Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Communications Portables

Smartphone Suggestions for Text SSH Use? 86

Posted by Cliff from the shells-you-can-take-with-you dept.
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?"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Smartphone Suggestions for Text SSH Use? More

Smartphone Suggestions for Text SSH Use?

Comments Filter:

  • Get the brick! (Score:4, Informative)

    by Sad Loser ( 625938 ) * on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:06AM (#13508997)

    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?)

    • Re:Get the brick! (Score:3, Informative)

      by tolan-b ( 230077 )
      Same. I have a P800 (virtually the same as the P900) and it's really no good for ssh, special characters are a particular pain.

      I also have a 9500 which is superb for ssh, and has a 640*240 version of Opera too which is nice.

      For most other internet use I'd recommend the Px0x, but for anything typing heavy the 9500 is a no-brainer.

  • 1xrtt pc ard (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bluelip ( 123578 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:10AM (#13509027) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • I can speak for Verizon's data services, which work very well through my V710 using a USB cable. 144Kbit/s total bandwidth on the 1x network is very nice. Ping times are pretty high, but consistent.

      You don't have to buy the PCMCIA card to get a laptop on Verizon's network. Just get the USB cable (Mobile Office Kit, or something like that from Verizon, not all phones supported) and it's easy to set up.

      Phone looks like a USB modem, use DUN to go out to the network. I believe this even works under Linux wi

  • Blackberry (Score:5, Informative)

    by madstork2000 ( 143169 ) * on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:12AM (#13509049) Homepage
    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
    • I have a Treo650, and previously i had a Treo180. I have used both for ssh.

      The keyboard and screen is clearly not as good as a real computer, but i can manage. Even to type pipe, esc, ... If you want, there is even a portable keyboard for the treo 650.
      Otterbox made something that can protect your device, i use that when i ride my horse.

      I go 3-5 days on my treo650, depending on how much i call. But one thing that REALLY bugs me, is that i can not use SSH while i am talking to a client. This is really annoyin

      • Re:Treo650 (I have not tried BlackBerry) (Score:4, Informative)

        by madstork2000 ( 143169 ) * on Thursday September 08, 2005 @11:13AM (#13509582) Homepage
        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 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 :). 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.

        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.
        • Allright, hen i really consider changing, i dont like getting cut off.

          However, we have no blackberry dealer here in denmark. And when i did check, blackberry did not have storage expansion and music playing capability.

          However, i have yet to use it for music, as i havent gotten a SD card :/

          To protect it i have an otterbox, that is much better than what any phone itself offers.
      • I use the Treo myself. I think the screen is better and I prefer the form factor as a phone. However, I suspect if text entry is important, the blackberry is better. I've used my Treo for text entry, bu the querty keboard is small enough that it's a real pain. The Blackberry's much larger keyboard is apt to be a big win if you do a lot of this.

        The thing about a PDA is that they're personal. What works for you in your situation? For example, I'm pretty good at Graffiti. A fast PDA with wi-fi and bluetoo

      • I wanted bluetooth, so getting the Nokia 9x00 was not an option.

        Sucks to be you - the Nokia 9300 and 9500 both have bluetooth.

        -- Pete.

    • Re:Blackberry (Score:3, Informative)

      by toast- ( 72345 )
      Amen. But what about MIDPSSH http://xk72.com/midpssh/ [xk72.com]. Why pay for SSH on your Blackberry when you can get it for free? Third party software, especially of this simplicity should not cost money. Granted Ikodorro is reliable, MIDPSSH has caught up, and since it's open source anyone can modify it and improve it..

      BEWARE M2ST: this app is a commercial 'rip off' of MIDPSSH and is otherwise the same app. Also they have not posted source code and might be violating the GPL.

      http://www.netcreativemind.com/m2st/ [netcreativemind.com]

      Note:
      • I tried MIDPSSH, a few months ago. I have not tried it lately thoguh MIDPSSH in a while. I was having problems with it locking up if I used remote input. And found that the $100 bucks for Idorroko was well worth it, because it was getting to frustrating having to restart from scratch after MIDP locked up my phone.
        • I tried MIDPSSH, a few months ago. I have not tried it lately thoguh MIDPSSH in a while. I was having problems with it locking up if I used remote input.

          That's true, the older versions were a bit funky. I had connections unexpectedly drop off more often in midpssh in the previous versions than with Idokorro demo.

          The latest versions are on the same level as the Idokorro.

