Ah, I saw that episode.
Why not just put that laptop in a sterile plastic bag? They work in a plastic bag, right? That way the laptop doesn’t have to be sterile, just the bag. Most don’t even have a fan in them, right? Might need some air. Hmmm…
Ummm… Most laptops do have a fan in them (well, most that I’ve seen) and they tend to run on the hot side anyway. I don’t think bagging the whole thing would be a very good idea at all.
Also the trackpad will not work when covered with plastic.
-sigh- Urban, this is someone who will undergo Stem Cell Replacement. They will exist at least for a short while with absoutely zero immune system. Hardly the case with AIDS patients. They deal with slowly diminishing immune systems.
GythaOgg, Welcome to the Straight Dope !! Always glad to uncloak a Lurker. I thank you for your input- it never occurred to me, which is stupid because I’ve shot jobs in hospitals, and in OR’s. But this is different, due to the extreme nature of the situation. I shall approach the parents, and get the info on the hospital, and deal with the proper staff members there directly.
And, you betcher ass, I’ll start with the Head Nurse on the Peds ICU… I learned at the age of 14 when I first began volunteering on a Peds ward, NEVER cut around the Head Nurse. Ever. 
Mort Furd, man thank you SO much for tracking this down, I shall email you directly. Mangetout is right, they run hot. They all run hot. It would need to be vented at least, or more likely, rendered acceptably sterile by the staff at the hospital.
I’ll figure this out, I have at least a month. I also have a contact inside Sony, and may yet get a brand new VIAO donated to this situation- one that would be shipped directly to me, so I could set it up, then have it sent to the hospital for ‘cleansing’.
I am determined. There is nothing good about the entire situation, but I am trying to at least give this child and her parents access to the rest of the family, and to the world at large. I feel it’s a sanity issue. Additionally, the kid craves school and the last month or two, she will be physically able to do some work for schooling on the machine. She knows nothing about this yet, I won’t say a word until I have it all locked down.
It’s how I deal with this kind of overwhelming issue- I try to find a solution, and work hard to implement it. Sometimes, that’s a poor quality to have in one’s head. In this case, I think it will help them out.
Thank you all again for the thoughts and solutions, by all means keep 'em coming.
Cartooniverse
Cartooniverse, just out of curiosity - is this a family member or friend, or a charity you are involved with? You’re sure a swell guy for going through all this trouble Sounds like the kid will be absolutely thrilled!
Here is a fluid you can dip a running laptop in
http://cms.3m.com/cms/US/en/2-68/iilzRFS/view.jhtml
It can reach 200+ C. You may be able to bring it up to 100 C and immerse the laptop, although the laptop may not handle that, I would contact the manufacturer.
That’s the beauty of these machines in Germany. They don’t run hot and they don’t have openings in the housing for cooling. They are built entirely of components that run cool or can be cooled passively. The housings are SEALED. You sterilize the outside and don’t have to worry about the insides.
I’ll be in the US the first week of April. Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Maybe Illinois. If you want to go this route, maybe I could bring one over for you - if we can get the details nailed down.
it seems that the actual problem has been solved, but to put the record straight:
You can get waterproof immersible laptops. Been around for years, Husky is one well known make. I don’t just mean showerproof, like one dropped into a 15m deep lake, recovered 3 days later still working (standby of course). However they tend to not be high performance (cooling issues on a sealed case etc.)
Gas sterilization is another option but might not kill bacterial and fungal spores.
Heat sterilization is possible; dry heat would need >160 degrees C (pref 180) for several hours. Not really an option. High pressure steam vessel (120C) such as an autoclave or pressure cooker is very effective, but I don’t see any PC surviving.
Touch screens are used in clean rooms, the body of the PC being outside.
If the suggested solution is not fast enough, get them to build in a network card, and then you can run terminal services sessions to a machine outside the clean room
I didn’t mention it, but the units I’m talking about have network cards by default, and you can get a glass fiber network interface as well. These jobbies are not just water proof, they are guaranteed to stand up to the specified sterilization procedures, and meet international standards for equipment that has to be used in a medical environment. They start where your typical ruggedized unit leaves off.
The company also makes a model explicitly for terminal services.
Chlorine dioxide sterilization. If it works for anthrax infested federal office buildings, it’ll probably work on a computer.
“You can get waterproof immersible laptops.”
I think that I recall tigerdirect.com once sold some used military laptops that were made for conditions like this. You could drop them, put them in the ice box, etc & they were just fine. I wish I could remember what they called them.
But here are some new ones for sale:
http://www.nichetech.co.uk/dat/Nicheseries600.html
This is splendid. I’m exploring several options at this point, and have a little bit of time. Not much.
It is a family member, ZIpper. Thank you for the kind words.
Did you ever read “The Hot Zone”? A true story about a virus epidemic - I seem to recall USAAMRID completely sterilizing a building by sealing it, and then placing some sort of crystals in electric frying pans to produce a gas (formaldehyde?) which was left for some time to seep into the cracks, saturate, and sterilize.
It killed the Renton strain of the Ebola virus… may be worth looking at.
-FK
Toon’s I’ll send you an email for what they had us do for ToddlerSthrnAccent during is isolation and what was to have been done for the things he would have with him during the bone marrow transplant and the months of isolation (with a parent) after. Its not as complicated as you might think from some of the above suggestions. If you doubt me, you can always phone the American Cancer Society or talk to the nurses at the local pediatric oncology unit. They deal with this on a routine basis.
Well, I doubt this will be much help now, but could IRRADIATING a laptop work? Unless it’s some sort of prototype optical computer (gimmie), the internal workings shouldn’t be affected, and I’m reasonably sure that you can irradiate something without making it radioactive itself.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2080546/
saw that today, thought of this thread, though it may be a lil late.
How do you sterilize a laptop? Have you tried a vasectomy?
I’ll be leaving now.