[rescue] Semi-OT: Verizon phone with SSH

[Mike Parson]

On Wed, May 05, 2004 at 09:52:56PM -0400, William Enestvedt wrote:
> (I hate to be off-topic, but in my own defense, there is an old Rescue thread
> on this that I just can't find right now.)
>    I am interested in a cell phone -- on Verizon, since $job will be paying --
> that I can run SSH on. Does that mean a few specific models, or anything
> that'll run Java? Are any better or worse than others?
>    I know this was discussed in the past. but I don't have good access to my
> saved email.

I've been using Handspring^WPalmOne Treo's for a few years now.  I
started with the VisorPhone, then the Treo180, and now the 600.  Each
step was a significant improvement in design and functionality.

I've only used them on the T-Mobile (GSM/GPRS) service, so that's all I
can really comment on.

For email, I use pop3 over ssl, the client the phone ships with works OK
for my needs, but there are some commercial replacement apps that some
others seem to prefer, but I've not felt the need to invest in.

Since i refuse to carry a pager, this device also pulls duty with that,
receiving SMS messages from the montioring systems at work or between
the other sysadmin(s) and I.

SSH, there are a few possibilities here, but the only two free ones that
are worth using limit you to a 40x24 display (you've only got 160x160
pixels on the screen).  Latency is a bitch, but good enough to log in
and see whats wrong, restart services, etc.  The one I use, pssh, pulled
it's terminal emulation straight out of putty, which is my preferred
win32 ssh client.

The web browser reports itself as:

"Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 95; PalmSource; Blazer 3.0) 16;160x160"

It's pretty functional, offers an 'Optimized mode' where grahics that
are bigger than the screen get scaled down, and it does it's best to
make the page fit, width wise, on the screen.  It can also do 'wide
mode' where the page gets rendered like it would on a full-sized
browser, you just have to scroll around a lot.

It's got an SDIO slot, which can take SD, MMC, and supposedly SDIO
cards, if/when they become available.  There are rumors of an up-coming
SDIO 802.11b card and someone is working on a GPS receiver.

The unit can play MP3, Ogg, Wav, and midi, there's even a movie player
available.  All these, except for midi, only work off a memory card (SD
or MMC).

By default, you get polyphonic (midi, 64k and smaller) ring-tones,
but for a few bucks, you can get a program that will let you use mp3
ringtones as well.

It's also got a VGA res camera built in.

As a phone, it works, it's not too big, unlike the VisorPhone, you don't
feel like you're holding a full-sized PDA up to your head.

I've been using PDAs for years, first device was the Newton MP 130, then
various Palms, Handsprings, then the Treo line.  The Treo 600 is the
device I've been wanting all along, a functional, portable, internet
connected machine. =)

I can read /., check my email, schedule a new recording on my TiVo, play
a game of solitare, and call in to the office, all while waiting for the
guys at Jiffy-Lube to finish up with my car.

It's not shipping for use with Verizon just yet, but rumors are that it
will be soon, but supposedly branded as the 'Treo 610.'  No one seems
to know if this is just Verizon insisting that their customers have
something different than everyone else, or if there will be a slightly
different feature set on them.

The device is also not cheap, but the latest technology rarely is.  The
only way I was able to afford this one was because PalmOne gave old Treo
customers a significant trade-up discount, I just needed my old serial
number.

>    ObRescue: I need it to manage a Sun E3000 wihout leaving my comfy
> chair on the deck this summer. :7)

-- 
Michael Parson
mparson at bl.org