I just finished a 7 month backpacking trip much like the OP is planning to do where I spent one month in the UK, 4 months in SE Asia, a month in Australia and another month in New Zealand.
Best Advice: Bring and pack as little as possible. Think you're done packing? Take something out of your bag. You don't need to load up with fancy electronics that can be broke and can easily make you a target for theft. Seriously, you're out to explore and see things; don't get tied down by electronics.
1) Don't bring a laptop, I repeat, you don't need a laptop. Internet access it cheap and easy to find, especially in places like SE Asia where it's often.25-50cents USD an hour. Every backpacker destination will have at least a few places you can get online to check your email, use Skype or update your blog. Almost every Internet cafe will have card readers, headsets and webcams. Most Internet cafes often CD burning services or do-it-youself, etc. If you don't want to carry around CDS, bring a portable USB drive to unload your photos. A laptop is heavy (even light ones weight you do), is fragile, and makes you a target for theft
2) Bring technology essentials like an MP3 player and a digital camera. Digital camera is obvious. MP3 Player (i'd even go as far as not recommending an iPod if you're paranoid about theft) for long bus and plane rides and keeping you entertained. In SE Asia (Especially Thailand and Cambodia) there are MP3 Filling Stations where you can select through lists of thousands of albums/songs and have them load up your mp3 player with new music for around 5-25USD. When I was in Thailand my iPod died so I bought a cheap 2gb flash based player and have them fill it completely up with music. Also bring extra memory cards for digital camera.
3) Bring a small set of battery operated portable speakers. Seems like a stupid thing but there were infinitely useful in making friends when the hostels I stayed at in SE Asia lost electricity and you wanted music. Good for partying. Also good for when you want music while hiking/camping or laying on the beach.
4) Don't bring SmartPhone/PDA and/or fancy Razor phone. Seriously not needed. Don't even bring a phone, if you can help it. I have a nice 500USD PDA phone that I didn't bring because it was a) useless in most places b) easy to break c) expensive to use if it did worked. If you already have one, bring a really cheap unlocked GSM phone. (eBay or whatever). I ended up buying a basic Nokia phone in Bangkok for 25USD that I used all over SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand. SIM cards in SE Asia are extremely cheap. Services are Pay As You Go/Prepaid You can buy minutes for your phone at 7-11 to make local and long distance calls, just keep topping up the SIM card when you need to make calls. This option is MUCH MUCH cheaper than a phonecard or using your phone while roaming. Plus, you'll have a local number wherever you go if you meet someone or need to call a hostel or business.
5) Bring a small flash light/high intensity LED light. Extremely useful for obvious reasons
6) Bring a very cheap/basic watch with an alarm on it. Obvious to keep track of time and to wake you up for early buses and morning activities
7) Don't have a phone and need to call home. Skype will be your new best friend. Besides using a local SIM it is by far the cheapest option to call back home. Buy a 10USD or 10 Euro credit for a SkpeOut account to call home. Almost every internet cafe you will encounter will have a headset for making calls.
Non-electronics things: Besides electronics there are a few other essential things i'd recommend bringing. Get a microfiber tower. They dry easily and don't smell. Bring a raincover for your backpack so the things inside it don't get soaking wet when your back is on top of a bus and it's pouring rain. Bring at least one good hooded sweatshirt (even if you're only going to warm places) Good for buses that have blasting cold aircon or if you're high in th
I know this is a redundant post, but I thought i'd clarify the issue a bit more. I work as a technician at Best Buy which basically means i'm pretty much a gloried salesperson who installs ram and removes viruses. eMachine computers are actually suprising decent now compared to 3 years ago; they share very little in common with their incompatible predecessors. As far as the people who keep mentionining the power supply issues, this is also a thing of the past. eMachines use normal/standard ATX power supplies and they are not 90 watts. This has been the standard for a while. Most have at least 4 PCI slots and an AGP slot. The only exception to this are the Celeron machines which lack an AGP slot, the rest of the eMachines line is just as upgradeable as your average Dell, HP, or Compaq. On any given day, I see more Compaqs or Gatesway come in for serivce than I ever do eMachines.
Sorry to burst your Geek bubbles but this machine might actually not be a complete failure for low class workstations. (is that an oxymoron?) I'll have to see it for myself.
Try somewhere close to 160 degrees, at least thats what Samsung boasts. The viewing angle of their DLP sets tend to be much better than most conventional rear projection televisions.
