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From: wmb@sun.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Portables on Airplanes
Message-ID: <279@sun.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Jun-83 13:57:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.279
Posted: Wed Jun 15 13:57:25 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 16-Jun-83 21:11:04 EDT
Lines: 37

A previous article suggested that the Grid Compass is
designed so that it may be used on an airplane.
This may be true, but it's not there yet.  A friend of
mine is a hardware designer at Grid, and she gave me
a demo today.  The machine is very compact and quite
impressive, but ...

Right now, it takes about 60 watts to operate.  They
apparently have or are working on a battery pack for
it.  I was told that it is good for about 2 hours of
operation right now, which is clearly not enough for
a long flight.  It does have bubble memory, so you can
carry it around without losing data, but you can't 
actually operate it for very long on batteries.

I don't want to detract from what I believe is a very fine
product, only to clarify the current state of affairs 
regarding battery-powered operation.

The Radio Shack Model 100, on the other hand, seems well-
suited to airplane operation, apart from interference
considerations.  I have used one at home, and I find it
especially convenient for calling up work and reading
my mail.  Of course the display is a bit small ...
I haven't actually tried to do any real work on the RS100,
and I'm afraid I would find that frustrating, but it still
is nice for remote access.  One interesting problem is the
way it connects to the phone.  The modular plug/jack that
is provided is great for when you're at home, but what
about at hotels, which hardwire phones into the wall (so they
won't walk away)?  The RS100 manual acknowledges this and 
mentions that they will sell you little rubber acoustic
coupler cups to stick on the handset.  But what about hotels
that have different shape phones (trimline, princess, or
whatever)? ... I never go anywhere without a screwdriver.x

Mitch Bradley