My Shuttle Plane/LAN Adventure

thetron · 4th July 2006, 2:51 PM

I recently ventured to a weekend trip away to attend a LAN event n Brisbane on the July 1/2. I've been previously attempts weren't practically possible when your wanting to travel with a heavy ATX tower and transporting 17 inch CRT. What a nightmare that would be

Knowing I intended to eventually travel someday (or move). The start of the year, I swap my 4ru rack mount for a smaller Shuttle SN26P forking out the extra 400 dollars for PCI-express, and SLI that i don't use (Thanks Shuttle)

My CRT had services me well and still is running today. So got rid of the CRT. Upgraded to LCD when Pluscorp and Computer Alliance were offering a special on a Benq 20"inch widescreen LCD monitor. I checked my bank balance and bought from Computer Alliance. Now travel is practical possibility

Motherlan dates were announced about two weeks ago. My reaction "Ahh cool. I wonder if it's a two day event". Problem with travelling for one day LAN events, most would start around 9 am in the morning and finish around 6-8pm. You'd miss half of the LAN before you even arrived at the LAN and find accommodation until the next train or plane is scheduled to leave

Since Motherlan was a two day event. It meant I could fly down from home (Hervey Bay) and arriving in Brisbane within 40 mins without being stuck overnight in Brisbane. I'd preferred to get there the quickest way and cheapest way possible, The Tilt train was cheaper and took longer to travel, tickets were sold-out on 1st of July. So plane it was

Before i even booked the plane. I needed to sort out two obstacles before flying
1 //. How I'm going to travel on a plane with a computer and LCD safely

Quote:

Answer: I kept the box and polystyrene blocks that came with the monitor. Measured the dimensions. Took to a bag shop to make sure it fits inside a bag nicely and preferably with a hard case for that extra protection. Along with pillows and sleeping bag to stop it from bounce around. The bag i bought was on special for about $100 for a 25' Inch hard cover luggage bag with a 5-year guarantee

The shuttle was kind of no brainier when it comes to travel. Shuttle makes carry bags and can be taken as carry onboard the plane. I bought a PF60 for trip for about 80 dollars from pluscorp. I was able stuff my all my cables and power board inside in bag, Except for the large G15 keyboard which fitted inside the luggage bag with the LCD

2 //. Will I even be allowed to fly with this much gear?

Quote:

Answer: There were debatable discussion with my family members. Regarding weight restrictions of carry on items and luggage, So Wednesday night before i booked my tickets. I wanted to weigh everything first to making sure it under the airliners weight requirements. When packed
Luggage weighed 18.2Kg
The shuttle weighed @ 15.5Kg

The weight requirement for checked onboard luggage was 4kg. Depending on the flight and how many people are flying, it wasn't a problem to take the shuttle onboard. On the busier flights they might police the restrictions on weight. Cause the heavier the plane is the more fuel it uses

Once that was sorted, I booked and paid for return tickets from Hervey to Brisbane for the first morning flight out and planned to return on Sunday Arvo. Once in Brisbane, I got a lift in a taxi to the LAN.

Did everything work? Yes, There was one hiccup when the system didn't boot. Switching it off at the back and after switch it back on. She worked

I did the same thing to get back home, Apart from my return flight being delayed an hour/two

. Lucky i wasn't catching the last plane

Now here a picture of me being playing BF2 without a joystick

Click to view full-sized image!

I'll post some more pics of my luggage and shuttle bag later. Any mistakes/errors please PM or find me on IRC/MSN

SSJX · 4th July 2006, 4:09 PM

yes! a story about the wonderful aspect of a Shuttle's portability!

just a tip for those who fly a lot with their shuttles and are concerned about weight issues - early flights like 6-7am ones, are generally not as full as the 8+am flights. There are plenty of spare seats around so you can pick and choose whereever you want to seat (doesn't matter what seat number you got), and can place the shuttle (in its PF30/40/60 bag of course) on the floor under the seat next to you so you don't have to worry about it crashing around in the overhead locker and you still get some leg room. Do note that this is from my personal experiences via Qantas (very friendly service and superior to Virgin anyday).

thetron · 4th July 2006, 4:21 PM

I was on a smaller plane. The shuttle was too big to fit under the seat and one the pilots put in the seat in front of me

Another thing i like to mention. I wasn't screened by security in Hervey Bay and here i am carrying this box that you could hide a bomb/weapon onto a PLANE and there ment be upgrading regional security....

