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Internet Online LapTop Warrior Discussion List
I - L-A-P-T-O-P W-A-R-R-I-O-R D-I-G-E-S-T

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September 4, 1998 Issue # 026
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.....IN THIS DIGEST.....


// -- NEW -- //

Checking Email on a cruise ship
~ John J Bell

Success and failure on Kazakstan trip
~ Dr John M Bauman

Difficulties going online in the US of A
~ Joe Lacey


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// -- N-E-W -- //

From: John J Bell <73003.3514@compuserve.com>
Subject: Checking Email on a cruise ship

My wife and I hare going on a world cruise on a newly built ship,
the Rotterdam of Holland America Line. I am taking a new Compaq
laptop, and I use CompuServe. I have inquired to make sure that I
can send e-mail to family and friends at home. The cruise line
informed my travel agent that they cannot handle passenger e-mail
because they don't have a modem to connect them with the satellite
involved.

Sounds like a copout to eliminate what might be a nuisance to them.

They also charge an awful amount of money for ship-to-shore phone
calls. Since my wife and I will aboard for four months I'm hoping
we can get this problem worked out.

I just found the Roadnews.com web site (http://www.roadnews.com)
and in reading one of the articles that I downloaded I learned about
acoustic couplers which may be able to solve some of my problems by
allowing me to us pay phones in countries where we go ashore.

I practically ran to the Radio Shack here in Ver Beach, Florida, to
buy an acoustic coupler, but they told me they knew of acoustic
couplers from their early days in selling radio stuff, but that
Radio Shack doesn't have them. I've tried on the Internet, but
I've not been able to find where I might buy one.

I need all of the information I can get on using connections from
ships at sea and also about payphones and the like at ports around
the world. I'd appreciate any help you can give me.

John Bell
73003.3514@compuserve.com

Moderator's note:
If you're looking for an acoustic coupler, you might try Laptop
Travel (http://www.laptoptravel.com), one of the sponsors of this
list. I find that they have good prices and very helpful customer
assistance.


++++ next post - new topic ++++

From: HGKF38A@prodigy.com (DR JOHN M BAUMAN)
Subject: Success and failure on Kazakstan trip

Hi folks,

Some feedback after my recent trip to Kazakstan:

First of all, I was never able to make a connection from Kazakstan
to the US. This is mostly due to my inability to speak Russian.
It seems that you need to go through a hotel operator or other long
distance operator in order to get a connection. This could have
worked in Almaty, which is a reasonably large and modern city,
except none of the operators spoke English and I didn't know
enough Russian.

In a smaller city <Semipalatinsk/aka Semey>, it was even worse.
Just to get a voice connection you had to go through the same
operator rigmarole, but then you would wait, sometimes over an
hour, to get a call back to be told that the line was available.
<I
got this from an American who COULD speak Russian...he was so
disgusted just trying to call his wife in the US that I didn't
bother to ask him to help me make an email connection...>

I was able to send email though. I kept a daily log of our team's
activities and then emailed those as attachments once a week from
one of the Kazak team member's email at his home <connection via an
ISP called Relcom.kz>. His connection was good and I even emailed
digital images of the team <taken with Olympus D600L, a fabulous
camera with megapixel resolution and optical zoom lens> as well.

The only problem was the "from" lines of the messages contained
gibberish, most likely because his version of Windows 95 was using
Russian <Cyrillic> fonts... <That is weird in itself, it's Win95,
but then, it's not>...

There are also phone kiosks or offices that you can visit, stand in

line and wait for a long distance connection. Again, because I
couldn't speak Russian, I blew that off.

For those who speak Russian, the connectors are standard
Polish/Soviet. The power connector I got from Laptop Travel
(http://www.laptoptravel.com) was perfect and my Micron didn't bat
an eye running on the 250/50 power, even in some really iffy small
village locations. <Watch out for these, though. Many only have
electrical power for a few designated hours/day...>

I really didn't need to have brought along the acoustic coupler. If
I had spoken Russian, I could have connected with the
RJ-11->Polish
jack that I got from Laptop Travel.

Kazakstan itself was a great experience, both professionally and
personally.