Samsung does the conversion from 1080i to 720p as well as other formats extremely well and in my opinion. Not noticeable at all. There is a lot of speculation over which HD format is technically superior 720p or 1080i because while 1080i features more horizontal lines, it is still interlaced. The HD format 720p is progressive scan, so in theory the image is sharper with less flicker. Personally, I like 720p but your mileage will vary. They're both very good formats. If your hooking a DVD player up to a Samsung DLP television. The best way to go is DVI. The picture looks absolutely amazing. Although Component cables are usually the preferred way, DVI will give you less artifacts and an ultimately clear picture. Component cables are still analog while DVI will send uncompressed digital video to your television. A lot of people have also found that the de-interlacing chip inside the Samsung performs much better than most progressive scan DVD players however your mileage may vary.
Just to add a little more to my post about Plasmas, The gases used in Plasmas are actually Neon, Xenon, and Argon. Essentially a small electric charge is applied to each pixel phosphor to create your array colors. Because plasmas are lit at the pixel level, unlike LCDs and rear-projection TVs (which are back lit) Plasmas have a more uniform brightness and a much better (160 degree) viewing angle
Okay i've seen a few posts commenting about Plasmas and their lifespans and I just thought i'd clarify from what I know. First of all, There is no such thing as "recharging a plasma", Once the half life of the neon or zenon gas is done, its gone. The old "plasma recharging trick" is a common misconception/myth which is sometimes used by salesmen who have little knowledge of what they are selling. Plasmas cannot be recharged, period. Most plasmas have a lifespan of about 20,000 to 30,000 hours depending on the manufacturer. Pioneer models claim 30,000 because of "deep enclosed cells" however I am not sure how true their claim is. Most companies claim an average lifespan of about 10-15 years based on average viewing habits. This is not a bad lifespan for a TV, if correct. The Gateway Plasma is a rebranded Sampo model which can be purchased as Costco or Best Buy. It has the effective resolution of 480p, which is approximately the quality of a DVD and will accept all HD signals but only scale them down (most do a decent job but still not HD). Most plasmas display 1080i natively.
-macado I apologize before hand if any of this information is incorrect. Feel free to correct me.
I work at Best Buy (unfortunately) and we were instructed to stop selling all Preorder GeForce FX's and destory the boxes and give all the free stuff to the employees or whoever wanted them. Apparently at least the pre-orders will be fulfilled but I don't think the card is going to make it to the stores for quite some time do to "extremely limited supplies" (according to the store memo). At least I got a free Nvida t-shirt and Hat out of it.:o)
hmm, well you can play DVDS with xine or videolan and play DivX fine with avifile in linux. I haven't tried ripping DVDS, i'm pretty sure that would be possible too.
A linux dvd player was supposed to be released by Intervideo in the second quarter of 2000. We are obviously far past the second quarter of 2000 and they have still not released the DVD player. According to the message on their website, LinDVD still has an unannounced price, and has been released, but only to manufacturers. I'm guessing it won't be, oh.. another couple years until it comes out. I can't stand this shit. Here is the link.
I also attended that meeting. Right now the iPaq is a little bit out of my price range but its a very interesting device. Hopefully the Yopy gets released and the prices start to go down a little.
The Yopy looks like it has a lot more applications than the iPaq does but I imagine they could also run on the iPaq since they both use a StrongARM Processor.
Everytime I go to the home.netscape.com web site I get pounded by annoying popup ads for stupid products that I don't want or don't tend to buy. Do you really think i'm going to "get AOL 5.0!" for linux? This is the same way with aol.com (yes i've been to the web site) more annoying popup ads in the same format as the Netscape ones. There were no popup ads on Netscape before the AOL merger. So it brings me to the question why did AOL buy Netscape, certainly not for its browser capabilities.. America Online software uses Internet Explorer. The only way AOL has helped/not helped netscape was to put ads on there web site, include there lame software into netscape, and not use there browser.
Slashdot Mirror
I just finished a 7 month backpacking trip much like the OP is planning to do where I spent one month in the UK, 4 months in SE Asia, a month in Australia and another month in New Zealand.
.25-50cents USD an hour. Every backpacker destination will have at least a few places you can get online to check your email, use Skype or update your blog. Almost every Internet cafe will have card readers, headsets and webcams. Most Internet cafes often CD burning services or do-it-youself, etc. If you don't want to carry around CDS, bring a portable USB drive to unload your photos. A laptop is heavy (even light ones weight you do), is fragile, and makes you a target for theft
Best Advice: Bring and pack as little as possible. Think you're done packing? Take something out of your bag. You don't need to load up with fancy electronics that can be broke and can easily make you a target for theft. Seriously, you're out to explore and see things; don't get tied down by electronics.
