wireless internet for flying info

[rans6andrew]

I see that several flying clubs/airfield cafes have wireless internet connectivity for customers. Have any of you tried it? Does it deliver?

What I really want to know is: would a Pocket PC (HP214 etc with 802.11 wireless built in)) be worth carrying while on a touring flying holiday, with the intention of getting the NOTAMs and Met. Recently we were weathered in at Abbeville for a few days and relied, in part, on the generosity of the Airfield Motel proprietor to access the internet. We kept sneaking use of his bookings computer (when he was not actually using it). I would prefer not to run up the cost of access by using my mobile phone. Is a pocket PC screen big enough to make any sense of the MET forms (214, 215).

I have tried to get to see a Pocket PC in the flesh, working, but all that PC World can offer is a display mock up unit. Not very helpful for me to see if the display is clear and the text big enough for me to read. Plenty available mail order but I would like to see before parting with hard earned.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Andrew.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

I have used PDAs for several years for reasons other than flying. My PDA connects to my home, or any other, wi-fi network just like a larger computer and accesses the internet with no problems. However, there are shortcomings due to the screen size and some internet pages do not display correctly if they are not written with handheld PCs in mind.

I suggest that you obtain the use of a PDA via a friend and check a few aviation web sites to ensure that the system is viable before you risk using it for navigation purposes.

[Pilotdom]

What about getting a netbook.....

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Laptop Details

Acer Aspire ONE A110-AW Laptop PC Laptop PC LU.S020A.089 - PC World Business Online Store UK - Buy The Best Deals Online.

The get an 02 dongle.....

O2 Mobile Broadband

£30 for dongle, then £2 for 24hours when you need it.

[IO540]

I have done the PDA route pretty well and concluded that while it can do the job as an emergency solution (and I still carry a HP4700 for this reason) the screen is too small.to be any good.

I would buy a lightweight laptop, or one of the higher-end tiny "EEE" laptops which have recently come out, with windoze (not unix), and bluetooth, and use a mobile phone (also with bluetooth, and GPRS/3G) as a bluetooth-connected data modem.

There are certainly laptops around with a built-in GSM/GPRS/3G modem and I have a nice one (Thinkpad x60s 1704) which I use for ground tasks (flight planning etc) but this has the disadvantage that it needs its own SIM card, and due to the sporadic usage you will go for a PAYG one, which in turn results in ripoff data tariffs, especially on Vodafone (I am being ripped off £10/MB when abroad) to which most such laptop modems are locked. I have found a prog which should unlock mine but haven't used it yet because I want to get shot of my prepaid credit first. It is better to use one's normal phone as the modem because the SIM card is then shared, and one is much more likely to have a contract SIM in one's phone, and one gets much better data tarrifs on contracts than on PAYG.

With a laptop, one can run the whole lot on it, which saves a lot of messing around.

[mm_flynn]

I carry a laptop in the plane (for JepView, IFR route generation, Logs, plates to airports where I hadn't expected to arrive, etc.). However, I also bought an iphone for briefings on the move. It is a bit more work than a proper laptop (some stretching and pushing to either see the whole context or enough detail to read) But - I can pull down the USAF OWS weather charts, Avbrief, the Metoffice, AIS for a notam brief and file a flight plan on homebriefing (slowly on the last one).

This means I only need to pop the phone in the pocket and I can get all of the info I need. If you can pickup wifi, it is fantastic. In your home country (UK for me) all the data over 3G is also free. However, unless you fly a medium jet, you will find the cost of 3G roaming in Europe is staggering (I think £10/MB!!!).

[Rod1]

I am considering getting ASUS 901 Eee PC free on an Orange deal at £24 a month inc Mobile BB and Wi-Fi. I can put all my aircraft manuals and FF stuff on it and use it for flight planning and programming my panel mount GPS via an SD card etc. I would be interested if others think this a good solution?

Rod1

[smith]

try the pocketsurfer, cracking bit of kit. Gives you free high speed connection over the mobile network. One off payment for the device and no monthly fees.

[rans6andrew]

thanks to all the responders.

I was looking to avoid the use of a mobile phone for data/web access if at all possible. I only use a pay as you go phone and my ANNUAL bill for it is less than many people pay out on their contracts each month. I am concerned that the cost of data/web access when abroad (mainly France) will be disproportionately high. The size and weight of any solution must be kept low (2 people touring in a microlight doesn't allow much luggage space or weight) and the security aspect means carrying all of your toys when you leave the aircraft (pocket sized stuff is good).

The cheapest solution may be a text message to someone at home who is able to work the internet and reply. No PC to get pinched.

[IO540]

The ASUS 901 Eee PC looks fine.

Make sure you get the one with windoze and bluetooth; the spec may differ - e.g. this one.

That will then do everything you will ever need flying-wise.

Linux is a dead end in this context.

With bluetooth, you can even link it with this and get weather / SMS when airborne (it works too)

[smith]

definately pocketsurfer, full page internet, no monthly fee or charges in UK and only 5p min roaming in Europe and USA, thoroughly recomend it. And it folds up and fits in your pocket. go to Welcome to PocketSurfer2 . ps I have no affiliation with this company, just find it a great piece of kit.

[IO540]

The big Q is whether it runs the Afpex application. Most likely not.

[PompeyPaul]

Cheap notebook

Asus do some great deals, very cheap too. I wouldn't be put off by linux since it will do everything, browsing wise, that you want to.