Cordially,
John
HGKF38A@prodigy.com


++++ next post ++++

From: Joe Lacey/AZskp <Joe_Lacey@compuserve.com>
Subject: Difficulties going online in the US of A

I feel a little like a little kid hopping and skipping on the
outside of this 'international travel group'. I would like to
participate, but somehow asking how to find a way to get e-mail in
Toledo, Ohio, pales in comparison with the group's interest in
Singapore, Rangoon, India and other far-reaches of the globe<g>

Yet there are many of us who have considerable problems going
online here in the US.

You may not be aware that there are close to 2 million full-time RV
travelers. If 50% of them have computers (and the number grows
daily), you can see that we're dealing with a sizable group. These
people don't have the luxury of a direct telephone line in a motel
room. They usually don't have any phone lines at all at their
individual sites in a campground. And, of course, the RV is a
self-contained unit, so many of them boondock outside campgrounds
because they carry their own sewer storage, water and electricity.

The only phone in a campground is a public phone. Thus, an
acoustic coupler is a requirement and if you don't have a laptop....this can
present quite a challenge.

Outside phones in the US and elsewhere are subject to the climatic
conditions and the granules pack up and make transmission very
unreliable. Also, I have found that acoustic couplers are usually
limited to 2400 baud. So, for all practical purposes you can
scratch logging on the Internet.<g>

Many people need to learn 'how to' use an acoustic coupler, or
'where to' find a phone connection (Kinkos, Airport lounge, Truck
Stops, Rest areas, Fast Food places, etc.)

Remember, these RVs can be 40 feet long, thus pulling up to the
handy Coffee Cafe usually isn't an option. RVers stay on the
outskirts of any congested traffic pattern<g>

More and more people are trying to use cellular technology with
their laptops and finding it very frustrating because of the
incompatibility of the phone or the laptop or their carrier. It
would be nice if I could get some solid information....... such as:

1. How to use a cellular phone for a connection
2. How to use appropriate software
3. A step-by-step guide to making a connection (both the physical
and electronic aspects)

I don't have a cellular phone, thus am unable to experiment. Maybe
that is good because then I don't get frustrated, either<g>
Apparently, cellular connections continue to be 'black magic' for
most people. They will report a 5x5 signal one day and be totally
unable to communicate from the exact same spot the next day.

Everyone in the RV world is waiting with baited breath for *The
Breakthrough* when all those low orbiting satellites are finally up
and running and wireless communication will make the acoustic
coupler and cellular frustration a distant memory. However, it
continues to be today's communication nightmare for the RVer.

If you would like to post this message as a topic for discussion,
by all means do it.

-Joe lacey-
Live Your Dream, *Life* Is Not A Dress Rehearsal
--------------------------------------------
Joe_Lacey@compuserve.com
http://www.escapees.com (The Escapees RV Club)
--------------------------------------------


++++ next post - new topic ++++

From: "FRANK J. ZIEPIELA" <FZTECHSERVICE@prodigy.net>
Subject: 18Vdc Wall Transformer

I am in need of an 18Vdc (2-3amp) Wall Transformer for a Note Star
Laptop computer. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks
Frank J. Ziepiela
FZ Technical Services
FZTECHSERVICE@PRODIGY.NET

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Subject: Funny phones in Switzerland and France

Last two times I was in Europe, I came across phones that puzzled
me. One was in Switzerland, the other in France. The phones were
of a modern variety. They were wired in to the wall with Swiss and
French modular phone line plugs, as one would expect. But on the
other end of the phone line that ran from the wall, there was a
US-style RJ11 plug.

Oh, boy, I thought, this should be easy to go online. Since these
were residential lines I wasn't worried about digital service, so I
took the line out of the phone and plugged it directly into my
modem.

Nothing. It didn't work.

So I got out my line tester and checked out what I was dealing
with. In both cases, I found the polarity reversed on the lines.
I was surprised. Has anyone found similar circumstances and can
anyone offer an explanation? It was my understanding that the
general rule that a phone was a phone the world over still applied
(with the exception of digital PBX systems, of course).

My immediate solution was to pull out my alligator clips and put
the polarity back as it should be.

Bob Lawson

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