[aclug-L] Re: Hand-Held PC shopping

[Dave <da5exx@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan,

Depending on how much abuse you think the device will endure, you may
want to look into something from Symbol Technologies. Most of their
Pocket PCs have built in scanners and they are very rugged. They are
also a little expensive but I have seen them on eBay.

Dave


On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 18:08:03 -0500, Jonathan Hall <flimzy@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I am considering the purchase of a hand-held PC or similar device.  The
> main consideration is price... I want something cheap, and therefore
> probably used.  The other features I need are:
> 
> * The ability to write and use my own data-entry application.  This
> application will be very simple, probably just a few fill-in-the-blank
> forms, and maybe a few conditionals.  Nothing that couldn't easily be
> done in a Perl/CGI script.  I will then need to be able to transfer the
> collected data to a PostgreSQL or similar database when I'm at my PC
> again (probably daily).  I don't expect to ever collect more than a few
> hundred kilobytes of data before dumping it to the central database, but
> to be safe, it would probably be wise to have up to 1mb of memory set
> aside for that purpose.  I do not forsee the need to transfer data from
> the database to the hand-held.
> 
> * The ability to quickly enter data!  What comes to mind is the
> PalmPilot style character recognition thingie (whatever it's called).  I
> think this is probably much faster than typing on a tiny keyboard with
> one hand.  Perhaps this is a standard feature on any handheld anyway, I
> dunno...
> 
> * A secondary feature, which I will not use now, but will probably use
> soon if the possibility is there, is the ability to scan barcodes.
> Either natively, or with an add-on device.
> 
> * A USB host controller would be nice, so that I can connect to the
> Internet via my mobile phone.  Although I suspect that USB host
> controllers are only available in some of the newest handheld PCs, which
> will probably put the device out of my pricerange.
> 
> * The ability to otherwise connect to the Internet, probably via WiFi,
> and then the ability to run useful applications, such as a web browser
> or, more importantly probably, SSH.
> 
> I am not particular to any specific brand of hand-held, and I really
> don't care what operating system the device runs, so long as I can write
> my own data entry application (without learning a new breed of assembly,
> or other similarly complex tasks), and can communicate with a
> Linux-based desktop machine via USB, serial, WiFi, ethernet, or carrier
> pigeon network.
> 
> And then finally, once a few brands/models have been recommended...
> where might be a good place to buy such a device?  I'll probably default
> to eBay unless there's some other better place to go.
> 
> Thank you all for any input you may provide.
> 
> -- Jonathan
> 
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> 



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