TB storage for eBook readers...

[CO'Neil]

Originally Posted by recycledelectron

SUMMARY:
I can buy the following and have a 1/2 TB library in less than 2 lbs:
* HyperDrive ColorSpace ($149)
* 500GB 2.5" SATA 9.5mm HDD ($169)
* Sony PRS-505 ($299)
* Solar USB Charger ($99)
* 2GB SD Cards ($9 each)
* 8GB MSPD Cards ($79 each)
* Padded Case

Andy Out!

Yes, indeed. But which Solar USB charger? I bought the mysoldius.com charger for my PRS-500, but am not sure it will safely charge without killing the reader over the long term.

[moz]

Originally Posted by CO'Neil

Yes, indeed. But which Solar USB charger? I bought the mysolidus.com charger for my PRS-500, but am not sure it will safely charge without killing the reader over the long term.

That looks pretty cool. I'd be really tempted to just try it an see what happens - I expect that the 5V USB input gets regulated by the Sony to charge a 3.7V lithium battery so it really shouldn't matter if the voltage is a little high.

What I've done when I've been relying on solar is use a 12V SLA as an intermediate step. So I use a 12V solar panel with regulator to charge a 12V lead-acid battery, then run a 12V charger (car cigarette lighter one) off that. Charging any lithium battery off an intermittent supply is problematic, because you really want to watch the change in voltage over time as you charge the battery. That's hard to do when the power cuts out every time the panel moves.

My use for this is when cycle touring. I run a digital SLR, laptop, bike lights, head torch, flash, PHD and so on off the 12V SLA which charges off the solar panel. My setup is bigger than most people use because I'm usually touring schools and community centres talking about renewable energy. So I have a 20W panel, 18AH SLA and more gizmos than most people want or need when touring.

You could reduce that to a 1W panel and 2AH battery for a total weight of about 1kg if you had good sunlight most of the time.

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But will it write to memory cards, or just read from them? Forgive me if I'm being dense, but of what use for a bookreader is a device which will only read memory cards?

Yes, the Epson P2000 will read from memory cards, and it also allows the copying of any file on it TO a memory card. When attached to the computer via USB it simply shows up as another hard drive, making copying files quick and easy.

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by recycledelectron

The ColorSpace is the FIRST device in this category that will write to cards, copying data from the hard disk. Before this, they all copied from the memory card to the hard disk (only.)

No it's not -- I've had the Epson P2000 for over 3 years and it can write to the memory card as well as read from it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

Yes, the Epson P2000 will read from memory cards, and it also allows the copying of any file on it TO a memory card. When attached to the computer via USB it simply shows up as another hard drive, making copying files quick and easy.

That sounds very good. I have an older unit myself (an X-Drive) which only reads the cards, hence the reason for the question. I think they all work the same way when it comes to being used as a USB drive.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

No it's not -- I've had the Epson P2000 for over 3 years and it can write to the memory card as well as read from it.

Thats not very clear, can it write to the memory card without a computer being involved at all?

I thought that was the point?

[recycledelectron]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Hmmm. A survivalist?

Bingo!

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

And paper books will outlast all of them.

I disagree. I'm comparing my hypothetical (future) $10, AA powered, solar powered, 8 oz (1/4 kg) waterproof library to an office building of books. I loose access to the paper books as soon as the library closes, or when I can not get to the building. My hypothetical (future) library lets me have access in my pocket.

Given the cost of a central paper library, we could make a million hand held versions of my hypothetical (future) library. Each of these could accept an ethernet connection to serve a network.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The question is, how likely do you think your efforts are to be needed, and why?

Disasters happen ever day. Censorship happens every day. My library will always be needed somewhere. (I can not be more specific. If we knew when/where a disaster would happen, nobody would be in the way.)

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

But you make attempts at it easier. If someone is the victim of attempted genocide, do you think most won't try to return the favor if they have the means and plausible suspects at hand?

Bingo! Deterrents to genocide are a good thing. "An armed society is a polite society." It's also a really lousy place to mug a little old lady. Trying to round up all the ____s is even worse.

