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Rockbox mail archiveSubject: OT: PDAs was Re: New Archos stuffOT: PDAs was Re: New Archos stuff
From: TP Diffenbach <rockbox_at_diffenbach.org>
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 10:24:30 -0400 Actually, you can do what you want on a Palm for about $200 (even Palms with OS 3.1 could display PDF, if not exactly well -- I remember reading the C++ Standard on mine (yes, I bought a copy from ANSI, and a copy of the C Standard too)). And yes, I read books too -- check out williamcalvin.com for some good popular neuro science, for example -- on a Palm with 4-bit "color"; just replace the default font with a better one using a fiont "hack". I think you can get a Zaurus 5500 for around $200 too, which gives you a linux OS, a color screen, and a good bit more memory than a palm. I use a 5600 ($500), and it's got its drawbacks, but you can read on it. The Zaurus displays and edits MS Word, and you can find a number of document readers, or use the included Opera browser for HTML. The Zaurus font doesn't seem to include an m dash ("--"), which is annoying, but other than that, it's ok. Add a wifi card to the zaurus, and you can surf and irc (it's got a thumb keyboard) while in the bathtub. Quoting Wesley Simon <wsimon_at_lsil.com>: > > I work with a guy that knows a few insiders at Apple and he was > expecting a product similar to this one when they did the new iPod > announcement back in May. Rumor is that Apple has a similar product in > the works. > > I'd love to have a small device like this that allows me to read files > like PDF, text, perhaps html and (god forbid) Word documents. Given > the amount of written text (manuals, e-books, etc.) that are in > electronic form, I'd love to have a small portable device that would > allow me to kick back in a chair or lay in bed and read them. Granted, > I can take the 12" PowerBook to bed with me but my wife already feels > as though my computer is a mistress! I'm sure one of the new Palm and > Palm-like devices would do all this, but those kind of devices are too > expensive and limited on capacity. I'd seriously consider something in > the $200 price range that could only store and display documents. > > And yes, I know that I could convert all the aforementioned document > types to text and then read them on my recorder. Some documents, > especially technical documents, lose meaning without the proper > formatting. I have a 1500+ page Solaris manual in PDF format that > would lose all meaning without the screenshots, bold and italicized > fonts and formatted code snippets. > > > Enough of my ramblings. The new archos AV300 is pretty damn kick ass. > A person could bring along their own movies on a flight without having > to bring along a computer. > > My only wish is that Archos would start supporting firewire. > > -- Archos FM has a Rockbox!Received on 2003-06-03 Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy |