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Wikipedia Goes Mobile

Posted by kdawson on Mon Oct 16, 2006 01:04 AM
from the what's-that-in-your-pocket? dept.
Handhelds Hardware
eldavojohn writes, "Webaroo has added Wikipedia to their services on mobile devices. There have also been open source efforts to deliver it to the iPod (also check out the wiki) or a PDA. I guess if I were still a bartender, this would be a necessity in solving bar disputes before they escalate to fisticuffs." Wikipedia requires 6 GB of free space, 10 GB recommended. And remember: Don't Panic.
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Wikipedia Goes Mobile 25 Comments More /

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  • Don't Panic! Don't Panic! Don't Panic! (Score:3, Funny)

    by creimer (824291) on Monday October 16 2006, @01:14AM (#16449453) Homepage
    Wikipedia requires 6 GB of free space, 10 GB recommended.

    Damn, I got to get myself a bigger PDA. Having 32MB isn't what it used to be!

  • The whole database already available on the zaurus (Score:3, Informative)

    by A Wise Guy (1006169) on Monday October 16 2006, @01:22AM (#16449487)
    I own the zaurus S-3200 running application Zbedic. Files are compressed to no more than 400mb total and fits in my 6gb internal hardisk of my pda just fine. the project location for the zaurus http://sourceforge.net/projects/bedic [sourceforge.net] Look under english wikipedia and you can use it on a zaurus. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group _id=51673 [sourceforge.net]

  • 6 GB? I'm panicking already (Score:3, Informative)

    by arun_s (877518) on Monday October 16 2006, @01:24AM (#16449497) Homepage Journal
    While one of the basic strengths of Wikipedia is its updatability, I would question the point of storing all the articles offline. Admittedly, TFA does say it'll sync up the data the next time you go online, but it'll practically eat up all your disk space eventually.
    I think I'll stick to just checking it online quickly on my humble Motorola A780.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jbarr (2233)
      We all don't have online access, so an offline solution is VERY useful. Obviously, it's just a dated snapshot, but it's certainly more useful than having nothing. I have an LG phone by Verizon (provided by work, so I have no choice as to model) and Web browsing is a MAJOR headache--it's simply not worth the hassle. Having an offline Wikipedia resource could be most invaluable. And besides, do we REALLY need to have the absolutely current, most recently updated version? No! It IS possible to live with Wikipe

  • Not really new news (Score:3, Informative)

    by CUatTHEFINISH (970078) on Monday October 16 2006, @01:24AM (#16449499)
    The Wiki addition to iPod Linux (WikiPodLinux I believe it was called) has been around for awhile. At least since I had installed iPod Linux back in March.

  • drinks (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mikesd81 (518581) <mikesd1@verizo[ ]et ['n.n' in gap]> on Monday October 16 2006, @01:44AM (#16449597) Homepage
    I guess if I were still a bartender, this would be a necessity in solving bar disputes before they escalate to fisticuffs."
    It would sure help with some mixed drinks you may not be familiar with. We have one around here called the 3rd Reich and some of the bar tenders don't yet know how to make it.

  • Unfortunately ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ggvaidya (747058) on Monday October 16 2006, @01:45AM (#16449605) Homepage Journal
    ... initial excitement died down after a major publishing house announced the release of a competing device. With a cheaper price, and the words "Don't Panic" written in large, friendly letters on the cover, the new version, tentatively called "The Guide Mk 1", is expected to dramatically outsell Wikipedia's own offering.

  • Dump troubles? (Score:5, Informative)

    by quokkapox (847798) <quokkapox@gmail.com> on Monday October 16 2006, @01:56AM (#16449653)

    Wikipedia regularly dumps the entire database, which is available to download [wikimedia.org]. However, It looks like they're having trouble getting them out lately (link is to a September 25 English dump, which hasn't yet successfully completed).

    The compressed dump files are huge, and I wouldn't want to even attempt downloading them without wget or unless a torrent were provided directly by Wikipedia (why is this not being done yet?)

