Computer Mounted on FJR1300

[carotidbattery]

Lots of good info and tips, which answered most all of my questions. Thanks, much appreciated!
The wife and I both do photography. We noticed your photos are of excellent quality. What camera did you use on the trip?

Thanks a bunch. I'm glad you liked the photos. I wanted to bring my Nikon SLR but it hasn't been working lately, so all of the pictures were taken with my Pentax Optio S4. I was really pleased with how it did for a 4MP point-and-shoot.

 

[bikerschim]

To those of us challanged by operating a pocket calculator, what you did in putting together the equipment (it even worked like it was supposed to), and doing all that while on a motorcycle ride from Alaska to San Diego is just this side of a miracle. I do so enjoy riding my FJR though, at least that part I can do.

Great Blogs and videos!

 

[Woodstock]

It's very cool from the geek factor and all, but wouldn't it have been simpler to just toss a laptop in the tankbag? Not dis-ing the accomplishment or anything, just curious.

 

[RonBB]

Most excellent-Very well done. Thanks very much for sharing. Best of luck in the new career.

 

[carotidbattery]

It's very cool from the geek factor and all, but wouldn't it have been simpler to just toss a laptop in the tankbag? Not dis-ing the accomplishment or anything, just curious.

Yeah, no offense taken...A laptop probably would have worked out alright but there would have been a few things that would have been a pain. 1. Cost: Laptops usually cost more than a bunch of components...especially small laptops. 2. External monitor: It would have been a pain to have to switch between the laptop screen and the external monitor all the time. I probably could have set it up the right way, but it was nice having just one screen. 3. Heat: I wasn't sure if I could keep a laptop in a bag cool enough. There probably would have been ways to do it, but I was pretty sure that having a larger case with a big fan on top would give the components some room to breath.

All that being said, there are certainly some advantages to having a laptop instead of a computer case, but I think it mainly came down to cost. The amount of money I would have needed to spend on a laptop that would fit in an 8"x13" space would have been a good deal more than I was looking to spend.

 

[Woodstock]

I've thought about trying to do something with a tablet computer with a touch screen in a tankbag. I'm not sure they're quite ready yet, though, maybe next generation.

Hook it up to a PC-III-usb, etc, for on-the-fly adjustments, gps (like you did), cell phone, etc.