I own both a Vodafone Business contract (with a Nokia 6230) and one of the Vodafone 3G/GPRS cards. With the handset, linked via Bluetooth to a laptop, I've been able to access SSH/IRC/MSN etc. (Note that it's all behind NAT). However, with this approach, the latency on the session is way too high for it to be usable.
However, with the 3G card, in a Vodafone 3g enabled area (this is getting more and more widespread now, initially I only got 3G in London and Manchester, now it seems to be spreading, and I've got a 3G connection in Huddersfield, Luton, and Oxford) the latency is nice and low, and it feels like you're working on a 128k+ connection. I've used rdesktop (uh, Terminal Services sorry), telnet, SSH, MSN, IRC, HTTP, POP3, IMAP, IMAPS - basically, just about anything) and there's been no problem.
I had (it got half-inched recently) a 15" Powerbook, and using the datacard in OS X was nice and easy, however the features of the Mac software left a little to be desired compared to those of the PC software (there's no text messaging support, data usage tracking etc). The most annoying thing is that, with the new cards that don't use an antenna, there's interference on the speakers from the card, which gives that annoying clicking tone.
So, returning to the original question, yes, no problems with using SSH (or any other protocol) through Vodafone's network, however, I'd definitely recommend their datacards, rather than phones, purely because of the ease of use, and ease of input.
My parents are both currently working in the NHS, my Dad's a consultant at the local hospital, whereas my Mum's a GP.
The way that they use computers (mainly for work) is fairly simple. My Dad will use some form of presentation building software - for preparing talks at meetings, a web browser - for filling in his "education" points list, and a word processor - for writing letters. That's it - for work both at home and at the hospital where he works. I've found that once the computer has Linux installed on it, he's got no real problems (using GNOME as a Window Manager) doing this tasks. He likes StarOffice Impress, and he's commented that Galeon is faster than Internet Explorer.
My Mum, is generally the same, she needs a scanner - for preparing practice booklets, or information leaflets, a word processor, an email client, and that's about it. At work, she says, I just "put in my password, click OK, and then click on the program icon". Now, that's not something that'd be hard to implement on Linux. Also, being part of a General Practice, they have to purchase their own computers, and software. She has commented before on the cost of the software, and how it seems to be "paying a lot for not very much".
My thoughts? Can Linux be implemented as a desktop implementation for users? Definitely. The user does not need to install software, or hardware for that matter - they cannot at the moment, as they're not "administrators" on their own machines.
Remote management would be easier, IMHO, and there'd be less problems with network floods due to virii that inevitably end up on the Windows systems.
The Police in our area, West Yorkshire, UK, have already made the switch and are running their systems on Linux. This, to me, is an indicator of how Linux, when properly implemented, can be used on the desktop. If the NHS do come up with a decent solution, I'd imagine they'll see the benefits (probably mainly cost benefits).
This post is based purely on personal experience
According to a quick Google search the fix was first implemented in 2.4.22-bk45, but it appears in the changelog for the "Summary of changes from v2.4.23-pre6 to v2.4.23-pre7" as well, I'm not sure why this is.
The actual change reported is:
marcelo:dmt.cyclades:
o Fix missing part of Centrino cache detection change
o Add TASK_SIZE check to do_brk()
There's a 2.4.23-pre8 UML kernel at stearns.org, I'd probably use that (if you don't want to compile your own). The 2.4.23-pre8 can be downloaded from here and the.config can be found here
Updating to Familiar is a fairly simple process, if you visit the Faniliar Install Guide page at handhelds.org you can see that it's all very well documentated.
The installation takes the form of installing a bootstrap program from WinCE, this is documented as something really scary, but it isn't. You just need to read the instructions and follow them carefully. It's true that it could break your handheld, but there are a lot of safety nets built in. As for getting the actual distro on there, you place your iPaq in its cradle, select the install from serial link on the bootloader, you can then connect using minicom, or Hyperterminal if you're a Windows user. You send the required files through the serial link using ymodem (it takes about 20 minutes), the iPaq reboots, you calibrate the touchscreen and you're done. It's really very impressive!
I've got an iPaq 3630 with Buffalo Compact Flash Wireless card, I love it (although I've not used it for a while). The flexibility of having Linux on your handheld means that you can have something that already has the functionality of a laptop, just in smaller means, it's also really useful for wireless testing.
