Public computers & your camera

...or what do you mean I can't install my camera drivers?

You're using a public computer in an Internet cafe or a library, and the computer doesn't understand your camera - and the owner of the computer won't allow you to install any drivers. You may be very annoyed by being denied the option of installing your drivers, but don't be. It's too easy to introduce conflicts with already installed components on the computer - and there are other options!

There are card readers available that can read your camera's digital media. They hook into the computer's USB port and look to the computer like just another hard drive. If you're looking for a card reader, I recommend doing a search on the web using the search terms "card readers". I just tried that search on March 15, 2007 and came up with quite a list of choices.

In my experience the card readers can be small, weigh next to nothing, and don't use any external power, no battery charging here!

I thought I'd do some photo uploads during my Hawaii trip, but I didn't. I made the decision to shoot everything at 4 megapixels and not bother to switch between 2 megapixels and 4 megapixels and take double shots, so I knew I could only do the uploads if I had a high-speed Internet connection. I was carrying my Zio USB compact flash card reader for this purpose. It turned out that I had high-speed Internet access only while I was at Arnott's Lodge - but I was way too busy playing and exploring to spend the time sitting at a computer. So again, I waited until I got home to upload my pictures.