I don't know if I completely agree with this assessment.
The mechanics that service our fleet of vehicles needs to be fairly familiar with a variety of computer systems. We use a web-based issue ticketing and tracking system and our more tech-savvy technicians provide valuable feedback to make that system better.
Our Cummins, International, and other vendors for brake systems, air conditioning systems, and others use software combined with various leads and interfaces to access computer data. Our newest vehicles can report information back to our system wirelessly within our shops. Precious few of our mechanics are familiar with the systems enough to use them to their potential.
One of our newest acquisitions is a Snap-On Verus, which is a WinXP based tablet with a variety of modules that interface with vehicle systems for troubleshooting. It is capable of not only gathering the symptoms, but also searches online databases for highest probability resolutions for those problems.
Again, I'm not entirely sure I agree with your assessment, because you may be correct that a computer geek might not want to do this type of work, what I see in our shop is a transition from the mechanic work of my father's day (basic ODB-II scanner capable, but more at home with a dwell meter and basic timing light) to the modern mechanic who must know how to effectively search databases and extract data from complex electronic systems.
Wow. Never thought I'd see the day that/. would be without CmdrTaco. Best of luck and thanks for the stories! Glad you and the rest kept this site as relevant for as long as you have.
I had Windows 95 running more stable than any install of 98...probably because it was installed on a Thinkpad and IBM really tweaked a lot (and built decent drivers) in order to make it a stable platform. Of course, every time it started getting a little flakey (about once a year), I'd get out the IBM image CD and re-image the laptop - back to stability!
Good way around the headaches is to stop play (pause the game) about every 5-10 minutes for a minute or two. Too much game play can give you a vertigo feeling (plus the headache) after a while.
A friend of mine picked one up at Toys R Us about 3 years ago for $25 - games were all clearanced at $1-5 each. So he bought the system and a copy of each game they had left! Had some fun for a few months and then he gave it to his little brother for Christmas. He got the unit and nearly all the games produced for about the same price as a good new release PS2 game!
We just purchased three of these (as well as two of their less rugged GoBook). The Max has a slightly smaller keyboard than a typical full size laptop. One thing to remember is that this is a single spindle device, so if you want CD/CDRW/Floppy capabilities, they will have to be USB or PC Card. Itronix sells them with USB devices and the BIOS supports USB boot devices, so no big deal there.
They exceed MIL spec on drop test and are able to have up to 4 inches of water flow through the case per hour.
I recently spent some time talking to the principal mechanical engineer on this product and they worked really hard to over-engineer as much as they could. Parts are manufactured in Taiwan and assembled in Washington State!
Let me know if you have specific questions and I'll pass them on to the Itronix people I know.
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I don't know if I completely agree with this assessment. The mechanics that service our fleet of vehicles needs to be fairly familiar with a variety of computer systems. We use a web-based issue ticketing and tracking system and our more tech-savvy technicians provide valuable feedback to make that system better. Our Cummins, International, and other vendors for brake systems, air conditioning systems, and others use software combined with various leads and interfaces to access computer data. Our newest vehicles can report information back to our system wirelessly within our shops. Precious few of our mechanics are familiar with the systems enough to use them to their potential. One of our newest acquisitions is a Snap-On Verus, which is a WinXP based tablet with a variety of modules that interface with vehicle systems for troubleshooting. It is capable of not only gathering the symptoms, but also searches online databases for highest probability resolutions for those problems. Again, I'm not entirely sure I agree with your assessment, because you may be correct that a computer geek might not want to do this type of work, what I see in our shop is a transition from the mechanic work of my father's day (basic ODB-II scanner capable, but more at home with a dwell meter and basic timing light) to the modern mechanic who must know how to effectively search databases and extract data from complex electronic systems.
Wow. Never thought I'd see the day that /. would be without CmdrTaco. Best of luck and thanks for the stories! Glad you and the rest kept this site as relevant for as long as you have.
I had Windows 95 running more stable than any install of 98...probably because it was installed on a Thinkpad and IBM really tweaked a lot (and built decent drivers) in order to make it a stable platform. Of course, every time it started getting a little flakey (about once a year), I'd get out the IBM image CD and re-image the laptop - back to stability!
Good way around the headaches is to stop play (pause the game) about every 5-10 minutes for a minute or two. Too much game play can give you a vertigo feeling (plus the headache) after a while. A friend of mine picked one up at Toys R Us about 3 years ago for $25 - games were all clearanced at $1-5 each. So he bought the system and a copy of each game they had left! Had some fun for a few months and then he gave it to his little brother for Christmas. He got the unit and nearly all the games produced for about the same price as a good new release PS2 game!
We just purchased three of these (as well as two of their less rugged GoBook). The Max has a slightly smaller keyboard than a typical full size laptop. One thing to remember is that this is a single spindle device, so if you want CD/CDRW/Floppy capabilities, they will have to be USB or PC Card. Itronix sells them with USB devices and the BIOS supports USB boot devices, so no big deal there. They exceed MIL spec on drop test and are able to have up to 4 inches of water flow through the case per hour. I recently spent some time talking to the principal mechanical engineer on this product and they worked really hard to over-engineer as much as they could. Parts are manufactured in Taiwan and assembled in Washington State! Let me know if you have specific questions and I'll pass them on to the Itronix people I know.