Self-contained, Internet-less Wikipedia machine.

I know this sounds trite and stupid, but I have a recurring fantasy of travelling back in time and using my modern knowledge to change history. My greatest [imagined] downfall has always been a lack of access to Wikipedia, and how to get around it. This solves my hypothetical problem perfectly.

I am disappointed by the lack of comments referring to this as the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy finally realized.

You can get it for $27 on Amazon at the moment (normally $99). <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pandigital-Handheld-Electronic-Encyclopedia-WikiReader/dp/B0039NLVB2" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Pandigital-Handheld-Electronic-Encyclo...</a><p>I'm almost inclined to get one to replace mine, whose screen went permanently dim at some point.<p>The code is open source, so you could theoretically use it with custom content that you adapt to their build formats. They also provide downloads for a bunch of other-language Wikipedias, as well as Wiktionary, Wikitravel, and Project Gutenberg. You can swap out the built-in microSD card (8GB?) for a much larger one and just put everything on it.<p><a href="https://github.com/wikireader/wikireader" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/wikireader/wikireader</a>

I would dearly love to see a ruggedized, solar-powered version of this device created for our descendants.<p>In case industrial civilization, well.. fails to go the distance. A Wikipedia-equivalent volume of paper is rather bulky and fragile.

The first thing that comes to mind is that any inaccuracies or vandalism are going to be stuck on their devices until they make an update.

Gameboy pockets seem to run around $20. They seem almost perfect for this sort of thing. They can run on two tripple-A batteries continuously for 10 hours. And since they boot instantly and actually turn off when you tell them to, under normal usage that will last you weeks. The screen resolution could be better but for reading short articles it's good enough.<p>And when you take the wikipedia cartridge out, you have a gameboy.<p>I wonder how much it would cost to make a Wikipedia gameboy cartridge?

$15 shipped - <a href="http://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?forumchoice%5B%5D=9&#38;q=wikireader&#38;showposts=0&#38;archive=0&#38;firstonly=1" rel="nofollow">http://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?forumchoice%5B%5D=9&#38;...</a><p>Based on this (see: 1saleaday), this item got excessed/liquidated by a distributor last... fall probably. Judging by the low ratings/views on Slickdeals most people just aren't interested in such a device, even at $20/pc. Several players (maker/distributor/liquidator) probably took losses unless they were on consignment.<p>Judging from the initial response on HN, this item totally could've been remarketed better. :)

This was made by the OpenMoko guys, after that project failed. It's a pretty neat device, that's surprisingly powerful, but unfortunately there is no commercial backing to drive development.

Wow, user stories/bios are pretty darn powerful. Convinced me of the usefulness of a device I'd initially discarded.

If you're looking to have a Wiki dump on your iPhone/iPod Touch, I can recommend this software: <a href="http://www.brilliantish.com/allofwiki/" rel="nofollow">http://www.brilliantish.com/allofwiki/</a><p>Disclaimer: I got a free copy because the dev is a nice guy. Well worth the $9.00 though.

It would be cooler if they at least gave a token amount of the purchase as a donation to Wikipedia.

I don't see the use a new device for a single function like this. Why not include this kind of function into any e-reader instead? Who wants to carry tons of devices around?

Also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader</a>

Making one of these available to every 5-7th (or so) student would be massive improvement to education than just about anything of comparable cost/effort.

According to the wiki article on the WikiReader: <i>The device can also run programs written in Forth</i>, so you can write WikiReader 'apps' also.

I bought one of these recently during a sale. Picked it up for about $30.<p>It's really nice. microSD is easy access, and AA is awesome as a power source for this little thing. I love the idea of giving these to kids in school.<p>The software is open source, and you can add custom wikis to the existing software.

specs <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader</a><p>cpu S1C33E07 <a href="http://www.epson.jp/device/semicon_e/product/mcu/32bit/" rel="nofollow">http://www.epson.jp/device/semicon_e/product/mcu/32bit/</a> (bottom of table)

this looks awesome and what not, but i feel the screen itself is my biggest gripe. i'm only judging this based on the pictures on amazon, so it could look better in person. the screen makes it look like a device you would have found in the 90's :\

This is kinda what I wanted to do with the peek devices that were being given away last month. Unfortunately very little progress has been made with the Peek and Linux.

And so the encyclopedia has come full-circle!<p>I might buy one of these someday for the sheer enjoyment of developing something silly for it.

I think 'internet-less' is a doomed technology

Isn't there an app for that?

I'm still eagerly waiting for an e-ink version to show up.