[NTLUG:Discuss] Advice on a linux-compatible handheld for reading text?

[Steve Baker]

Lance Simmons wrote:

> I'd like to get some kind of handheld device on which I can read text. I
> want it to have the following features:
> 
> 1. I can transfer text files to it from my linux desktop machine,
> preferably using only the command line.
> 
> 2. It's comfortable to hold and it displays text in a way that's easy on
> the eyes. (I have in mind ascii files containing books or articles,
> though I'm open to converting them to other formats.)
> 
> 3. It's dirt cheap. 
> 
> Does anyone here know of such a device?

I have an 'Agenda VR3' palmtop - which (unfortunately) has gone the way
of the Dodo since the company that made them went bust.

However, the idea of a palmtop that runs Linux is an idea that's caught on
and it certainly makes a lot of sense.  With an IR "dongle" connected to my
PC's serial port, I can run PPP over the iRDA port and simply use all the
usual networking to chat between the PC and the PDA.  I can mount the PC's
drives on the PDA - rlogin to the PC from the PDA, run Xfree86 apps on the
PC and view the output on the PDA.

It's also easy to modify the system software, kernel, etc - and write my
own applications for the beast - you already know all the commands and
interfaces.

This is all unbelievably *nice*.

So, don't get an Agenda VR3 (their battery life *sucks* and they are S-L-O-W
at doing most PDA-ish things) - but *do* look for a PDA that runs Linux and
which runs PPP over iRDA.

----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
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