          And found that the $100 bucks for Idorroko was well worth it, because it was getting to frustrating having to restart from scratch after MID
          • Thanks,
            I am sure the price drop had somethign to do with the open source version catching up. Another benifit for OSS.

            I will have to give a recent version of MIDPSSH another look.

            -MS2k

  • Service Provider Quality? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by andykuan ( 522434 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:14AM (#13509066) Homepage
    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 live in PA (philadelphia) and there coverage is really good (compared to Cingular and Verizon), the problem is they do not have enough circuits and I get all circuits are busy messages about 30% of the time during the evening commute, quite annoying. They have done a huge job improving their coverage in the last 2 years though, and they are way way way cheaper.
    • Coverage is highly subjective to your location. Ask people you know how they feel about their cell coverage. For example, people love GSM and Cingular, but the GSM coverage in Nevada is sucky. Sprint (which I have) is pretty good here; I moved away from Cingular since the GSM coverage was so bad. Maybe it's better now, but my friends had Sprint and their phones always worked when mine didn't, so that's what sold me.

  • Go for a Nokia 9300 (Score:5, Informative)

    by Pete (big-pete) ( 253496 ) * <peter_endean@hotmail.com> on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:15AM (#13509074)

    I can only recommend the Nokia 9300 [nokia.co.uk] - almost identical to the 9500 [nokia.co.uk] 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 [nokia.co.uk], but a bit chunkier and heavier.

    There is an excellent implementation of PuTTY [google.com] 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.

  • PUTTY (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mknewman ( 557587 ) * on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:16AM (#13509080)
    I'd go with a PocketPC Mobile phone and PUTTY, a PD SSH implmenenation.

    • Re:PUTTY (Score:2, Informative)

      by Atlantis-Rising ( 857278 )
      I agree- something like the HTC Universal, or iMate Jasjar, or XDA professional, or whatever they're calling it these days.
    • I third that... I have a i-mate pda2k, but the new one just came out www.clubimate.com I setup a windows vpn and connect from my ppc to my vpn and then ssh all around, works wonderfull and the keyboard is a great bonus.

  • Nokia 9300 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Turmio ( 29215 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:24AM (#13509137) Homepage
    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 [nokiausa.com] 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.
  • so you admin an email server. How big's the darn thing if it takes 1 person 100% + time to do this????

    If they expect you respond 24/7 then you'll need 24/7 cover on the hardware too. You'll need the over time should the thing break and SLA's to work to.

    Why is email in use 24x7 - you work for a global co??? what's the SLA's on the network, the internet connection....

    accessing a server you'll need to get at the console too so you'll need a console server from Cyclades/Perle/....

    The 'shiney gadget' you need i
    • so low uid and so little understanding of the benefits of ssh in your pocket... thing is, with a mobile phone with ssh the company(might be a real small one too) gets a big boost to emergency fix up's very cheap. maybe you'll see someone on putty on 9300 some day in the bus and 'get' it. it's the internet in your pocket. he doesn't need to be able to fix everything with it(obviously), but the chance that it will be handy one day is pretty big - and for him it would be nice if he could ssh in from some par
    • I have worked full time and as a consultant for large and small companies, and if the company is big enough to hire a full time IT person, they will expect some systems to be up 100%.

      My last company was a sales based organization (including the pointy haird CEO) and any downtime for them was unacceptable. We had a year of 99.9% average uptime (8.5 hrs down per year per server) while migrating servers from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003. That includes all security patches and even switching WAN circuit provide
      • We had a year of 99.9% average uptime (8.5 hrs down per year per server) while migrating servers from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003... Hell, we even moved branch offices and their servers to new locations and still got numbers that high. This was done without one bit of redundancy"
        How? Did you use the world's longest patch and power cables?
        • *chuckle*

          We actually had routers with live circuits up in the new offices so all we had to do was shutdown the server and drive it to the new location. It was generally down for 2-4 hours during a move. It averages out because many servers get patched once a month and then rebooted, so their downtime for the year is only about one hour.

  • Don't use a smartphone... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Fbelch ( 9658 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:25AM (#13509151) Homepage
    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/ [sealiesoftware.com] (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.
    • So what kind of service plan do you need to pull this off and what kind of bandwidth do you get? I wouldn't mind having a nice small phone with bluetooth for my PDA and my laptop to get out to the net with.
      • I'm running on the GPRS package from rogers with a Lite Data plan.

