PDA choices?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops (More info?)

Hi, found this newsgroup tonight, glad to see it is alive and active.
Am considering getting a palmtop/handheld, prefer "previously enjoyed"
hardware for the cost savings, but am open to all experienced suggestions.
My primary needs are easy textfile (.txt) entry, long lasting run time
from mass produced batteries (AA, AAA, C, D), and the ability to save to
a CF or SD card. Perusing eBay, I have come across the Psion 5* series
handlhelds, they seem to fill the bill. Heck, there's even an active Linux
community for them.
I have often thought it would be good to have a PDA that is not only good
for writing text, but could play MPEG-1 videos or MP3/OGG music from a flash
card. I have encoded all my DVDs in MPEG-1 format, the maximum values I've
used are 160x120 frame size, 256kbps video, 96 kbps audio. Looks like PocketTV
covers me for MPEG-1 playback, but what kind of hardware should I be looking
at? I recently saw an NEC MobilePro 780 and a replacement battery pack that
uses AA batteries, claimed 4 hours runtime. They have an NEC Vr4121 MIPS CPU
at 168MHz, 32M RAM, and a CF slot. Would such a device give me clean playback
of a full length feature film encoded as previously described? If not, what
level of hardware am I looking at?


--
Solar-powered Linux: Slackware 10.0, 2.6.11.7, Averatec 3250H1
RLU#272755

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops (More info?)

Wasdin, Jake E. wrote:

> Danno wrote:
>> Hi, found this newsgroup tonight, glad to see it is alive and active.
>> Am considering getting a palmtop/handheld, prefer "previously enjoyed"
>> hardware for the cost savings, but am open to all experienced
>> suggestions.
>> My primary needs are easy textfile (.txt) entry, long lasting run time
>> from mass produced batteries (AA, AAA, C, D), and the ability to save to
>> a CF or SD card. Perusing eBay, I have come across the Psion 5* series
>> handlhelds, they seem to fill the bill. Heck, there's even an active
>> Linux community for them.

The problem is size. If you need a keyboard (i.e. you write a great deal of
text), this might be the one for you.

>> I have often thought it would be good to have a PDA that is not only
>> good
>> for writing text, but could play MPEG-1 videos or MP3/OGG music from a
>> flash card. I have encoded all my DVDs in MPEG-1 format, the maximum
>> values I've used are 160x120 frame size, 256kbps video, 96 kbps audio.

Loading of videos is slow and they cannot properly be watched on the move
(unlike music, for example). It's nice at the start, but impractical later.

>> Looks like PocketTV covers me for MPEG-1 playback, but what kind of
>> hardware should I be looking at? I recently saw an NEC MobilePro 780 and
>> a replacement battery pack that uses AA batteries, claimed 4 hours
>> runtime. They have an NEC Vr4121 MIPS CPU at 168MHz, 32M RAM, and a CF
>> slot. Would such a device give me clean playback of a full length feature
>> film encoded as previously described? If not, what level of hardware am I
>> looking at?

The new LifeDrive from Palm would suit you well, but it's expensive ($499).

> I have a "previously enjoyed" Sony Clie PEG-T665c that cost me $50 ebay.
> (Usually $130 refurbished). It was in good shape, and am able to watch
> DVDs on it.

How exactly can you watch DVD's on a handheld? Have you copied the data to
memory?

UPDATE: I have just read the above. If you encode DVD clips, then it's not
truly DVD.

> It is also great for MP3 playback. It has 16MB Ram, 265MHz,
> and pretty nice PDA. Look into that.

External memory can also be bought for cheap on eBay. This can make the PDA
complete (depending on your needs of course).

Roy

--
Roy S. Schestowitz
http://Schestowitz.com