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I don't know if the breakable issue is such a big deal for HS students (I think it depends on the HS). But if it is then there are very sturdy laptops that can handle drops, are waterproof...

http://www.terralogic.co.uk/
http://www.dolch.com/html/notepac.html
http://www.ruggednotebooks.com/index.asp
http://www.panasonic.ca/English/Office/notebook/to ugh_story.asp
http://www.argonautcomputer.com/laptops.htm

Ok. Something like a flexpac, only a little smaller? That sounds like a very desireable product.

It just only makes sense to me if you're aiming for something that is much much more powerful than any laptop. If you're going for a low power/heat CPU and no expansion cards, I don't really understand what desktop computers have that big laptops don't have.

Do I understand you now?

They still make them
It's just they are prohibitively expensive
I have some 486 ones from Dolch I picked up from someone who didn't know what they were.

Wish I had the cash for a shiney new FlexPAC with a handheld wireless display *swoon*

Dolch has been making these sorts of things for years now. Mostly aimed at scientific, construction, and engeneering field work (the military only started widely deploying laptops fairly recently). Their laptops can handle 15G's while running and 50 when turned off.

Fast forward to present times, and you have the FlexPac, a P4 portable with all the bells and whistles of a "desktop". (Yes, I know the page talks about P-IIIs, but their main page references P4 FlexPacs.)

They were never cheap... but someone has to make these cases -- find their supplier! (I know, I know, that's what you're trying to do...) A nice case like Dolch is using (with an integrated LCD and keyboard) should be available for $1000 to $1500.

If that approach fails, get thee to your local yellow pages, find a metal shop that does custom work, and have them build you one. Have it painted at an autobody shop -- perhaps a nice coat of Imron (epoxy paint -- very nice, very durable... but very nasty to work with!) and some clearcoat to protect it in those overhead bins.

There are some very talented people out there, incredibly innovative and artistic, they just happen to be gearheads instead of geeks. Get to know your local machinist, you'll be surprised!

Finally, I think the MicroATX form factor gives you more options than FlexATX does, though the FlexATX case options tend to pack things closer together (and thus be much smaller). For example, MicroATX allows 4 devices (generally 3 PCI and 1 AGP) vs. FlexATX's 2, and there are a lot more cases out there for the MicroATX size. I'd swear I've seen cases that include an LCD built-in, but I don't remember where I saw them right now... and my Google skills aren't kicking in.

Fast forward to present times, and you have the FlexPac, a P4 portable with all the bells and whistles of a "desktop". (Yes, I know the page talks about P-IIIs, but their main page references P4 FlexPacs.)

They were never cheap... but someone has to make these cases -- find their supplier! (I know, I know, that's what you're trying to do...) A nice case like Dolch is using (with an integrated LCD and keyboard) should be available for $1000 to $1500.

If that approach fails, get thee to your local yellow pages, find a metal shop that does custom work, and have them build you one. Have it painted at an autobody shop -- perhaps a nice coat of Imron (epoxy paint -- very nice, very durable... but very nasty to work with!) and some clearcoat to protect it in those overhead bins.

There are some very talented people out there, incredibly innovative and artistic, they just happen to be gearheads instead of geeks. Get to know your local machinist, you'll be surprised!

Finally, I think the MicroATX form factor gives you more options than FlexATX does, though the FlexATX case options tend to pack things closer together (and thus be much smaller). For example, MicroATX allows 4 devices (generally 3 PCI and 1 AGP) vs. FlexATX's 2, and there are a lot more cases out there for the MicroATX size. I'd swear I've seen cases that include an LCD built-in, but I don't remember where I saw them right now... and my Google skills aren't kicking in.

You'll probaby want something from these people who seem to specialize in computing within harsh environments.

I take it the think has to be biodynamic, too?

I don't get it. Mr. evironmentalist want's a espionage-free computer. And it has to look good, because it is targeted on the ever-fashion-aware Global Civil Society servants?

Why doesn't he go buy one a rugged laptop [dolch.com] and sticks linux on it? No backdoors, no espionage, all trusted computing for the field?

I probably don't get it, do I?

We, who are about to salute you, die

Itronix GoBook Max

Field Pack

Both of these claim to have extreme battery life times and since they are marketed more towards military applications, they are pretty rugged. I mean, come on, check out Itronix's quote:
We have teamed with select systems integrators to enable you to deploy a solution right now for border security, first responder teams, bio-terrorism response teams, and network infrastructure.
. . .if that doesn't just scream gimmegimmegimme, I don't know what does. Your nation might *need* you while you are on that train. You could be ready.
The FieldPac looks pretty tough, too. . . think about it, you are on that train and some thug demands your money and you can reach down, pat the case and say "Don't make me use this . . ."

Seriously though, the app type stuff you mentioned could probably be done on most any semi-recent laptop (P2-233 would probably suffice) and most of the consumer laptops are going to have fluff (like *sound* who needs *that*?) that could dimish your battery run time (somewhat). If you really want long battery life, hunt around in the gear aimed towards outdoors work (again though, they are probably outside the 1400 buck price range).

Bull, Dell places fall limiters on your parts selection to increase their profit margins.

Example, Pentium 4 Laptops are only available with Geforce4 video cards unless you get the one (/. is SOOO going to mess up that link, it is a link to the Inspirion 8200) model that they have that comes with a video card that is NOT insanly powerful AND has a Pentium 4 chip on it.

This model also happens to need a lot of 'other' upgrades to bring it up to the range of the next cheapest laptop and then you end up paying the same price (or greater) then the bottom most default configuration of the next laptop one level up but without a good video card.

it is insane.

Their Pentium 3 based laptops are decent enough, but for anybody who wants to do a lot of CPU intensive work and NO gaming AT ALL, well hell, heh.