        Rogers Data Plans [shoprogers.com]

        Rogers System PDF [rogers.com]

        This allows me to get around 56k connection, of course this is the optimum connection speed.

        Since I only use this for checking my email, surfing the web, and sshing into my home system, this works pretty good. Just a warning though, it can get a bit expensive if your going to do alot of downloading.

    • 1) You get the clarity of a real cell phone. Some smart phones have really bad static on the 'cell phone' side of them.

      This is a valid point. I have a Treo 650, and there were issues with the call sound quality back in the beginning. (The issue was mostly on the "other end", so it was hard for the Treo user to assess.) They've supposedly fixed this in a firmware update, although I haven't really experimented to see if it's really better.

      2) Easy to access when your on the phone with tech support

      • Can you actually be on a phone call, and be using the cellphone for internet from your bluetooth-enabled device at the same time? I'm pretty sure that's not possible with my Treo, at least.

        Depends. CDMA based phones are not able to do data and voice simultaneously, while GSM based phones are.

        While this would seem to be a huge argument in favor of GSM, I still ended up sticking with CDMA due to the better coverage in my part of the country. The ability to use voice and data at the same time doesn't mean mu

  • Get the 9500! (Score:2, Informative)

    by Le_Batleur ( 822375 )
    I have one, and it is *not* too large to carry round with you, unless you habitually work in a bikini. A full suite of sysadmin-level tools are available third party, and you're rocking.

    The 9300 is smaller, true, but not that much smaller, and while losing the camera is no great shakes, the Wi-Fi is mandatory. Having the higher bandwidth available in a coffeeshop, or just around work or site, for that matter, is something you'd miss if you didn't have it.

    These things aren't called communicators for nothing,

  • T-Mobile Sidekick (Score:4, Interesting)

    by daviddennis ( 10926 ) <david@amazing.com> on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:38AM (#13509262) Homepage
    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
    • (Don't know where my last attempt at a reply went)

      The Sidekick maybe good, but as you noted, T-Mobile coverage sucks compared to other providers.

      If your job depends on 24/7 connectivity, then going with a provider that has limited coverage is the wrong thing to do. You need to go with the best coverage of all of the providers, as without a connection you are screwed.

      As an added thought, some other people have mentioned laptops with cards in them. This could be good as you can use a wireless hotspot as a b

    • I also use a SideKick II for ssh & telnet.

      The lag is a tad annoying, anywhere from 1/4 second (on a rare great day) to several seconds. It cannot display enough characters for some commands (like w) on some systems (they complain that the terminal is not wide enough) even when using the smallest font.

      Also, if you don't type anything for more than 30 seconds or so, it cuts you off and you have to reconnect. The "screen" program is your friend here, trust me.

      Other than those - it's awesome!
      I am considerin
    • I'll second this. For the price you can't beat it. Mine was -$50 from amazon.com. That's right I got $50 back. As others mentioned there's considerable lag, but that seems to be more a function of GPRS than the Sidekick II though. I had the same issues using PPP over BT with my Powerbook.

    • I looked into getting a Sidekick a couple of years back and decided it wasn't what I wanted because it was too locked down.

      • Although you can get a development kit for it, there's no way to actually install your software on a non-developer Sidekick aside from Danger's "Premium Download Manager". So while you can write a program for the Sidekick, it lives or dies on the whim of Danger and T-Mobile. I couldn't find anything about whether it's possible to distribute free (or Free) software this way, but
  • If you want small and don't mind a tiny (128x128) screen, Nokia 6800s and 6820s are very tiny. The 6820 is the smaller and newer of the two and has bluetooth and a mediocre 352x288 camera and I like the keyboard on the 6800 a lot more--the keys on it are a bit larger and are physically separated, unlike the 6820.

    However, you'll probably want something with a much larger screen. 128x128 isn't good for much more than things like 'service apache restart.' But it's tiny. To use, say, vi, you really do need some
  • You may be aware that out there in the PC world you can buy special keyboards of all sorts. There is a type that uses "chording", so that you have to press two or three keys at the same time to generate a character. It is my understanding that after you get used to it, chording is a reasonably efficient input method (but have no personal experience to back up the claim). The main advantage, though, is that the keyboard is quite small (has many fewer keys than a standard keyboard). It seems to me that wi
    • BD IDEA for REMOTE ADMIN.

