| Author |
Message |
Joerg
Guest
|
 Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:46 am Post subject:
Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
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Hello All,
JTAG programming requires a little laptop for the lab. Nothing fancy,
just a small machine that can dump code into an MSP430 or similar. I
don't write much firmware so processor performance for compile runs is
no issue. A text editor and maybe schematic entry, too, but that
doesn't require a lot of processing power either. Ideally it should have
a long battery life.
I know that even Walmart sells some for around $600 but with a very
short battery life. Is there anything out there that you could recommend?
Reason I ask is that most laptops these days are total overkill. The
processors run at 1-2GHz and much of that is used as a space heater when
the fan comes on. I still have an old Compaq that used to haul five
hours on an old NiCd, and this was the standard issue battery that came
with it. Unfortunately this little machine can't run stuff like the IAR
compiler anymore, otherwise it would have been perfect. Also, from all
the lab work its case starts to crumble ;-)
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com |
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Lewin A.R.W. Edwards
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:42 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
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| Quote: | JTAG programming requires a little laptop for the lab. Nothing fancy,
just a small machine that can dump code into an MSP430 or similar. I
don't write much firmware so processor performance for compile runs is
|
I'd recommend a ThinkPad 240 series (preferably 240X, or 240Z if you can
find one - they were Japan only IIRC). This is an ultralight. The
fastest 240X they made was a 500MHz PIII. I had one with two extended
batteries, each of which gave me about four hours of life. Very small and
light. More importantly, it had serial and parallel ports (as well as
USB). Should be able to pick one up in the $200 ballpark on eBay.
10.4" 800x600 LCD, by the way. |
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Ian Bell
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:15 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
|
|
Joerg wrote:
| Quote: | Hello All,
JTAG programming requires a little laptop for the lab. Nothing fancy,
just a small machine that can dump code into an MSP430 or similar. I
don't write much firmware so processor performance for compile runs is
no issue. A text editor and maybe schematic entry, too, but that
doesn't require a lot of processing power either. Ideally it should have
a long battery life.
I know that even Walmart sells some for around $600 but with a very
short battery life. Is there anything out there that you could recommend?
Reason I ask is that most laptops these days are total overkill. The
processors run at 1-2GHz and much of that is used as a space heater when
the fan comes on. I still have an old Compaq that used to haul five
hours on an old NiCd, and this was the standard issue battery that came
with it. Unfortunately this little machine can't run stuff like the IAR
compiler anymore, otherwise it would have been perfect. Also, from all
the lab work its case starts to crumble ;-)
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com
|
Whichever one you choose, be sure to check it has a serial interface. Many
laptops these days no longer have one.
Ian
--
Ian Bell |
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Guy Macon
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:44 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
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| Quote: | Joerg wrote:
JTAG programming requires a little laptop for the lab.
|
A laptop or just something small and easy to move around?
| Quote: | I know that even Walmart sells some for around $600 but with a very
short battery life.
|
Your lab lacks AC outlets?
| Quote: | Also, from all the lab work its case starts to crumble ;-)
|
Sounds like you want something ruggedized. |
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Earl Bollinger
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:46 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
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|
"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:iMtsd.38834$6q2.33766@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com...
| Quote: | Hello All,
JTAG programming requires a little laptop for the lab. Nothing fancy, just
a small machine that can dump code into an MSP430 or similar. I don't
write much firmware so processor performance for compile runs is no issue.
A text editor and maybe schematic entry, too, but that doesn't require a
lot of processing power either. Ideally it should have a long battery
life.
I know that even Walmart sells some for around $600 but with a very short
battery life. Is there anything out there that you could recommend?
Reason I ask is that most laptops these days are total overkill. The
processors run at 1-2GHz and much of that is used as a space heater when
the fan comes on. I still have an old Compaq that used to haul five hours
on an old NiCd, and this was the standard issue battery that came with it.
Unfortunately this little machine can't run stuff like the IAR compiler
anymore, otherwise it would have been perfect. Also, from all the lab work
its case starts to crumble ;-)
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com
|
I am not sure what it is your after. You want long battery life, rugged case
that doesn't crumble (ruggedized?), doesn't need a lot of CPU power.
Was this a laptop or a ultra compact model? Were you wanting a long battery
life for use outside your lab?
Battery life nowadays, means you can't use a 14 ot 15 inch LCD screen on the
laptop. Most of the battery power goes into maintaining the LCD panel.
None of the laptops really have a decent battery run with the LCD panel lit
up the entire time. If you were to be able to check the maptop battery run
specs and data, you would see the long battery life runs were done with the
LCD panel and other I/O devices doing into sleep mode for ost of the test.
