The technology
Let's start with the computer. It's work's and it's an IBM ThinkPad
750EL. I have no idea what
kind of spec it has... I know it has enough CPU and RAM to trudge along
tolerably quickly with Windows 95. It has a PCMCIA modem card and a PCMCIA
Token Ring card. I somehow doubt I'll be using the token ring card very
much once the holiday begins...
The tank of Sea Monkeys next to it in the picture will not be joining us in the USA :)
I've kept Windows on it for a few reasons: I'll be checking my work-related mail using Lotus Notes, for which there is no Linux/BSD/whatever client, and also the modem dialer software I have for Windows is all nicely set up already, and contains a vast database of local access phone numbers wherever I am in the world. So, Bill wins this time. To make things vaguely bearable, I've installed ActiveState's Windows port of Perl, and Cygnus's very impressive Windows port of the UNIX API (which gives me Bash, Vim, GNU textutils, etc. all of which make things a lot easier). There's Perl and bash scripts under development to manipulate these HTML files, make thumbnails clickable etc. -- but don't expect any tarted up post-Mosaic HTML features to get used. Life's too short.
Anyway, onto the camera. 
It's
a Kodak DC215 Zoom, which I bought second hand from Computer Exchange in
London. It has a 4Mb CompactFlash card in it for image storage, and so
far I've been transferring pictures over with the serial link. However,
4Mb is about 20 pictures, which I reckon is a limitation, and I just don't
trust the ThinkPad to remember to keep its serial port working (it took
hours of tinkering to get working in the first place), not to mention the
fact that serial transfers are slow and eat camera batteries -- so there's
a 32Mb card and a PCMCIA CompactFlash adapter winging its way to me from
Dabs
as I type.
Batteries for the camera are going to be an issue. We looked into buying a charger, but then realised that we couldn't be sure one we bought in the UK would cope with US mains voltage, so we'll buy one in Chicago.
When the CompactFlash stuff arrives, that'll be an excuse to fiddle around a little more, so then I'll do something about all the research we've done. I bet you can't wait.