Slashdot Mirror
I own both a Vodafone Business contract (with a Nokia 6230) and one of the Vodafone 3G/GPRS cards. With the handset, linked via Bluetooth to a laptop, I've been able to access SSH/IRC/MSN etc. (Note that it's all behind NAT). However, with this approach, the latency on the session is way too high for it to be usable.
However, with the 3G card, in a Vodafone 3g enabled area (this is getting more and more widespread now, initially I only got 3G in London and Manchester, now it seems to be spreading, and I've got a 3G connection in Huddersfield, Luton, and Oxford) the latency is nice and low, and it feels like you're working on a 128k+ connection. I've used rdesktop (uh, Terminal Services sorry), telnet, SSH, MSN, IRC, HTTP, POP3, IMAP, IMAPS - basically, just about anything) and there's been no problem.
I had (it got half-inched recently) a 15" Powerbook, and using the datacard in OS X was nice and easy, however the features of the Mac software left a little to be desired compared to those of the PC software (there's no text messaging support, data usage tracking etc). The most annoying thing is that, with the new cards that don't use an antenna, there's interference on the speakers from the card, which gives that annoying clicking tone.
So, returning to the original question, yes, no problems with using SSH (or any other protocol) through Vodafone's network, however, I'd definitely recommend their datacards, rather than phones, purely because of the ease of use, and ease of input.
My parents are both currently working in the NHS, my Dad's a consultant at the local hospital, whereas my Mum's a GP.
The way that they use computers (mainly for work) is fairly simple. My Dad will use some form of presentation building software - for preparing talks at meetings, a web browser - for filling in his "education" points list, and a word processor - for writing letters. That's it - for work both at home and at the hospital where he works. I've found that once the computer has Linux installed on it, he's got no real problems (using GNOME as a Window Manager) doing this tasks. He likes StarOffice Impress, and he's commented that Galeon is faster than Internet Explorer.
My Mum, is generally the same, she needs a scanner - for preparing practice booklets, or information leaflets, a word processor, an email client, and that's about it. At work, she says, I just "put in my password, click OK, and then click on the program icon". Now, that's not something that'd be hard to implement on Linux. Also, being part of a General Practice, they have to purchase their own computers, and software. She has commented before on the cost of the software, and how it seems to be "paying a lot for not very much".
My thoughts? Can Linux be implemented as a desktop implementation for users? Definitely. The user does not need to install software, or hardware for that matter - they cannot at the moment, as they're not "administrators" on their own machines.
Remote management would be easier, IMHO, and there'd be less problems with network floods due to virii that inevitably end up on the Windows systems.
The Police in our area, West Yorkshire, UK, have already made the switch and are running their systems on Linux. This, to me, is an indicator of how Linux, when properly implemented, can be used on the desktop. If the NHS do come up with a decent solution, I'd imagine they'll see the benefits (probably mainly cost benefits).
This post is based purely on personal experience
According to a quick Google search the fix was first implemented in 2.4.22-bk45, but it appears in the changelog for the "Summary of changes from v2.4.23-pre6 to v2.4.23-pre7" as well, I'm not sure why this is.
.config can be found here
The actual change reported is:
marcelo:dmt.cyclades:
o Fix missing part of Centrino cache detection change
o Add TASK_SIZE check to do_brk()
There's a 2.4.23-pre8 UML kernel at stearns.org, I'd probably use that (if you don't want to compile your own). The 2.4.23-pre8 can be downloaded from here and the
Updating to Familiar is a fairly simple process, if you visit the Faniliar Install Guide page at handhelds.org you can see that it's all very well documentated.
The installation takes the form of installing a bootstrap program from WinCE, this is documented as something really scary, but it isn't. You just need to read the instructions and follow them carefully. It's true that it could break your handheld, but there are a lot of safety nets built in. As for getting the actual distro on there, you place your iPaq in its cradle, select the install from serial link on the bootloader, you can then connect using minicom, or Hyperterminal if you're a Windows user. You send the required files through the serial link using ymodem (it takes about 20 minutes), the iPaq reboots, you calibrate the touchscreen and you're done. It's really very impressive!
I've got an iPaq 3630 with Buffalo Compact Flash Wireless card, I love it (although I've not used it for a while). The flexibility of having Linux on your handheld means that you can have something that already has the functionality of a laptop, just in smaller means, it's also really useful for wireless testing.