I was going to present this at BarCamp Bonn this weekend (auf Deutsch sogar!) but as I’m going to be flying to Mobile World Congress now I won’t be able to attend. I thought I’d publish it anyway, along with some BarCamp Bonn links to help the cause. This check-list applies to anyone using a Windows PC (but please don’t use Windows XP – it’s past its use-by date!) and some of the tips are relevant if you’re using other operating systems.  The list is focused on helping you improve security and privacy when connected to public WiFi (WLAN) hotspots where the dangers are generally the highest. Think about this list when you connect to the WLAN at #bcbn15.

I’ve also published a variation of this list on my main website, UMPCPortal.com where it has a slightly different audience. For you though, my Barcamp Bonn friends I have a few other thoughts as I know there will be people at that event that have few Windows administration skills and even less desire to be messing around with a PC. If you really don’t want to have to mess-around with Windows, think about a Chromebook.

Für die die kein bock auf Windows Administration haben werde ich einfach sagen, bitte ein Chromebook! Warum? Weil wenn man ein Chromebook nutzt reduziert sich diese liste von 14 punkte auf nur 5 punkte. Ein Chromebook, auf Chrome OS basiert, ist ein super, einfachen weg ein sicheres und privates Internet Erlebnis zu haben. Preiswert ist es auch!

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I can’t deny that my sites (UMPCPortal, Carrypad) growth has been stunted by my reduced attention span in the last 18 months. Two important family considerations (both good!) have hit my working day very hard and I’m struggling to fight my way back into care-taking the sites as I should be.  I don’t want to give details but a baby and a hard-working, successful wife gives you a clue.

In addition to the time issues, there’s also the tablet crave.

I am, quite frankly, struggling to keep up with the short-form coverage [that’s a polite way to put some of the content i’ve seen recently] coming from established tech sites.

I’ve lost all of my blogging momentum as a result of these two issues. One took the time away, the other took some of the desire away.

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Location: Koeln
Distance since last post: 15km
Weather: Brightening. Still 100% cloud

As I was leaving Bonn this morning I passed a trio of mountain bike riders. They where looking closely at one of the bikes and I heard them say ‘I think the gear has broken.’ My army-pattern bike might be heavy but its as solid as a rock!

Journey today was rather short and uneventful. There was little traffic on the paths apart from the  occasional animal and a rather stupid (and probably deaf) old man that cut across me to turn into a side path. You do NOT want to be hit by my bike! Fortunately we passed each other safely and gave each other a friendly wave (sort of!)

I didn’t get more than about 10 minutes computing power from the sun today. It was hopeless even stopping to try! Tomorrow is the last day for collecting solar energy and I am praying praying praying for just a few hours of sun to take me through to the finish line in Duesseldorf at midday on Monday.

I have updated the route map with a few more images. Hope you enjoy them.

Crossing the Rhein on a tiny Ferry (below)

Distance since last post: 75km
Weather: Cloudy, rainy.
Forecast: Bad for the next 3-days. Looks like I’ll have to be careful!
Notes: Crashed into a lamppost while I was trying to mount my bike. No damage. Phew!

View towards Remagen (two bridge towsers can be seen at base of hill) in terrible weather.

No sun, no energy although somehow I’m managing to squeeze enough out of the clouds to charge the phone which is pretty amazing. Luckily I have enough juice on the UMPC battery and the Li-Ion battery to give me about 4 hours of computing. If I spot any sun at all over the next 3 days I’ll have to stop and sap up as much as I can. Its going to be very tight. Will I have enough left for the final report in Duesseldorf?

Right now I’m in Bonn and at home with my wife. I’m only using battery power and won’t be charging anything so there’s no change to the plan. Apart from a long bath and a good sleep tonight ready for the last two legs on Saturday and Sunday.

