How I Got The Best Travel Computer EVER & Found True Happiness

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a very specific set of needs for a computer when I travel, and they're best served by a small, proper PC, that I can use in the hotel room for about 30 minutes per day. Years ago I hauled around a full sized laptop and I hated it, so I was thrilled to hear about the pint-sized "netbooks" (miniature laptops with limited features that were introduced in about 2007) and I finally got my first one in 2009.

My 10.1" Acer Netbook

I bought an ACER netbook that perfectly suited my needs. Though slower than my laptop, it offered the right features, ran my beloved Windows XP operating system (OS), and was insanely small and light compared to my laptop. It had a beautiful screen, a very small travel charger, a nice keyboard, 3 USB ports, and separate microphone and headphone jacks. Oh...and it was red...which was cool. Sigh...finally, my perfect travel computer.

Remember when mobile devices had keyboards?

Of course it lasted all of three months before it died. (Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Acer" is Korean for "junk cobbled together from 3rd party suppliers"). Undaunted, I replaced it, but with an Asus brand netbook that was not nearly as nice, but that had the benefit of actually working (for six years so far, and it's still going strong). The Asus also ran Windows XP, and that was what eventually became a problem...

I was horrified when Microsoft yanked all support for XP and I really tried to tough it out despite the dearth of security updates, but eventually my computer started acting weirder than I cared for and I had to face facts. I was thus ultimately forced to deal with replacing all my computers, and this gave me the perfect opportunity to attempt to resurrect my dream travel computer: the long dead Acer.

Now before we get into this, I can guess what you want to ask: Why didn't I just go out and buy a modern miniature laptop, and be done with it? Why go through all the incredible hassle and expense to resurrect a dead antique netbook?

Well for one thing, I really hate to lose, and the dead but otherwise perfect Acer netbook had been galling me for five years...and oh yeah... also because of happiness. Happiness you ask? What does that have to do with smashing your head against a wall and spending 200 bucks to bring a dead vintage netbook back to life?

Well, it's very simple: Happiness comes from being in a state of “Flow.”

To make a great book short, the author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced: chick-SENT-me-high) wrote a scholarly assessment of where exactly it is that happiness comes from, and it comes from “flow.” (See this link for his book "Finding Flow" which I highly recommend). ”Flow” is his term for the condition of being fully engaged with an activity that presents a challenge. After decades of research to determine what it is that people do that produces lasting happiness, he discovered the following: First he found that people were almost universally happy while eating, having sex, and watching movies. No surprises there, but those are all comparatively fleeting activities in the grand scheme of things and tough to keep up all day every day. So other than the “Big Three”, what made for lasting happiness? What he found was that lasting happiness resulted from facing a significant challenge with a level of skill well matched to that challenge, and then receiving feedback regarding one's success. This challenge did not have to take the form of a paid occupation or job, but he found that for many it often did. That is to say that the only thing in the lives of many people that gave them any kind of regular dose of the “happiness triangle" of "challenge-skill-feedback" was their occupation. This was ironic, because most people think that if they could only win the lottery and quit their jobs, they'd be happy. (This is unlikely, because there is no challenge at all in being rich and doing nothing).

Even though it's often an occupation that brings the only real lasting source of happiness into people's lives, it could also be a hobby, like painting or photography, or maybe even rock climbing. As long as the challenge and skill are well matched. (If it's too easy, it's not satisfying, and if it's too hard, it's stress inducing). To be in a "state of flow" (fully engaged in a task that is being met with just the right level of skill - what sports-people often refer to as being "in the zone") is where real lasting happiness comes from. Finally, there needs to be some sort of feedback as a measure of success. Perhaps the painter sells a painting at a craft fair, the photographer gets online kudos from posting pics to a blog, the rock climber makes it to the top of a challenging cliff, and even the worker at his job might get a raise, or at least a pat on the back. The glow you carry with you from these accomplishments is with you every minute of every day. True lasting happiness.

So the long answer to the short question is: I chose to rebuild the antique netbook because it was more challenging than buying a new one, and would therefore make me happy...and it worked! I had more fun than a barrel of monkeys, even though (really because) it was at the very limits of my abilities. I'm no computer guy, and it took everything I had to pull this off.

