Slashdot Mirror

I use my Palm Vx as an organisor. Sure, the palm doesn't sync Outlook contacts properly, but KeyContacts solves that.

Apart from that, if you have AvantGo installed then you can get TV listings, Film Listings and even read Slashdot on the go.

Useful for train and tube travel.

I use my Palm Vx as an organisor. Sure, the palm doesn't sync Outlook contacts properly, but KeyContacts solves that.

Apart from that, if you have AvantGo installed then you can get TV listings, Film Listings and even read Slashdot on the go.

Useful for train and tube travel.

Nice.

However, if you want to read slashdot on your phone or PDA then I (very biasedly) recommend using Avantslash which provides you with all the content and non of the other rubbish.

Works pretty well through Googles HTML->WAP convertor too. If you've got a WAP browser installed, then click here to see it.

Nice.

However, if you want to read slashdot on your phone or PDA then I (very biasedly) recommend using Avantslash which provides you with all the content and non of the other rubbish.

Works pretty well through Googles HTML->WAP convertor too. If you've got a WAP browser installed, then click here to see it.

Oh god, please no.

At the risk of some blatent plugging, if you're going to read Slashdot on a PDA or offline web-browser (like AvantGo) then try AvantSlash instead.

Hopefully someone a little less biased than me will post a review in reply to this comment. In fact, any suggestions for improvement would be appreciated.

Basically they use a markov chain which has in it the probabilities that one letter will appear after another. It's very similar to the disassociated press generators you can find out there.

For example, here is one I wrote which generates new random words based on the probabilities of one pair of letters appearing after another pair. I used pairs because it generates more English-like words.

It was "taught" using the contents of /usr/dict/words and written in Perl.

Anyone who has used AvantGo to create a Slashdot channel understands the importance of reparsing the content. AvantSlash uses LWP to such down pages and do reparsing. Hell, for years (prior to losing my iPaq), this was how I got my daily fix of Slashdot.

I just read it during regular work hours like everyone else. :>

Basically they use a markov chain which has in it the probabilities that one letter will appear after another. It's very similar to the disassociated press generators you can find out there.

For example, here is one I wrote which generates new random words based on the probabilities of one pair of letters appearing after another pair. I used pairs because it generates more English-like words.

It was "taught" using the contents of /usr/dict/words and written in Perl.

So much for the wonderful idea of many eyes helping me out. Maybe with large projects (although I doubt it, tending to think that you only get a small number of people who actually contribute anything) but for the projects like mine it just doesn't happen.

I've got a crappy FAQ script which I'm rewriting and will also go under the GPL. At the moment it's under some wierdass restrictive job because at the time (1999) I didn't properly understand the GPL and how cool an idea it is - the rewrite will be GPL'ed but i don't expect to be inundated with patches, suggestions and code.

Recently I mooted my SMS application eGenie as going GPL in the next version. I got 1 person interested and 50 people emailing me demanding I give them the code - no, they weren't interested in helping out - they just wanted the code. Bah, sod that then.

I'm fully aware of the Cathedral and Bazar idealogy, but when there is no-one in the Cathedral and you're the only person giving in the Bazar, GPL suddenly doesn't seem to be this wonderful solution to bugs, features and support.

So much for the wonderful idea of many eyes helping me out. Maybe with large projects (although I doubt it, tending to think that you only get a small number of people who actually contribute anything) but for the projects like mine it just doesn't happen.

I've got a crappy FAQ script which I'm rewriting and will also go under the GPL. At the moment it's under some wierdass restrictive job because at the time (1999) I didn't properly understand the GPL and how cool an idea it is - the rewrite will be GPL'ed but i don't expect to be inundated with patches, suggestions and code.

Recently I mooted my SMS application eGenie as going GPL in the next version. I got 1 person interested and 50 people emailing me demanding I give them the code - no, they weren't interested in helping out - they just wanted the code. Bah, sod that then.

I'm fully aware of the Cathedral and Bazar idealogy, but when there is no-one in the Cathedral and you're the only person giving in the Bazar, GPL suddenly doesn't seem to be this wonderful solution to bugs, features and support.

