Best Of
Re: Replacing my laptop. Seeking advice...
Hey all,
A slurry of research on the dark web about my dark computer has netted me a "fix". I was able to bring Otto back from it's Rip Van Winkle state and get it running....for now. Nevertheless, the handwriting is on the wall. I looked up how long I've had this Macbook Pro and it's coming up on 10 years now. I'll be pushing the replacement for it up to this June at the latest, before it goes completely.
Thanks for the good information. I will now start the arduous task of doing due-diligence research on some (many?) options. To be sure, I am not in the "never Apple" camp. I am a tool user and look for the best/cost-effective tool for whatever job I'm doing. If Apple comes back to the top, I'll get another one.
Shea, I also agree that XP was the best PC platform ever, although I have had good luck with Windows 7, but only in as much as I ran a big, custom rig with a 60 inch monitor, dual graphics cards and a full set of drives to play "Silent Hunter 3" (best computer game EVER!) I've not run it on MS 10 but hope to give it a try sometime. I also agree on MS Word. It's a good solid program. As to Adobe suite, well, yes. If you need high-end graphics manipulation there's no substitute for Photoshop/Illustrator. But it's: NOT intuitive and has a huge learning curve. Takes mountains of file-space on the drive/drives. Costs thousands for the full suite and updates. I use it occasionally when at my son's house. He has the full suite on a giant Mac desktop. It's fun and thorough, but takes some patience and practice. I'm looking for a program that's much simpler to use and am willing to give up a lot of the high-end functionality in trade. Most of what I do is pretty basic and I just don't need that kind of sophistication.
Backups: I run "time machine" onto a Western Digital 2 terrabyte external drive, plus I back up photos manually by drag and drop, plus, I have a pocket time machine of 500 gigs for the basic stuff, plus, I dump important files to my son's external 4 terra external from time to time. I think I'm covered for now.....
I'll keep you informed
WilliamA
Re: Replacing my laptop. Seeking advice...
Hi William,
Like Shea am in the unix world and plan to stay there after setting up a windows 10 box for a friend a few weeks ago. CNET and Tom's hardware does a lot of reviews and might give you some good insight.
@sheaoliver thanks for the draw site I can see it being very useful. I have some hand drawn electrical schematics I need to convert.
All the best,
Re: Looking like no coffee for me
When I was taking my basic training at Ft Knox, Ky in the early 70's, my drill sergeant said that as tank crewmen, we would be issued, not M16's, but the venerable M19A2, aka colt 45. As we were rotating to the "Russian Front" (east German border aka "Fulda Gap") he said a sidearm was more useful because if the Russians attacked early, we would be able to fend them off without having to put our coffee cups down.
I am firmly in the camp that posits few things in life can't be dealt with so long as there is coffee.
Let's do some math:
https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/watt-volt-amp-calculator.html
According to Ohms law, 800 watts at 12 volts will require 66.5 amps. The same wattage at 110 volts will require 7.2 amps or so. Assuming your battery has 240 amp/hours, and only half of that is useable (50% max battery capacity usage) that means you could probably get 1 cup or maybe 2 from a single battery. That's the good news. The bad news is you'd need wiring the size of jumper cables (6 gauge minimum) to go between the battery and inverter. The good news is a coffee maker is mostly resistive load (see my discussion on that elsewhere on this forum) so the max wattage (peak load) on the inverter is probably not more than the running load.
Moving back to my discussion about storing energy, the good news is that you carry lots of energy potential in the propane tank. That's the most efficient way to do the job. I carry 3 different kinds of stovetop coffee makers and 2 stoves. One onboard and a portable, single burner stove that works with a 1 lb cylinder.
Use the coffee maker when plugged in to shore power or gennie, the stove when you aren't.
WilliamA
Re: Step outside the doors
I've also been casting about for a step. My son is growing like a weed but he isn't quite up to the 30 inch door height yet. I had previously removed the zoomy aluminum front rack and cut it up to repurpose. I had cut the sticky-uppy hoops off and decided to use them as steps. Curiously, the width between the bars exactly matches the center between the predrilled frame holes for the gas line and electric harness clamps. I cut the zoomy hoops to length and drilled the tubing for bolts. I happened to have some bolts in the correct length so I bolted them on. Some finish detail is in order but they work great. I'll do a more detailed writeup soon.
WilliamA
Re: heater
Papa,
You can find some basic info with photos on my furnace install here:
http://teardrop-trailers.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/50/best-heater-ideas-for-2017-t-g#latest
If you need or want more info, let me know...
WilliamA
Re: heater
We use a small ceramic heater, it really doesn't need much, if you search a guy here put in a small electric toe heater that is really neat!
Re: Suction cup bike rack
I have no experience with them, but personally anything suction cup scares me at 50mph!
Re: How cold do you go ?
@ericmooreco said:
year around !!
picture from 2016 thanksgiving trip.
made same trip this year, however no snow, but we got down to 20 overnight.
We attached the 5x7 tent to the door, then run a heater in the tent, and separate heater inside the camper.
Its very cozy inside
Lol. I need to show this to my GF. She worried that our new T@G will rust if winterized in my driveway at the cabin on a layer or hard pack clean snow, like 400 yards from the nearest road salt. I try to convince her that composite material does not rust and that we will remove the snow at every major snow storm. And I will have to move it to remove the plow the snow the way I like it. Lol
Now, down to the real question. What kind of heater do you have. Gaz or elecrtic, and if electric, do you find shore power, or use a geny?
Re: Step outside the doors
Emailed NuCamp and here is the response:
Good Morning Tom,
$34.85 each for the step. There is a drivers and passenger side step. So if you don’t want both please clarify which side when you order. To order please call 330.852.4811 ext 304 or press 2 for parts.
Re: Getting all the water out of the water tank
It works well. I just drained and treated my tank yesterday and no problems. I treat my tank a couple of times a year. Just remember when draining to crank the tongue jack high to get the water to the back.
For me, if I get a slight odor of bleach it's not a big deal. I probably overtreat my water system but havent had problems either. My pet peave isn't bleach smell but rather the taste of RV antifreeze. I'm not going to use that again if I can avoid it. Takes a few fill drain cycles to get rid of that.
WilliamA