Laptop and Internet usage while touring Europe
cycladelic
Posts: 641
I plan to spend a few months touring in Europe next year and will buy an Eee PC here in Taiwan before I leave - so that I can check my email and browse websites, etc.
Can anyone tell me where I can usually pick up a wireless connection in rural northern Spain and southern France - is it common and free? Do I need to get dongle? If so, how do I pay for the service when in different countries? TIA
Can anyone tell me where I can usually pick up a wireless connection in rural northern Spain and southern France - is it common and free? Do I need to get dongle? If so, how do I pay for the service when in different countries? TIA
It's an uphill climb to the bottom
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France - getting more common in small towns - most will have internet either in a bar and now lots of internet cafes. I think France is phone line only therefore less likely in remote towns and villages. I did try in a few places this summer and insmall towns quite a few bars and restaurants with wifi but generally secured. You will need to ask for a net key and possibly pay and or
Or the Wifi capability built into the EeePC?
I'm wondering which Eee PC to buy and see there's a new model out here very soon - see below: Can anyone suggest the one I should go for?...
http://tw.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24& ... odelmenu=2
There seem to be a growing number of competitors to the Asus so you might want to look at other brands as well. For example, the Acer AspireOne is a very nice machine - if you can get used to the irritating positioning of the 'mouse' buttons.
If you're not travelling until next year, I'd hang on as long as possible - as Asus responds to the competition.
Fast and Bulbous
Peregrinations
Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)
I bought the 901 with xp installed a couple months ago and am very happy with it. I have to admit that there are limits as to what you can do with it. One site you can check out for more tips is http://forum.eeeuser.com/index.php
We were thinking of going with the larger eee1000 but we thought it best to stick to something small that could easily fit in our panniers, after all you might want to get a hard cover for it, preferably water proof which would add to the size.
I have removed a lot of the preinstlled ms software and installed truecrypt which I highly recomend.
I used my laptop in several McD's in France without any problems
Flood
I previously used my Vodafone 3G/HSDPA dongle and it costs something like £7.50/mb abroad - big mistake!!! With regards to the Asus EEE, I bought the black 4G earlier this year and bought 2 separate 8Gb SD cards - its perfect in everyway. It dual boots into either Ubuntu Linux or XP.... do it!!!
Road bike - http://www.giant-bicycles.com/EN-GB/bik ... 5149/zoom/
MTB - http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/15-14686
According to a techie friend of mine, next year there will be a host of new mini-pc's from the big names with the Intel Atom as Acer and Asus have been so successful. Dell already have one. So I imagine that will increase the choice and bring down the prices, if you can wait that long.
I can't comment on the individual versions, but it seems to me that one of the biggest differences is the operating systems. The Linux ones are tempting because of the low prices, but I think you have to be a bit of a techie to take advantage of them - there is a good article on it here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2202664/
From the ones I've tried in the shops, the Eee's are a bit better built and more user friendly than the Acer ones, but they are more costly. The new Dell one looks nice but they don't seem to have a good compact travel case for them yet - that would be a deal killer for me.
I'll have to check out the article. I tried the Acer one in a shop. It was surprisingly slick (I'm a Linux sceptic) apart from the ergonomics of the trackpad buttons. It looked like it would do all the basic stuff (email, web-browsing, word-processing) out of the box, but the thought crossed my mind - what about a RAW viewer for checking photos? The thought of finding and installing a Linux RAW viewer is almost enough to send me reaching for the Windows XP comfort blanket (though maybe I'm just being a techno-wuss).
Edit: it looks like there are a couple of Linux-compatible RAW viewing/editing programs (Bibble and RAWStudion). Though you need to tweak the LinPus operating system on the AcerOne to install software. There also seems to be lots of advice on the user forums - even people installing Ubuntu/Windows XP and OSX side-by-side. I guess if you've got the time (and a ready supply of valium) anything is possible.
Be aware that anything other than wireless access can be a major problem with the Linux eepc as there are few - if any- Linux-compatible USB modems out there. I've also had problems with the software upgrade mechanism. Much as I hate to say it, life will probably be easier if you stick with Windows XP, and any problems will be easier to resolve.
If you are a Linux guru, ignore all this.
Definitely get the larger screen if thinking of the eepc or you will spend all your time scrolling up, down and sideways.
I think the postion is changing. There are Linux drivers for the Huawei modems (and heaven knows - he said speaking from bitter experience - they couldn't be worse than the one Huawei itself put out for the Mac). There are now netbooks with built-in modems. So if you can afford to be patient and wait a bit, I'm sure that there will be an off-the-shelf linux product that does everything out of the box.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/234621/samsung-nc10.html
The iphone is another option. It will do 80% of what i do on the eeePC.
Would have to be very careful about roaming charges if touring abroad, of course.
Yes turn off the 3G stuff and only do data on WIFI
It depends. If you're going to be in a country for a while, or making a lot of calls, then a PAYG SIM from a local operator could be worthwhile - otherwise an international card is probably going to be the best bet.
France for 4 weeks
Spain for 3 weeks
Norway for 3-4 weeks
UK & Rep of Ireland for 3-4 weeks
In the UK you can get a SIM for nothing but SFAIK the minimum amount of credit you can put on is £10. You should be able to get 20p/minute for UK calls and no time limit on the credit.
In France you can get a SIM from SFR (just to take one well-known example - there may well be cheaper options if you shop around) for 30€ (15€ online) and the minimum credit to last a month will cost 30€. Their Standard tariff for calls within metropolitan France is 55 cents a minute - less at evenings and weekends
By way of comparison I've seen International SIMs offering a rate of 1€/minute.
I suspect (but I could well be wrong) that if you're a relatively light user then the savings may not outweigh the extra hassle - bear in mind also that an international card means you keep the same number throughout the trip.