Armed citizens are a great deterrent. Look at Germany's decision not to invade Switzerland in WW2.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

You need more than exposure tio the ideas. You need a context in which the ideas are meaningful.

True. My library is not perfect. You still need Socrates' log, with a student at one end, and a teacher at the other.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Whether they want to or not?

As it happens, I agree, but you'll get a fair bit of resistance from many you would like to empower with this knowledge.

Resistance? Like not reading anything? I can only educate those who want to learn. I have to leave the rest to their chosen life.

If that apathy stopped books from being printed in Gutenberg's time...

Andy

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by recycledelectron

Bingo!

I'm not that pessimistic.

I disagree. I'm comparing my hypothetical (future) $10, AA powered, solar powered, 8 oz (1/4 kg) waterproof library to an office building of books. I loose access to the paper books as soon as the library closes, or when I can not get to the building. My hypothetical (future) library lets me have access in my pocket.

Assuming it works. I have automatic concerns about anything that requires advanced technology to function in the face of a real disaster.

(Ever read the Frederic Brown short story, "The Waveries"? Earth is invaded by incorporeal aliens who eat electromagnetic radiation. Electric power is no longer possible. Oops...)

Given the cost of a central paper library, we could make a million hand held versions of my hypothetical (future) library. Each of these could accept an ethernet connection to serve a network.

Well, if there's a network to serve...

Disasters happen ever day. Censorship happens every day. My library will always be needed somewhere. (I can not be more specific. If we knew when/where a disaster would happen, nobody would be in the way.)

OK, but that doesn't answer my question about how likely you think it is.

Bingo! Deterrents to genocide are a good thing. "An armed society is a polite society." It's also a really lousy place to mug a little old lady. Trying to round up all the ____s is even worse.

There's a lovely "Bob, the Angry Flower" strip that takes that to reducio ad absurdam. Everybody is armed. With portable nuclear weapons. <Boom!>

Armed citizens are a great deterrent. Look at Germany's decision not to invade Switzerland in WW2.

Switzerland can't hope to win a war against a really determined larger opponent. What they can hope to do is make the prospect so expensive no one will try to invade them.

But Switzerland is an example of an important truth about this sort of thing. All adult male Swiss have had military training and keep a military weapon at home. If Switzerland is attacked, the entire population can be mobilized.

But Switzerland has a culture where that's possible. You don't hear the horror stories about guns in civilian hands that you hear in the US.

One friend of mine was born and raised in NY, and is currently on the West Coast. She went through moral soul searching on a list we are both on, because she was invited to participate in target shooting by West Coast friends, and discovered she liked it and was good at it. She'd been raised to believe Guns Are Evil, and good people didn't have or use them. She was being a Bad Girl, and was conflicted about it.

This is very much culturally defined, and there are different attitudes towards guns in the US depending upon where you are. The regional culture in the US Northeast tends to see guns as Bad Things. Go to the rural Midwest, where a boy might get his first shotgun on his 12th birthday as part of a rite of passage into manhood, and you'll encounter completely different feelings.

Another friend on the same list was vehement about guns not being in the hands of anyone save someone like the police. I told him he was thinking too small. Guns were a minor problem, all told. He needed to look at something that caused far more deaths of innocent people than unlicensed guns did, and needed to push for laws whereby only trained, licensed government employees should be allowed to own and drive cars...

I'm sympathetic to the idea that "An armed society is a polite society". But I part company with Libertarians on the issue. I see Libertarian ideals as things that can be striven for but not actually achieved, and I see what would be necessary to actually achieve ideals like this as things we'd just as soon not see happen. For instance, if someone were to magically provide guns to everyone, I suspect most of the Libertarians who would be in favor of the idea would not be among those that would survive the resulting chaos until things stabilized.

True. My library is not perfect. You still need Socrates' log, with a student at one end, and a teacher at the other.

It can't be perfect. A library is a tool. A tool is useful only insofar as people know how to use it and have a desire to do so.

