My Must-Have Gear While Travelling

Here is a list of some electronic gear I brought with me on my last work trip (some I carried on the plane, some went out ahead of me on one of our travel busses):

Xbox 360: Not much needs to be said here.

Laptop: Same with this one.

Linksys WRT54GS with Tomato firmware: Why did I specify the firmware? With that, I can use the Linksys as a router or a wireless brige. Not much need for the bridging part on the last trip, as every hotel I stayed at had an ethernet port in the room. Instead of using the ethernet port in their rooms, a number of coworkers just connected to my access point. Why the router to begin with? It gave me wireless for my laptop, and it enabled internet access with my 360. One thing to keep in mind with hotels is that most of them now require you to click on an "Accept" button in a web browser prior to actually being connected to the internet, so a laptop is necessary to do so.

19" widescreen LCD: It was time to upgrade my desktop computer to an LCD anyway. It also made for a nice screen for my 360 (the Microsoft Xbox 360 VGA cable is necessary to connect a 360 to a monitor). Most hotel TV's suck, and usually the only connection they have on them is an RF connector, which requires an RF modulator of some sort, not to mention they are usually capped and can be a PITA to remove, though I have been known to remove wallplates in order to avoid the caps. Although this LCD does have speakers built in, I brought along a pair of computer speakers for sound, as the built-in ones are mediocre at best.

Logitech Xbox Play Link: With these, a friend was able to connect to my router without the need for a wireless adapter for his Xbox 360. We played Halo 3 via both System Link and Xbox Live this way. Four-player split-screen System Link using two 360s was pretty fun.

Slingplayer on the laptop: I was able to watch programs recorded on my TiVo at home from my hotels in Flordia. With the laptop connected to the 19" LCD, it was almost like having a TV. Ten channels in the hotel, or 500+ using Slingplayer?

As a funny note, I had a problem at one hotel with my friend and I trying to both play on Xbox Live at the same time. My solution? I cloned the MAC address of my 360 in my router, restarted both router and 360, then removed the router and plugged the 360 directly into the hotel network. Another friend was surfing on his laptop, and a prompt to add a new 360 to his Windows Media Center popped up. He immediately called me and asked what was going on. I wonder if hotel guests I didn't know got the same message?

 

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