So the next time you're unhappy, and looking for a lasting cure, look around for a real challenge. The happiness is right there, just waiting for you to come and get it.

WARNING! - Read on for the picky details of the netbook resurrection project ONLY if you meet one of the following conditions:

A) You REALLY love computers.
or
B) You are an insomniac in need of a powerful sleep aid.

Still here? OK then. I started the netbook rebuild from the assumption that the netbook was dead as the result of a bum hard drive (Hitachi 160GB 5400 RPM SATA II that had been killed -- like so many other electronics -- by the conditions in Mexico. This stuff was just never meant to work at 95% humidity). So I decided that I'd be best served by first replacing it with a solid state drive (SSD) and I chose the Samsung 840EVO 120GB. At the time I was unaware of the algorithm problem with this drive that produced very low read speeds on older data, but fortunately the firmware revision fix was issued by Samsung (download here) right about the same time that I bought the drive and all ended well. (It looks like the Samsung 850 Pro may have overcome these concerns, and it would be my new choice if I had it all to do over again).

Second, I needed to decide on an OS, and it seemed that Windows 7 Pro was the obvious choice. I knew that this netbook (called an Aspire One but more properly the Acer NAV50) had been available with Windows 7 Starter 32bit (despite my preference at the time for XP) so I set out to locate a copy of Windows 7 Pro 32 bit, reasoning that it would be likely to work and that the drivers for it would still be available on the Acer website. It turned out that finding a legitimate clean copy of the OS was not easy, and so I turned to my friend Trevor at Qwerty Computers for help. He directed me to techverse for a clean ISO file download, but asked why I wanted to go with the 32 bit version. It seemed obvious to me, since the netbook had never been sold with a 64 bit OS, but he convinced me to aim high and try to install Windows 7 Pro 64 bit, and damned if it didn't work! Now I was looking at a super clean (bloatware free) install of Windows 7 Pro 64 bit on a screaming fast SSD. So far so good.

I jumped through some crazy hoops to create a bootable USB flash drive from which to install the OS, since I knew that if I ever had a catastrophic failure while travelling, I could (if necessary) exercise the “nuclear option” and re-install the OS from scratch, and then restore the SSD from a system image file on my travel external backup HD, and I'd be back in action. Then I tracked down a 2GB stick of RAM to double the available memory (sadly 2 GB is the limit here) and I was ready to start updating the OS, and installing software. I was stymied by the fact that there were no 64 bit drivers available from Acer for this machine, so I crossed my fingers and hoped that Windows would come to the rescue. Say what you will about Microsoft, their stuff works, and sure enough, every single driver that mattered to me came down the pipe with the 120 or so Windows 7 Pro updates that I needed to install. (Note: If you are running Windows 7 of any type, be sure to take advantage of some very useful fallout from Windows 8.1, and install the Disk Cleanup Wizard add-on that is now available. This update allows you to remove all the superseded (and useless) updates that have piled up on your SP1 version Windows 7. Dramatic speed improvements will be the norm after you install and run it).

Next I installed the single most important piece of 3rd party software in existence (in my humble opinion) -- the truly awesome “Classic Shell.” Classic Shell overcomes pretty much every mistake that Microsoft has made in “improving” the interface of their post-XP offerings, and in short order I had 7 Pro looking and acting like Windows 2000 Pro (maybe the best Windows OS ever). Then after a failed flirtation with installing Chrome 64 bit as a browser (it does not yet work with Google Talk, which is indispensable to me on the road) I went back to Chrome 32 bit. Top of the line anti-virus, and anti-malware software were next, followed by a string of tests and performance tweaks to wring every single ounce of speed out of the venerable architecture that I had to work with. I minimized the start-up items, disabled services by the dozen, and reduced graphics intensive features to zero. I also installed and enabled the incredible Rapid Mode software from Samsung that produces sequential read speeds in excess of 440 MB/s, and set up an 11GB “over-provisioning” partition on the SSD. Then there were the registry hacks to increase the available resolution of the monitor, and disable the super-fetch and prefetch features as required for SSDs. I also enabled “click to play” in Chrome, which cuts down dramatically on graphics-heavy ad material. This is to say nothing of disabling system restore and the defragmentation function (both SSD issues). In the end the machine sports a 25 second boot to desktop time.

