Computers

Anyone use a laptop in their observatory or outside? Do you have any
problems doing this? Which laptop computer would you recommend? A
Panasonic Tuff-book would be nice but are rather expensive. Are there good
alternatives?

Sure, most of the time. I found that the best protection against dew and
annoying others with the bright screen is to buy on of those heavy duty storage
boxes from Staples or Office Max/Depot, tilt it so the opening is going
sideways, and put the laptop in there. The heat from the laptop will keep the
local environment in the box warm enough to keep the dew off of it, and provide
some light protection so that those around you aren't too annoyed by the bright
light shining in your face. But you'll need to put something like Rubellite
over the screen to dim it enough for outdoor work. Even the screen dimmers
don't dim it enough on some laptops, and in any case even with a dark colored
desktop scheme it's the illumination light behind (?) the laptop screen that's
the source of most of the light when it gets dark.
--
Sincerely,
--- Dave
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It don't mean a thing
unless it has that certain "je ne sais quoi"
Duke Ellington
----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ed Majden" wrote in message
...
Anyone use a laptop in their observatory or outside? Do you have any
problems doing this? Which laptop computer would you recommend? A
Panasonic Tuff-book would be nice but are rather expensive. Are there good
alternatives?

Ed Majden wrote:
Anyone use a laptop in their observatory or outside? Do you have any
problems doing this? Which laptop computer would you recommend? A
Panasonic Tuff-book would be nice but are rather expensive. Are there good
alternatives?


Suggestion: Buy a piece of red clear plexiglas cut to fit over your
laptop screen to help preserve dark adaptation. Any Laptop should do
as long as it meet your requirements. I have used an IBM T-23 in the
field while observing... The heat it generated kept it from dewing up!

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 22:28:32 GMT, Ed Majden wrote:

Anyone use a laptop in their observatory or outside? Do you have any
problems doing this? Which laptop computer would you recommend? A
Panasonic Tuff-book would be nice but are rather expensive. Are there good
alternatives?

I've used a number of different laptops; all worked well. When it gets
really cold, towards 0°F the displays can get annoyingly slow. Watch out
for old laptops that don't have active matrix screens, though. They
don't work well at all, even in the 40s. But the laptop is obviously
subject to more stress than one used indoors. Consider a used one; for a
few hundred dollars you can get a laptop that is plenty powerful for
displaying star charts or running a camera, and if something bad
happens, you'll feel a lot better than if it were your $2000 model!

If you have problems with dew or frost, you might want to cut the side
off a cardboard box and place it over the laptop. If you need to
preserve your night vision, be sure to get some neutral gray window
tinting to reduce the brightness. Several layers of dark tinting is
generally enough. You might also want to use a color scheme that is
heavy on reds and blacks.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

I never use my 'best' laptop, I get a 'good enough' secondhand one (at
the moment it's a Celeron 650mHz), then it's not the end of the world
if something should happen to it.

Gaz

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 22:28:32 GMT, Ed Majden wrote:

Anyone use a laptop in their observatory or outside? Do you have any
problems doing this? Which laptop computer would you recommend? A
Panasonic Tuff-book would be nice but are rather expensive. Are there good
alternatives?

Is it still required to use a laptop for this? Kind of defeats the
idea of good portability. Why can't people use palms or half-sized
laptops?
-Rich

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 20:24:18 -0500, RichA wrote:

Is it still required to use a laptop for this? Kind of defeats the
idea of good portability. Why can't people use palms or half-sized
laptops?

How do you figure? Laptops are pretty damn portable! In fact, they are
generally a lot more portable than the telescope equipment. Anyway, one
of Ed's uses was in an observatory, so portability may not be an issue.

For basic planetarium operation, PDAs are fine (I use an Axim running
TheSky PE on occasion). But for imaging, that isn't an option. I guess
you could use a mini laptop, but I don't know that they are particularly
more portable than an ordinary laptop.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

In article GJUKd.35637$IV5.1912@attbi_s54,
says...
Suggestion: Buy a piece of red clear plexiglas cut to fit over your
laptop screen to help preserve dark adaptation. Any Laptop should do
as long as it meet your requirements. I have used an IBM T-23 in the
field while observing... The heat it generated kept it from dewing up!

I made a collapsable box from black CoroPlast and Velcro that I keep
my laptop in when I'm in the field. The "warm zone" inside the box
makes a nice place to temporarily place eyepieces, glasses and such.
In fact, I specifically made it larger than necessary to allow this.
Of course, I've just upgraded (slightly) to a larger laptop now...
:-)

--

-- Len Philpot - --
------ ----- http://philpot.org/ --

in article , Chris L Peterson at
wrote on 1/29/05 15:22:

If you have problems with dew or frost, you might want to cut the side
off a cardboard box and place it over the laptop. If you need to
preserve your night vision, be sure to get some neutral gray window
tinting to reduce the brightness. Several layers of dark tinting is
generally enough. You might also want to use a color scheme that is
heavy on reds and blacks.

Chris:
A friend sent me this. I haven't checked it out so I don't know how
useful it will be.
Ed


Subject: (From Elmer) DarkAdapted - NoCost

This might be handy? Pass it on to anyone who might use it!
=== ELMER

DarkAdapted
v 1.3 FREEWARE
http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/sy...utilities.html

Our Rating: 3 stars
UPDATED: 01/22/2005
DarkAdapted allows you to quickly adjusts screen
gamma settings to preserve dark adaptation. It is useful for
astronomers and others who need to preserve dark adaptation
while using the computer. NightVision controls the three
gamma channels (red, green, and blue) independently and also
provides full control over preset gamma settings, fade rate,
and bailout keys.

1441 kb
windows version 98/ME/NT/2000/XP

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 07:09:07 GMT, Ed Majden wrote:

Chris:
A friend sent me this. I haven't checked it out so I don't know how
useful it will be.
Ed


Subject: (From Elmer) DarkAdapted - NoCost

This might be handy? Pass it on to anyone who might use it!
=== ELMER

DarkAdapted
v 1.3 FREEWARE
http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/sy...utilities.html

Ed-

My experience is that none of these programs works very well with
laptops. The problem is that LCD screens leak a lot of light. Even if
every pixel is in the off state, so the screen is as dark as it can
possibly be, you still have enough glow to mess up your dark vision.
Also, LCD panels leak a lot of light towards the sides, so if you are
with a group of people, you laptop can be very annoying to others. Many
people like to use red plastic on their screens, although I don't think
that's a good idea. First of all, most red plastic doesn't cut off short
enough wavelengths to be particularly effective for preserving night
vision, and second, it forces the color in a way that can make it very
difficult to see some screen elements. That's why I always recommend a
combination of a suitable color scheme (which is basically what the
program you reference provides, although it is easy enough to do in
Windows without a separate program) and deep neutral tinting.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com