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

[mike]

Any non-color Palm-OS device works great.   Color ones work too 
(theoretically,) but the battery life chains you to the desktop every 4-8 
hours of reading.. so you lose your book during recharge time. For me, I read 
myself to sleep, and during breaks at work... so losing my book for charging 
doesn't work. Disposable AAA batteries last me about a month. If you want 
rechargable, regular AAA rechargables are MUCH less expensive than the 
proprietary batteries that all the color devices have in them (~40.00 just 
for a second battery... another ~50.00 for the standalone charger)  Based on 
my son's rechargable gameboy experience, rechargable AAA batteries  would 
last about a week in my visor per charge, and take about 50 charges before 
dying. So about a years worth of use with one set, or 2 years with a backup 
set. 

Palms aren't what I'd call perfect for reading. The price is a little steep, 
and the screen a little smaller than I wanted.  However I spent triple this 
on a 8x10inch tablet just for reading etexts.  I found it weighed too much to 
hold for extended periods, and I was afraid to carry it around with me 
(standing in line, laundry, as a shopping list, etc.) because of its value, 
and akwardness.  The battery on the tablet really sucked too (3 hours, and an 
extra was ~100.00.) The palm is (almost) small enough that it goes anywhere, 
it is functional for reading, and it has alot of freebies that come with it 
(chess, astronomy, calendar, alarm clock, etc..) 
 
I use a handspring visor deluxe (currently 80.00 at fryes), but any 
non-rechargable palm device will work.  A normal sized book is ~200k, so even 
an older model is more than sufficient to act as a book reader.  The whole 
bible runs about 1.4 meg in palm format (and I've got 11 unrestricted 
versions.. so far) I've seen Palm m100's listed NEW for 49.00, so they should 
be available cheaper than that on the used front.  (With  their sensitive 
screens,  I wouldn't recommend mail order without a guarantee for these 
things.) 

For the desktop, read the man files in pilot-xfer, pilot-link (command line 
only).. they have many many capabilities.. but most work much better with a 
serial port than a USB port. 

I use jpilot (gui-centric) for my desktop at home.  I have it working with 
USB, but mandrake makes me log into root to reopen the USB daily (modprobe is 
root only, and the 24hr mandrake security script has thwarted my attempts to 
make it otherwise, which is probably smart.)  If you are planning to load 
alot of text files (and I plug whole bibles into mine at once) I recommend 
going with a USB capable device.  If you are a heavy reader, it will make a 
big difference. 



Reader Software. (search for any of these + '.pda' in google)

C Spot Run - This is the one I use for most purposes.   
o  It has a rotatable screen so you can hold it in many different positions. 
This keeps cramping hands non-existant during extended reading. (the 
rotatable feature doesn't seem to work in my backup platinum device .. I 
don't think it  works for palmOS version 3.5 or greater.)
 
o All non-text areas of the screen can be turned off so you get more words 
per screen. 

Doc Reader - pretty much just like C spot run, but no rotatable screen.
o DocReader has a unique feature that you can set a virtual screen width.   
This allows you to more correctly veiw tabulated data (but there is no fixed 
width font, so it still wont be collumated )
o This program also has more control on stripping/including linefeed 
characters.  This is great for reading stuff from Project Gutenberg (which is 
double spaced.)  

iSilo - This program reads palmdoc format plus its own proprietary format.  
o the isilo format includes tables and chapters, as well as intradocument 
linking.   the downside of this is the import program is windows ware (and I 
never tried it under wine)


Conversion Programs - (these are all the gui-centric ones I  use... look into 
pilot-xfer for command line options.)

DocReader.exe  - this program runs great under wine, and is freeware.  it 
converts text to compressed palmdoc (all of the above programs use this) and 
back. It will also handle the palm filename and properties. see 
	http://sailor.gutenberg.org

ABI word - will read UNCOMPRESSED palmdoc format as a native document. will 
convert any of its allowable formats into uncompressed palmdoc (also 
supported by all of the above) with its 'save as' command.  If you open with 
docreader.exe, the file will automatically get compressed, and no longer be 
compatible with ABI word

Sources of free etext: 

http://sailor.gutenberg.org  (the classics)

http://www.ibiblio.org (eclectic current stuff...)

http://www.wikipedia.org (a totally free encyclopedia--as in.. anyone can 
add....)

You can also search for 'e-book' in your news reader's list of  groups. 


On Monday 29 July 2002 11:29 am, you 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?