Hi all. Got my iPad yesterday. Still discovering how to deal with iTunes sync, etc. (This is the first time I'm working with an Apple gadget.)
I specifically ran into the problem of how to transfer a large number of PDFs that currently reside on a unix netbook. As iTunes is not available for unix (right?), I guess I need to transfer all files to my windows XP laptop first? Or perhaps there is a more clever way?
Many thanks in advance.

You could use Dropbox (free for up to 2GB) to easily access your files on all your machines. You can even use apps like GoodReader ($1) to access your dropbox and copy your PDFs to your iPad.

Many thanks. Copied all the files via a USB stick to a windows laptop, and subsequently copied all over via iTunes/Goodreader. A bit tedious, but worked fine.

Originally Posted by JocK

Many thanks. Copied all the files via a USB stick to a windows laptop, and subsequently copied all over via iTunes/Goodreader. A bit tedious, but worked fine.

I'm going Goodreader too. I have literally thousands of PDFs for private and work. Read all about it and thats the way I'm going as of right now.

Most of the PDF apps use WiFi to enable you to transfer documents to your iPad. They often broadcast the iPad's IP address, which you can then access in a web browser and upload files. Otherwise, if you have a lot of files, the PDF application will have a way for you to connect to a shared network folder and do a mass copy and transfer.

My favourite app at the moment is ReaddleDocs. It has some very sophisticated features and a slick interface. It also allows me to connect to shared drives, MobileMe, or any WebDAV drive over the Internet. For this reason, I find MobileMe quite useful. I've mounted my MobileMe account on my laptop as if it was a hard drive. I then copy anything onto it that I want available to me 'in the cloud'. Basically, my computer syncs with the Apple MobileMe servers whenever I put new files into the folders. Those files are then available to me from anywhere in the world. When I open up ReaddleDocs, I simply click on my MobileMe link and see everything on the MobileMe Server at Apple (which is always in sync with what's on my laptop).

If you don't want to use MobileMe, then simply find a computer, share it's drive and put an exception in your firewall to allow you to access that drive from anywhere over the Internet. Again, use ReaddleDocs to connect to that drive and download whatever files you want from wherever you happen to be in the world.