How to: Wireless in your car or truck

I've been asked several times for a solution that allows one to have wireless access in a vehicle. On a beautiful sunny day in Philly the need for this capability is immediately apparent to me :-)

One of my customers, a private detective, uses a Linksys wireless broadband router ( p/n WRT54G3G-ST). You can power it with the included car adapter or use an inverter in your vehicle. Just take your Verizon or Sprint EVDO card and follow the directions. It's reported that it only takes 10 minutes to set up.

EVDO Forums is a great resource for more information about this and other products.

Now you can sit on the grass in the park (within 100' of your car/truck) and surf the 'net at broadband speeds.

My first computer - what was yours?

Although we owned many kinds of computers in my family, our first true personal computer was the CompuColor II. http://www.computercloset.org/CompuColorII.htm

My dad purchased it at a computer products show in 1981. At the time it was superior to both the IBM PC and the Apple computer. At only $5,000 it wasn't cheap (remember - this was 1981) but it sure was fun.

It came with 4K of RAM and a 8" floppy drive for storage. Eventually we upgraded it to the maximum of 48K and installed an external floppy drive for more storage. There were some great games, including one where you had to fire mortars at another gun that was placed on a hill. You needed to compensate for angle and windspeed to successfully destroy the other side.

What was your first computer?

Installing Vista on your LE1600 or LS800? Read this.

Paul from our tech support department sent me this note:

LE1600 and LS800 both have a BIOS update that requires you to install it prior to the Vista installation. If you could note it on the website and blogs with this link to Motion's website driver downloads that would help. Only the BIOS is required before the installation. All other drivers can be done after the installation of Vista.

LS800 Vista Drivers: http://www.motioncomputing.com/support/driver_download_800_vista.asp

LE1600 Vista Drivers: http://www.motioncomputing.com/support/driver_download_1600_vista.asp

What's in the new Motion Pack...

With the release of the LE1700 series tablets, Motion Computing has updated the Motion Pak. It now includes: Microsoft OneNote 2007, Ambient Design ArtRage2, Grahl PDF Annotator, nFinity QuickVoice, Microsoft Streets & Trips Essentials 2006, and Microsoft Office Ready 2007.

ArtRage is a great painting package. You can get more information here.

Grahl PDF Annotator lets you markup PDF documents using your pen.

nFinity QuickVoice lets you send voice emails, record notes and more.

Streets & Trips is a mapping and directions program. Office Ready is a 60 day trial of the Microsoft Office Suite. OneNote 2007 is the latest version of their great notetaking software.