release of 
       your social security records even to some law enforcement 
       agencies and in that respect having only your social security 
       number on valuable items is probably next to worthless as a 
       security item.

       Hotels are getting better about providing modular plug in 
       telephone jacks for laptop users who need to hook up a modem. 
       But it seems the telephone jack on the wall is always ten feet 
       from the nearest table where you laptop sits. Solution? Always 
       bring a modem extension cord with in-line connector. Makes 
       laptop modem work a joy! Another tip: use the hotel's toll free 
       800 number to call ahead and doublecheck that your room is wired 
       with modular plug-in telephone jacks. Takes a moment and costs 
       you nothing! Speaking of plugs, investigate the new breed of 
       miniature surge supressing AC adapters if you travel to foreign 
       countries whose voltage can be less reliable than that in the 
       U.S. 
              
       You can obtain special anchor plates or straps which attach to 
       the bottom or side of a laptop with permanent glue. A flexible 
       steel cable and lock lets you secure your laptop to a hotel 
       radiator or piece of furniture and defeats all but the most 
       determined thief.
              
       For those who absolutely need telephone links when travelling, 
       consider purchasing an acoustic modem coupler which works with 
       all telephones when you cannot plug your modem into the wall. 
       Acoustic couplers work by attaching directly to the mouthpiece 
       and earpiece of any standard phone and transfer data directly by 
       sound transmission. By the way, in overseas areas you will soon 
       find that you need a maddening array of special adapters to hook 
       your modem to the telephone line directly. An acoustic modem 
       coupler is the only truly "universal" adapter which will connect 
       to all telephones throughout the world. 

       Another modem tip when using hotel telephone lines: arrange with 
       the front desk or operator to ALWAYS put your call DIRECTLY 
       through without intervention. Many hotel system route your call 
       through a switchboard which prevents your modem from getting a 
       dial tone!

       Diehard laptop users who communicate with the head office via 
       modem should also investigate remote computing software which we 
       will discuss later. Remote computing software allows you in your 
       hotel in New York to call San Francisco by modem and then 
       connect directly with your desktop computer or office LAN 
       network. Once connected, you can run your word processor, obtain 
       files, check figures on the office spreadsheet and more. In 
       essence your laptop functions as a remote keyboard for a 
       computer which is thousands of miles away. Shareware, public 
       domain and commercial software packages of this type are 
       available. But if you do this, here is one important tip many 
       travellers learn the hard way: ALWAYS leave a note for the 
       maintenance person or janitor which tells them not to turn off 
       what appears to be your idle office desktop computer. Oh, and 
       while you are gone, turn off the desktop monitor but leave on 
       the pc if you plan to compute remotely. This saves power and 
       prevents screen burnout! 

       Need to test if two files are slightly different as you check 
       newer document files against older ones? Or maybe just backup 
       all NEWER revisions of your files to a floppy or transmit them 
       by modem to the head office? Use the DOS XCOPY command to track 
       down differences between two files such as word processing 
       documents. DOS also previously had an older File Compare command 
       called FC which accomplishes the same thing. Sidekick version 2 
       has a reconcile feature and Lap-Link can transfer files between 
       to computers and check dates and times to make sure you are 
       obtaining the newest version of a file or to ensure that both 
       computers indeed have the latest file. 

       By the way, here is an example of how to use the DOS XCOPY 
       command to copy all files from ALL subdirectories on a laptop 
       hard drive named C: onto a backup floppy in the A: drive which 
       have been updated on or later than March 15, 1992. Very handy 
       when you are on the road and want to copy or prepare for modem 
       transmission all of your updated files for the head 
       office. At the DOS prompt type: 

       XCOPY C:\*.* A:/S/D:03/15/92 

       Consider travel insurance for replacement of your laptop in case 
       of theft. Contact Safeware at 800/848-3469.

       Business travellers often have to present VERY important 
       presentations with their laptops. Essential job proposals, 
       contracts, crucial price schedules. If it is important to your 
       business, always make a backup copy on floppy disk. Seems 
       simple, but many business users discover that their hard drive 
       equipped laptop has crashed due to airport handling in transit. 
       A floppy can save the day and in a pinch you can rent a computer 
       or borrow one from your client. If data matters, put it on a 
       floppy. 

