New Phone, Tough Choices (ssh)
 

Hello everyone,

I am new to the blackberry forums, so first - hello. I am by trade a linux administrator, and I am looking for my first phone to help me better accomplish that position. I did once own a first-gen sidekick, but the speeds were far too slow to make the SSH client useful. I will be switching to Verizon soon, to give you an idea of what I've got available to me.

So I guess I'm looking for input, from you - the knowledgable. I am most attracted to the Blackberry - in this case, I'm eyeing the 8330, but I'd like to hear your recommendations. Here are my concerns:

Primary: EVDO, Good SSH Client, QWERTY Keyboard

Secondary: Email (POP/IMAP), IMs (AIM/MSN/YIM/ICQ/GTalk preferably), Call Quality

Tertiary: Third Party Support, Homebrew, Perl Interpreter (OK, the last one would just be a really nice added bonus)

I would LOVE to have a full 80x24 SSH client. Am I looking in the right place? Anyone have any recommendations on a particular model of Blackberry, or perhaps even something out of left field?

Thanks in Advance
-Minipulator

1st and 2nd any later gen BB will do, there are SSH clients not sure how great a job they do.

You've got two - MidpSSH (open source) and Rove's MobileSSH (commercial). If using MidpSSH make sure to use the latest development version (1.7.3), if MobileSSH just use the latest they have available.

POP/IMAP: LogicMail (BIS does pop/imap Inbox push, LogicMail is a standalone J2ME client with true IMAP)
IM: JiveTalk

Thanks guys. They've got a cheap 8330 up for new customers, and after doing some research and reading these posts, it sounds like nearly the perfect phone for me. Appreciate all the help.

I highly recommend MobileSSH -- well worth the $99 -- if you use it for work purposes.

With MobileSSH, you can even view 80x24 full screen (using super tiny fonts) or 80x24 pannable. The width and height is configurable. I think midpssh does provide this functionality too, but I still like MobileSSH's implementation much better. I actually worked with the developer of MobileSSH to make it fully compatible with Linux escape control codes (ANSI, VT102, etc) from my former BBS day knowledge, as I wrote splitscreen sysop chat software that used such codes. I wrote a test suite script for the MobileSSH developer to test very common codes...

Tip: If you use VI over MobileSSH, disable scrolling and disable local input. That will allow the trackball to behave as a 4-direction cursor pad. Be warned there will be a significant lag over EDGE networks (Remember EDGE has 500ms ping), with a much smaller lag over 3G networks or WiFi networks.

There is a local input buffer available, so you can see your keypresses immediately when typing and still watch your session, and hitting Enter transmits the contents of the local input buffer. It's like a splitscreen between the session and your typing. Early versions of midpssh did not have this feature. (Not sure if the latest versions do now.)

Interesting. I've seen very mixed reviews on MobileSSH. But most of them complain primarily of the price point, which I agree is almost ludicrously high, but if it's really that much better, I can see myself paying it. I do, as you say, use ssh for work. Constantly, pretty much.

I will make sure to download the demo and see what I think. Fulscreen 80x24 sounds pretty awesome, even with tiny text. :)

Thanks for chiming in, I once owned a Sidekick, and I had no end of trouble with term types, so that comment means something to me.