37 replies to this topic

[Splashy]

ichi, on 30 July 2011 - 06:16 AM, said:

What about an ipad GCS app?

That would be really great !! The problem is that Apple have not opened up the Bluetooth stack so you cannot simply connect via Bluetooth. I am looking into solutions to this and will post on what I find.

An Android GCS would be much simpler ...

[Splashy]

I bought this Netbook from Amazon a while ago ..

Samsung N140 10.1-inch Netbook (Atom N270 1.6 GHz Processor, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, BT, Webcam, up to 10 Hour Battery Life, Windows 7 Starter, Black)

I upped the RAM to 2Gb and it handles the GCS very well. I see that this one is not available any more and the N145 seems to be its replacement. I would definitely recommend it as it is very solidly built and has worked well for the last couple of years. I reckon the N145 would behave similarly.

[D-Lite]

Splashy, on 04 January 2012 - 09:54 PM, said:

That would be really great !! The problem is that Apple have not opened up the Bluetooth stack so you cannot simply connect via Bluetooth. I am looking into solutions to this and will post on what I find.

People also reported that Apple has some restrictions concerning UAV application. Bluetooth is a story of it's own and definately on top of the list of things I hate about my iPhone. On my old Nokia phone, I used bluetooth all the time - on the iPhone, I have it disable because it's useless anyway. (I always become upset if I talk about that topic :-)

[D-Lite]

Splashy, on 04 January 2012 - 10:02 PM, said:

    Samsung N140 10.1-inch Netbook (Atom N270 1.6 GHz Processor, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, BT, Webcam, up to 10 Hour Battery Life, Windows 7 Starter, Black)

I upped the RAM to 2Gb and it handles the GCS very well. I see that this one is not available any more and the N145 seems to be its replacement. I would definitely recommend it as it is very solidly built and has worked well for the last couple of years. I reckon the N145 would behave similarly.

RAM upgrade to 2GB really helps. I did this with the MSI Wind and it helps much. I also have the N270 Atom, newer models often use N445. I bought this machine 2 1/2 years ago and it really served me well all the time but if I'd have to buy something new now and for use as a GCS, I'd choose a slightly bigger screen (11-12") and a faster processor.

[3rdeyepro]

D-Lite, on 04 January 2012 - 08:31 PM, said:

How are you satisfied with performance? It only has a 1GHz CPU and my MSI Wind with 1.6GHz already seems a bit slow to me for running the GCS. But it's an Intel Atom, not AMD and I run OSX (installed from a legally purchased media of course). Someday I'll probably give WinXP or Linux (or even FreeBSD) a try to see how it compares.

Although it is 1ghz, it is dual-core. I find that with the added ram it handles everything great. GCS and web browser open at the same time, all while streaming some tunes
Upgraded the windows 7 it came with to ultimate.

[Splashy]

D-Lite, on 04 January 2012 - 10:06 PM, said:

People also reported that Apple has some restrictions concerning UAV application. Bluetooth is a story of it's own and definately on top of the list of things I hate about my iPhone. On my old Nokia phone, I used bluetooth all the time - on the iPhone, I have it disable because it's useless anyway. (I always become upset if I talk about that topic :-)

Apple does not have restrictions on UAV applications. It does not allow access to the Bluetooth stack and that is where it makes it difficult .. But I have found a way round this and can implement an app that will allow development of an iPhone/iPad app. I have posted a thread in the GCS development forum. Please take a look at this and reply there.

[D-Lite]

3rdeyepro, on 04 January 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Although it is 1ghz, it is dual-core. I find that with the added ram it handles everything great.

The Atom N270 is dual-core also. At home, I usually run it over-clocked to 2Ghz when I run the GCS but this doesn't work when it run's on battery.

[K Wells]

What about the Nook Color

http://www.barnesand...oble/1100437663


It has already been hacked for Android

http://nookdevs.com/Main_Page

[chris1seto]

I'm even writing this on a nook color!

Only issue is three short range of the built in bluetooth, but it does have usb host for an ftdi chip or something.

[naiiawah]

Acer Iconia A500 (dual core Tegra 2) is what I have and I love it.  The best feature it has, in my mind, is a real, standard USB host port.  Plop a USB thumbstick in it, it just works.  Plug in a USB keyboard or mouse, it just works.  While I haven't tried a FTDI serial cable, I would be surprised if it didn't just work too.  Runs Android Honeycomb currently and I will not be surprised to see an IceCream Sandwich (ICS) release soon as Acer has been pretty leading the front with upgrades on this platform.



Acer has a new A700 coming based on the Tegra 3 chips (quad core) that is very interesting too.

[Dado]

guyz dont forget if useing netbooks, all you need to do is to locate sun icon on  certent key of your keyboard, press hold it and use up or down arrow to incrise or decriss lightness. it works great on sunlight. no need to cover the screen. hope it helps

Edited by Dadorcp, 17 January 2012 - 07:49 AM.

[D-Lite]

Dadorcp, on 17 January 2012 - 07:49 AM, said:

guyz dont forget if useing netbooks, all you need to do is to locate sun icon on  certent key of your keyboard, press hold it and use up or down arrow to incrise or decriss lightness. it works great on sunlight. no need to cover the screen. hope it helps

Which netbook are you using? Even at maximum brightness, I never had much joy in direct sunlight with any netbook/laptop I ever used.

