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Smartphone Suggestions for Text SSH Use?
BinLadenMyHero asks: "The company I work for, administrating their Linux email server, wants to buy me a GSM device so I can access the server 24/7 in case of any trouble. I usually work with a text terminal session over SSH (mutt, vi, bash, screen, etc..). The Nokia 9500 looks the best for the job (640 pixels wide, and a qwerty keyboard), but is a bit large to carry everywhere. Sony Ericsson 910 is smaller, but that small screen size and keyboard can make it less useful. Treo and iPaq was also considered. Any advice on which device to buy?"
I have a ericsson P900 (basically same as P910 without thumb keyboard) and putty is a pita without the flipdown keyboard that is on the 910, although the text is legible (just). The main prob is that the on screen keyboard always overlaps the display.
All the flips on these P series phones are vulnerable (although now much better than P800 ones) The nokia looks to be the better bet as it is more robust and the display would be great, and you will be less likely to leave it somewhere accidentally (no one used to lose their motorola 8500 bricks did they?)
Humorous signatures are over-rated.
Not a phone per se.
Just slip the card into a laptop and you have a full connection. Yes, a laptop is required, but in an emergency, have the full capabilities of a laptop is better than a phone in my opinion.
I've been carrying the laptop in my trunk or backpack for the past year and it's worked great.
My employer is footing the bill, so it's nice to have free internet access wherever I go.
Yep, I never spell check.
More incorrect spellings can be found he
NO Question - Blackberry
I use a TMobile 7230 - they are pretty inexpensive now. Combine with Idokorro Mobile SSH is extremely handy. Much more so than any of the TREO, Ipq etc I have used for remote admin. What sets the BlackBerry apart is the keyboard and special character handling. I have found it simply much easier to enter text into the BB. It really seems as though the Blackberry devices were designed as remote admin tools.
Prior to the BB I used an Ipaq 4550 (the one with a keyboard) with bluetooth and a seperate phone. This worked ok, and was convenient, but it seems that WinCe was designed solely for GUI use. There is no concept of an "escape" key, which limits terminal applications.
To be fail the Treo I used was the old BW model when they first came out with the keyboard. It was actually not too bad, but sill nothing compared to the BB. Compared to the newer Treo's the 7230 lacks the multimedia features, and linux syncronization. I cannot believe there is not more Linux software for this neat little machine, but I fully expect it to come eventually).
The killer features for me are the keyboard, durability (I have dropped in 3-4 feet onto concrete without damage - I dare you to try that with a $500 Treo), battery life (I go 2+ days with out charging. In short i have found this device to be great, I definately see how they earned the nickname crackberry.
-MS2k
While we're on the topic of portable SSH devices, what sort of experiences have people had with the different wireless providers out there? T-mobile, for instance, has an exclusive on the Sidekick II, but their coverage in the northeast is complete crap now. Any one have an opinion about data coverage from Verizon? Sprint? Cingular?
I can only recommend the Nokia 9300 - almost identical to the 9500 in spec, except without wi-fi and a camera. In exchange for these features it is far smaller and much more friendly to carry - it is not much bigger than the Nokia 6310, but a bit chunkier and heavier.
There is an excellent implementation of PuTTY for the phone, and I use it daily. As long as you feel that most connections will be over GRPS instead of needing wi-fi there is no reason to go for the excessive bulk of the Nokia 9500.
-- Pete.
Monochrome - Probably the UK's largest internet BBS
We're in the same boat. My boss decided to get me and the other folks at my department Nokia 9500s so that we could come to rescue when it's needed, anytime, anywhere (almost). Well I agree that Nokia 9500 is a huge brick. But the boss already ordered the phones. Luckily the nice manager of sales department was in need of a new 9500 too, so I gave mine to him and he ordered a Nokia 9300 for me. What a sweet deal it was! It's basically the same thing as 9500. It runs the same OS minus the WiFi (have no need) and camera (have even less need! Besides the 9500 camera is utter crap anyway) bits. All software is compatible. But it's so much smaller and slimmer! About the size of a regular GSM phone from 4-5 years ago. You can happily carry that in shirt pocket (not a chance with 9500). Due to its compact size, the keyboard is slightly smaller than the one in 9500, but that's not a problem for me at least. The display is also a bit smaller, but the resolution is the same as in 9500. No problems reading mail with mutt etc. in Putty session. Highly recommended device. Especially if you find Nokia 9500 suitable if it only was smaller. Namely this thing is exactly that! Maybe missing WiFi is a show stopper for some people, but if you can handle that, then there's no excuse not to get a Nokia 9300 to handle this kind of job.
