[Tfug] PDF (Book) Reader recs?

[Robert Hunter]

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On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 02:43:18PM -0700, Claude Rubinson wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> So, I'm getting really, really sick of reading PDFs (mostly academic
> articles) on my laptop.  It's inflexible, impossible to read outside
> in the sun, etc.  (And it's old and the battery charge is shit.)
> 
> So I'm thinking of getting some type of book reader.  My first thought
> is a Nokia 770 or 800 (while its keyboard is quite attractive, the 810
> is beyond the bounds of my graduate student stipend).  The hackability
> is, of course, very attractive.  For those of you who have a Nokia,
> how well does it function for you as a book reader?  What are the
> downsides?
> 
> I'm also looking for recommendations of other items that I should look
> at.  Note that I'll mostly be using it for PDFs (some very poorly
> scanned) and converting to another format is unacceptable.  I don't
> care about E-books and DRM isn't a concern either (I've only come
> across a couple of protected PDFs and Xpdf can read them just fine).

I know this sounds amazingly primitive, but what about printing?  Some
folks may not deem this as environmentally friendly, but if you have
the ability to print doubled-sided, two-up, it really cuts back on
waste, and IMO is probably easier, although perhaps not as cool, as
the alternative.

That said, Costco is now selling a Sony book-reader for about $200.
Apparently it runs MontaVista Linux, who used to be Tom R.'s employer,
I don't know what he is up to these days. ;-) I have no idea how
hackable it is.  If anyone tested it, I would be interested in your
experiences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Reader

- -Rob
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