Bringing a laptop along

[CF-22 Raptor]

Why would I want to know all this? Not really sure, was just wondering how military computers compare to civilian ones. It would be intersting to know how many gigahertz the HMCS Toronto has etc etc.

Not sure if the answer to this question is classified or not: Why do you guys use trackballs as a pointing device instead of a mouse? Isn't it more clumbesome?

Oh yeah, so it's a myth that wi-fi or wireless signals broadcasted from laptops or personal electronics would be detectable by enemy ships and missiles right?

 

[Sheerin]

Not sure if the answer to this question is classified or not: Why do you guys use trackballs as a pointing device instead of a mouse? Isn't it more clumbesome?

I'm not in the navy - but will be applying in the near future...
but my guess on that would be that a trackball is built into the console and therefore during heavy seas or whatever it won't go flying, whereas a mouse is not exactly secured to the table and will go flying in situations like that.

Sounds logical to me, but is that really the reason?  lol

Okay I'll go back to my usual lurking

 

[George Wallace]

Why would I want to know all this? Not really sure, was just wondering how military computers compare to civilian ones. It would be intersting to know how many gigahertz the HMCS Toronto has etc etc.

Not sure if the answer to this question is classified or not: Why do you guys use trackballs as a pointing device instead of a mouse? Isn't it more clumbesome?

Oh yeah, so it's a myth that wi-fi or wireless signals broadcasted from laptops or personal electronics would be detectable by enemy ships and missiles right?

Your insistence to get this information, which is probably on the "Need to Know" basis and you are not fitting that description, makes me wonder what "Agency" you work for?  I was already strongly "hinted" to you that you have 'no need to know' and a review of some of your posts has me wondering who or what you are? 
;D

 

[who980]

I have a few questions about computers and electronics on Canadian ships...

I was wondering what kind of computers Canadian warships use. Do you guys only have computers hardwired to the ship? Or do you use PCs and Laptops? What are they used for? Are the computers fast and efficient enough to perform operations?

How fast is the ships computer processor? How much RAM does it have? How big is the hard drive? What OS does it use? How is it similar or different from a normal civilian PC? What is it's graphic user interface like? Is the computer easy to use? Any bugs or annoying things about the computer or software?

Why are non DND USB keys a big no, no? What sort of information are inside them?  Do the ship computers even have USB ports?

What is the big deal with bringing your own laptop / cellphones / PDAs and why would Customs tax you for it?

Here is a link that might be of some interest to you regarding some of the combat computer systems we use on board:

http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/halifax/

We also have a couple computer networks onboard which use off the shelf network technology and off the shelf laptops.  This information is not OPSEC.  Now if we were talking about the information thats passed over these computer networks, that would be opsec

With regard to the USB sticks and DWAN - for one DWAN is an unclassified network - its just the Defense Intranet - the big issue is with viruses being taken from your home computer and brought onto a DWAN workstation.  This is a big headache - so if you have the need for a USB stick (ie: if you're a supervisor) you will be issued one by the CSA and must be used on DWAN WORKSTATIONS ONLY.

Ryan

 

[CF-22 Raptor]

Thanks for your input everybody, and Ryan, your article was an intersting read. It reminded me of the time I got the chance to visit the Toronto in '05. Do you navy people feel comfortable using the trackball mouse and computers? 

Your insistence to get this information, which is probably on the "Need to Know" basis and you are not fitting that description, makes me wonder what "Agency" you work for?  I was already strongly "hinted" to you that you have 'no need to know' and a review of some of your posts has me wondering who or what you are? 

Actually I am thinking about joining the army reserve as an Int Op next year and hope to stay there for the duration of my university education. And after 10 years in the workforce, I hope to join CSIS as a programmer. Hmm CSIS...Canadian Security Intelligence Service...quite a mouthfull, wouldn't the CIA - Canadian Intelligence Agency sound a LOT better?

 

[geo]

Most Int units grow from personnel remustering to the Int trade...
As a recruit - not sure you can get there from here....
You might take a look at a Field Engineer qualification before going Int. A lot of the training and knowledge will come in handy.

 

[CF-22 Raptor]

Ok, so do you think it's not realistic for someone like me to jump straight into int op and should get into another trade before transfering?

 

[combatcamera]

Back to the original question, and I'll try and answer some other ones too.  When we deploy with the Navy we bring laptops along, Powerbooks in our case, and use the DWAN computers on-board to transmit our photos back to Canada.  Each ship is slightly different, and there are limits as to how big your e-mail files can be when sending attachments.  For us in August on WINNIPEG in the Gulf our limit was 2MB.  That's enough to send some of our biggest JPEG files.  I think for Joe-sailor the limit was 1MB - still lots.  The system on-board was fast and we never had any problems sending imagery.  One thing all ships are big on is security for operations.  For this reason all e-mail goes through the DWAN.  You can't use a personal Hotmail or YAHOO account (at least not when I was on WINNIPEG recently), though you can send to them no problem and vice-versa to DWAN.

In regards to the WiFi - we have Airport wireless on our Mac Powerbooks.  In all honesty, I can say I've only used it once on the road to communicate between our equipment - and that was as an experiment.  I can't see why you would want (or need) to use this on a warship?  Stick to using it at the airport when you're waiting for your flight, or at the Starbuck's having a double-latte.  Oh yeah, the mouse - I use one all the time.

You can see a gallery of images from  HMCS WINNIPEG here under HMCS WINNIPEG - OPERATION ALTAIR: http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/common/combatcamera/galleries_e.htm

 

[Neill McKay]

Ok, so do you think it's not realistic for someone like me to jump straight into int op and should get into another trade before transfering?

That would be a good question for your recruiter (or perhaps the Recruiting forum?).  I believe one of the members here is actually a recruiter.

 

[CallOfDuty]

..you can get into reserve Int as a recruit, just not into reg force Int without remustering from another trade.  The reg force Int guys are really looking for reserve guys to come on board.  If you want to get into reg force int, the quickest way would probably be to go reserves first then CT into the regs. 
  During my small stint in reserve Int, they were saying that they were combining training and courses and making them shorter so the army could have fully trained Int reservists to be ready to go full time sooner.
Cheers

 

[CF-22 Raptor]

Intersting, thanks for your input everybody. Combatcamera, did you shoot any of those HMCS Winnipeg videos?

 

[combatcamera]

I did all the stills - Sgt Alain Martineau did all the video.  A lot of it was edited on our Powerbooks while we were onboard WINNIPEG.