      Chording is a pain in the ass with small devices in my opinion. Maybe for IM with type ahead it would be ok, like the teens use. But if you are trying to use vi over an SSH session on a phone, chording would suck, and probably would not be possible.

      Remember with remote terminal applications key presses have context on 2 sepeSo you need some way to easily get key combinations from the local device to the remote device. So end up having to press about 10 keys to do a "CNTL-C"....
  • ... and the moment I got home from my last holiday I bought a datacard for my laptop.

    Typing into a terminal on a 12 key keypad for extended periods makes one's fingers & wrists ache.

    I did try a bluetooth keyboard but found it unreliable : annoying when you still look at the kb to type and find nothing came out.

    35 quid for the datacard, 20 quid for an inverter for the car and 100 quid for a p3 500 laptop works out cheaper than a new phone. I already have a contract SIM so no extra expense there.

  • The obvious question (Score:4, Insightful)

    by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:50AM (#13509369)
    Of course you have already asked how much extra they will compensate you for being connected 24/7?

    You have haven't you?
    • (I know .. answering my own post etc)

      But WTF???? Who moderated me funny? I was being serious .. work without compensation is a Bad Thing (tm) unless you are being a volunteer, when it becomes a Good Thing (tm)

      Think of it this way .. every hour you work for free is an hour of your $$$ compensation straight into the pocket of your companies owner. You wouldn't whip out your wallet and give the owner cash, so why do it through agreements to effectively work 24/7

      Years ago a colleague told me that he valued t
  • If you want quick access without using ssh, just run your company's email server off the Nokia 9500. It looks big enough!
  • For SSH implementation though, there is an open-source and cross-platform application called MIDPSSH at http://xk72.com/midpssh/ [xk72.com] which works on any MIDP 1.x or 2.x (J2ME) compatible phone (there are dozens!)

    You do not need to pay for ikodorro mobileSSH for the blackberry, but if you will need to use it every day for long periods of time, i reccomend the commercial solution.

    Why a blackberry:

    a) Reliable. The device is rock solid, in software and hardware. The hardware will take a beating (dropped, wet, ran ov
  • It depends on where it will be used.
     
    BinLadenMyHero, can we assume in some dusty cave on the Afghanistan and Pakistan border???
  • Even my Nokia 6620 is able to SSH into my FreeBSD box (though I never got VNC looking right), so I would say choose one that has the following features:

    1) feels comfortable - most important
    2) allows upload of programs to phone without purchasing from the specific vendor -- this is more a carrier issue than anything else. For example, with Cingular you can upload programs via Bluetooth whereas with Verizon they disable anything that doesn't go through their own personal approval process.
    3) If it doesn't have

  • I have a Nokia 9500 that I love and use all the time. It comes in very handy to be able to manage our servers wherever I am.

    Unfortunately, for SSH, the keyboard does not have a | "pipe" key so it makes it very hard to issue certain sequences of commands. Anybody know a workaround?

    I also love the landscape screen and high resolution.

  • BBerry vs. Treo (Score:2, Informative)

    by Boomhauer ( 1436 )
    My previous boss got me a Treo 650 and I loved it. The only fault I could find with it was sometimes Sprint's service was slow and the keyboard was almost too small. But I had a good freeware SSH client for it and used it for emergency server repair on more than one occasion.

    My current boss bought me a Blackberry 7520. At first I didn't like it as much because the treo's screen is a bit better/brighter and the Treo could do more because it was Palm OS based. However, after carrying the blackberry for a mo

  • My Solution (Score:3, Interesting)

    by lal ( 29527 ) * on Thursday September 08, 2005 @12:35PM (#13510298)

    I wanted to be able to go online anytime 24/7 from anywhere using a small device. In the US, the CDMA providers (Verizon, Sprint) won't sell you a device that can do 802.11[b|g] like the Nokia 9500. I go places where there's no GSM, and I wanted to use wifi where it is available, so no cell provider had a solution for me.

    I already have a Verizon CDMA phone that does 1x data (LG 4500) over USB to my Linux laptop - I just wanted something smaller. So I got a Sharp Zaurus 3000 [conics.net]. This is a Linux PDA sold only in Japan. It is a flip-open device with a 4G HDD. After much jacking around, this device does what I want. It supports CF expansion cards so I can do wifi and wired ethernet. It has a USB port so I can connect to the Verizon 1x data network. I just took a 4 day vacation and carried only this device, a wifi card, and my cell phone. I ran SSH, used a web browser, read email, etc.

