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The Handspring Treo has software for IM'ing. VeriChat works on AOL, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

Not only that, but I can use it away from my home. I recently went to the beach and had a great internet connection for chatting with friends & co-workers. You can find info about VeriChat on InfoSync or at VeriChat's web page. It is a solution that is much better than a dedicated device and offers much more, such as web surfing and email as well as any other Palm OS application you may need (such as VNC!)

Using OmniRemote together with the TV-Uni Remote and VCR-Uni Remote you can reach the same goal for even more brands - ok initially setup might not be as comfortable...
BTW have you read about this guy, which was haking his furby using OmniRemote ?

Using OmniRemote together with the TV-Uni Remote and VCR-Uni Remote you can reach the same goal for even more brands - ok initially setup might not be as comfortable...
BTW have you read about this guy, which was haking his furby using OmniRemote ?

checkout freshmeat I am faily certain I have seen projects meant to sync a palm with BeOS and AmigaOS... I may be mistaken though. You also may want to try palmgear as they have a huge repository of palm software.

...man, I loved that game. I even wrote a fairly passable version of it for the C-64 one summer in the 80s when I was stuck taking care of a relative with a broken leg.

If you really want a trip down memory lane, grab a Palm (or a Palm OS emulator) and download this freeware version. It doesn't quite FEEL the same, but it comes close enough to get the nostalgia going.

Taipan, McHenry from the Hong Kong shipyards has arrived! He says, 'I see ye've a wee bit of damage to yer ship. Will ye be wanting repairs?

Jesus, I wasted so much of my life playing Taipan.

Unfortunately, I still do. There's a version available for the Palm OS. Best of all, battles don't take all damed day anymore.

In my current game (well, the one I've been playing off and on on my Palm for the last two years), it's December 2153, I have 6.14 Quadrillion in the bank, 1.04 Billion cash. My ship status is Prime (98%) with 227 guns, and my hold, at 16190, is larger than my warehouse. Fear me.

J-OS works on old Palms, but not anything with enough memory to be useful as a dictionary/learning tool.

That's the old J-OS. The new J-OS V works with new palms very well. I've got Jim Breen's EJE dictionary and a radical-based kanji dictionary (radic) on my Palm M515 under J-OS V. They work very well. J-OS V permits Japanese input and display in any application. The problems with J-OS V are that it takes 1MB RAM (separate from the fonts) and it costs $55 from palmgear

Here's a link
Nearly 130,000 downloads...
And I see for some reason you also fail to mention PalmOS, period. Are the Palm, Handspring, Samsungs and Kyocera PalmOS smartphones not good enough?

My big problem with this thing is the size. Even a palm V is a little larger than I'd like. If it doesn't fit discreetly in my hip pocket it's useless to me. Those little keyboards are useless. If I can't touch-type, might as well make it smaller and hit the keys with a stylus. On my palm I use QuickType, after some practice it's far faster than graffiti (and open source too!)

I find I can't go shopping without HandyShopper on my Clie.

Wonderful free software, and the only thing I've installed that I use more and more instead of less and less.

I used to use a good old paper diary for everything. Eventually, I got a Handspring PDA (one of the first Visors--I still have it and still use it). The reason why I changed to a PDA is that I was scared of the consequences of losing my diary. The PDA is backed up. The data is sync'ed to my computer, which is then backed up to tape. It doesn't matter if I lose my PDA, I still have all my contacts and appointments. I deliberately use a PDA which uses AAA batteries, I can get these anywhere, and the PDA lasts for a month or more of normal use on one set of batteries (important when I'm off in the boonies). Add in the few extra programs I find useful (AstroInfo, TargetPlot, TideTool), and the fact that my paper diary wouldn't beep at me to remind me of appointments, and there is no comparison.

I used to use a good old paper diary for everything. Eventually, I got a Handspring PDA (one of the first Visors--I still have it and still use it). The reason why I changed to a PDA is that I was scared of the consequences of losing my diary. The PDA is backed up. The data is sync'ed to my computer, which is then backed up to tape. It doesn't matter if I lose my PDA, I still have all my contacts and appointments. I deliberately use a PDA which uses AAA batteries, I can get these anywhere, and the PDA lasts for a month or more of normal use on one set of batteries (important when I'm off in the boonies). Add in the few extra programs I find useful (AstroInfo, TargetPlot, TideTool), and the fact that my paper diary wouldn't beep at me to remind me of appointments, and there is no comparison.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned the PDA/Phones combinations? I personally have the Kyocera Smartphone and find it extremely useful. With only one gadget, I get a date book/calendar, calculator, address book, note book, (limited) web browser, e-mail client, and e-book reader. There's even a VNC client out there for the Smartphone.

