Hi,

Is anybody using a Netbook in the field for CCD Imaging and how to they find them?

Also how is it for other astro applications,

John

I'm using a Samsung NC10, one of the best gadgets I have bought yet.
I have put linux on mine (it comes with xp).

Stellarium is perfectly usable, no stuttering. My star-gazing quality has improved greatly as I don't need to keep running inside to look up things on the desktop, destroying night vision in the process. I have a Collins field guide to the stars book, but it doesn't go deep enough for my 10" dob.

I don't do any ccd imaging as such, but I shoot raw photos with a Canon 400d, and it handles these fine with Gimp. It's obviously not as quick as the latest quadcore, but I'm happy with the performance.

The battery life is pretty good, regularly getting about 6 hours out of it (sometimes more, depends what you are doing.)

Such computers are very good provided you will not be using them to focus your telescope (ex. when doing CCD work). Otherwise, they are very good for other tasks (ex. automating eclipse photography, offsite work etc).

Hi,

Thanks for the answers. I had a search for a Samsung, but it appears to have no USB connectors. Have I got ir right?

John

I have three usb ports on mine.

There are no serial or parallel ports.

Hi,

Saw a picture of it on the Pixmania website and it show 3 USB ports.

Price €507 on the Irish Pixmania site versus £329 on the British Pixmania site, a €100 differential (= 31.5%) before VAT at an exchange rate of £0.90 = €1.

Appears the GREAT STERLING RIP-OFF is still going strong, despite the recession. Actually the GREAT STERLING RIP-OFF is one of the reasons for the recession being particularly bad here.

€371 on the Misco.ie website. Anybody dealt with them?

John

€352 at elara.ie.

www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ELA1617255

€10 p&p, or if you live near Dublin, you can pick it up from them for free.

I got mine from there, had it in my sweaty hands two days after ordering.

Hi,

Got one from Elara and just took one day to arrive. The USB works ok on my CCD camera,

John

Just to add some info.
I have an ACER aspire ONE (10.1")

I use it for observing:
PHD
SkyMap
Ascom (telescope control)
Image Source CCD capture
Canon EOS utility
All run fine.

I can guide and capture for at least 2 hours on one 6 cell battery with no risk. Or I can power it from the inverter on my battery pack, it seems to make a light draw only.

Almost all of the lower cost netbooks have just about the same spec

Intel Atom N270
160 GB hard drive
3 USB ports
Battery life from 3 to 9 hours

I choose mine based on the 9 hour battery life and general build quality (Samsung N110) but they should all do the same tasks.
I will definitely be using my netbook for all field use now (avi's stellarium, and will try autoguiding). Amazing little machines for the price (€300 or less). I needed one for airline travel and skype, email,web browsing on the go etc.. but it should double up as a nice portable observing aid.

Has anyone tried capturing images using a webcam using the NC10 or similar netbook?
Im looking on ebay and am considering getting one, it has a good matt screen and great battery life.
I have an dell inspiron 9100, great for brute cpu power but very hard on batteries with a v short bat life, so I need something with a long battery life.

Dave,
Tony Hyland was using a small netbook for the BSP
and I was very surprised at the quality and battery life.
Sorry Tony, I did'nt catch your set up...
I'm gonna buy one of these also as my Laptop (2K worth) got sizzled
reciently due to dew.
Shrugs up... It was my fault...
I shuldn't have had that machine out for so long......


NEWAY

Notebooks are seriously the way to go...
but for final processing use a CRT!!!!!

yea, its only for capturing at the scope, I'm not spending more then 100-150 on it, that way when it blows up, then I wont care.
I've lost 2 laptops overt the years due to weather, so at this stage I'd consider them as expendibles.

I'm with you there dude!

Hi Dave

I have used my Samsung N110 netbook with my DMK camera at the full frame rate with no problem. It will even run registax (older version due to screen size limitations only) without any problem. Battery life is great so no power problems. I find it just as fast as my older centrino duo compaq machine. Stellarium is actually faster on it.

well thats great news John.
Many people on the web say go for the older NC10 over the N110 cos the N110 has a glossy screen, have you found the glossy screen to be a hinderance when imaging or is it irrelevant in low light conditions ?

I haven't seen any problem with the screen but I have only used it a few times. Great little machines and solidly built. I also got a portable hard drive for transferring avi's to afterwards for processing. I think Dave Gradwell uses a netbook for most of his data collection (from the Dunsink workshop).

How much do these retail for?

Frank_Ryan_jr wrote:

How much do these retail for?

Should be able to pick them up new for around 300 euro. Got mine about 12 months ago in Dixons for just under 300 on special. I think they are all pretty good as long as you get one with a good battery life (Acer, Asus, Samsung etc...)