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Re: laptop
Having a serial port is a nice thing on a programing laptop. It is, however, quite difficult to find a serial port on a new laptop.
I think it's time we all bit the bullet and excepted the evil of a USB to serial converter. While they seem to vary a great deal in terms of speed and reliability, there are workable converters for reasonable prices. It's be discussed plenty on these boards, so we should all have a good idea of which converters work reliably.
A used laptop is kind of like a used car. It'll probably work most of the time but it's previous owner will leave his mark, and theres a good chance you'll get stuck with a lemon. If you can get one from someone you know and trust, great. Otherwise, be wary. Getting stuck with a junky laptop can be worse then not having one at all.
The team might consider buying either a small external hard drive or a USB flash key that can be used as the central repository of code. It is then up to team members to use their own laptops or to take the drive home to write the code, but at least it isn't stuck on any one computer. When it is time to travel, bring the drive with you even if you don't have a laptop. You should be able to have another team download your code or make quick fixes. It's not an ideal situation, but it may be better then going out and buying a brand new computer or depending on an old piece of junk.
-Andy A.
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