If you need to run win stuff then you can install wine, and then run it through that. Otherwise you can install VirtualBox and run winxp inside a VM on your laptop. Very trivial operations, very do-able.

Why pay the extra dosh for windows ? Avoid vista like the plague, it really is a resource hog and laptops tend not to do well with it.

Personally I use my iPhone for what you describe. 3g broadband, as well as free use of all O2 hot spots. If contract and call rates are an issue then really a cheap and cheerful ASUS laptop would do. Don't be scared off by linux. After you've enjoyed free software it's very hard to go back to Bill Gate$ and hi$ army of darkne$$

All, very much, imho of course

[IO540]

I would avoid Vista - it's crap.

However, I would go for XP on anything low powered like these EEE laptops. Virtualising the CPU and running windoze is just going to make it run even slower.

Also while pure browsing can be done on "anything", typical flight planning software is all windoze: Navbox, Jeppesen stuff, etc.

As regards free software, I thought most people already had that one sorted

(Don't get me wrong - I love M$ as much as everybody else, having just totally trashed my nice laptop with SP3)

[S-Works]

I have one of the little ASUS thingies. It came with Linux and I put XP on it to run flitestar. Works well enough. I use the Vodafone 3G dongle or WiFi. Not bad for a couple of hundred quid. It works with AFPEx fine.

I still prefer my Mac though!

[denhamflyer]

MacBookAir with Parallels/XP for Flitestar. And iPhone for wx etc.etc. (reads the Met Forms brilliantly)

Anything in-between is a serious compromise.

[LH2]

Hi IO,

Linux is a dead end in this context.

One begs to disagree.


(on the basis that any of my Linux powered Asus-thingy, my two Linux powered laptops, and my Linux powered desktop, do the job just fine or better. On the other hand I concede that my Linux powered Gumstixs and my Linux powered web and VPN servers are a bit less suited for the task, mostly due to lack of keyboards and screens)

(and nobody dare call me a geek )

[Shunter]

I also disagree. The Mrs has a Linux Eee. I've got Jep, NotamPlot, NavBox and everything else working on it just fine. Took less than half an hour to setup and could be easily documented for a novice. It also now has a built-in 3G card, so no dongle required. That bit however is perhaps not so novice friendly as it involves a soldering iron.

[IO540]

I do not understand why one would buy a unix based laptop, only to load an emulator on it to run windoze XP so they can run the software they actually need.

Specialised applications aside (and yes LH2 you are an exceptionally competent geek ) unix on these tiny laptops is good for basically one thing which is running a browser.

I know one can get lots of free software for Linux etc but one can get lots of free software for windoze too and here we are talking about aviation related stuff.

My guess is that M$ are flogging XP very cheaply to these manufacturers, because the price premium on the XP versions seems minimal.

[LH2]

only to load an emulator on it

Ahem, in typical free software's time-honoured recursive acronym tradition, Wine Is Not an Emulator

to run windoze XP so they can run the software they actually need

I do not run any Windows applications either (let alone a Windows OS).

OTOH, running Windows in a virtualised environment would still count as running Windows, not *nix. I have never tried it but I imagine that could be a good way of ensuring a stable Windows platform for kiosk-like use, by reverting to a known-good (and safe) configuration on every reboot. I think I might be digressing a bit though

In any event, my computing platforms cover my flight planning needs very well indeed.

Getting sidetracked for a minute again, I also note that a Linux system would be ideal to develop specialised solutions such as, err... inflight connectivity I'm thinking about things like the relative ease of programming cheapest-path connectivity, opportunistic caching for latter use while on a cheap link, etc.

But to get back to the topic, yes, anything with Wifi+GPRS, a screen readable enough to read SIGMETs and NOTAMs, and a web browser to fill flight plans and book accommodation, etc., is about all you need. A flight planning application is a nice extra.

[PompeyPaul]

I thought...

Getting sidetracked for a minute again, I also note that a Linux system would be ideal to develop specialised solutions such as, err... inflight connectivity I'm thinking about things like the relative ease of programming cheapest-path connectivity, opportunistic caching for latter use while on a cheap link, etc.

I was under the impression that most real time software on aircraft was *nix based due to it's reliability ? May be wrong, I just thought one of my lecturers once mentioned it. Would make sense to me, win up times in months are unusual, where as *nix uptime in years is quite common on the servers I run. Of course, individual mileage may vary.

I VM purely for the odd win application that won't work wine (very few and far between). It allows you to live in a secure enviroment, whilst you still get access to win apps if you REALLY need it (and mostly you don't).

Apart from that I avoid Win like the plague, it's scary that so many people do their internet banking on Win \ Vista. Truly scary. A "friend" of mine once loaded Aircrack and Metasploit onto his Fujitsu lifebook U and automated the wireless cracking so that Metasploit attacks started immediately after the wireless network was hacked. Walking around "his" local estate it was truly scary as to how many wireless networks were once cracked and then the WinXP \ Vista machine compromised. I believe a 20min walk yielded around 3 hijacked PCs \ Laptops. Couple that with the fact that you can buy servers for pennies. It doesn't take much to put this stuff together, and in the wrong hands ? *shudders* For internet banking it's got to be linux with SELinux running. Anything less is extremely dangerous.

Anyway, I've now drifted right off topic. Sorry folks