Rugged portable slate computer
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Glacier Computer is an Amherst, New Hampshire based designer, developer, and supplier of rugged industrial computers. Their Ridgeline Tablet was conceived to complement Glacier's line of vehicle-mount computers with a mobile solution rugged enough to survive in harsh environments but light and portable enough to bring the power of standard Windows applications anywhere.

The Ridgeline is available in two very different configurations. The T600 model uses a modest low-power 1.0GHz VIA Eden processor and is probably most often used with Windows XP Embedded. The Ridgeline T650, on the other hand, uses a significantly more powerful Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 processor running at 1.2GHz, and most T650s will probably run Windows XP. The platform is also available with either up 16GB of Compact Fash or with shock-dampened hard disks up to 160GB. Here again, systems with the VIA chip and XP Embedded will probably run on Flash whereas Intel/XP-based machines use a hard disk.

Both versions come with a 10.4-inch transmissive display and an industrial-quality touchscreen. LCDs come with either SVGA (800 x 600 pixel) or XGA (1024 x 768 pixel) resolution, and a sunlight-viewable option is available. A phone-style numeric keypad can speed up data entry. There is also a navigation diamond with enter key and four hardware functions keys.

The Ridgeline is a very rugged system. It carries an IP65 ingress protection rating where the "6" stands for total protection against dust and the "5" protection against low-pressure jet of water from all directions. The computer can operate within a wide temperature range from -4 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. It can also survive a three foot drop to concrete. Rubber bumpers protect all four corners -- a simple but very effective way to reduce damage and scratching.

Glacier can ship the Ridgeline T600/T650 Series with internal 802.11a/b/g WiFi and Bluetooth Class 2, both with integrated antennas, as well as internal HSDPA wide area wireless. The device can also be equipped with built-in GPS with integrated antenna.

Depending on its configuration, the Ridgeline tablet can be used in a wide variety of mobile and vehicular applications.