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Hello,

Inline 100-240V laptop surge suppressors are readily available from online electronics retailers. Here are a few that will work for you:

• APC - APC Notebook Surge Protector for AC, phone and network lines, 3 pin connection, 100-240V
• CyberPower - CyberPower CPS500NBP Notebook Surge Suppressor - 500 Joules 2&3 Prong RJ11/RJ45 EMI/RFI
• Lindy - Laptop Surge Protector with USB Charger, Cloverleaf
• Tripp-Lite - Protect It! 2-Connector (C6, 3-Prong) In-Line Surge Protector, 306 Joules, Tel/Ethernet Protection

I've used the APC model without any issues, as well as models from Targus and TRC that has since been discontinued, but occasionally show up online for sale.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

It seems that pretty much every datacenter needs a bunch of these: http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtSeriesID=849&txtModelID=3914

They work well, though I'm not sure about software, as it was suggested previously, a virtual machine sounds like it should work for what you need.

Yeah that's what I use, it's dirt cheap and you can just buy a roll and cut the lengths you need. My home office desk I screwed some longer strips to the back underside of the desk so everything stays up high, out of the way and out of sight, then it's easy enough to redo since you're working with velcro. Being able to get behind the desk I highly recommend as well.

For Wall warts, I use these guys ( http://www.cablestogo.com/product_list.asp?cat_id=1020 ), power squid type power strips, you can attach them high underneath your desk then coil up the excess cable length near them so you don't have hanging wires. Additionally then you dont have to worry about them blocking recepticles on your good power strips (I'm still an isobar fan for those http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/product-series.cfm?txtSeriesID=825 )

Also dont be afraid of physical separation, I have my cable modem, firewall, and a switch on one side of the room on a cabinet where printer, mfd etc are, along with a small nas, then gig isl's over to the other side of the room where workstations on the desk are plugged in.

I'm also a big fan of synergy ( http://synergy-foss.org/ ) as a software keyboard/mouse for machines vs having use physical keyboards or physical kvm's for multiples, and you still get the separated video output for each which is nice.

Every once and a while you need to go through the stuff you've got cabled up, getting rid of things you don't use all the time, or can consolidate (that's probably an annual or bi-annual job though lol). I did that earlier this year and it actually helped quite a bit.
 

Taking a ultralight desktop to a hotel room makes a lot of sense if you ditch the pico projector you could do a Raspberry Pi. mouse and keyboard for under £100 and 300grams.... its the pico projector that boosts the cos/weightt to rival a ultra-portable laptop. I suspect the thing to do is Raspberry Pi plus rolling keyboard and mouse and take along enough AV cables to plug it into any hotel room TV

I use these units mounted behind my desk, parallel and about 12" above my desktop. Mounted a few inches below the desktop would be a little harder to access, but would be nearly invisible. Make sure you screw into nothing but studs for support.

Of course wall warts still chew up multiple outlets, but it hurts less when you have that many.

-Matt

The display cluster on an OmniSmart is useful, but man, that LED display is BRIGHT http://www.tripplite.com/shared/img/products/large /OMNI900LCD.jpg. You can remove them and re-orient them 90 degrees, but you can't dim them or turn them off/remove them. Just one will light up the room- two and you will be able to read in the dark.

What we did is cut a rectangular hole in the bench, then flushmount these
http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?prod uctID=199
vertically into the bench. You can never have enough power outlets, right? :)

Please post any links you have to reasonably priced plug strips. (They are also called power strips.) I don't see why 12 outlets should cost about 2 dollars per outlet.

Note that a plug strip should have the outlet orientation that allows plugging in three outlet adapters without the adapter outlets interfering with each other.

Please post any links you have to reasonably priced plug strips. (They are also called power strips.) I don't see why 12 outlets should cost about 2 dollars per outlet.

Note that a plug strip should have the outlet orientation that allows plugging in three outlet adapters without the adapter outlets interfering with each other.

One of the reasons for the 100 meter spec for distance of Ethernet runs is potential voltage. If you are on a ship with long runs of Ethernet, you should definately ground the shields using good straps to the hull or to studs that aren't covered in paint. I would ground both ends and perhaps along the middle. I'd also use something akin an APC ProtectNet or Tripp Lite DNET1. The longer the run, the higher the potential voltage on the line and ground these to the hull as well.

The shield, while it could carry a charge, is mostly about radiation -- into or out of the shielded cable. If you are running your Ethernet along power like the fool on the houseboat (inducting 60Hz into his Ethernet) you are asking for collisions, power spikes, etc. The potential charge on Ethernet conductors itself over longer runs probably will spell trouble all by itself without assistance from 60 cycle.

I was reading this discussion for ideas on running an amateur radio station on emergency power. Most amateur radio equipment runs on 12-13.8 VDC which makes it simple to run on a auto/marine/off-grid system.

So I'm not just a me-too post here's some ideas. Look into a quality inverter, such as those from Trip-Lite To be blantantly obvious use power efficient devices, which you seem to have mentioned. Trying to feed the computers low voltage DC from an external supply would be asking for trouble, the noise you'd get in feeding the computer would likely kill it. Use the included computer PS and use an inverter. If you're concerned about battery life then get more batteries or a generator.

What's a separate-boxes do-it-yourself UPS rig good for, besides making you look all technical and competent?

Well, it lets you have monstrous battery capacity, if you like.

Why not buy the power supply and inverter in the same box, like this one, which sells for around USD$235.

Maybe it's a bit more expensive, but it can deliver 500 W (1000 W) peak, instead of 210 W (there are larger models available as well, up to 3600 W), you can use all the car batteries you want, and you may run less risk of electrocuting yourself.

1 - power - grab an old UPS. Most UPSs run off a 12V battery inside. It's trivial to mod this to run off your boat battery. In other words, old UPS == cheap AC inverter.