I was screened in brisbane however

According talked to someone that works with the airport. Your only screened when virgin and jetstar are flying-in and not the smaller planes with sunshine express

Which is dumb and national security threat

Leopard · 4th July 2006, 7:23 PM

I think I mentioned in the interview that I should've gone for an other shuttle, rather than the ARIA microATX case I now have.

Past 2 LAN boxes have been shuttles and I have carry bags for 'em both - makes it so much easier to move around.

I also miss carrying my LCD in it's box with handle, those were the days when 1 trip did the lot

Varuna · 5th July 2006, 12:23 PM

Pfft. I just put my Dell i9400(7900go) and i6400(GMA) into a day bag and catch the bus.

Server and games machine in under 8kg.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thetron

Which is dumb and national security threat

There is no national security threat. No plane has ever been bombed over Australian soil. Unless the christofascists (politicians who throw the word 'islamofascist' and non existant terrorist threats at every possible opportunity to scare the idiot masses) start losing power, i'm fairly certain that no plane will ever be bombed over australian soil.

thetron · 5th July 2006, 2:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Varuna

There is no national security threat. No plane has ever been bombed over Australian soil. Unless the christofascists (politicians who throw the word 'islamofascist' and non existant terrorist threats at every possible opportunity to scare the idiot masses) start losing power, i'm fairly certain that no plane will ever be bombed over australian soil.

Reguardless of the size of the plane. They should be screening everyone and every flight, Not just jets

Varuna · 5th July 2006, 5:09 PM

Why? When has an Australian plane EVER been hijacked or bombed? Should we spend billions on a dropbear patrol too?

I find that this site makes a good job of putting airport security in perspective.
http://slash.dotat.org/~newton/security.html

thetron · 5th July 2006, 5:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Varuna

Why? When has an Australian plane EVER been hijacked or bombed? Should we spend billions on a dropbear patrol too?

I find that this site makes a good job of putting airport security in perspective.
http://slash.dotat.org/~newton/security.html

Yeah, But everyone is screened in brisbane reguardless of what flight or plane

Just silly they don't keep their guard up in a regional airport. If you goto maryborough or bunderberg same airline and without jets your screened

Drunkmunky · 6th July 2006, 8:31 AM

Well there has been atleast one attempted hijacking that I know of, on a plane out of launceston a guy tried to threaten everyone with sharpened wooden stakes he had hidden under his belt. But of course being Australia the passengers just got up and kicked the #@$#@ out of him, the mayor of launceston's own husband was the one that tackled him to the ground. I hope that all potential hijackers have learnt a valuable lesson from this, Australians don't take sh!t from anyone so don't even try.

As for shuttle portability what is wrong with the Aria? They look pretty good to me.

Varuna · 6th July 2006, 1:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drunkmunky

Well there has been atleast one attempted hijacking that I know of, on a plane out of launceston a guy tried to threaten everyone with sharpened wooden stakes he had hidden under his belt.

Well that 'incident' would have been prevented had the commonwealth government not diverted money from mental health services to 'border defence'.

This wasn't a serious hijacking attempt, it was obvious that it was both poorly planned and uncoordinated. It's entirely more likely that the guy thought that all the passengers of the plane were vampires.

Twrecks · 6th July 2006, 2:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thetron

Reguardless of the size of the plane. They should be screening everyone and every flight, Not just jets

Hahahaha, you are one sad victim of terrorism. Pwned by Ossama.

thetron · 6th July 2006, 2:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twrecks

Hahahaha, you are one sad victim of terrorism. Pwned by Ossama.

No i'm making a point that the expensive gear is pointless in regional airport

SSJX · 6th July 2006, 2:48 PM

looks like the thread got slightly off topic...

getting back to it, i just wanna add that if you have a 17" lcd you can fit it in a backpack and bring it along with the shuttle's bag. Usually they will let you on even though you have 2 pieces of carry-on luggage - and if they do ask just tell them that you don't trust those sob baggage carriers with your lcd screen. You can also just put the lcd in its original box and carry that around too - i've seen that occur.

and if you tend to travel interstate alot (like myself), and you tend to carry a lot of extra bags, fly Qantas coz they only charge an extra $11 per extra bag after the initial two bags. Virgin Blue on the other hand charges by the kg over but is fine if you are flying light plus its much cheaper too. I decided to give VB a try, and guess what happened? I got charged $250 on top of my $110 ticket, and my bags got seperated onto different flights too so i had to wait for a courier to deliver my bags to me the same day.

Yes, you're probably thinking that you are only allowed one check-in bag, but Qantas do allow a second one free of charge. Please note that I am a frequent flyer member, and 'may' not apply if you're not one.

