Solid State HD

They could be mainstream by now if it wasn't for the extreme bloat of "modern" software.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I'd thought that a really small low power HD, say 1G for the OS, and another flash drive might be a short term solution

Martin

It would, if we'd all use legacy software. Which BTW would be just fine with me. Back in the late 80's I was able to do almost anything in engineering I do now, on HDs in sizes ranging from 10MB to 40MB (I never even went past 30% capacity on the latter). Yes, including the generation of fancy module specs with schematic sections, SPICE plots and analyzer plots in there.

But now many files won't even fit onto a 1.44MB floppy anymore. Unfortunately we have to howl with the wolves here because we must be able to read other peoples docs. Personally I tend to stick with the old simple ways for stuff that remains local. For example, the complete set of business records for one tax year is well under 1MB. And this includes lots of database entries beyond what the law requires so should there ever be an audit I can find stuff for them within seconds.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Unfortunately, low density HD are not at all low power/noise. They are usually older designs. Noise is annoying. My 5G laptop drive is as noisy as a desktop drive. I replaced it with a 1G Flash drive. Now my laptop is absolutely quiet. All my AVR developement tools fit in 1G, including X11/WINE. It also run out of solar charged batteries, for field developments.

This 15V toshiba laptop was included with a 18V compaq adapter. As expected, the power regulator, Li-Ion batteries are all fried.

How? Did you put it inside and hardwire over to it from a USB port?

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

No, it replaces the laptop drive directly.

I'll go take some pictures with the stuffs and post later.

I also use an extern USB flash drive for backup. But the laptop cannot boot from USB directly.

Aha! Went over to the home page. So if a client needs this stuff we can buy it from you then. Cool.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

The Labor Day sale flyer for K-Mart lists a 1 GB PNY USB jump drive as being on sale for $9.99 from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Sure. But that doesn't make the file sizes small and efficient again ;-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Again, most old laptop can't boot from USB.

This is a Toshiba 233MHz Pentium.

The CFD drive fit inside the space on the top left corner. The 1.5A switching regulator is next it. The original laptop came with a 4A power adapter. This setup is running cooler than my cable box (hot) and PS3 (very hot) next to it.

Probably you get a lot longer battery life out of it now (if you'd replace it's shot battery).

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

If I take out the CDROM and Ethernet PCMCIA card, it should be less than 1A @12V. The S3 video chip is hotter than the Toshiba CPU (probably a custom mobile Pentium). I might be able to switch power to the video chip. One of my customer wants it to run directly on solar panels, no other power available.

12 watts is still a lot. IMHO the best in terms of economy were the old Compaq Conturas. Mine ran up to 6hrs on a single NiCd charge. To me anything that came later looked like a step beck in power economy.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

It measured 0.6A average, so about 6W or 9 hours on the 4.4Ahr battery. But this is without the CDROM and LCD screen.

Well, yes, but a PC ain't much use when you can't see the screen ;-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I've a 100 gig Seagate in my laptop and it is very quiet. Too bad the thing has two fans that rev up when under load. I'm running Kubuntu Edgy, KDE version of Ubuntu.

Well, it's an embedded laptop.

Yes, we do need to plug in an external LCD monitor once in a while. But other than that, we only need a WiFi card for quick data dump. There is an USB data logger attached to the embedded laptop. The USB data logger takes another 10 to 20mA.

The USB data logger listens to remote devices transmitting a simple RF data modulation (probably AM band). We need less than 100 bits per second. But this is still further down the line of developments.

But we don't want to put these $100 drives on $50 laptops. There are plenty of 200MHz laptop for less than $50 on ebay.

If you have any say in this try to steer away from AM modulation. The AM band is ok if you stay legal, just not as a modulation scheme for data.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com