Just a minute. The battery power was just an example of the problems
that may occur. My point is that the U3 enables me to get out of a
problem should the unforeseen occur. Lets say I spill my pint over
my laptop. While I'm back at the bar replacing the pint so that I
can sulk about the laptop someone else can take the U3, use their
work PC (to which their company policy is that you cannot install
software) and carry on with the results, there by saving the day.
We are a small club with a committee boat that is too wet for
laptops hence results have to be done in the bar with competitors
breathing down your neck. We don't have mains electric and over a
weekend event there are many scenarios that could occur for which we
cannot plan hence the security of being able to take the U3 and go
to the nearest competitors house could be a solution. Not everyone
has Sailwave on their PC so the U3 could work well if someone does
not want software installed on their machine.
Sailwave is a small application which would be suitable for the U3
and it would be an additional marketing tool for Sailwave.
Colin
--- In sailwave@yahoogroups.com, "FFYB Web Manager" <webmanager@...>
wrote:
I'm conducting tests, and there are interesting solutions in
sight...
a.. Power is the main concern, most laptops with bright new
batteries can work no more than 2 hours, and when you are trying to
transmit files to the shore, you are asking them more. On some
laptops, batteries don't survive a long time on low-cost laptops...
b.. Spare batteries are expensive but you need a lot to survive
for a whole racing day, and you need to spend the night changing the
batteries on the charger, bad idea
c.. External power supply is the solution, some large car or
truck batteries.
d.. I experienced very uncomfortable working conditions of light
to work on the water with a laptop, brightness has to be turned to
maximal, bad for the power supply
e.. Transmission is sometimes possible through a Wi-Fi
connection, when you are within normal range of the main office with
hi-gain relay aerials. But usually it does not work properly
f.. UMTS will cover most of the needs, except for some regattas
at sea. Normally expensive, but if you are a regular user, you can
have a no-limit subscription... only for national use. Otherwise,
large budget required.
g.. Transmission to the shore is useless if you don't have an
efficient staff ashore, printing the results for immediate display
Philippe De Troy
From: Ralph Tingle
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 10:15 AM
Subject: RE: [sailwave] U3 Smart drive - Take your results and
Sailwave to any PC.
Hi Colin
Interesting thoughts but not sure about its benefits.
You mention that it would be useful if the battery ran low but
if you are processing results on the water would it not be better to
carry a spare battery rather than a spare laptop???
On the subject of transporting results (presumably from on the
water to shore) is it not just as easy to have the regatta file on a
normal USB & program on your laptop? Not sure what the U3 does
that's better
The real problem of transporting results is getting them ashore
quicker than by RIB.
Most clubs tend to send pieces of paper ashore for input to
scoring software.
Sometimes, sending in results by radio can work but local
transmission/reception conditions can make this difficult
If the results are processed on the committee boat, electronic
transfer of the file to the shore for printing would be ideal.
The problem is the cost of kit to access the internet through
mobile phone or whatever, or install wireless connectivity on your
racing area.
I use a video camera for finishing to provide a visual and voice
record of the results.
Now if someone could provide a (cheap) live transfer of my video
recording to the shore, this would be REALLY GOOD.
We would only need one person on the finish boat getting cold &
wet with the rest of us watching the download in the bar & recorders
entering results direct into Sailwave (using a pause, rewind & play
facility)
···
----- Original Message -----
How nice it is to dream 
Regards
Ralph
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
From: snetbeach [mailto:snetbeach@…]
Sent: 07 February 2007 22:35
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sailwave] U3 Smart drive - Take your results and
Sailwave to any PC.
Hi,
I've been using Sailwave for several years but I recently bought
a U3
smart drive and if there was one application that would be a
real
benefit to me on this device then it would be Sailwave.
U3 smart drive is a USB memory stick that can also have
applications
installed onto the stick. You could therefore take your result
files
and Sailwave on the smart drive and use them on any PC.
This would mean if you have a problem on your laptop like a low
battery, then you could save your results and take your USB
stick to
another machine and continue. The smart disk does not load the
software onto the PC, it just runs from the USB stick.
For details see http://www.u3.com/
For Colin see http://www.u3.com/developers/default.aspx
I know you have limited time Colin but this could be a big
benefit to
many users so I just thought I would bring it to your attention
and
would ask others to comment on the value of being able to
transport
Sailwave.
Colin Rudd