When I did my first tests and calculations about the use of solar power to drive a PC I was quite amazed at the inefficiency of the process and today’s ‘laboratory conditions’ test proves just how much room for improvement there is. It’s thanks to devices like UMPCs that this is project is at all possible because I really doubt it would have worked with even a ‘power saving’ notebook PC.

Today I stayed at the campsite and put the Solar panel and Li-Ion battery through a 3 hours test. Its was a cloudless day with a very thin haze, 22 degrees centigrade and for reference I’m located at about 50 degrees north and 7 degrees east. The date is the 30th of August which is heading towards Autumn here in Germany. The test was done from 11:00 – 14:00 and I took the empty Li-Ion battery and charged it with the solar panel for 3 hours.

I estimate that about 1.2KW of energy hit my 7000 cm2 panel with about 660W falling on the Solar cells (3500 cm2). After conversion to electricity it created about 50w/hr of energy. Of that, about 40W was taken by the Li-Ion battery because it only uses a fixed current and voltage. It won’t adapt to the power available. Due to input voltage conversions and charging losses, this left me with an estimated 30W of energy and after taking this through yet another set of voltage conversions and charging process, left me with a rather poor 18W of power. Of course this is enough for a few hours of work but isn’t it incredible that so much power is wasted (or rather passed back as heat!)

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to work out how this process could be improved and I’ve come up with a list of ideas that could help. I’ll talk though them in the next post but right now I need to put some more cream on the back of my legs because through all the concentration I forgot about the sun and I’ve burned the bit right behind the knee. That’s going to be really enjoyable tomorrow when I make the 70km dash to Bonn.

Here’s a diagram I created quickly on the Q1b. Hopefuly it makes things a bit clearer. How would you improve the architechture?

This part of the Rhein, from Bingen, all the way up to Bonn, is really wonderful. And the campsites just keep getting better!

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The  latest weather report is still bad. No chance of leaving in the next 10 days unless the weather report is wildly wrong.

Its unbelievable! We  had the hottest, driest  April ever and since then the clouds and rain just won’t go away and summer storms are threatening almost every day. Looking at the sun graph for the last three days I doubt I could have got get even a few hours of computing time out of it.

It gives me more time to set up more tests and products of course, but I’m really keen to get going ASAP, especially as I have a holiday booked with my wife on the 19th July. The last possible leaving date for the tour would be 8th July. After that point I won’t be able to fit it in and will have to wait until 28th July.  This is really frustrating. I’ve been planning this since late 2006.

On the upside, I tested out the bike with full baggage tonight. It was just a 10km round-tour in Bonn but it was a good test. I’m hoping to squeeze in one nights camping this week so that I can test all the equipment out together.

I’ve also heard that there’s a possibility to get a Reware Juice Bag. That makes me happy! 

I’ve finally decided on the start and end points of the tour and I’m 90% sure that its going to cover 500km from Strasbourg to Duesseldorf along the Rhein. The route will take me through Karlsruhe and Mannheim, Mainz, Koblenz, Bonn, Koeln (Cologne) and will end on the Rheinufer (Rhein promenade) in Duesseldorf with a very large beer although I do reserve the right to spend more time working and therefore less time on the bike! If big news breaks, the main aim will be to work and test out the UMPC ‘office’ to its limits.

The planned start date is within the 3-day window 9th to 12th June and the end date will be between the 19th and 21st June.

I’ve been checking maps and comparing them to the ‘netzabdeckung’ (coverage map) from Vodafone Germany. Apart from a few GSM-only areas (which I guess will at least get me GPRS coverage) on the first stages of the tour, most of the route is well covered with 3G services. I really can’t imagine having any connectivity problems on the way. If there’s no signal I’ll just pick up my office and cycle to the next cafe!

Detailed dates will really depend on the weather which will start to come in range within the next few days. The current 14-day forecast via RTL Wetter (paid service) is looking good with a big change coming in the middle of next week. It might make sense to go as early as possible and that means I need to be ready! I’ve still got lots of items on the todo list although I heard to day that the tent and solar panel have been dispatched.