[extendedping]

I am getting tired lugging around technical books around and am going to first get a netbook and an ereader (I'm getting with the program so to speak). that way my 12 pound napsack that is destroying my 44 year old back will be like..5 pounds total including my peanutbutter and jelly sandwich (that is all I will be able to afford once I make these purchases).

I am learning linux and have on my craptop a bunch of nice documents all pdfs that I want to have with me everywhere (foss manuals etc) now I do not want to have to upload these somewhere to have somebody convert then into a new format, or do a legality check (they are stuff I took legally anyway).

so would the sony ereaders be able to do this? I have heard of drm and don't really know that it is (I have never owned a ereader) but I know I an not interested in it. I will not be using this to read regular books (well that is not the main purpose). it would be to read technical pdfs to help me keep my limited linux and programming knowledge up to spec (I have let it lag). thank you so much. so here are a few questions

1) does the sony handheld allow you do just take the pdf files off your pc via usb without getting orwellian on you?

2) would that screen just be too small for my ageing eyes?

3) what else that is not just shy of $500 (I don't have that type of money for this) is out there or soon to be out there that would be good for the main purposes of reading internet downloaded pdfs (I really hate the idea of paying for books not make out of actual paper)

finally...
I don't think I would require an wireless connection either...unless of course...there was an ereader that had ssh built in so I could actually ssh into my home ubuntu linux pc from my ereader on the road to further keep my skills up to spec.

thanks you so much for listening...