Shipping Delay
Many of you became SkyPad customers on Friday, November 27, also known as Black Friday. Thank you very much for your business! Unfortunately, not only did we sell many more than we expected, the hardware manufacturer encountered an unexpected shortage of 2 GB memory chips (which we put into every SkyPad), delaying shipments to us. We currently anticipate receiving units from the manufacturer on Monday, December 14. We'll work hard to configure and ship but we have a lot of units to fulfill so we ask for your patience. We're very sorry for this inconvenience.
Watch the Video
We have a video on our Web site that shows how to use the GlassView portion of Voyager. It explains how switch the chart type (VFR vs. IFR), show scanned Sectionals or IFR Low Altitude charts, see approach plates, toggle between 2D and 3D "HITS" view, and more. This is the same video mentioned at the top of the SkyPad documentation so you may have already seen it. If not, we highly recommend you spend a few minutes watching it.
Remove the Handle
The SkyPad hardware was originally designed by Intel for use by school children in third-world countries. This is why the device is very durable and water resistant. It's also why it has a handle on the side. If you'd prefer not to have the handle, for example to better fit into a yoke mount, you can remove it: Remove the battery pack, unscrew the four screws that hold the handle, and replace the battery pack.
The Two Voyager Icons
We took a very minimalist approach to the icons on the SkyPad's Desktop. Two of the icons, Voyager4 and Voyager4 QuickFly, both start Voyager but with different initial configurations. Use the Voyager4 icon to start Voyager in a mode that makes it easy to pre-flight plan. Generally this is used while the unit is in landscape orientation (that is, the screen is wider than it is tall, often with the keyboard open). The Voyager4 QuickFly icon, by contrast, bypasses the general "What Do You Want To Do" screen and begins immediately in GlassView (in-flight) mode with the GPS engaged and the map visible. QuickFly also disables all Internet access, making startup time faster since Voyager won't even check to see if you're online (most of us don't have Internet in the plane).
Anti-virus, Firewalls, etc.
We ship the SkyPad with the standard Windows Firewall enabled and set to the normal settings. This is good protection for normal computing use. We do not ship it with any additional firewall or anti-virus program -- intentionally. We've found that all such programs slow the computer and generally interfere with the optimal performance required for in-flight use. While there is nothing stopping you from installing any Windows software on the SkyPad, including MacAfee, Norton, or other such programs, we very, very strongly suggest NOT doing so. The Windows Firewall will protect your computer from general Internet attacks. To defend against additional attacks, we simply suggest you limit your Internet downloads to trusted Web sites, only open emails from people you know, and be extremely careful when opening attachments that come in email. If you take these common-sense precautions, you'll get both optimal performance and safety.
Data ManagerThe last Voyager release, 4.3, introduced the Data Manager, a small application that automatically downloads monthly and daily data in the background while your SkyPad is on and connected to the Internet. This significantly speeds Voyager's start-up time since it doesn't need to download fuel prices and TFRs each time it runs.
The Data Manager can download scanned FAA charts such as Sectionals, IFR Low Altitude, IFR High Altitude, etc. in the background so the charts you need are ready when you want to fly. To get the most of the Data Manager, you should tell it which charts you're interested in. To do that, open the Data Manager, click the Select Charts button then check the charts you want to keep uploaded. All new SkyPads (that is, those that have not shipped yet), come with all the Sectionals and IFR Low Altitude charts pre-selected. The first SkyPads had nothing checked (the SkyPad initially shipped with a version of Voyager that did not yet include the Data Manager) so you'll want to check the desired charts as described above.
Finally, to get the most out of the Data Manager, you'll want to ensure that your SkyPad is connected to the Internet the night that new monthly data becomes available (and on A/C power). New data arrives every 28 days, always on a Wednesday night, so watch your calendar and check the data expiration date within Voyager by selecting About Voyager from the Help menu. The next data cycle begins on Thursday, December 17, so be sure to have your machine connected to the Internet overnight on Wednesday, December 16.
Flight Planning Tip - Changing the Takeoff Time
One of the great things about the SkyPad is that it's a Windows computer with a keyboard. One handy application of that is using the pre-flight planning features of Voyager to plan a fuel-price optimized and wind optimized flight plan. While this can be done while the machine is in portrait mode, it's best to do it in landscape mode with the keyboard available.
That said, some people using the SkyPad in landscape mode have called to ask how to change the takeoff time of the flight. It's actually quite easy to do (one click) so long as the NavLog area shows a region called Plan. Normally it does but when the screen is "vertically challenged", as it is when the SkyPad is in landscape mode, Voyager hides the Plan area to save room (otherwise, the NavLog area would be so compressed as to be almost useless), which makes it impossible to click the Takeoff Time button. Therefore, we added a mechanism to toggle the Plan area on and off. This feature is only available when the screen is very short. Click the up/down arrow icon above the NavLog.
USB Recover Sticks
During the past few months, we've re-formatted scores of factory-shipped SkyPad hard drives with what's called a "disk image." A disk image is a byte-by-byte clone of what's on a disk, generally used to made identical copies of the disk drive. This disk image includes our modified version of Windows XP, Voyager itself, a full set of VFR and IFR data, the SkyPad Controller, our customized Windows and Voyager settings, and more. In this way, every SkyPad begins with the same basic image that we then customize for each customer.
A few SkyPad customers have asked if they could get a copy of this disk image in case they need to reformat their machine. This disk image is now available on a 16 GB USB flash drive (the SkyPad has no CD or DVD drive), complete with a set of instructions for re-imaging the drive, for just $75. Contact
mailto:[email protected] if you're interested. Note: This offer is only available to SkyPad owners; the USB stick is not available to other customers or for use on anything but a genuine Voyager SkyPad (including other NetBooks, even the same underlying hardware as we use for the SkyPad).
Dimming the Screen For Night
This is mentioned in the little pamphlet that comes with each SkyPad but it's easy to miss. The SkyPad Controller has three screen brightness buttons, Max, Mid and Min. While the Min setting is fairly dim, it is possible to make it ever dimmer: Find the icon on the bottom right of the screen that looks a battery. Click it and switch from the default SkyPad setting to the SkyPad Night setting and the screen gets noticeably dimmer.
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