For me the last good laptop I got a year ago was a Compaq Laptop for $999 at
Sam's Club. It had a 15" LCD panel, 2.5ghz AMD chip, and most important of
all was it still had a "real" RS232 port and a real "Parallel" port. Thus
all my MCU software ran on it no problem. Plus I could use the USB ports for
new MCU software too. Battery life was still not all that great, only a hour
or so at best. But then you can carry an extra battery pack, and make more
use of the AC adapter too. Some laptops work with a 12v Auto adapter or
airplane seat adapter too. The problem is the 15" LCD takes a lot of power
to run, especially with the backlight. Thus you can't watch a DVD movie on
it running off of battery power alone.
The $545 Walmart laptopn isn't bad, but the 14" LCD sucks a lot of power,
and it doesn't have a RS232 port. Some MCU programming software has trouble
with the USB to serial adapters. You might have to buy several USB to serial
adapters to get all the MCU software to work OK. Not all USB to Serial
adpaters are equal.
If you add a $100 to the price then this laptop
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3202221&cat=3944&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A3944%3A3944
would be a lot better, as it has a larger battery pack to give some longer
battery run times.
This Tatung laptop might be a better choice
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3380763&cat=4070&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A4070
It has a small LCD, thus it uses less power to run the LCD panel. It runs
3-4 hours off the battery with the 12" LCD.
Some of the Averatec ultra small laptops are maybe good choices like this
one
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3163953&cat=4070&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A4070%3A119888&xsell=3223390
But ultra small or ultra thin means the battery pack is correspndingly small
too. |
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Lewin A.R.W. Edwards
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:51 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
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| Quote: | The $545 Walmart laptopn isn't bad, but the 14" LCD sucks a lot of power,
|
No, no, it IS very bad indeed. Besides the fact that Wal-Mart was (until
I came along - see comp.sys.laptops) falsely advertising it with a
different CPU than that actually fitted (and the BIOS is hacked to report
fraudulent CPU info, by the way), it really isn't a machine I could
recommend to anyone. Even with the 8-cell battery, it only gets 80 minutes
of runtime. Have a look at my review,
<http://www.larwe.com/technical/ecsa535.html> - it has a summary of the
Wal-Mart debacle. |
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Earl Bollinger
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 7:53 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
|
|
My apologies, I stand corrected, I had no idea somebody would propagate such
a fraud on everyone.
Especially coming from such a big seller too.
"Lewin A.R.W. Edwards" <larwe@larwe.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2004.12.05.13.50.53.491964@larwe.com...
| Quote: | The $545 Walmart laptopn isn't bad, but the 14" LCD sucks a lot of power,
No, no, it IS very bad indeed. Besides the fact that Wal-Mart was (until
I came along - see comp.sys.laptops) falsely advertising it with a
different CPU than that actually fitted (and the BIOS is hacked to report
fraudulent CPU info, by the way), it really isn't a machine I could
recommend to anyone. Even with the 8-cell battery, it only gets 80 minutes
of runtime. Have a look at my review,
http://www.larwe.com/technical/ecsa535.html> - it has a summary of the
Wal-Mart debacle.
|
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Mathew Hendry
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 9:01 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
|
|
On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 01:46:54 GMT, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:
| Quote: | JTAG programming requires a little laptop for the lab. Nothing fancy,
just a small machine that can dump code into an MSP430 or similar. I
don't write much firmware so processor performance for compile runs is
no issue. A text editor and maybe schematic entry, too, but that
doesn't require a lot of processing power either. Ideally it should have
a long battery life.
I know that even Walmart sells some for around $600 but with a very
short battery life. Is there anything out there that you could recommend?
Reason I ask is that most laptops these days are total overkill. The
processors run at 1-2GHz and much of that is used as a space heater when
the fan comes on. I still have an old Compaq that used to haul five
hours on an old NiCd, and this was the standard issue battery that came
with it. Unfortunately this little machine can't run stuff like the IAR
compiler anymore, otherwise it would have been perfect. Also, from all
the lab work its case starts to crumble ;-)
|
IBM Thinkpad: great battery life and build quality. Plenty of second hand
ones around. Panasonic Toughbook is another option if it's going to see a
lot of a abuse, but I don't know what their battery life is like.
-- Mat. |
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Tim Wescott
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 10:55 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
|
|
Joerg wrote:
| Quote: | Hello All,
JTAG programming requires a little laptop for the lab. Nothing fancy,
just a small machine that can dump code into an MSP430 or similar. I
don't write much firmware so processor performance for compile runs is
no issue. A text editor and maybe schematic entry, too, but that
doesn't require a lot of processing power either. Ideally it should have
a long battery life.
I know that even Walmart sells some for around $600 but with a very
short battery life. Is there anything out there that you could recommend?
