Husky Computers Ltd’s new FC-486 notebook can be shaken, dropped, frozen and even immersed, but it will carry on working despite the user’s and nature’s best efforts to the contrary. Husky, a Coventry-based division of Peek Plc is aiming its notebook at field service engineers, surveyors and insurance assessors. It is, the company claims, the first notebook that is as happy covered in mud as it is on a desk in a warm office. It features a full QWERTY keyboard and an optional cordless electromagnetic pen to point and tick in Microsoft’s Windows for Pen software. The FC-486’s unique hinge-less contoured profile is designed to fit in the crook of the arm, and the carrying handle doubles as a desk stand and pen holder. Mobile data communications is increasingly important in outdoor computing and the FC-486 comes with two personal computer memory card international association slots, enabling use over the Group Speciale Mobile network, and two internal slots. Crucially, the PCMCIA slots are also sealed. A radio unit with a fixed antenna from Motorola Inc will be launched later this quarter. Husky found that colour screens were prone to washout in bright conditions, so a backlit monochrome VGA display is used, with a user-replaceable polycarbonate shield to protect against scratches and impact damage. Battery life and charge times are also perennial problems with notebooks, but Husky believes it has addressed this by using Duracell’s DR30 nickel metal hydride battery. It lasts for over 10 hours and takes one hour to re-charge with the optional fast charger, 10 with the standard version. The battery accounts for approximately 10 oz of the 4 lbs 4 oz total weight. The FC-486 features a Cx486 processor run-ning at 50MHz, 25MHz internally, with 2Mb RAM as standard, ex-pandable to 16Mb. Additional storage is provided by up to 16Mb of Flash memory. MS-DOS 6.22 is in ROM as is the optional Wind-ows. The unit ships in April, costing ú1,800 for the 2Mb entry-level version, ú2,300 for the 4Mb version with pen and Windows.