So much for the wonderful idea of many eyes helping me out. Maybe with large projects (although I doubt it, tending to think that you only get a small number of people who actually contribute anything) but for the projects like mine it just doesn't happen.

I've got a crappy FAQ script which I'm rewriting and will also go under the GPL. At the moment it's under some wierdass restrictive job because at the time (1999) I didn't properly understand the GPL and how cool an idea it is - the rewrite will be GPL'ed but i don't expect to be inundated with patches, suggestions and code.

Recently I mooted my SMS application eGenie as going GPL in the next version. I got 1 person interested and 50 people emailing me demanding I give them the code - no, they weren't interested in helping out - they just wanted the code. Bah, sod that then.

I'm fully aware of the Cathedral and Bazar idealogy, but when there is no-one in the Cathedral and you're the only person giving in the Bazar, GPL suddenly doesn't seem to be this wonderful solution to bugs, features and support.

I've never seen anyone check their schedule on a Palm (after the first week -- when the novelty of it wears off)

I have a Visor, and I do, all the time.

When I got my Visor, I was in high school, and didn't have so much "scheduling" to do, and then I worked at salaried positions where my schedule didn't so much matter, and I worked mostly the same shifts anyway. I started putting meetings and such in there, though, as well as due dates for various projects. (So fun to move them around with schedule slip... :P)

Now I'm working retail, and with the immense schedule variation that I have, my Visor is indispensible. As soon as the schedule goes up, it goes in my Visor, and from then on I can plan stuff with no problem, as I always have it with me. I'm especially fond of the weekly view, as it shows me time bars and gives me a good idea at a glance of what's going on.

I often call my Visor my prosthetic brain, and although people laugh, it's true. I have the VisorPhone too, so I can call a friend without their number ever even passing through my mind. Not sure if that's a good thing though...

You're right though, it's great for killing time. This morning I synced up Plucker, and during the boring bits of the meeting I had the Register, the Onion, and Slashdot.

To read slashdot on a Palm without driving yourself nuts, you need something like this: http://www.fourteenminutes.com/code/avantslash/.

There are several mirrors at the bottom of the page. Also great for folks who like to read slashdot via avantgo on their palms.

I'm well aware that the site there is shit. It has got godaweful mistakes and I really can't be arsed updating it because no-one visits it anyway.

There are far too many mistakes on other people pages which make the content totally unreadable and this is my point. If you specifically want some information and you can't then you're stuffed.

Maybe I should think about updating the ewtoo.org code though :o)

This means that things like Slashdots own palm friendly version and my AvantSlash (along with thousands of other non-profit making sites who provide an ability to view their content for free) are going to be left a little out in the cold.

As already mentioned, Plucker is one alternative. For PPC users you could try Mazingo

The biggest downside to Avantgo alternatives is that they don't have some of the custom channels that Avantgo has and you can't get the URL for. Some however you can, and Plinkit is a useful list of those.

Come on guys, if you expect us to pay and help you out here, the least you could do it take breaking news that we submit and actually post it. Rather than waiting a fortnight and then sticking it up.

"Stuff that matters" is all very fine and well, but "Stuff that matters, once everyone knows about it" would seem closer to the point, although less catchy.

Somehow, even channels designed for avantgo get screwy. Slashdot, for example, gets hella-big when I set link depth to 3. when i set it to 2, no comments, so no point.

AvantSlash, dude.

With it, the main website I visit just happens to be Slashdot, processed for PDA consumption by AvantSlash

The only downside is that there is no specialized content available for it, like AvantGo: it only knows how to read plain web pages. Hence, ocasionally, you'll need a preprocessor (like AvantSlash) to put the web pages on a diet.

AvantGo is weeding out what they call "Custom channel abuse". Basically its 8 or more people creating a custom channel to a site that doesn't pay up for a licence. See the Register article here and the AvantGo announcement here.

This means that things like Slashdots own palm friendly version and my AvantSlash (along with thousands of other non-profit making sites who provide an ability to view their content for free) are going to be left a little out in the cold.

I've been recommended Plucker for the Palm and Mazingo for the PPC - not tried either though.

In any event, Yahoo provides some good services - if this keeps them from charging me for them, I don't see how it's much different than TV or print news (which is mostly 'advertorial' anyway).