NewsForge: Bringing cheap email to the masses using Linux (Linux serving the Mailstation Appliance)

“For those of you who have not seen the device, the
Mailstation (also known as a Mivo 100) is an email appliance for
people who do not have — or do not want — access to a PC. It is
literally an attempt at making an email appliance that your
grandmother could use. And it does a pretty good job of hitting
that target.

The unit is smaller than a laptop, weighs about two pounds, and
normally sells at about USD $100 for the cheaper models. The
concept is simple: through this basic push-button appliance, you
can send and retrieve email (without HTML, graphics, or
attachments) for USD $9.95 per month.

If you have been on eBay lately or visited your local used
computer parts vendor, you may have noticed there’s a significant
supply of refurbished Mailstations on the market. For around US
$20, you can pick up one of these units. But there is a catch:
CIDCO will not allow you to use its Earthlink ISP service with the
unit. It’s up to you to locate an ISP that is compatible with one
of these babies.”

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