Help for Laptop User on the Road
On a recent trip to northern Washington, I took both my 6 1/2-pound Toshiba T1000 laptop computer and my Apple Macintosh. I packed the Toshiba because it runs on batteries and I was planning to spend some time at a campsite far from any electrical outlet. I brought along the Mac because its screen is easier to read and, though bigger than the Toshiba, it still is simple to stow.
For most of my writing I used the Toshiba. When the time came to transfer my material to the Mac, however, I had a problem. Even though the Toshiba and Mac both use 3 1/2-inch diskettes, the diskettes are totally incompatible.
Fortunately, I was near Bothell, Wash., the home of Traveling Software, a manufacturer and mail-order house that specializes in outfitting laptop computers. I tested several of the company’s products, and all worked out well.
First I borrowed Traveling Software’s Macintosh LapLink, an ingenious program that allows you to move files between any Mac and any IBM compatible, including laptops. The $139 program comes with a cable with connectors to fit any Mac or PC.
A soon-to-be-released version of Macintosh Lap-Link will include special translation software so that the Mac and PC can easily share data files from a number of popular programs. That’s important because at times files need to be converted before they can work with other software.
The company also makes a LapLink program to transfer files between a laptop and a desktop IBM compatible. Most laptops use 3 1/2-inch disks while most desktop models have 5-inch drives. This program makes it easy to move files in either direction. The $129 program comes with a cable with connectors to fit any type of PC.
While at Traveling Software, I also tried a Diconix 150 portable printer. Unlike most battery-operated printers, this one uses plain paper. It weighs less than 4 pounds and measures only 3 inches by 6 1/2 inches. The $379 printer uses the same ink jet cartridges as the popular Hewlett-Packard Think Jet printer.
The print quality on plain paper is about what you’d expect from a dot matrix printer, but when you use the special ink jet paper ($28 for a 1,000-sheet box), the results are outstanding. It’s nearly letter quality and, at 150 characters per second, reasonably fast.
To carry off my goodies, I got a $40 “laptop attache.” This over-the-shoulder bag has enough room for my computer, my printer and all my cables and diskettes. It’s designed for smaller laptops. People who use larger machines or who prefer a briefcase-style case would be better off with the $60 “Ultimate Laptop Attache.”
Traveling Software President Mark Eppley travels hundreds of thousands of miles each year and is an avid user of his products. Many of the products, he says, stemmed from his frustrations as a business traveler. On a trip to the Far East, he realized that he needed a way to keep track of his computer’s battery life. Most laptops have “low battery” lights, but by the time it comes on, you have just enough time to save your work and turn off the machine. So Eppley designed Battery Watch, a $40 program that tells you about how much time is left before you need to recharge.
A lot of people use their laptops for communications. Once I finish writing, I use a modem to send my story to the newspaper. I also need to check my electronic mail on a daily basis. For people with Toshiba portables, Traveling Software sells internal 2400-baud modems for $450 to $500, depending on the model. A less expensive option is to buy the WorldPort 1200-baud modem for $180. That external modem, which runs on batteries, works with any computer.
Most computer modems are designed to plug into a modular phone jack. That’s fine in most homes and offices, but hotel phones are often wired directly into the wall socket and have a hard-to-remove wall plate.
One solution for people who want to transmit files from their hotel room is to buy acoustic couplers, which have rubber cups that fit over the phone’s handset. Traveling Software sells a $50 model that plugs into the WorldPort and some other modems. Another solution is the $44.95 “Modem Mouth” adapter that temporarily replaces the mouthpiece of a hotel phone. It has a modular jack built in but requires a phone with a removable round mouthpiece.
Telephone cords with alligator clips are another solution for working with hotel phones, but an acoustical coupler is the only way to connect to a pay phone. I’d like to see future pay phones include a modular jack for computers and for the growing number of business people who carry portable facsimile machines.
Traveling Software also makes products for the Radio Shack and NEC laptop computers. The three-pound Radio Shack Model 102, which sells for $499, is a great traveling companion, but it comes with rudimentary software and no more than 32 kilobytes of memory. Traveling Software sells chips that can boost the memory to 2 megabytes, or about 2 million characters, and provides chips that will improve the display and enhance the software with such options as spell checking, improved word processing and database management. There also are software and cables to transfer data between a Radio Shack laptop and a PC or a Mac.
The company is located at 19310 North Creek Pkwy., Bothell, Wash., 98011. You can call at (800) 343-8080. Many of the products are also available from local computer stores and mail-order discount houses, and there are competing products in many categories.
Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the authors cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Lawrence J. Magid, 3235 Kifer Road, Suite 100, Santa Clara, Calif. 95051, or contact the L. Magid account on the MCI electronic mail system.