Finally, I swapped out the enormous and heavy 9 cell battery and replaced it with a new slim and lightweight 3 cell battery. This provides more than enough power for my needs, especially with the vastly decreased power needs of the moving-parts-free solid state drive, and dropped the final weight of the netbook to about two pounds. Final outside dimensions are 10” x 7” x 0.8” making it one of the smallest “notebooks” available.

I should mention here that I saw someone using what I thought was the world's smallest notebook computer one day at a Starbucks. I had to ask what it was, and it turned out to actually be an iPad mini wearing a Zagg keyboard. If I didn't prefer PCs over Apple products as much as I do, I would have seriously considered this option. (On a side note, I think that tablets have ultimately failed as an exercise in computer design. I see so many aftermarket products designed to let the tablet user replace the missing keyboard and case, and thus end up with what is really just an expensive homemade netbook).

So let's get to the bottom line here and determine what really constitutes the BEST travel computer. I was discussing this whole project with a friend, and I pronounced my hot-rodded vintage netbook the ultimate travel computer. He said that I was wrong, and that the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 was better. I looked into it, and he was right. It's a LOT better, but in its fullest “racecar” configuration, it's also about $2200. So I still give my old Acer the win on travel-computing-muscle-per-dollar, and as a bonus, it came with a heaping helping of happiness.

Fox & Vicky

For God's Sake! You're On Vacation...Put Down Your Phone!

I'm sorry to admit that a computer has now actually become a necessary travel accessory for me, but it has. For my specific travel computing needs, a notebook type PC is perfect. That's kept me from being tempted to buy a tablet, and since I don't own a smart phone (and never will) I have been blissfully insulated from the horrifying level of distraction I see around me in fellow travelers. My years in Mexico made me the "frog in hot water" with regards to the widespread change in behavior that has come with smart phones. (If you haven't heard the analogy, it's said that if you drop a frog in hot water, it will jump right out to save itself, but if you put a frog in cold water, and then heat it slowly, it doesn't notice the dangerous increase in temperature, and just sits there until it's too late).

In the late 90's, cell phones were pretty much just phones, and I never got involved in their slow transformation into what are really just tiny tablet computers. In fact I worked in the cellular phone industry back then, and it was while I was at a seminar to roll out the new "data services" that I first saw the social apocalypse coming. A rabid presenter was urging the sales-troops to sell-Sell-SELL the expensive new data airtime packages on the reasoning that without them, the users wouldn't be able to keep up with work on their lunch hours, during their time at home, and while on vacation. I was wondering if I was the only person in the room that had recognized what an insane proposition that was, when I looked around me to see a room full of equally rabid cell-phone salesmen that were frothing at the mouth over the opportunity to make a killing while ruining pretty much everyone's lives. (I was living on a island in the Caribbean within a year of that nightmarish day).

Consequently, I was unnerved to see how much things had changed in my absence, with armies of zombie-like smart phone users roaming the streets, their eyes and thumbs firmly glued to the screen in front of them, and apparently oblivious to the real world. I felt like the only person left in Invasion Of The Body Snatchers that hadn't been taken over by the "pods" yet. It's bad enough to see it in my hometown, but on a recent cruise to Hawaii, I saw people (most people I might add) that were never "in the moment" of their travel experience for more than a few minutes at a stretch. Instead, they were single-mindedly focused on figuring out how to keep their electronic slave-drivers connected so they could obsessively check their Facebook accounts, or whatever it is they do with those things.

Your travel memories should look like this... 

Bear in mind, we're in Hawaii here, and it was no doubt the first visit for most of them, yet I'll wager that the thing they saw MOST of during their entire fifteen day cruise, was the screen of their smart phone. At the dinner table, during shows, during excursions, on the beach, in the lounges, at the movie theater...NEVER free. There's a pretty fine line between that sort of obsessive phone checking, and laying in your cabin in a heroin induced stupor. Both are addictive behaviors, and both rob the user of the real pleasures of the real world, uninterrupted by constant pointless distraction. (Indeed, there seems to be a real chemical dependency here related to dopamine production in the brain. See this link about the condition called "Nomophobia"). And if you're reading this and thinking that I'm the one with a screw loose, just try to leave your phone in the drawer for a whole day and see what happens. It's wireless heroin, and I weep for this generation.

