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Cybercafè Travel Kit?
Xthlc asks: "I've been traveling in Europe this summer, and wanted to share photos and a journal with my friends and family as I went along. A laptop was out of the question, since I'm backpacking in some areas where the risk of loss is too great. So I'm limited to cybercafès. I thought I had everything I needed: a digital camera, a USB CF card reader, a universal AC adapter to recharge the camera, and a MovableType installation back home. However, I'm discovering that, in fact, there were a lot of things I forgot: a software CD with drivers and image editing programs, a cybercafè directory that lists things like prices and features, and a dictionary that has the Catalonian word for 'download'. So, for those experienced readers who weblog: what's your ultimate cybercafè survival kit? If you actually travel with a laptop, how do you deal with overseas connectivity? Also, where the heck do you find time to actually SEE stuff instead of just writing about it in your weblog?"
I went to Berlin last summer for two weeks and took my iBook along with me. More than anything else it turned out to be deadweight that I almost never used. I wrote one letter on it, which I burned to a CD to send at an internet cafe. Mostly, I was too busy *doing stuff* to be reflecting on anything. Visiting museums, eating at cafes, exploring the city--the time for writing about the journey is *afterwards*. The entire thing was burned into my memory so well I can still remember what I did each day of the trip, and I was able to make a pretty good set of web pages afterwards for family and friends to look at. You can spend your time in Europe however you want, but I hope (for your sake) that your memories of Europe are focused more on eating croissants at little streetside cafes than they are installing drivers on a PIII-500.
I was in South America and because I knew I had to fix a relative's computer, I brought my tool kit, a bunch of CDs with drivers on them (including a couple of OSes incase I needed to do a complete install). Later on I was in a Cyber Cafe in a tiny cafe two hours from no where. They had a broken computer and I offered to fix it. After success (some moron had installed some prgram that f@#ked it up), I had free internet access, free food and much gratitude.
IF you know what the hell you're doing, IF you're not worried about travel weight (I was in a jeep) and IF you don't mind blowing off afternoons of your travel time fixing computers you can really help out the locals, make friends and mooch a little.
If you dictate 2 minutes of travel notes onto your own machine, your friend can easily transcribe that onto your weblog for you. After all, you trust this person with keys to your house, you can certainly share your password, then change it when you return home.
If you must take a laptop along, make it an older model. Pick up a 486 for $30, spend $50 getting the battery rebuilt, and rent an acoustic coupler from your local phreak. Such a machine will easily run 98lite or any linux you choose, and if ill befalls it, you're only out a few bucks. If you can get a used Grid or Toughbook or any other rugged machine for a similarly cheap price, so much the better. USB cards require CardBus slots which aren't present on older laptops, so be sure to take a PCMCIA adapter for your flash media.
Nothing sucks like blowing up your partition table a thousand miles from home. Laptop drives are tiny and light, and old 400 meggers can be had for a song. Pack a spare preinstalled with your road warrior configuration.
Drip superglue into an rj45 end before sliding the wires in and crimping it. Ping -f and wiggle all connections before considering any cable finished.
Keychain LED lights make nice thank-yous for helpful people, or barter if money exchange is problematic. They can be had very cheap in quantity. Pack a dozen.
Tupperware-style containers are nearly as rugged as ammo boxes, just as waterproof, and they weigh mere ounces. Bake the moisture out of a few dessicant bags and throw 'em in.
Things that have saved my ass: