illecebra <vyyrproenROT13@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2004.04.08.17.26.24.756193@yahoo.com>...
>
> I know this is rather OT, but as it requires basic geekishness to answer,
> I thought I might try to get away with it.
>
> I want to be able to take my RFCs, O'Reilly CD bookshelves, and other
> geekish literature with me when I'm away from my computer. I'd like to
> spend around \$100 US (maybe I'm dreaming) but could go as high as
> \$200-something if I found something that is worth it.
>
> I can't afford a laptop.
>
Of course you can. You just have to set your sights lower.

I got a Powerbook 1400C last fall, for forty dollars at a community
group auction. It lacked an ac adaptor, so I put off doing anything,
but coincidentally got it running today. This thing is better than
any computer I owned up to mid-2001. Mind you, I get the imperssion
it may not be the best choice for Linux.

It would be fine for reading books on CDROM, without even running
Linux.

There must be plenty of older laptops around that nobody wants
because they are "too old" that would fit your situation and price.
And since Linux runs on CPUs going back to 386's, you could even
run Linux.

A hundred or even two hundred dollars is good money, and I can't
believe a laptop cannot be had for that amount. I even found one
lying on the sidewalk last year, totally trashed. I suspect it
was trashed as it was discarded, or after someone tossed it out,
because I can think of no circumstances where a laptop gets mangled
that much by accident. Well, if it was run over by a car.

Michael



> I can't use a Palm Zaire (sp?) or the like because I have a motor-control
> problem that prevents me from using the grafitti pad, or from being overly
> precise with the stylus in general.
>
> I've looked at the Palm Tungstens (the ones with the actual keyboard
> buttons) but they seem to be out of my price range, and the screens are
> rather small.
>
> I like the RCA ebooks, but they only seem to read their weird ebook format
> (as far as I can tell), not plain text, PDF, or HTML.
>
> Any ideas on what else I can look at (preferably more portable than a lot
> of printer paper and some binders--I already thought of that)?
>
> Anybody know if it's possible to hack an RCA ebook to work with standard
> file formats (or if they already do and the RCA spec sheets just stink)?
>
> TIA
>
> Susan
>
> P.S.-- I use Linux, of course, so whatever gadget I get would have to be
> able to have a conversation with my computer without too much trouble.
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