That and they only sell Intel kit, Dell has a significant dedication towards caring more about what Intel says then what AMD says.

Getting a well built laptop is NOT easy, and often times to get a REALLY well built one you have to deal with yee as old technology.

See Here for an example of this tendency. Yeesh. Who knew that waterproofing could cost so much? ^_^

Here is another example

Yeesh. That much money and it can just stand a water STREAM. Ugh. Nothing about full immersion. :(

Anybody know of an x86 laptop that has a 15" screen, 1ghz+ chip, assloads of ram, and is fully submersible? No? Until they make one I am not buying a laptop. :(

Yup. Pretty cool. Nicely done. And a lot cheaper than thesecomputers with handles. Though I still lust for one of their ruggedized laptops. Can't justify the price.

Are you looking to buy this system or build it from parts? If you're looking to buy, you might want to check out Dolch.

You can buy commercially available PC architecture machines like this from Dolch.
http://www.dolch.com

The metal briefcase style fall under their "rugged laptops" category. I haven't used the laptop, but I've used the "rugged portable with slots" style case, and can vouch that it is very high quality (filtered fans, shock mounted everything, etc.).
-- Chris Caudle

I have an older ThinkPad X390 dual-booting SuSE 7.1 and Mackersoft Wenders 2000. It's the most reliable laptop I've ever owned.

I also have a PowerBook G3/400 (Pismo) that bomb-restarts a lot, but OS X should fix that.

Wait until OS X 10.1 comes out in September, buy a little iBook for $1300, and get your Unix fix that way.

Their focus is on industrial, ruggedized systems -- ones that you could install an oscilloscope PCI card in, for example. Some have 5 1/4" internal bays, and these are usually the ones sporting the ISA/PCI expansion capability, too.

• The "FlexPAC" offers PIII processors
• The "TransPAC" is their PC-104 offering
• And the "MegaPAC" reminds me of the old Osborne lugable (just with modern innards).

  All of these sport (of course) integrated keyboards , trackpoint mice, and LCD panels.

  Of course, you could just look at their

• Portables product page.

Happy hunting!

Their focus is on industrial, ruggedized systems -- ones that you could install an oscilloscope PCI card in, for example. Some have 5 1/4" internal bays, and these are usually the ones sporting the ISA/PCI expansion capability, too.

• The "FlexPAC" offers PIII processors
• The "TransPAC" is their PC-104 offering
• And the "MegaPAC" reminds me of the old Osborne lugable (just with modern innards).

  All of these sport (of course) integrated keyboards , trackpoint mice, and LCD panels.

  Of course, you could just look at their

• Portables product page.

Happy hunting!

Their focus is on industrial, ruggedized systems -- ones that you could install an oscilloscope PCI card in, for example. Some have 5 1/4" internal bays, and these are usually the ones sporting the ISA/PCI expansion capability, too.

• The "FlexPAC" offers PIII processors
• The "TransPAC" is their PC-104 offering
• And the "MegaPAC" reminds me of the old Osborne lugable (just with modern innards).

  All of these sport (of course) integrated keyboards , trackpoint mice, and LCD panels.

  Of course, you could just look at their

• Portables product page.

Happy hunting!

Their focus is on industrial, ruggedized systems -- ones that you could install an oscilloscope PCI card in, for example. Some have 5 1/4" internal bays, and these are usually the ones sporting the ISA/PCI expansion capability, too.

• The "FlexPAC" offers PIII processors
• The "TransPAC" is their PC-104 offering
• And the "MegaPAC" reminds me of the old Osborne lugable (just with modern innards).

  All of these sport (of course) integrated keyboards , trackpoint mice, and LCD panels.

  Of course, you could just look at their

• Portables product page.

Happy hunting!

Their focus is on industrial, ruggedized systems -- ones that you could install an oscilloscope PCI card in, for example. Some have 5 1/4" internal bays, and these are usually the ones sporting the ISA/PCI expansion capability, too.

• The "FlexPAC" offers PIII processors
• The "TransPAC" is their PC-104 offering
• And the "MegaPAC" reminds me of the old Osborne lugable (just with modern innards).

  All of these sport (of course) integrated keyboards , trackpoint mice, and LCD panels.

  Of course, you could just look at their

• Portables product page.

Happy hunting!

Dolch have been doing "mil-spec" lunchbox PCs for well over a decade, and are still going strong. Just hand over your credit card, and don't look at the bill without a few shots of Jameson down yer...

I've been looking around all day trying to find out details about using laptop LCD's. The best site I've found is The LCD Information and Technical Forum on EIO. There's lots of information there (although most of it is about character lcd's) and it was a good lead to finding part numbers on laptop lcd's. This site sells replacement LCD screens - some of which are sub-$150. However, on EIO they often sell laptop LCD's for $9-$25! Unfortunately I still have no idea how to use them. Sharp makes the biggest range of laptop LCD's but they don't supply datasheets for the high end LCD's on the web - you have to call them up and ask them to fax it to you. If someone can get Sharp to email them pdf's on the various laptop LCD's they make (hell, even a selection guide would be nice), I'd love a copy.

I want a monochrome LCD screen connected to an ultra low power CPU. I don't need 600 MHZ of processing power on the road. I just want some random motorolla processor hooked to an IDE interface, a half size keyboard (detachable) and a monochrome LCD. Using your standard lithium ion laptop battery (the one that powers a desktop equivilent laptop for 1 1/2 hours tops) I could power this baby for hours. Put it in an attache case and you've got a laptop that I can install linux on and code for days. Perfect for lectures, holidays and when you're out and about and bored out of your mind.

And I think we killed the site. Wish my site was killed for once ;)

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