My Q1B makes it to The Aussie Outback

As you know I am in the United States and have managed to bring some of my Gadget Bag but not all. A notable omission is the Samsung Q1B which I loaned out. Which begs the question, who has it? Believe it or not the answer is VIA Technologies (indirectly).

It turns out that Fiona of ViaArena contacted me, after Samsung Australia had sent her to me, looking for a Samsung Q1B. Neither Samsung Australia, or VIA Technologies could help her…but I could!

The reason she wanted the Q1B is quite obvious if you know the internal workings of the device, i.e. it has a VIA Ultra Low Voltage processor. The main reason for needing it was a road trip she and her husband were about to go on in rural Australia…yes, The Outback!

Via Arena, in case you haven’t been there, is the official VIA Technologies, Inc. blog/forum. Fiona and her husband John are the official writers of the blog, and all round good guys. Their task on this occasion was to head to some cattle stations in rural Australia in search of the VIA EPIA EN mainboard in action.

So if you want to know where my Q1B has been while I am in Redmond, and if you’re interested in a really grass roots (pardon the pun) application for VIA Technologies then head over to this post.

Here is a snipping:

• When? Wednesday 6th March 2007 - Sunday 11th March 2007


• Who's going? Us! John and Fiona Gatt from VIA Arena


• Why? To try working on the road with a UMPC with a wireless Internet connection and to check out an interesting use for VIA EPIA motherboards that have been employed in cattle stations in rurual Australia.


• Distance to be travelled? 877.78 kms or 545.42 miles (times 2 for the round trip)


• Estimated travel time? 10 hours of driving each way


• Route to be travelled? Melbourne to Dubbo, stopping at Shepparton and Narrandera.