[geeks] E-mail appiances

[Mike Hebel]

BB> On Fri, Apr 26, 2002 at 08:56:29AM -0700, Fogg, James wrote:
>> Does anyone still manufacture e-mail-only internet appliances? I have a
>> friend that I really need to pass email to and he is somewhat computer
>> illiterate and also unwilling to purchase a new $600~$1000 machine. He slogs
>> along on older hardware and when it craps or needs configuration he gets
>> stuck. WebTV is probably not an option because of poor eyesight and
>> small/crappy TV resolution.

BB> Look for one of the Cidco "Mailstation" jobs; justdeals.com had them for
BB> $15 a while back but I cant see them on their site now.

They're out of them.  They refunded me money on my credit card when
one of the two I bought went bad.

FYI - The original low-end Cidco Mailstations have a couple of
problems:

1)  They only have 8k of RAM so receiving a whole days worth of mail
from the Geeks list may or may not be possible depending on posting.

2)  The "leave messages on server" function on mine does not seem to
work properly.  It leaves the messages on the server ok but it fails
to recognized what's a "read" message and thus re-downloads all the
messages again the next time you connect.  That may possibly be an
interaction with my ISP's mail server but I doubt it because every
other client I've used works fine that way.  YMMV.

On the bright side the screen is quite readable and, on mine at least,
adjusts quite nicely to a viewable angle.  Also the batteries (3 - AA)
seem to last quite a long time and it has a printer port.

It's supposed to do Caller-ID as well but I can't find any settings
for that and haven't tested it yet.

Mike Hebel                        mailto:nimitz at owc.net