[skorgu]

Replying to myself for the benefit of future googlers:

The "invalid URL parameter" can be solved in midpssh by switching the connection to TCP/IP instead of Auto. I haven't found a solution for jmirc yet but of course I can ssh to a box running irssi.

A few more observations: the trackball responds better to a very light touch, pushing down even slightly seems to affect its resolution horizontally. I didn't notice this on a co-worker's Bold but it may change with age.

Also last night it silently stopped receiving mail. I came into the office to 97 unread messages that were never pushed. Forcing a reconcile didn't find them but pulling the battery did. If this happens again there will be a chat with Verizon and/or RIM in my future.

There's a small flaw with the headset socket, it appears to be slightly too deep. Pushing headphones in all the way doesn't work, you have to pull them out just a tick. Which is useless as then they get knocked back into place when a gnat farts in the next zipcode. The included headset does work but it's crap. I picked up a set of bluetooth A2DP earphones [1] which are frankly only adequate.

[1] http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/mobi...