Customized Electronic Text collections

[Bill Ries-Knight <brk@slip.net>]

I have been extreeeeeemly busy the last few months, we lost a major
chunk of income and BENEFITS so  I have been spending all of my time and
energy bringing myself up to speed on >>> Windows and novell networking
<<< nasty stuff !! to be of enough value to get a REAL position with
benefits.

As I fought through all of this stuff a vision began appearing before my
eyes.  A portable device or CDROM type package, with "Standard Texts" to
work and study from, instead of lugging around binders and books.

This is a current type of product, currently under development
commercially under names such a E-Book.  I was at Siebold Seminars on
Tuesday and got a feel that the work is considered valuable, but has
very few players with pretty low profiles.

Here is the thought.  It would be nice to be able to access standard
classic texts such as Homer, Plato, Descartes, as well as more modern
standards, and work with them ineractively (cut and paste to a word
processor) as a student resource.

The major benefits I see are:
Lots of texts on a single CD, custom compiled for the school.
LOWER COSTS, more reflective of Royalties than of Production.
Fewer items for a young person to lug around.
Easy replacement of the texts in case of damage or changes.
Local control, even at the school or insrtuctor level.

The direction I see this going right now, as per the general news media,
is the PALM/Windows CE platforms.  Has anyone considered a portable
linux operated device that could be a standalone, or interface with a TV
or PC?

I know there was a minor discussion concerning interactive scripture
studies recently. It would be nice if that concept could be developed to
allow use with any file, so it can be applied to a STANDARD formatted
text-only type of file.

Let me know what y'all think of the concept(s)

Bill