Re: Computer in the Garage

Posted by BH On 2010/2/10 22:23:38

I'm not personally aware of anyone who has done such a thing, but it sure sounds environmentally friendly - and handy.

I do know that GM had been pushing dealers to provide each tech with a laptop computer in their bay, networked and with hi-speed internet accesss, because the next generation of "scan tool" will be software-only, with a cable connecting the laptop to the vehicle.

We don't need anything so exotic for our old cars, but with so much material avaiable thanks to P'Info, a computer in the workshop makes sense. Personally, I'd just use a thumb drive to copy the PDFs already on my primary laptop in the house to the one in the garage - faster than CD. However, a CD drive is a good idea if you own other brands of cars as there are plenty of shop manuals and parts books available on CD for Big Three product.

If I ever get caught up with so many other projects, I may see if I can resurrect my previous laptop, running Win95, but with USB support, though the LCD display has some issues. The battery is shot, but I could get by with leaving it plugged into AC and on a workbench. If I can't get the display economically repaired, the laptop has ports for external keyboard and monitor. Already have a keyboard and could probably find a cheap LCD monitor.