I hadn’t planned to bring the Asus EEE on holiday – but at the last moment I threw it in the boot of the car (and as it is solid state I could throw it).
I do push my PDA to the limits and expect it to perform as a laptop but there are a few things it cannot do which the Asus can do when connected to the internet.
For the first thing I have been able to post to this blog – there is PDA interface to post to WordPress but it is limited – but using the Asus I have been able to post with images and manage my site, (I was planning to post my Coast to Coast Experience but the holiday seems to have got in the way of that happening – you will have to wait for that a little longer.)
The other thing I have been using our timeshare wifi for is posting images to my Flickr pages – www.clivecatton.co.uk – something that I get round to all to infrequently, I still have images from the top of Ben Nevis from last summer that I still want to post – this year the pictures are up there.
Anyway we are off camping again tomorrow so the Asus will go back in its padded backpack (Tamrac Travel Pack 71 – free with my Amateur Photographer subscription) and go back in the boot.
A client of mine is giving the Asus a real travel try out – he is having a months holiday in Australia and asked me to spec him a laptop for the journey so he could keep up with email and stuff for his business whilst away – as well as using it for Skype, editing the digital photos and other computer chores. I suggested the Asus – and when he returns I’ll tell you how he got on with it.
I sorted out several other hi-tech things he needed, he already had a Pocket PC for carrying his Outlook etc with him – we suggested and configured that for him. I configured a memory stick for use in a Windows PC with Portable Apps – but also as a storage device of essential documents which can be used in Asus under Linux. I backed his Outlook PST file this stick and uploaded the data to the Essential PIM Portable Application, loaded on the stick – plug the stick into a Windows PC to access your Outlook data whilst on the road. He also took an 8gig stick with him as a backup device for digital photos.
Business and personal “on the road computing” is something that I specialise in at Octagon Technology – and is something I enjoy setting up and using – it is also a good excuse to upgrade my kit on a regular basis!