    Obviously, buying a $625 device from Japan isn't for everyone, but it worked for me, for now.

  • You need a Nokia 9300 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ErpLand ( 105292 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @01:00PM (#13510557)

    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?

    • Small
    • Good keyboard
    • PuTTY SSH2 client [sourceforge.net] with an ANSI color 80x24 terminal (or even 106x26 or something when you maximise it)
    • Multi-tasking
    • Reliable
    • Good web browser (Opera, with flash plugin too)
    • Good VNC client with SSH2 tunneling [mochasoft.dk]
    • Office suite that is fairly MS Office-compatible

    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.

  • a Siemens sx66 (built in WiFi and Bluetooth) it is a little big, and runs pocket pc 2003. But Pocket Putty works great and with pocket pc 2003 I can switch the screen from portrait to landscape which makes putty a little more readable. And there are hundreds of apps out there to admin anything, including some tn3270 emulators!

    SonicAdmin (bit pricey) rocks for Microsoft based networks, I can now admin my network from just about any place via GRPS, WiFi, Bluetooth. And with my bluetooth wireless headset and M
  • You might try out the hiptop, or as tmobile calls them the sidekick. Its a nice little phone with qwerty and an ssh client. Gets the job done for me. Check out the manufacturers website [danger.com].
  • I got a Nokia 6820 first, and really, it's a neat phone, but the screen is too small to be useful. Then I got a Treo 600 and I've been using that since. I can't say I really care for it much, but the screen is big and PSSH is free and does what I need.

    My problem with the Treo is emissions. If I have it near my PC and receive a call, I can always tell before it rings because my 19" monitor ripples and then my external DVD burner power cycles and Windows tells me I removed a device improperly. Makes me wonder

  • Treo (Score:3, Informative)

    by RomulusNR ( 29439 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @02:11PM (#13511300) Homepage
    The benefit of the Treo IMO is its commonality as a platform; there are multiple options for Palm SSH clients. I currently use TuSSH, which is SSH2 compliant, supports identity files, and special characters, and has display modes up to 40x12.

  • Samsung Nexio (Score:2, Interesting)

    by tex77 ( 908834 )
    The Nexio [mobilemag.com] (S160/XP30/XP40) with a 800x480 (!) screen is a great remote server administrator device.

    I use it so much with a BT enabled phone (GPRS/3G). Remote Desktop is standard installed; connect to your desktop and have _all_ software at hand, always. SSH client also available for direct access without remote desktopping.

  • Treo 650 (Score:2, Informative)

    by tedhiltonhead ( 654502 )
    I use a Treo 650 with the free "pssh". Works great. Has a 320px wide screen and fits comfortably in a front pocket.
  • IMHO Motorola's Linux-based smartphones [slashdot.org] are the best for that task...
  • midpSSH (java app) macros do the job for me along with a number of shell scripts on the server for routine stuff. Command entry via the phone keys for other stuff is not exactly flexible but the combination is a good compromise. The K700i email client is poor so I use ReqWireless' java Email viewer 3.5, for managing an imap account with multiple folders, it's pretty good overall but of course the text entry is not exactly user friendly :-) (is about 20 dollars I think) On the whole, if you just want to k
  • Once it comes out where you are, I guess the best option would be the T-Mobile MDA Pro (currently just available in Germany):
    http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/n/6142.html [infosyncworld.com]

    It has about everything you would ever want (640x480 screen, large thumb keyboard, ssh, vnc, UMTS, ...), but is expensive and a bit large.
  • I suggest this (it's what my brother does):
    Get a PocketPC with a phone (Toshiba has some nice ones). Then get the PocketPC version of PuTTY. Then buy one of the folding keyboards. It works perfectly. Technically, I guess you could use SSH, too, but I've found PuTTY to be easier to use. It's a great "happy medium". The full qwerty keyboard (including ESC key), but you don't have to carry around a clunky laptop, and it does everything you could need. Stick the keyboard in one pocket, the PDA in the other, a
  • Bennie, Let me put my 2cents in by saying I have the exact same scenerio that you have, and how I accomplish this task. As for the decision on to use it, well, thats up to you. I have a Treo 650 from Cingular that I just purchased about a month ago, for $250, now they go for $200. I also purchased the unlimited GPRS (140kps) internet option for an additional $40 bux which my company kindly picks up the tab for. While on a trip to the western desert regions of Colorado, in the middle of the desert, my co

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Close