IMHO a smartphone is a bad choice. At my work IT complains about the smartphones they have tried. I've had a smart phone, got rid of it, and went with this combo.
Try this instead,
- Sony Ericsson T637 - (bluetooth enabled cell)
- Palm (some sort with bluetooth) - Example - Tungsten Tseries
- PSSH - http://www.sealiesoftware.com/pssh/ (free open source ssh client)
Reason behind this:
1) You get the clarity of a real cell phone. Some smart phones have really bad static on the 'cell phone' side of them.
2) Easy to access when your on the phone with tech support for your servers (IBM, Sun, etc). You don't need to 'hold on.. i'll try that and call you back'.
3) Palm has software for your addresses / phone / internet / email.
Anyways... that's just a thought.
I use a T-Mobile sidekick, and it's saved my bacon.
My cable modem connection at home went down while I was working on the last few stages of what I needed to do remotely. I used the Sidekick's SSH (it's an option but only $10) to SSH to my server and I was able to do everything I needed, even use emacs. My boss was very impressed that I was able to finalize the project using my phone!
Having the flip display/keyboard is really the best design because it enables you to use a large keyboard and have a display big enough to use. I was quite comfortable using emacs on it. Compared to a Blackberry, the keyboard is bigger and the display is bigger, which enormously improves usability.
Web browser support is excellent except that JavaScript is not supported. On the Blackberry, it is, so you might be able to view more sites on the Blackberry. However, JavaScript support on the Blackberry is outstandingly slow so unless you need it bad, I think the Sidekick wins as a web browsing device with the larger screen and keyboard.
Web form support is excellent, especially compared to the somewhat messy implementation on a Palm.
All Smartphone cameras I've seen are miserable, which is a real pity because I would love to be able to use them for casual photography. Not even worth it for that; keep your regular digital camera or buy something like a Canon Digital Elph that easily fits in your pocket.
T-Mobile service is highly variable. Check out a T-Mobile phone in all areas where you are often and make sure it works OK.
Overall, I think the Sidekick wins with the Blackberry an honorable second place. I'd use the Blackberry if you had reception problems with the Sidekick.
For any serious applications, I think having the laptop card as well as a smartphone is an excellent idea. However, laptop batteries run down pretty fast and often it's too awkward to get the laptop out of its case and work on it. I've found that for taking random notes the smartphone is extremely useful for this reason.
Unfortunately, I've never seen the 9500/9300, so I can't compare them.
Hope this helps.
D
Of course you have already asked how much extra they will compensate you for being connected 24/7?
You have haven't you?
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
The Blackberry CAN have a phone conversation and remain connected via SSH. In fact it can have multiple network app open. in one case I had someone on IM with the terminal open while talking on the phone.
:). The Treo's truely are great devices. And if your are a careful person who takes good care of things, and like multi-media, it can do everything the blackberry can do and more.
The blackberry really is a great communication device. You can leave the terminal app open all day, so if you are just "monitoring" a server via top or something, you don't have to keep logging in.
With th treo,the network apyou turn the deviceoff. The blackberry really doe not turn "off" it is more like a regularI have left the terminal application connect for 8+ hours, and bttery life was barely dented. YOu cannot do that with the TREO.
My dad and brother have the Treo 650, my other brother has a 600 so I am pretty familiar with those devices also (and having this discussion
But they are simply NOT better than the blackberry for remote administration tasks (though they are absolutely are better if you judge by theoverall cabilities of the device)
If you tend to be a bit rougher on your devices, and need to have it with you everywhere, need to be able to reliably nd easily get online, and you need to get emails and IMs I think the BB will serve you better.
If you are like my brothers and dd and mainly want to listen to music, and watch movies and occassionally get some email(with fancy ring tones), the Treo has all the bells and whistles (literally) that you will need.
I've been using this phone since February and it's the best gadget I've bought in a long time. Not to mention absolutely essential for me, a sysadmin team (of one person) providing 24x7 support for our Linux servers.
Previously I had a Palm T3 and a bluetooth phone: too bulky to carry everywhere, no keyboard, too small screen and no multitasking. This last point's the killer when you're logged into an SSH session and have just SSH'ed to somewhere else and need to refer to a web page or whatever for a moment but switching away from ssh would close the connections.
What's so good about the 9300?
Basically it's the dog's danglies for mobile system administration. And quite a bit smaller than the Nokia 9500 - who needs Wi-Fi and a camera anyway.
It has a few small problems: no vibrate, a bit slow, can't copy and paste in PuTTY, not so many third-party apps as Palm or Series 60 ..... but that's about it.