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Wikipedia Goes Mobile
eldavojohn writes, "Webaroo has added Wikipedia to their services on mobile devices. There have also been open source efforts to deliver it to the iPod (also check out the wiki) or a PDA. I guess if I were still a bartender, this would be a necessity in solving bar disputes before they escalate to fisticuffs." Wikipedia requires 6 GB of free space, 10 GB recommended. And remember: Don't Panic.
Finally i'll be able to download the intraweb to my harddrive!
Just the entirety of the world's knowledge, idiot.
Wikipedia requires 6 GB of free space, 10 GB recommended.
Damn, I got to get myself a bigger PDA. Having 32MB isn't what it used to be!
I would imagine it would be compressed, and since much of the wiki is text it would shrink a lot.
I'm thinking at 2 GB would do it, which would easily fit on today's flash memory. And for multimedia content such a pics, they cold convert to smaller and lower quality jpeg's saving at least that much.
-- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.
I own the zaurus S-3200 running application Zbedic. Files are compressed to no more than 400mb total and fits in my 6gb internal hardisk of my pda just fine. the project location for the zaurus http://sourceforge.net/projects/bedic Look under english wikipedia and you can use it on a zaurus. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group _id=51673
While one of the basic strengths of Wikipedia is its updatability, I would question the point of storing all the articles offline. Admittedly, TFA does say it'll sync up the data the next time you go online, but it'll practically eat up all your disk space eventually.
I think I'll stick to just checking it online quickly on my humble Motorola A780.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
The Wiki addition to iPod Linux (WikiPodLinux I believe it was called) has been around for awhile. At least since I had installed iPod Linux back in March.
that competition to compress Wikipedia down as much as possible for AI research? Have we made any progress on that or do I really have to upgrade my iPod?
Life is rarely fair. Cherish the moments when there is a right answer.
This is so old of a news the project i just posted has been around for over 4 years now. www.zaurususergroup.org
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
... initial excitement died down after a major publishing house announced the release of a competing device. With a cheaper price, and the words "Don't Panic" written in large, friendly letters on the cover, the new version, tentatively called "The Guide Mk 1", is expected to dramatically outsell Wikipedia's own offering.
Wikipedia regularly dumps the entire database, which is available to download. However, It looks like they're having trouble getting them out lately (link is to a September 25 English dump, which hasn't yet successfully completed).
The compressed dump files are huge, and I wouldn't want to even attempt downloading them without wget or unless a torrent were provided directly by Wikipedia (why is this not being done yet?)
In 2009 slinging 100 GB data files across the net or between devices should be trivial, but not yet.
However, I have a truly marvelous demonstration of how to compress Wikipedia, which the margin of this comment is just barely large enough to contain:
Call somebody with Internet access and ask them. P.S. Wow, this also works for compressing Google... Hey, this margin is not as narrow as I thought.
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
Just connect to Wapedia with your phone/PDA.
Seriously, that's the only reason I ever use the internet on my phone.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
...I've been accessing Wikipedia often on my phone, using the Opera Mini browser. If it will work on your phone (Java), then you can just view the normal site. It looks great.
Whether your PDA has 32MB or 128MB of memory doesn't make much difference when you're dealing with 6GB files.
There's not really that big of a need to have the entire Wikipedia downloaded onto your PDA. I hope that most of Webaroo's users know that, as some of the links indicate, you can already access Wikipedia (or nearly any website for that matter) via mobile web on your cell phone / PDA. I suppose if I were going to be somewhere that did not have internet access, then downloading it would come in quite handy, but I've always thought the thing that distinguished Wikipedia from more traditional resources is that it is always up to date because any user can edit/post material. It did not appear as if the Webaroo Wikipedia supports editing, which is a major loss in my opinion.
Say goodbye to Pub Trivia.
Cray is the new iPod KILLLER
lemonade was a popular drink and it still is
Why doesn't Wikipedia make their own mobile? It could be updated when connected to the computer, like an iPod, and I'm sure ads for it would replace any mentionings of donations...
My name would be Pi_r_[]ed, but this stupid thing wouldn't allow it. Well, at least now you know.
for when they put Uncyclopedia on mobile devices as well. I need access to the funny stuff as well.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
When I can put Wikipedia on an HP48, then I will be happy.
