Palm Problems

[bjarvis]

I love having a Palm PDA. I've carried one model or another continuously since at least December of 1998, transferring my accumulated data from one to the next. They're wonderful little devices, but still not quite perfect.

My current Tungsten E2 model has a couple of annoying bugs: unlike it's Tungsten E predecessor, this model can't handle SD cards larger than 1 GB, and the search function is broken. Still, I've found ways of working around these minor issues and life goes on.



I usually sync the E2 with my iMac since the iMac is on 24x7 and my Windows XP box is only turned on when absolutely necessary. The E2/iMac sync works well via USB cable but I wanted to sync them via Bluetooth. Ideally, I'd like to sync them via the Mac's iSync utility as well so that I could effectively sync the same address book data against my cell phone. The best of all possible worlds would also let my E2 talk to my Bluetooth-enabled cell phone directly.

Palm doesn't support my Motorola E850 telephone directly but I managed to trick the E2 into thinking the phone was a supported model. Not optimal, but it works.

While the E2 recognizes the iMac's Bluetooth signal, connections fail despite every permutation I tried. Damn.

While the E2 does place nicely with iSync to iCal and Address Book, every other Palm channel fails: it can't sync up my note pad, my photos, my AvantGo account, etc.. Using the Palm Desktop allows all of these to work adequately, but then I can't sync the Address Book automagically between my cell phone & E2 via the iMac. Crap.

Worse, the various attempts to get everything to play nicely loaded a huge amount of duplicate calendar & address entries *into* my Palm. Fortunately, I did a complete sync against my Windows XP box before playing; I wiped the E2 clean then resync'ed all of the data back from the XP machine. Everything is at least no worse than it was before I started.

I really hate using my XP box but I suppose one possibility is to outfit it with Bluetooth, then resume using it as my primary sync box. I'm not aware of any method which would allow updates to be channeled into my cell phone but that's a relatively minor annoyance.


So close, and still so far away.

Comments

[tdjohnsn.livejournal.com]

Why have you never switched to the treo so you can have your phone and pda in one little box? It would give you one less thing to hang on your belt, and you wouldn't have to worry about them playing together.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I wasn't impressed with the last round of Treo models I saw. They were largely good but seemed unpolished. I haven't looked at the products in the last year however so this may have changed. Noting how Verizon Wireless forced my E850 to be dumbed down (no Bluetooth file transfer allowed, although <lj user=dr_scott pointed me to a resource to fix that), I also worried about giving Verizon even an iota of control over my PDA. Mostly though, I'm simply adverse to having too many eggs in one basket. I don't want to lose all of my PDA functions when, say, the cell phone craps out, or vice versa. Keeping my devices separate allows me to upgrade either one individually rather than having to purchase a newer, more expensive device when the old becomes faulty.

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

There's that eggs in one basket thing. If the PDA part blows up, you loose your cell phone, too. Or, more likely, if it gets dropped or lost you can't call for help, or look up the phone carrier's number to call and prevent any calls to Hong Kong going out. And I can choose not to carry the bulkier PDA if I don't want to.

Then again, I like wearing many things on my belt. It lets people assume they only look like child-bearing hips because of the add-ons, instead of really being child-bearing.

Kent's Children

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

what?????

you've had a child? and you didn't tell us before now? Did Brian know and never spread the gossip to the rest of us? [I'd find THAT hard to believe]

so what's the scoop? tell us all about this child you've had. Was it before or after the porn tapes? Before or after the Blue Hair Highlights incident? dish, child, dish! Enquiring Minds Need To Know!

Limited Attention Span

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

I thought, and I quote:

Recognizing my failure to address the latter two points effectively, I have now resolved to work exclusively on these two items at work today

Just like a kitten with a bright shiny object!!!

Re: Limited Attention Span

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Actually, the two items I resolved to work on today have been completed as far as they can be: I'm now waiting for a managerial decision and a reformulation of the document template from our tech writing group. So there. :-)

Re: Limited Attention Span

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

Wow! Good for you. Now you can concentrate on that bright shiny object. Why do I get the feeling that your intellect is under-challenged at your place of employment?

Re: Limited Attention Span

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

A little, perhaps. The current high priority list of projects focuses on writing, communication & documentation; while it's not something I particularly like doing, I can do it vastly better & faster than all but 2-3 people in my company's division. Eventually, I'll get to be a geek again, hopefully soon.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

I've got a Tungsten C, and I sometimes have problems communicating wirelessly (it has WiFi but no Bluetooth) with my computer through my wireless router. I discovered that it has something to do with the router not wanting to allocate an IP address to the PDA for simple syncing. However, once I get an IP address for something else (like browsing the web) I then can sync wirelessly too. Very strange. This then persists for quite a while (ie, I don't have to browse each time before I sync).

I like the PDA, and hope to keep it until it poops out and I can get a more advanced model.

Missing Sync

[jorhett.livejournal.com]

Get the Missing Sync. It's the fix for everything wrong with iSync's synchronization with Palm.

Re: Missing Sync

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

When I last attempted to use it, Missing Sync was just as brain-damaged as iSync or Palm's Hot Sync. At least I qualify for the lower upgrade price so I'll give the latest version a try to see if it has improved.

[arktosnc.livejournal.com]

Or you can get a hammer and fix it permanantly like I did my PocketPC.....

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Um, I'll try working with some other software adjustments first...