Bits & Pieces

The fur on the camera worked reasonably well to cut out the wind in the microphone but I do need to find a way to attach it better than at present.

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I was really impressed with the Caldera Cone; not knowing how much fuel I would need or use, I took 400ml (I know overkill for two days!) and ended up using about 100ml for the two days.

Most of the cooking was just boiling up cups of water for either coffee, tea or cooking Freezer bag style.

Boiling water for coffee, tea used about 10-12ml of meths and to boil 300ml took about 15ml.

This is a great stove for solo cooking and when food doesn't need to be simmered; although that's what a pot cozy is for.

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Before going on the last trip; I couldn't decide whether to wear boots or trainers, in the end I went with the boots which are a pair of Hi-Tec Peak II eVent, I'm glad I did as the lanes on the Sunday coming back were full of deep puddles and sticky claggy clay.

I'm working on a review of the boots, to post soon.

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Back to the camera. For some reason and I don't know why but the lens on the Zi6 seems to be narrower than on my previous camera and although filming in widescreen doesn't give a very wide angle view.

To get round this I bought a little 0.67x lens to fit on the camera. This attaches via magnets; one goes on the camera and one built into the actual lens.



These are designed for the iphone but work just as well on the Zi6.

EEE PC Review

I`ve been playing around with the e3 pc for the last couple of days, and must say that it really is a great little machine.

Some stats on the machine first:

Weight 900 gm

900Mhz Intel Celeron-M processor

800 x 400 pixel screen resolution

3 Usb 2.0 ports

VGA output

Ethernet socket

Webcam

Stereo speakers

Headphone & mic sockets

Built-in mic

SD card slot

Built-in WiFi

Flash storage

I have the standard white 4Gb, 512Mb ram machine; which can be upgrade to 2Gb ram.

The OS in a special version of Xandros Linux. There are a host of open source programs pre-loaded, which include OpenOffice for word processing, spreadsheets and the like.

There are a couple of media players for playing MP3's and video., there is also a a voice recorder.

The EEE PC & Psion Revo

So far; I have been using the E3 for most of my computing usage; writing emails, surfing the web and some word processing. The E3 has worked well for all these, the keyboard is a bit small and the keys are a bit flimsy to the touch. If you are a touch typist it will be a strange experience but as a two fingered typist, I`m not finding it to much trouble.

The Wifi works pretty well in all parts of the house, I haven't tried it out and about yet.

The web browser is Firefox and the email is web based and has tabs for most of the major email web based players.

All the web pages load O.K and look good on the screen, video channel play the same as on my main computer.

The machine only takes 15-20 seconds to boot up and normally starts in the easy desktop, this is the default setting.

Easy desktop

The easy desktop has tabs across the top for the major areas of usage and subsections within them.

Everything is pretty straight forward and getting start doesn't even require the user manual.

The desktop can be changed to advanced mode, which requires a download. This then looks like a normal Windows/Mac desktop.

Advanced mode

There is a good user group for the E3 and also a Wiki; this is where I found out about how to chance the desktop.

All of my USB devices; Aiptek camera, MP3 player and USB flash key have all been recognised by the machine.

Battery life is about 3-4 hours even with the Wifi switched on.

I have found that the webcam is O.K when viewing but the actual recording seems very jerky and not to clear.

The machine is really designed for children and does look like a toy but it is a really neat little machine.

The biggest advantage over the Psion is the WiFi; with so many hotspots around it means getting that all important blog entry in quickly.

Sizewise you wouldn't want to take it backpacking but overall this a useful machine for quickly checking emails, a bit of surfing and some word processing.

Another day, another piece of equipment

May is here; so it's only 14 day until my trip on the Dales Way.

Over the weekend I got all my equipment out to check it was all O.K and most of it was although my Ortlieb mapcase seem to have gone a funny colour (more opaque than transparent).

Apart from topping up gas canisters; I haven't really bought much new gear in the past year, mainly because I`m pretty happy with the stuff I`m using.

Most of the new equipment has been more in the gadget sector; new camera, mp3 player.

Today is no exception; today I`ve bought a solar charger.

My still digital camera takes 2 AA batteries and one or two sets are normally enough for a trip, but I wanted to be able to take my Aiptek movie camera which takes a lithium-ion battery. This can only be charged either through the mains or a USB to a PC.

AktoMan tried a solar charger out on his WHW walk and this looked interesting but seems as though it could only be ordered from the USA.

After looking around the 'net; I found and choose one called a 'freeloader'


It comes with 11 different adaptors to charge anything from a Nintendo DS to a Blackberry; although it hasn't an adaptor for my cheap Motorola phone.

It weighs about 150g which is probably a bit on the heavy size but the battery can be charged before going on a trip and it with hold the charge for upto 3 months.

The manual states that the charger with charge in 2-3 hrs via a PC and 5-6 hrs via the solar panels.

The first charge needed to be done through the PC but after that, charges can be done with the solar panels.

So far; I've had a little play with it and it has charged my Aiptek, DS and Nokia phone.

It will probably be 3-4 weeks for me to put it through its paces and I'll report back then.

Gadgets & Gizmos II

Next up is a piece of Software.

After seeing AktoMan's mobile blogging from his West Highland Way walk, I though I like to do this when on my walks.

For some reason I could not get the email-to-blogger set-up, the SMS messages would be sent but never arrive at the blog. In the end I gave up as I seemed to be getting nowhere.

In the past week, I`ve started looking again but this time through SMS gateways but after quite a few attempts with different gateways which didn't work or left a lot of advertising on the message, I was finally about to give up completely until I found Mobile Blogger.

Mobile Blogger is a small Java program that is downloaded to your mobile phone and allows you to send messages to your blog (Yay!!!)

I`ve sent a couple of test messages which have appeared, and I also sent the first part of the 'handyseal' post this way.

I`ll contiune to post messages this way and also see how big a message I can post, plus how much it's costing.

Gadgets & Gizmos I

I've found a handy little gadget called a 'handyseal'. It seals plastic bags and helps to keep food fresh, although not up to a vaccum sealer its still pretty good.

It looks like a stapler and needs 2xAA batteries to run it, the black cover is folded down and the bag is placed in the gap then pressure is applied and the sealer is dragged along the bag to make the seal.

The company`s website is http://www.jmldirect.com/product.php?cid=5&pid=123 and has a video showing how it works.

It can be bought in Woolworths for £4.99