Or like this...

Now I admit, there I was on the same cruise ship with my travel computer -- but -- I did what I needed to do in about a single 30 minute stretch late every night, and that was that! The rest of the time I was actually fully engaged with my surroundings, and in the moment.

But NOT like this!

I realize that trying to tell people to give up their smart phone mania is like trying to tell people to give up their cars and go back to the horse and buggy for a better way of life. It's not going to happen. But at least make the effort to moderate your behavior, and dial it back while you're dropping five grand to go on a cruise to a beautiful group of tropical islands in the Pacific. Set yourself a specific half an hour of time each day and then ruin it completely with your phone, the same way I do with my travel computer. Then the other 23 1/2 hours a day you'll be free from the evil little device, and you might actually remember a few sights that didn't include a smart phone screen.

Aloha!


Fox & Vicky

The End Of Travel Wi-Fi Problems!

Aren't modern wireless Internet communications just the BEST!

If you think that, then you probably aren't travelling much. There are a ton of problems with using Wi-Fi on the road, and I'm actually happiest when I find a proper hardwired LAN port at the desk in any hotel room we're staying in. That way I can just plug my laptop into the wall jack with my retracting travel LAN cable, and I'm good to go, with what is usually a bulletproof Internet connection, and much better security.

Retractable Travel LAN Cable - Great When There's A Jack...

But that almost never happens these days, so I'm usually stuck with the hotel's Wi-Fi signal, which is often almost too weak to use. On a recent cruise, we had the misfortune to be a little too far from the ship's public Wi-Fi router down the hall from our room, and the steel door of the cabin almost entirely blocked what little signal there was. I had to set up a table near the door, which I propped open with a beach towel in order to get any Wi-Fi access at all.

One Version Of A Travel Wi-Fi "Signal Booster" Router

Then I stumbled on the answer to all my travel Internet problems, the portable Wi-Fi signal booster. These are readily available from many makers and can be had for as little as $12. I bought mine on eBay, but the menus on this one are all in Chinese, so I don't recommend this particular model to the average user. (It was NOT easy to figure out, but I actually recognize a few Chinese characters now).

Yours will be in English though, and while they're definitely not for everybody (some experience with computers would be helpful as they are by no means a plug-and-play device) I now consider it a must-have travel item.

NOTE: If you don't like tinkering around with your PC, don't know what an IP address is, have never heard of an SSID, or have never changed a setting in "Network Connections" on your computer, just pretend that the rest of this post reads; "Blah blah Computer Nerd blah blah" and skip it entirely to read the next one. You will probably just hate having a travel router :)

Still reading? OK then! In general -- and once only on arrival at any given location -- one sets up the travel router to repeat the Wi-Fi signal that you want to use. This can be done via a wireless connection, but it is much better to use a direct LAN cable connection between the travel router and a Laptop or Netbook PC. Then all your wireless devices can log-on to the now much closer and much stronger signal coming from your booster. In this case, the user-name and password are the same as that used for the regular hotel Wi-Fi, and your device will not know the difference. The problem with this "repeater" set-up is that the person staying in the next room will also be able to log on to your travel router, since it uses the same user-name and password and will have the strongest available signal.

Fortunately most of these travel routers are actually every bit as full featured as your router at home, so with an extra step you can set up your travel router as a "bridge" instead of as a "repeater".  A bridge takes the Wi-Fi signal you want to use and re-broadcasts it under a different name (any SSID of your choosing - my personal favorite is "FBI Surveillance Van 2") with a separate secure user-name and password (also of your choosing) with which to log on. The wonder of the bridge set-up is that you now have a private Wi-Fi hotspot with a strong signal that is available only to you. Without the password, others nearby cannot log onto it, and it places your wireless device behind your own router, which offers much better security.

The version I have even features a LAN port, so that for improved security I can turn off the wireless feature of my laptop completely, and connect to the travel router directly via a LAN cable. While it's true that the communications between your travel router and the hotel's Wi-Fi router remain wireless, it is much less likely for them to be compromised than if you were on the shared wireless connection with everybody else in the hotel.

These features work for the public Wi-Fi at airports, coffee shops, etc., making the travel router very useful not just as a signal booster, but also as an extra layer of security.

Enjoy your better Internet!

Fox & Vicky