Andy

______
Dennis

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by stustaff

Thats not very clear, can it write to the memory card without a computer being involved at all?

I thought that was the point?

Yes -- put a card into the P2000 and copy files from the card to the P2000. Put a different card into the P2000 and copy files from the P2000 to the card.

[athlonkmf]

I'm now actually getting the feeling that you're blindly promoting that device and not reading arguments at all.

Originally Posted by recycledelectron

I've got TBs of books, audio books, etc. The useful material is out there. You have to know where to dig for it.

You're just comparing apples to pears now. We're talking about readable content and you come in with audio books. Yeah, that's useful comparison.

We'll need lots of stuff beyond a color reader with a big screen and some color eBook downloads from Amazon.com to create my library. When full color ebooks appear on the market, and the rest of the hardware catches up, I plan to be ready. So, I'm working on my library's software now.

When the full color books are available, we'll need a database or search feature to find what we are looking for. For example, I'd like to know who was a fictional character in Shakespeare's MacBeth, and who was a historical figure. Was the king a real person?

Use mobile wikipedia for reference searching. And this has nothing to do with color or not.

When the full color books are available, we'll need an AI to note that you lack the prerequisite knowledge to grasp what you're looking at, and to suggest other (simpler) books. I've (accidentally) found that the books cited in a book I'm reading, or the books that cite the book I'm reading make a good starting point to filter to find prerequisite knowledge.

When the full color books are available, I'll still be in the middle of a book when I need to put down the reader. I'll want to tap a button, and switch to an audio book. I can drive to where I'm headed, then switch back to the text version (at the point I stopped the audio book) without loosing a word, and without flipping pages. (I'm working on that software.) What happens when your audio book is abridged, and the text is unabridged? (That's a question I hope to answer.)

I've (accidentally) found that original papers on a subject engender interest far beyond what a text book can. A science lesson comes to life when students get a copy of Ben Franklin's original letter to the (then) Royal Society of London about his kite experiment. Local high school students have been recreating Bohr's gold foil experiment that showed atoms are mostly empty space, based on Bohr's original paper that came from my library prototype.

I've noticed that you can not set out your library to charge - it's too noticeable. It's far better to charge off a car's 12V DC than off solar power, if you have a car. Using standard rechargeable batteries allows a generic charger to charge the batteries and for your library to stay hidden.

Andy

Why don't you just skip a few technical achievements and ask for a direct interface in your brain connected to the world's database so that you don't actually have to read or listen to data. Instead, having the knowledge pumped directly into your memory?

When asking for new technology, one has to make realistic assumptions and do it step by step. With logical timelines.
I said that extra storage for e-readers was going to be needed when we have graphical content to read. That's when color-screens come in.

If people need to listen to audiobooks, get a freaking mp3-player.

[HarryT]

This is getting a little "heated". Please try to keep it polite!

Thanks,

[Moderator]

[recycledelectron]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Assuming it works. I have automatic concerns about anything that requires advanced technology to function in the face of a real disaster.

I would not have relied on those fancy, ohh so finicky matches at one point in technological evolution, but today, matches (and even lighters) are very reliable.

Firearms were not considered reliable enough to replace the pike for centuries.

During the war with Mexico (1840's?) the repeating rifle was shown to be amazingly effective, then the US' generals went back to the muzzle loader in time for the American Civil War. Breech loading repeaters were not seen as reliable enough for use by the common soldier.

Today, our PCs are NOT reliable enough to depend on in a disaster. They will get there. Solid state electronics in a sealed case can be made water proof, drop proof, and idiot resistant.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Switzerland can't hope to win a war against a really determined larger opponent. What they can hope to do is make the prospect so expensive no one will try to invade them.

But Switzerland is an example of an important truth about this sort of thing. All adult male Swiss have had military training and keep a military weapon at home. If Switzerland is attacked, the entire population can be mobilized.

Accroding to Sun Tzu, the highest form of war is to not have to fight. Isn't that what Switzerland accomplished?