       Make sure you ALWAYS carry a null modem cable and file transfer 
       software with your laptop when travelling. You can probably 
       patch into another desktop computer to transfer files in 
       emergency, but without the null modem cable and software you are 
       stuck. Practice transferring files between several computers 
       before you travel so you have the process comfortably memorized.

       For the truly worried traveller, also carry a pair of gender 
       changer plugs which allow hookup of male to male and female to 
       female cable connections. Also a 25 to 9 pin plug adapter.

       Laptop computer die in transit? Carry a set of jewelers 
       screwdrivers and floppy disk cleaning kit. If a few simple 
       things such as this won't fix it, then grab the yellow pages and 
       look under computer rentals. By the way, many hotels maintain 
       rental laptops for business travellers. But the secret is that 
       the rate is far cheaper by renting from a local vendor than the 
       hotel. Make a few phone calls and get a laptop delivered to your 
       hotel suite in case of emergency. The smartest travellers call 
       ahead to their destination and reserve a backup laptop in case 
       of problems at a local vendor. If the laptop is not checked out 
       a small retainer fee is kept by the vendor. This can be done by 
       a charge card and a long distance phone call. Same goes for 
       renting LCD projection panels for business meetings. 

       Consider obtaining a CompuServe account for modem use if you 
       travel frequently. You can obtain online support for laptop 
       computer problems directly from the manufacturer, download 
       special software utility files, transmit important files to the 
       home office, send faxes when all you have is a modem which lacks 
       fax transmit capabilities (CompuServe converts your modem 
       transmission and sends it on via their fax equipment.) Lots of 
       good ideas and special laptop discussion forums for business 
       travelers. You can even book hotel and airline reservations 
       directly by modem using CompuServe, too. Laptops, travel and 
       CompuServe go together handsomely.

       Did your ribbon die in your portable printer? Just not black 
       enough? Stick some fax paper in the printer. It is heat 
       sensitive and will frequently pick up an image without a printer 
       ribbon. Amazing but true. This works with dot matrix printers. 
       Do not try it with laser printers.

       Check ahead for special regulations. Example: in Germany modems 
       are regulated under certain security laws - presumably spies 
       could use them to transmit data. You must have a "modem permit" 
       in that country or your equipment can be confiscated. In other 
       countries and some developing nations such as Africa and India 
       confiscation of computer equipment is common - even if all of 
       your registration and travel documents are in order! In those 
       cases you might be better off leaving your computer at home and 
       bringing a tape recorder or notepad. Just because you own a 
       computer does not mean you can use it in an unrestricted 
       fashion while you travel!

       Tempted to use one of those inexpensive overseas power 
       convertors to adapt your AC plug in convertor to European 
       current? DON'T DO IT without first checking with the 
       manufacturer. Those inexpensive current convertors work fine 
       when changing high voltage overseas current to lower voltage US 
       current for things like shavers because they reduce the voltage. 
       The problem is that most of the world uses 50 cycle AC current 
       versus the normal 60 cycle AC current in the U.S. Computers CANNOT 
       run from these inexpensive convertors and damage may occur. 
       Find out what device the manufacturer supplies or recommends for 
       travel outside of your country of residence.

       Tutorial finished. Be sure to order your FOUR BONUS DISKS which 
       expand this software package with vital tools, updates and 
       additional tutorial material for laptop users! Send $20.00 to 
       Seattle Scientific Photography, Department LAP, PO Box 1506, 
       Mercer Island, WA 98040. Bonus disks shipped promptly! Some 
       portions of this software package use sections from the larger 
       PC-Learn tutorial system which you will also receive with your 
       order. Modifications, custom program versions, site and LAN 
       licenses of this package for business or corporate use are 
       possible, contact the author. This software is shareware - an 
       honor system which means TRY BEFORE YOU BUY. Press escape key to 
       return to menu.