[dankers]

D-Lite, on 17 January 2012 - 09:39 AM, said:

Which netbook are you using? Even at maximum brightness, I never had much joy in direct sunlight with any netbook/laptop I ever used.

Same with me, full brightness on my old laptop was never much good. However some of the new laptops are really bright and I can not use them at close to full brightness indoors. I think the one I used had an IPS panel, maybe that was why?

[Dado]

I used Acer Aspire One, it has sun light on the arrows, think it was actualy left and right arrrow, it had blue colored sun icons on it.

i was strugling with it for mounths as it was led screen, very glossy, i tryed to do it in windows setting but that didnt do crap,

then i was on coffe with my friend and he said, what? lol. check this...
pressed and hold the FN key and right arrow and incrised the light as much as i needed, im sure that was not even 60% range. it was awesome, sun didnt bother me at all...

further more, contrast and stuff like that didnt got messed up, it was all perfect

i said, you are god man, love you =))))


try it guyz, press hold fn key, while holding use arrows. if it doesnt work let me know, ill call him to tell me other keys involved in same thing on different netbooks laptops.

just called him, he says it could also be FN press and hold and then find sun icon below f1, f2 or ,f3 etc..

Edited by Dadorcp, 17 January 2012 - 11:37 AM.

[TheOtherCliff]

Malx, on 27 June 2011 - 09:53 AM, said:

Sorry to say but I havn't found any suitable touchpads yet.
Asus ee pad goes away for (up to) three reasons:

1. Android, no fully working GCS right now. (That may be changed however, so maybe not a showstopper)
2. No usb port (Actually not a showstopper either since I expect it possible to have a bluetooth connection to a "ground station" with pipX)
3. Not usable in sunlight. This IS a showstopper, all tablets with reasonable prices have shiny screens for the moment rendering them more or less worthless outside. (And ASUS have had really bad reviews in that particular area)

If it has USB when the keyboard is attached, just leave the keyboard attached?

I have several laptops that I use for FPV displays, and I can tell you that they all stink in the sunlight.  I simply built a cardboard dark box (screen sized X 750mm long).  The laptop goes deep inside and you look in the other end.  Actually I cut a slit in the bottom so I could  just slip it over the screen.  I also filled in the open end, except for a face shaped cutout.

I would just get bang for the buck and that is a regular laptop for $350-$400 (big hard drive, fast processor, big screen, DVD burner, wifi, etc.  I want a netbook, but they just aren't worth it, less features for the same price, although they are coming down in price and I hear that they are going away as a fad, to be replaced by notepads.

Edit: Oops I am replying to old posts.  New site layout...

Edited by TheOtherCliff, 17 January 2012 - 08:41 PM.

[D-Lite]

Dadorcp, on 17 January 2012 - 11:24 AM, said:

I used Acer Aspire One, it has sun light on the arrows, think it was actualy left and right arrrow, it had blue colored sun icons on it.

i was strugling with it for mounths as it was led screen, very glossy, i tryed to do it in windows setting but that didnt do crap,

The MSI Wind has a non-glare display and a pretty bright LED display - should be even better than the Aspire one. Yes, it IS readable to some extend but far away from what I'd call comfortable, at least not in the summer sun.

By the way: the brightness control on many netbooks (and laptops?) is handled by the keyboard controller directly, that's why this keys work without OS support.

Dadorcp, on 17 January 2012 - 11:24 AM, said:

further more, contrast and stuff like that didnt got messed up, it was all perfect

It's a very simple function: just a dimmer for the backlight, nothing fancy. The reason why the default brightness is very low on many netbooks is because this extends battery life.

[D-Lite]

TheOtherCliff, on 17 January 2012 - 08:38 PM, said:

I want a netbook, but they just aren't worth it, less features for the same price, although they are coming down in price and I hear that they are going away as a fad, to be replaced by notepads.

The main (and maybe only) reason to buy a netbook is the weight & size, not the prize. If you want a cheap netbook and aren't afraid of running Linux, you can look for offers that show up from time to time that sell netbooks without OS or with LINUX preinstalled.

[Dado]

D-Lite, on 17 January 2012 - 09:11 PM, said:

The MSI Wind has a non-glare display and a pretty bright LED display - should be even better than the Aspire one. Yes, it IS readable to some extend but far away from what I'd call comfortable, at least not in the summer sun.

By the way: the brightness control on many netbooks (and laptops?) is handled by the keyboard controller directly, that's why this keys work without OS support.



It's a very simple function: just a dimmer for the backlight, nothing fancy. The reason why the default brightness is very low on many netbooks is because this extends battery life.

exactly, its not software brightness, i asume it gotta do with bckg lighting. worked great on my netbook, altho i agree, theres no reason why not to take 15,4" laptop, its powerful and pretty much same priced as netbook, netbook imho is for easy net acsess. and all that phone alike multimedia stuff, sure acer one had 8 hours battery life, but i can bet if someone would push lightness on screen battery would be like 3 hours.
laptop is the best choice for fpv, video graphic card etc.
just my opinion ofc.