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.

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* 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.