This is a pretty bare bones machine, but for this price it may have its uses. It’s a Linux machine, made by Belco, (variant not specified) with a BroadMIPS XBurst 400 MHz 32-bit CPU, 128 MB RAM, 1 GB NAND Flash storage, a 10/100 MB Ethernet interface and 802.11b wireless access. You’re not going to be watching movies on this, but if it will run the Linux version of FBReader then you might have one of the cheapest e-book readers around. Geeks.com is selling it.

Dear Author has part 2 of its tutorial on Using Calibre to Interface with IPhone, Sony Reader or Cybook.

Finally, What’s on iPhone, one of the best iPhone review sites on the web, has a face-off with various news readers for the machine. BBC Reader, NY Times, Mobile News, NPR Mobile and USA Today are reviewed and compared. Personally, my favorite is the news reader from the Associated Press. However, my main source of news on the iPhone is the mobile website of the BBC.

1 COMMENT

  1. Although I primarily read E on a Sony PRS 505, I just purchased an Asus EEE PC 900A at Best Buy on Friday for $200. The device is vastly superior to the Belco unit described above. A replacement SSD was as easy to install as removing two screws (well, 2 more on the SSD card itself). Like the Belco unit, it runs Linux. As well, a large community exists for the EEE family of mini notebooks. I won’t bore everyone with the specifications, I just wanted to point out that the mini notebooks are finally getting inexpensive and useful enough to be no-brainer carry everywhere devices. For less than the cost of an iPod Touch I have more storage (SDHC) and the ability to run anything on a large screen.

    Patrick

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