As you can see, all this applies for 'city to city' flights (aka. Cityflyer). As for regional flights, ask tron, hopefully he can give you some insight as he travels more and more.

thetron · 6th July 2006, 3:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSJX

Ask tron, hopefully he can give you some insight as he travels more and more.

Could travel. Motherlan was just my first travel away with my beloved computer annika

I like to call this my deployable unit. "Oh theres a LAN in China. Let me check the bank first and then Go"

4th July 2006, 4:21 PM	#3
thetron Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Internet Posts: 6,407	I was on a smaller plane. The shuttle was too big to fit under the seat and one the pilots put in the seat in front of me Another thing i like to mention. I wasn't screened by security in Hervey Bay and here i am carrying this box that you could hide a bomb/weapon onto a PLANE and there ment be upgrading regional security.... I was screened in brisbane however According talked to someone that works with the airport. Your only screened when virgin and jetstar are flying-in and not the smaller planes with sunshine express Which is dumb and national security threat __________________ Comments about other people's English Report poor post directly to the poster via PM (Never an admin). Please be helpful by including your advice and comments Go Powercycle it Last edited by thetron; 4th July 2006 at 10:52 PM.

4th July 2006, 7:23 PM	#4
Leopard Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brisbane CBD Posts: 1,604	I think I mentioned in the interview that I should've gone for an other shuttle, rather than the ARIA microATX case I now have. Past 2 LAN boxes have been shuttles and I have carry bags for 'em both - makes it so much easier to move around. I also miss carrying my LCD in it's box with handle, those were the days when 1 trip did the lot __________________ VR/VS Commodore Owners Club Member #64 VS Series II Acclaim

5th July 2006, 5:09 PM	#7
Varuna Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sydneys Northern Beaches. Posts: 1,050	Why? When has an Australian plane EVER been hijacked or bombed? Should we spend billions on a dropbear patrol too? I find that this site makes a good job of putting airport security in perspective. http://slash.dotat.org/~newton/security.html __________________ If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.

6th July 2006, 2:48 PM	#13
SSJX Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,746	looks like the thread got slightly off topic... getting back to it, i just wanna add that if you have a 17" lcd you can fit it in a backpack and bring it along with the shuttle's bag. Usually they will let you on even though you have 2 pieces of carry-on luggage - and if they do ask just tell them that you don't trust those sob baggage carriers with your lcd screen. You can also just put the lcd in its original box and carry that around too - i've seen that occur. and if you tend to travel interstate alot (like myself), and you tend to carry a lot of extra bags, fly Qantas coz they only charge an extra $11 per extra bag after the initial two bags. Virgin Blue on the other hand charges by the kg over but is fine if you are flying light plus its much cheaper too. I decided to give VB a try, and guess what happened? I got charged $250 on top of my $110 ticket, and my bags got seperated onto different flights too so i had to wait for a courier to deliver my bags to me the same day. Yes, you're probably thinking that you are only allowed one check-in bag, but Qantas do allow a second one free of charge. Please note that I am a frequent flyer member, and 'may' not apply if you're not one. As you can see, all this applies for 'city to city' flights (aka. Cityflyer). As for regional flights, ask tron, hopefully he can give you some insight as he travels more and more. Last edited by SSJX; 6th July 2006 at 2:51 PM.

4th July 2006, 4:09 PM	#2
SSJX Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,746	yes! a story about the wonderful aspect of a Shuttle's portability! just a tip for those who fly a lot with their shuttles and are concerned about weight issues - early flights like 6-7am ones, are generally not as full as the 8+am flights. There are plenty of spare seats around so you can pick and choose whereever you want to seat (doesn't matter what seat number you got), and can place the shuttle (in its PF30/40/60 bag of course) on the floor under the seat next to you so you don't have to worry about it crashing around in the overhead locker and you still get some leg room. Do note that this is from my personal experiences via Qantas (very friendly service and superior to Virgin anyday).

6th July 2006, 8:31 AM	#9
Drunkmunky Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hobart Posts: 1,635	Well there has been atleast one attempted hijacking that I know of, on a plane out of launceston a guy tried to threaten everyone with sharpened wooden stakes he had hidden under his belt. But of course being Australia the passengers just got up and kicked the #@$#@ out of him, the mayor of launceston's own husband was the one that tackled him to the ground. I hope that all potential hijackers have learnt a valuable lesson from this, Australians don't take sh!t from anyone so don't even try. As for shuttle portability what is wrong with the Aria? They look pretty good to me.