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-   -   The great offline issue (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=4793)

RogerS 2007-02-17 15:48
The great offline issue
 
Quote:
Why I don't want to synch

For me, the 38-minute train ride from Montclair into New York City is my prime personal time for computing and writing. And fast or slow, the WiFi-ization of America won't reach that zone for a long while I'm sure.* That means the commute is offline for now and hereafter.

So I diligently worked out a plan to pluck information off the web every morning, put it automatically into my preferred reading format and transfer the info to my internet tablet to read in FBReader.

Since FBReader gobbles up the Plucker pdb format rather handily and Plucker desktop efficiently automates the webpage plucking, I thought this would work nicely.

I was wrong.

Too much me

The process involves me too much and requires two computers. It's a system that was designed to use a person's desktop computer for the plucking and processing, synch to a Palm PDA, and utilize the Palm for reading.

But why should I have to synch? My internet tablet has WiFi. It will run a python program. It's got a great e-reader already.

Ah, the Linux version of Plucker desktop uses wxWindows. I can't run it on my internet tablet. Plus it has all the synch-to-Palm conduit stuff.

What's needed is an interface written for the internet tablet that sits on top of the already-written Python plucking code.

Then every morning (and afternoon), the stuff I want to look at would be grabbed, streamlined and made ready for me to read on the train.

Python-meister available?

Would that I could develop this on my own.

But, besides not being a developer, I found Python unintelligible in my two attempts to learn it (and then found Ruby the complete opposite -- clear, elegant, intuitive). I realize I need someone who knows what they're doing to guide me when I get stuck, which is often, even at my noice level (or: because of my novice level).

Still, the Python tools available for the Maemo are so powerful and give me a real reason (and platform) to develop that I look longingly at this project and wonder, What can I do to make it a reality?

If there's a Python-meister who sees in this a project not too complex and which could be incredibly fruitful for the internet tablet community . . . well, I'll sign on as chief cook-and-bottle-washer. Tester, UI guide and documenter. Evangelist.

I'll do everything I can to make the project succeed, apart from the, um, Python part. We await only the emergence of a true code master.

________
* I could connect to a phone's data plan and surf -- I've done that, it's great! -- if I chose to squander my discretionary income on that instead of extravagances like children.
Read the full article.

ptman 2007-02-17 17:04
Re: The great offline issue
 
I've hacked together in python an offline reader for google reader that can sync the status back to google reader later. Like:

1. Fetch unread articles from Google Reader
2. Go offline
3. Read some articles, star (mark as interesting) some other, don't read all
4. Go online
5. Push back changes
6. Go to google reader using a desktop web browser
7. The messages you haven't read on the road are still unread, the interesting ones can be found and the ones you have read are no longer shown

It's still very crude, but I use it myself. I have to polish it and release it. Contact me if you are interested.

BR,
ptman

jethro.itt 2007-02-17 18:00
Re: The great offline issue
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerS (Post 35245)
But, besides not being a developer, I found Python unintelligible in my two attempts to learn it (and then found Ruby the complete opposite -- clear, elegant, intuitive).
You do realize, that you might be the only person on earth with that sentiment... :p

fpp 2007-02-17 18:02
Re: The great offline issue
 
Didn't want to rub it in, but totally agree :-)

andymulhearn 2007-02-17 19:30
Re: The great offline issue
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jethro.itt (Post 35268)
You do realize, that you might be the only person on earth with that sentiment... :p
Now if he'd said <insert any proramming language> vs perl, I'd agree :D

bugnotme 2007-02-17 20:31
Re: The great offline issue
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ptman (Post 35258)
I've hacked together in python an offline reader for google reader that can sync the status back to google reader later. Like:

1. Fetch unread articles from Google Reader
2. Go offline
3. Read some articles, star (mark as interesting) some other, don't read all
4. Go online
5. Push back changes
6. Go to google reader using a desktop web browser
7. The messages you haven't read on the road are still unread, the interesting ones can be found and the ones you have read are no longer shown

It's still very crude, but I use it myself. I have to polish it and release it. Contact me if you are interested.

BR,
ptman
I am very interested in this. I was planning to do something similar when I got my hands on an N800. Was it designed for desktops or the Nokia tablet specifically? Is it a new RSS reader interface as well?

freeman 2007-02-17 21:24
Re: The great offline issue
 
My offline time are usually involve reading fetched rss stuff. But one thing I would rather have is built in "save webpage for offline" in the menu somewhere in the browser.

RogerS 2007-02-17 21:41
Re: The great offline issue
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jethro.itt (Post 35268)
You do realize, that you might be the only person on earth with that sentiment... :p
On the contrary -- I've encountered a number of people for whom Python does everything backwards or incompletely that Ruby does beautifully. Of course they've mostly been people in the Ruby community.

Anyway, I'm not dissing Python. I'm only saying that certain things seem natural to me the way Ruby does them that didn't seem natural at all when I was looking at them in Python. But if I were lefthanded, some tools would seem hard to me to use and others (lefthanded scissors) would seem natural. It's perfectly sensible that other people would feel differently.

RogerS 2007-02-17 21:45
Re: The great offline issue
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ptman (Post 35258)
I've hacked together in python an offline reader for google reader that can sync the status back to google reader later.
...
Contact me if you are interested.
BR,
ptman
This does sound really good.

Plucker, of course, antedates RSS. In the end RSS and Google Reader may be wildly easier than a Plucker/FBReader combination.

But so many things in FBReader are attuned so well to reading that I am loathe to give it up as the e-reader of choice.

crackhead 2007-02-17 22:10
Re: The great offline issue
 
I understand the desire to pull down full the full text of articles, but I find the built-in RSS reader is handy for grabbing feeds in the morning before I head to the subway. I HAVE to pull stuff down first, because there's no mobile service whatsoever in the subway...and there's likely to be no service for the forseeable future. But, I would certainly be interested in a Python solution like this, too.


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