Sender: <marv@lancaironline.net> (Marvin Kaye)
To: lml
Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 02:29:31 -0400
Message-ID: <redirect-2355735@logan.com>
From: "Jon Carlson" <jon@carlsonhome.com>
Subject: RE: [LML] paperless cockpit
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>>>any other options out there?<<<

FWIW, I recently bought a Fujitsu Pen tablet (Stylistic LT P-600) on
Ebay for less than $1000 (these are the ones that a number of vendors
sell for about $6K new for some reason). I bought the
JeppView/FlightDeck subscription, ran the setup program, and cancelled
my paper updates (net amount to Jepp is close to the same for JeppView
versus paper). The tablet works well in the cockpit, the P-600 has a
screen that rotates and is acceptably bright, it's a reasonably small
form factor that is fine in my lap (I've seen people who have
constructed mounts for it too). A guy I know has an MX20, and the screen
is substantially smaller than this tablet PC that I've got (I think it's
640x480 versus my 800x600). It is nice to have it mounted in the panel,
but it requires a little more scrolling due to the screen size issue.
The PC could do geo-referencing (and show the airplane position) if I
hooked up a serial cable to the GPS, but so far I haven't done that.

It's also handy to have a PC around the plane for other things (for
example, I have a King GPS that can receive updates via a serial port).
It's also become my travelling PC so I don't have to carry a separate
laptop - it has a wireless keyboard for times I need a keyboard. I run
my PC-based flight planner software on it, and I can use the internet
during my flight planning for weather updates, etc.

I know you said paperless, but I purchased a Canon I70 portable printer
with which I can print (via infrared wireless) from JeppView plates (or
whatever else!) before I depart if I so choose. When tired or in real
bouncy weather, it's sometimes nice to stick good ol' paper in the yoke
clip even though the tablet works OK.

For about $1500 in PC and printer hardware (plus Jepp subscriptions as
appropriate), I can have all the approach plates in the world and never
have to carry any more than the tablet (about 3 or 4 pounds including
the case and keyboard) and my printer (maybe 5 pounds) and one Jepp
Binder of enroute charts (I have no idea why this isn't on the PC yet).
Plus it's portable so I can use it in other airplanes if desired, and
it's a general purpose PC when I'm on the ground. Once I've landed, I
can go to Starbucks and surf the internet with my wireless network card.
It works reasonably well for me.