We started using the Powerlink from link technologies.
So far our guys love em. The POE and wireless are built in.
a full charge will last them the whole day.
On 05/21/2018 01:10 PM, David Coudron wrote:
Very true. However, we found that if we have to carry the USB dongle
anyway, that carrying the mAP instead gave us much more freedom and
reliability (the USB dongles seemed a little flaky, if they got pulled
sideways in the port, they didn’t work). We could even sit in the
truck and work on the equipment without having to run a cable to
cabinet, etc. Or have two techs connected to the cabinet at the same
time. However, there are lots of ways to skin this cat as you mention
😊 Probably the biggest thing is that you can connect to the network
using a phone rather than just an ethernet port based device like a
laptop.
Regards,
David Coudron
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*From:*Af <af-boun...@afmug.com> *On Behalf Of *Dave
*Sent:* Monday, May 21, 2018 11:55 AM
*To:* af@afmug.com
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Looking for a new Truck/field Laptop
USB ethernet fixes that :)
On 05/21/2018 09:12 AM, David Coudron wrote:
We have been using the Mikrotik mAP in the same fashion as Steve
mentions with some pretty good results. Put IP addresses on the
one interface as needed and then connect wirelessly. We were
killing EIthernet ports too often due to the stiffer shielded
patch cables and cable runs on our tower sites. They just put
too much pressure on kinds of Ethernet ports many laptops have.
Now, it is getting tougher to find a decently thin laptop with an
Ethernet port anyway.
Additionally the techs are doing everything they can from their
phones these days. Normal Mimosa installs are entirely phone
based. Our main tech avoids the laptop like the plague. We can
firmware update the client radios, configure the radio, make the
customer active in Powercode, etc all from the phone. We really
only use the laptop and mAP for tower work now, and much of that
has moved to the phones too.
Regards,
David Coudron
*From:*Af <af-boun...@afmug.com> <mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com> *On
Behalf Of * Nate Burke
*Sent:* Monday, May 21, 2018 9:06 AM
*To:* af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Looking for a new Truck/field Laptop
I've thought about the air-router approach, but probably 90% of my
mikrotik work is with MAC-Winbox, setting up new routers.
I just found the Acer Travelmate Spin B1. $330. Might pick one
of those up and see how it works.
On 5/21/2018 8:53 AM, Steve Jones wrote:
I paid 1500 for my Toshiba tecra (not toughbook) like 6 or 7
years ago, it's been through he'll in the field, roofs, grain
elevators, rain, drops, left running in the bag and getting
hot. It's on its 3rd battery, fourth keyboard, but runs strong
and never fails, even has serial port. Price could have been
less but I wanted the biggest processor because at the time I
was running multiple VMs.
Lenovo are decent, the antiglare is still visiblish in the
sun. The keys fall off and batteries don't last, Ether net is
questionable, but God only knows what the techs stuck into it
or settings they jacked up.
Other than the need for wireshark occasionally, a cheap air
router to connect to the device with a ton of ip aliases has
allowed me to do 99 percent from my phone now. Onedrive syncs
our base config to dump in, we can test, allocate and finalize
a customers installation directly from the top of their tower.
On Mon, May 21, 2018, 8:38 AM Nate Burke <n...@blastcomm.com
<mailto:n...@blastcomm.com>> wrote:
The Netbook I've been using for a the last couple years
bit the dust on
an install last week. Acer Aspire E11. It was working
fine one minute,
then the Ethernet adapter was not detected by windows
anymore. Of
course now-a-days nothing comes with a built in Ethernet
adapter, I'd
really hate having to remember to carry an Ethernet dongle
everywhere.
Looking for a small form factor ~11" so I can throw it in
a canvas bag
for a hike out to a tower site. SSD and several-hour
battery life are
very nice as well.
It doesn't need any mighty CPU or Video, the only thing
that it does is
program Radios/Mikrotiks, and RDP into another machine.
The only new machines I've found so far that fits this
bill are the
Lenovo Thinkpad line. It looks like a current gen 11"
Thinkpad is
~$700. More than the $170 I paid for the Acer 5 years
ago. I also
don't like that all the connections are on the sides of
machines now,
instead of the back. When it's sitting on the truck
console with things
connected, that makes it a lot wider. The Thinkpads also
specify that
they have an 'Anti-glare' Screen. Would that make it
easier or harder
to see outside?
Is there a brand or Type that I missed? $700 for a field
laptop is a
little more than I'd like to spend for something that has
to survive
field work. Although the $170 unit has worked just fine
in these
conditions for several years.
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