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Subject: OT: PDAs was Re: New Archos stuff

OT: 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

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