1) Don't bring a laptop, I repeat, you don't need a laptop. Internet access it cheap and easy to find, especially in places like SE Asia where it's often
2) Bring technology essentials like an MP3 player and a digital camera. Digital camera is obvious. MP3 Player (i'd even go as far as not recommending an iPod if you're paranoid about theft) for long bus and plane rides and keeping you entertained. In SE Asia (Especially Thailand and Cambodia) there are MP3 Filling Stations where you can select through lists of thousands of albums/songs and have them load up your mp3 player with new music for around 5-25USD. When I was in Thailand my iPod died so I bought a cheap 2gb flash based player and have them fill it completely up with music. Also bring extra memory cards for digital camera.
3) Bring a small set of battery operated portable speakers. Seems like a stupid thing but there were infinitely useful in making friends when the hostels I stayed at in SE Asia lost electricity and you wanted music. Good for partying. Also good for when you want music while hiking/camping or laying on the beach.
4) Don't bring SmartPhone/PDA and/or fancy Razor phone. Seriously not needed. Don't even bring a phone, if you can help it. I have a nice 500USD PDA phone that I didn't bring because it was a) useless in most places b) easy to break c) expensive to use if it did worked. If you already have one, bring a really cheap unlocked GSM phone. (eBay or whatever). I ended up buying a basic Nokia phone in Bangkok for 25USD that I used all over SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand. SIM cards in SE Asia are extremely cheap. Services are Pay As You Go/Prepaid You can buy minutes for your phone at 7-11 to make local and long distance calls, just keep topping up the SIM card when you need to make calls. This option is MUCH MUCH cheaper than a phonecard or using your phone while roaming. Plus, you'll have a local number wherever you go if you meet someone or need to call a hostel or business.
5) Bring a small flash light/high intensity LED light. Extremely useful for obvious reasons
6) Bring a very cheap/basic watch with an alarm on it. Obvious to keep track of time and to wake you up for early buses and morning activities
7) Don't have a phone and need to call home. Skype will be your new best friend. Besides using a local SIM it is by far the cheapest option to call back home. Buy a 10USD or 10 Euro credit for a SkpeOut account to call home. Almost every internet cafe you will encounter will have a headset for making calls.
Non-electronics things: Besides electronics there are a few other essential things i'd recommend bringing. Get a microfiber tower. They dry easily and don't smell. Bring a raincover for your backpack so the things inside it don't get soaking wet when your back is on top of a bus and it's pouring rain. Bring at least one good hooded sweatshirt (even if you're only going to warm places) Good for buses that have blasting cold aircon or if you're high in th
I know this is a redundant post, but I thought i'd clarify the issue a bit more. I work as a technician at Best Buy which basically means i'm pretty much a gloried salesperson who installs ram and removes viruses. eMachine computers are actually suprising decent now compared to 3 years ago; they share very little in common with their incompatible predecessors. As far as the people who keep mentionining the power supply issues, this is also a thing of the past. eMachines use normal/standard ATX power supplies and they are not 90 watts. This has been the standard for a while. Most have at least 4 PCI slots and an AGP slot. The only exception to this are the Celeron machines which lack an AGP slot, the rest of the eMachines line is just as upgradeable as your average Dell, HP, or Compaq. On any given day, I see more Compaqs or Gatesway come in for serivce than I ever do eMachines.
Sorry to burst your Geek bubbles but this machine might actually not be a complete failure for low class workstations. (is that an oxymoron?) I'll have to see it for myself.
Try somewhere close to 160 degrees, at least thats what Samsung boasts. The viewing angle of their DLP sets tend to be much better than most conventional rear projection televisions.
-macado
Samsung does the conversion from 1080i to 720p as well as other formats extremely well and in my opinion. Not noticeable at all. There is a lot of speculation over which HD format is technically superior 720p or 1080i because while 1080i features more horizontal lines, it is still interlaced. The HD format 720p is progressive scan, so in theory the image is sharper with less flicker. Personally, I like 720p but your mileage will vary. They're both very good formats. If your hooking a DVD player up to a Samsung DLP television. The best way to go is DVI. The picture looks absolutely amazing. Although Component cables are usually the preferred way, DVI will give you less artifacts and an ultimately clear picture. Component cables are still analog while DVI will send uncompressed digital video to your television. A lot of people have also found that the de-interlacing chip inside the Samsung performs much better than most progressive scan DVD players however your mileage may vary.
-macado
Just to add a little more to my post about Plasmas, The gases used in Plasmas are actually Neon, Xenon, and Argon. Essentially a small electric charge is applied to each pixel phosphor to create your array colors. Because plasmas are lit at the pixel level, unlike LCDs and rear-projection TVs (which are back lit) Plasmas have a more uniform brightness and a much better (160 degree) viewing angle
Okay i've seen a few posts commenting about Plasmas and their lifespans and I just thought i'd clarify from what I know. First of all, There is no such thing as "recharging a plasma", Once the half life of the neon or zenon gas is done, its gone. The old "plasma recharging trick" is a common misconception/myth which is sometimes used by salesmen who have little knowledge of what they are selling. Plasmas cannot be recharged, period. Most plasmas have a lifespan of about 20,000 to 30,000 hours depending on the manufacturer. Pioneer models claim 30,000 because of "deep enclosed cells" however I am not sure how true their claim is. Most companies claim an average lifespan of about 10-15 years based on average viewing habits. This is not a bad lifespan for a TV, if correct. The Gateway Plasma is a rebranded Sampo model which can be purchased as Costco or Best Buy. It has the effective resolution of 480p, which is approximately the quality of a DVD and will accept all HD signals but only scale them down (most do a decent job but still not HD). Most plasmas display 1080i natively.
-macado
I apologize before hand if any of this information is incorrect. Feel free to correct me.
I work at Best Buy (unfortunately) and we were instructed to stop selling all Preorder GeForce FX's and destory the boxes and give all the free stuff to the employees or whoever wanted them. Apparently at least the pre-orders will be fulfilled but I don't think the card is going to make it to the stores for quite some time do to "extremely limited supplies" (according to the store memo). At least I got a free Nvida t-shirt and Hat out of it. :o)
-macado
hmm, well you can play DVDS with xine or videolan and play DivX fine with avifile in linux. I haven't tried ripping DVDS, i'm pretty sure that would be possible too.
A linux dvd player was supposed to be released by Intervideo in the second quarter of 2000. We are obviously far past the second quarter of 2000 and they have still not released the DVD player. According to the message on their website, LinDVD still has an unannounced price, and has been released, but only to manufacturers. I'm guessing it won't be, oh.. another couple years until it comes out. I can't stand this shit. Here is the link.
hmm.. This reminds me of that star-trek like stupid Sun Microsystems commercial for some reason...I don't know if you've seen it.
How much power can this DOT take?!?
--
Captain, Power is what the DOT is all about.
--
The power of Sun technology is highly logical.
--
I like it
I also attended that meeting. Right now the iPaq is a little bit out of my price range but its a very interesting device. Hopefully the Yopy gets released and the prices start to go down a little.
The Yopy looks like it has a lot more applications than the iPaq does but I imagine they could also run on the iPaq since they both use a StrongARM Processor.
-Macado
Forgive me i stole some of this from Bashcat by Dirk van den Brink, Jr. .cueget http://t.dcnv.com/CRQ/1..ACTIVATIONCODE.04.$CUE.0 .cueget | grep desc | cut -c 6- -` .cueget | grep url | cut -c 5-`
-----------------------------------
clear
echo "Scan product.."
read CUE
CUE=`echo $CUE | cut -b 7- - | tr A-Za-z a-zA-Z`
wget -t2 -T1 -q -O
DESC=`cat
URL=`cat
echo "Cue Cat Barcode Scanner"
echo $DESC
echo $URL
netscape $URL
Are they going to breakup the names also and call the two companies..Micro and Soft?
Thanks. I guess I will have to wait until later to check out the xmms plug-ins. Apparently I didn't beat the crowd.
Everytime I go to the home.netscape.com web site I get pounded by annoying popup ads for stupid products that I don't want or don't tend to buy. Do you really think i'm going to "get AOL 5.0!" for linux? This is the same way with aol.com (yes i've been to the web site) more annoying popup ads in the same format as the Netscape ones. There were no popup ads on Netscape before the AOL merger. So it brings me to the question why did AOL buy Netscape, certainly not for its browser capabilities.. America Online software uses Internet Explorer. The only way AOL has helped/not helped netscape was to put ads on there web site, include there lame software into netscape, and not use there browser.