Reason I ask is that most laptops these days are total overkill. The
processors run at 1-2GHz and much of that is used as a space heater when
the fan comes on. I still have an old Compaq that used to haul five
hours on an old NiCd, and this was the standard issue battery that came
with it. Unfortunately this little machine can't run stuff like the IAR
compiler anymore, otherwise it would have been perfect. Also, from all
the lab work its case starts to crumble ;-)
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com
|
For me, the lab is the penultimate stopping place for desktops before
they become one with the landfill -- why use a laptop at all?
--
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com |
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Grant Edwards
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:03 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
|
|
On 2004-12-05, Ian Bell <ruffrecords@yahoo.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Whichever one you choose, be sure to check it has a serial interface. Many
laptops these days no longer have one.
|
I've never had any problem with the $20 USB->serial interfaces
under Linux. Windows support for them isn't great...
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! I'm having an
at emotional outburst!!
visi.com |
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Grant Edwards
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:08 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
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|
On 2004-12-05, Tim Wescott <tim@wescottnospamdesign.com> wrote:
| Quote: | For me, the lab is the penultimate stopping place for desktops before
they become one with the landfill -- why use a laptop at all?
|
If your lab is in a constant state of being reconfigured, it's
a royal PITA to keep shuffling desktop machines around from one
bench to another.
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! .. Everything
at is....FLIPPING AROUND!!
visi.com |
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mark thomas
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:09 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
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|
The artist formerly known as Lewin A.R.W. Edwards wrote:
|| The $545 Walmart laptopn isn't bad, but the 14" LCD sucks a lot of power,
|
| No, no, it IS very bad indeed. Besides the fact that Wal-Mart was (until
| I came along - see comp.sys.laptops) falsely advertising it with a
| different CPU than that actually fitted (and the BIOS is hacked to report
| fraudulent CPU info, by the way), it really isn't a machine I could
| recommend to anyone. Even with the 8-cell battery, it only gets 80 minutes
| of runtime. Have a look at my review,
| <http://www.larwe.com/technical/ecsa535.html> - it has a summary of the
| Wal-Mart debacle.
From your review:
"Overall it is a good value. If you don't need to do games or video editing,
this is a competent laptop and the price is just right. Given its design
limitations, I'd give this product four and a half stars out of five. It
loses the half-star solely because of the flimsy touchpad buttons."
If that isn't a recommendation I don't know what is.
--
MT
To reply directly, please take "your dick" out of my address. |
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Bryan Hackney
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:56 pm Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
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|
mark thomas wrote:
| Quote: | The artist formerly known as Lewin A.R.W. Edwards wrote:
|| The $545 Walmart laptopn isn't bad, but the 14" LCD sucks a lot of power,
|
| No, no, it IS very bad indeed. Besides the fact that Wal-Mart was (until
| I came along - see comp.sys.laptops) falsely advertising it with a
| different CPU than that actually fitted (and the BIOS is hacked to report
[...]
"Overall it is a good value. If you don't need to do games or video editing,
this is a competent laptop and the price is just right. Given its design
limitations, I'd give this product four and a half stars out of five. It
loses the half-star solely because of the flimsy touchpad buttons."
If that isn't a recommendation I don't know what is.
|
Rewarding deceit with 4-1/2 stars??? How about 0. |
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Spehro Pefhany
Guest
|
| Posted:
Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:13 am Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
|
|
On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 09:55:49 -0800, the renowned Tim Wescott
<tim@wescottnospamdesign.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Joerg wrote:
Hello All,
JTAG programming requires a little laptop for the lab. Nothing fancy,
just a small machine that can dump code into an MSP430 or similar. I
don't write much firmware so processor performance for compile runs is
no issue. A text editor and maybe schematic entry, too, but that
doesn't require a lot of processing power either. Ideally it should have
a long battery life.
I know that even Walmart sells some for around $600 but with a very
short battery life. Is there anything out there that you could recommend?
Reason I ask is that most laptops these days are total overkill. The
processors run at 1-2GHz and much of that is used as a space heater when
the fan comes on. I still have an old Compaq that used to haul five
hours on an old NiCd, and this was the standard issue battery that came
with it. Unfortunately this little machine can't run stuff like the IAR
compiler anymore, otherwise it would have been perfect. Also, from all
the lab work its case starts to crumble ;-)
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com
For me, the lab is the penultimate stopping place for desktops before
they become one with the landfill -- why use a laptop at all?
|
Yes.
Depending on what you're working on, there may be some advantage to
having the ports isolated from earth if you're doing ISP kind of stuff
on prototypes etc. Otherwise you may be one error away from disaster
rather than two.
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com |
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Lewin A.R.W. Edwards
Guest
|
| Posted:
Mon Dec 06, 2004 2:03 am Post subject:
Re: Good low cost laptop for embedded work? |
|
|
| Quote: | "Overall it is a good value. If you don't need to do games or video editing,
|
Hmm yes. It is in reverse chronological order, of course. For the last few
months I have only been working on the top. I guess I better edit that. |
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