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is getting a little "heated". Please try to keep it polite!

Sorry.

I've backspaced over a few pages of arguments for anarchism. I would refer anyone interested to http://www.JPFO.org for further readings on what it means to be armed or not armed.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It can't be perfect. A library is a tool. A tool is useful only insofar as people know how to use it and have a desire to do so.

True. It's just a library at first.

As AIs improve, we may move from a disjointed set of tutorials to something like a tutor.

Andy

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by recycledelectron

I would not have relied on those fancy, ohh so finicky matches at one point in technological evolution, but today, matches (and even lighters) are very reliable.

And very much lower tech than what you propose.

Today, our PCs are NOT reliable enough to depend on in a disaster. They will get there. Solid state electronics in a sealed case can be made water proof, drop proof, and idiot resistant.

I wouldn't advise holding your breath. What you suggest exists now, in "ruggedized" versions for extreme environments. It's also a lot more expensive than the variety you buy in the store. It won't become common because no one will see a need to build ordinary devices to those specs.

According to Sun Tzu, the highest form of war is to not have to fight. Isn't that what Switzerland accomplished?

Consider how they did it. There was a time when Swiss mercenaries were possibly the most feared troops on European battlefields.

Andy

______
Dennis

[Robertb]

[QUOTE=DMcCunney;155903]And very much lower tech than what you propose.

I wouldn't advise holding your breath. What you suggest exists now, in "ruggedized" versions for extreme environments. It's also a lot more expensive than the variety you buy in the store. It won't become common because no one will see a need to build ordinary devices to those specs.

Consider how they did it. There was a time when Swiss mercenaries were possibly the most feared troops on European battlefields.

Sure, note the Swiss Guard of the Vatican! While they look ridiculous in their Vatican outfits... these guys are actually exceedingly well trained and capable in everything from martial arts to crowd control. The Swiss Guard was, at one time, the most elite of fighting forces.

[recycledelectron]

I saw a story about a case for an Iphone that doubles as a solar charger (http://www.novothink.com/) Is there such a thing available for any ebook reader?

Also, here's a progress report on my library. I have set up a clone pelican case (from http://www.HarborFreight.com) with a copy of my library in it.

I started with several "universal laptop batteries" so they can be charged off a cigarette lighter or 110V AC outlet. These batteries use laptop DC & AC adapters to charge. I am still working on the 15V DC ==> 12V DC regulator boards. 12V DC goes to the router and hard disks. USB power is available (on each battery) for charging readers, and powering the USB Hub.

I installed a Linksys by Cisco WRT310N router. The router looses it's configuration when the power dies, so I have to re-set it every time, which is a pain, and I will avoid Linksys next time. The router does allow a bunch of partitions on USB disks to be offered over WiFi as NASes. I've tested multiple 2GB partitions. The router supports 802.11B, G, and N. Linksys also offers a version (610?) that supports 802.11A. An old LaCie (ICK!!!) NAS I used supported FTP and HTTP, but this Linksys only supports SAMBA shares. I would look for FTP and HTTP in the future. I'm about to pick up high-gain antennas for the router.

I use a cheap 7-port USB hub.

Finally, I have several TB+ hard disks, running off 12V DC and plugging into the USB hub.

Here's an attempt at an ASCII diagram:

HDD -- USB Hub -- Router -- Wi-Fi Reader
HDD --
HDD --

If I don't want to use Wi-Fi, I can use the USB connections on the hard disks directly.

Of course, everything is powered by the batteries. Here's another attempt at an ASCII diagram.

Car Adapter or AC Adapter -- Battery -- Vreg -- Router
-- Hard Disk
Car Adapter or AC Adapter -- Battery -- Vreg -- Hard Disk
-- Hard Disk

I've got a SmartDevices Q7 on order as a possible reader. It charges off USB, runs Ubuntu (or CE or Maemo,) has internal WiFi, a 7" 800x480 touch screen, USB host, and supports up to a 32GB SD Card, all for less than $220 shipped.

Andy