Hardware Selection

[Richard Trudgian]

I want to build a virtual instrument for strain, noise and acceleration
measurement and analysis. The choice of DAQ cards and software is not
such a problem as the selection of a suitable PC. The problem is that I
want to carry the instrument around during field testing of agricultural
equipment - read "a rough ride". I am looking at "lunchbox:" style PC's
but I am not sure what level of ruggedisation I need i.e. how cheap I
can go. I can see that writing data to a hard disk under these
conditions may cause problems but all the other bits are solid-state -
right?

I would love to hear from anyone who has had experience abusing
computers. Or if there is a better place to post this message let me
know.


Sent via Deja.com http://www.
deja.com/
Before you buy.

[labview user]

I do this sort of thing all of the time. I would prefer Labview to all
other software platforms for the following reasons:

1. When you are in the field you need Rapid Application Development (RAD).
Most of the time researchers don't know what they want until it is too late.

2. If something "Hic-cups" you will need to get debugged fast.

3. Test parameters change a lot when you are out in the great wide open.
Use Labview so you can keep up. C & C++ take too long to debug and get up
to speed.

I may seem biased, but i smear workstation pros all of the time in this sort
of application. It is funny to watch and even better to have Labview. 5
years with Labview and loving it for true Hardcore testing.

Richard Trudgian wrote in message <81hrvu$ij0$1@nnrp1.deja.co
m>...
>I want to build a virtual instrument for strain, noise and acceleration
>measurement and analysis. The choice of DAQ cards and software is not
>such a problem as the selection of a suitable PC. The problem is that I
>want to carry the instrument around during field testing of agricultural
>equipment - read "a rough ride". I am looking at "lunchbox:" style PC's
>but I am not sure what level of ruggedisation I need i.e. how cheap I
>can go. I can see that writing data to a hard disk under these
>conditions may cause problems but all the other bits are solid-state -
>right?
>
>I would love to hear from anyone who has had experience abusing
>computers. Or if there is a better place to post this message let me
>know.
>
>
>Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
>Before you buy.