    In 2009 slinging 100 GB data files across the net or between devices should be trivial, but not yet.

    However, I have a truly marvelous demonstration of how to compress Wikipedia, which the margin of this comment is just barely large enough to contain:

    Call somebody with Internet access and ask them. P.S. Wow, this also works for compressing Google... Hey, this margin is not as narrow as I thought.

    • Call somebody with Internet access and ask them.

      But to do that I'd probably need to have friends first. Hmm, seems easier to download 6GB onto my mobile device.

  • No need for all that space (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zouden (232738) on Monday October 16 2006, @01:58AM (#16449661)
    Just connect to Wapedia [wikipedia.org] with your phone/PDA.
    Seriously, that's the only reason I ever use the internet on my phone.

  • Try Opera Mini... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dimension6 (558538) on Monday October 16 2006, @02:10AM (#16449701)
    ...I've been accessing Wikipedia often on my phone, using the Opera Mini [opera.com] browser. If it will work on your phone (Java), then you can just view the normal site. It looks great.

  • A disadvantage (Score:3, Insightful)

    by benzzene (755902) on Monday October 16 2006, @02:40AM (#16449815)
    Say goodbye to Pub Trivia.

  • Wikipedian Pocket-Encyclopedia (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Pi_r_ed (1003627) on Monday October 16 2006, @03:23AM (#16449947)
    Why doesn't Wikipedia make their own mobile? It could be updated when connected to the computer, like an iPod, and I'm sure ads for it would replace any mentionings of donations...
  • for when they put Uncyclopedia [uncyclopedia.org] on mobile devices as well. I need access to the funny stuff as well.

  • I'm still not happy. (Score:3, Funny)

    by bmo (77928) on Monday October 16 2006, @03:58AM (#16450063)
    When I can put Wikipedia on an HP48, then I will be happy.

    --
    BMO

  • History repeats itself, just faster. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by johneee (626549) on Monday October 16 2006, @08:55AM (#16451535)
    "I guess if I were still a bartender, this would be a necessity in solving bar disputes before they escalate to fisticuffs."

    Which is exactly why Guinness, the brewery, started publishing an anual book of world records: To resolve bar disputes about the longest, fastest, first, etc... Perhaps you've heard of it?

  • TomeRaider (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bookemdano63 (261600) <bookemdano.gmail@com> on Monday October 16 2006, @09:59AM (#16452085)
    I have been carrying around Wikipedia on my PDA for years. TomeRaider has a "complete" version of Wikipedia, with some pictures, for about 1GB.
    And it is very good for settling bar bets.

        • Re:No, sorry, (Score:4, Funny)

          by 1337Garda (1011059) on Monday October 16 2006, @01:30AM (#16449535)
          What are you saying? A complete breakdown of the world of warcraft episode of south park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft_co mes_to_South_Park) or the complete, 8 pages if you print it out, biography of Bender from futurama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bender_Bending_Rodr% C3%ADguez) are useless?

    • Re:6 GB? (Score:5, Informative)

      by EPAstor (933084) on Monday October 16 2006, @02:24AM (#16449755)

      Sorry, but I actually know something about this... My job this summer revolved around this issue, and seeing how much of Wikipedia we could cram into about 10 MB. (Hint: OLPC [laptop.org] is using a subset of Wikipedia as its primary out-of-the-box reference material.)

      The images on Wikipedia as of this January are about 76 GB in size. Now, assume we can switch to low-quality JPEGs and cut the size down to 5% of its current - about the size you'd get from switching all the images to black-and-white, in fact. Making that jump is a big assumption, but even that only gets you down to about 4 GB.

      Text-wise, the Wikipedia database containing all current article info (no discussion pages, no history, etc.) is 1.7 GB - compressed. It's significantly larger when uncompressed.

      There - 6 GB total. And that's an achievement...

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by indraneil (1011639)
      But then we would need swap space to unzip it on the fly and extract the page we are looking for!
      I shudder to think of how to go about doing that in real time with minimal memory
      All your base are belong to us!

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