--
BMO
An effort is also being made to create a plugin on Rockbox that can access a converted Wikipedia dump http://rockipedia.techmight.com/index.php?title=Ma in_Page
The project is floundering a bit though due to losing the main coder..
http://misticriver.net/showthread.php?t=36924&page =27
That whole post was an explanation. I have a feeling he/she wasn't a troll, but a regular slashdot reader who was fed up with all the modding down. Too few good posts are let out of the trash pile, and too many are modded down to the seventh circle. It was sort of funny that he posted that he was wasting a mod point, because whoever modded him down could not have used it for something better.
I think the discussion system could use improvement, and so did whoever posted that.
I have freaks! I did something right...
Actually, I was talking about shellfish.
Don't be so shellfish. The world's not your oyster, you know.
This would've worked well for those of us with dataplans. Just an easy to access search interface.
equal parts beer, blood, cognac and dusted on the top with gunpowder. Shaken in a tooth-gold shaker, served in a flaming skull.
The yale S&B secret party menu has been pwnd, too much loose talk at bohemian grove
I have Wikipedia and the rest of the Web on my mobile phone, using Opera Mini. It works great, running on almost any phone with Java. Here's a screenshot., and the Opera Mini simulator can be found here.
Oh wow, now I can read the fake information and enjoy the censorship and become brainwashed.
_Very_ interesting. Is the sub-set available somewhere?
C D/Download
In the past, I've copied ``Wikipedia-CD'' onto my pen slate (got tired of coping w/ Encarta 2003 constantly badgering me to up-date it) and enjoyed using it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia-
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
If you can find out when they take their snapshots this sounds like a great way to get your chosen piece of misinformation or spam replicated to thousands of PDAs across the globe, some of whom will probably never bother to update.
Unless you are going way-out where there is no conectivity of any sort, why not just connect and get only what you need. If you trully need total access to Wikipedia offline you probably want at least a laptop just for comfortable use, most people arn't like me and happy to try and do everything though a Tungsen T5.
"All those, moments will be lost, in time, like tears, in rain. Time to die." Roy Batty
"I guess if I were still a bartender, this would be a necessity in solving bar disputes before they escalate to fisticuffs."
Which is exactly why Guinness, the brewery, started publishing an anual book of world records: To resolve bar disputes about the longest, fastest, first, etc... Perhaps you've heard of it?
- ------- There are ten kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who... Huh?
Don't be so shellfish. The world's not your oyster, you know.
Just make sure you learn how to use the three sea shells however.
Ehi, if you can squeeze wikipedia in ~2Gb You could fit it in a PSP!
A memory stick can hold 4Gb and imagine telling your mum that you are taking it to school 'cause it's a pocket encyclopedia!
(not that it'd matter to me, I'm a little older, but still...)
Now I'm really waiting for someone to port wikipedia to my PSP.
I guess if I were still a bartender, this would be a necessity in solving bar disputes before they escalate to fisticuffs
I use my Samsung SCH A950 (Verizon) and Google already. The local bar that I frequent has a daily trivia question. If you're the first to get it right you get a free drink. I'm currently disqualified because I "cheat". I can't recall the last time I haven't found the correct answer in under 10 minutes.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Now I think this is a great idea, unfortunately it's not available for the latest model, iPod Video 5G. I'm not trying to be a troll here, but does anyone know why that is?
I have been carrying around Wikipedia on my PDA for years. TomeRaider has a "complete" version of Wikipedia, with some pictures, for about 1GB.
And it is very good for settling bar bets.
I've been using Wikipedia on a PocketPC for at least a couple of years, thanks to Erik Zachte's project at http://infodisiac.com/Wikipedia/index.html which turns Wikipedia dump files into TomeRaider (http://www.tomeraider.com/) .tr3 files. TomeRaider's also available for Palm, Windows and other formats. The Wikipedia file takes up 893Mb on my SD card and is probably the major reason I still bother with PocketPC. Looks like the download link's 404'd at the minute though, don't know if that's temporary.
Maybe I'm a little bit out of all these new technologies, but I thought that once I got my PDA online with GPRS/UMTS/WiFi I should able to reach ... the whole Internet.
Or not?
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
Then I read the content, and realized I /still/ can't access a PDA-friendly online version of wikipedia.
All I really want is to be able to browse it online from my mobile device (64MB) without it being ugly.
...but you can see all of the plagiarism as well. A perfect gift for the misinformed and the ignorant to keep them that way!
Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question