Why haven't the phone/PDA combos taken off more? size? price?

• Life Balance: Fancy todo list
  
• Datebk5: Fancy calendar
  
• Oxford English-Chinese Dictionary: I'm learning Chinese so it is handy having a dictionary with me. I also just bough an English-Spanish dictionary to take with me to the Dominican Republic.
  
• Strip: Password storage program. This way I have my DES-3 encrypted passwords with me whereever I go.
  
• Handy Shopper: Shopping list and general purpose checklist program. I use it for shopping and packing for trips.
  
• iSilo: Stores web pages and plain text documents for convenient access.
  
• Xmap Handheld: maps of anywhere in the US.
  

> As long as I don't go into the wilderness for
> days on end it's not a problem (and if I did,
> why would I need a Palm?)

Yes, it will fit in that size memory. Lack of backlight is a bit of a problem, but anyone in the wilderness likely has a flashlight. You would likely prefer a red LED flashlight to the green backlight anyway, since it will tend to preserve your night vision.

I tried 3 or 4 shopping programs before I found one that really worked for me. HandyShopper is freeware and fantastic.

Some enlightened souls used to add a bit of functionality so that you could see where that piece would appear when you hit "down".

Which irked me even more. You've written a version of Tetis, you haven't got the control method right (when you hit down, the movement should speed up) and then you code additional functionality to help people deal with your incorrect implementation!

Worst offenders for this was nearly every version of Tetris for the Palm Pilot.

However after playing nearly all of them, I thankfully come across one that does it properly. Definately worth it.

Some enlightened souls used to add a bit of functionality so that you could see where that piece would appear when you hit "down".

Which irked me even more. You've written a version of Tetis, you haven't got the control method right (when you hit down, the movement should speed up) and then you code additional functionality to help people deal with your incorrect implementation!

Worst offenders for this was nearly every version of Tetris for the Palm Pilot.

However after playing nearly all of them, I thankfully come across one that does it properly. Definately worth it.

I attended a talk given by Sun, where they delved into the J2ME platform, and extolled its benefits. As I understand it, J2ME is a pared-down version of Java for use in mobile devices (what Sun demoed were cellphones and those Blackberry devices).

This would have been a great thing to have - about a year ago. A few select phones support J2ME at the current time (more on the way, I guess) - but what we're seeing, really, is a move towards Convergence cellphones, which are combining PDA's, cellphones, GPS, (you name it), into one tiny phone-shaped device.

With phones running PalmOS or M$-Whatever-its-called-this-week (and Linux, as soon as you nerds get around to it), I see no need for J2ME as a platform. You want software? Use the thousands of applications already written for Palm (and likewise for the M$ solution).

I like the idea of J2ME - I just think it is a day late and a dollar short. Sun is trying to get a handhold on a platform that is being outdated by the next generation of handheld devices. Sure, J2ME will probably run on the next generation of devices - but the user base and development community for those platforms is already in place.

I really like FastCPU for PalmOS. I run it on my Treo. Its great to be able to overclock slow apps from 33 MHz to 66 - it makes a helluva difference, and, it doesn't lock up all that often.

The other cool thing about it is that I can underclock things like notepad or "to-do list" so they use less battery power while running.

A nice Bin/Dec/Oct/Hex/Sci/Graphing/trig/complex/color/GP L'd calculator for the Palm is Easycalc. Not the smallest memory footprint, but the features may justify the size depending on your needs.

For programming there are basic interpreters, c compilers, and a forth compiler (and undoubtedly others).

--Curby

A nice Bin/Dec/Oct/Hex/Sci/Graphing/trig/complex/color/GP L'd calculator for the Palm is Easycalc. Not the smallest memory footprint, but the features may justify the size depending on your needs.

For programming there are basic interpreters, c compilers, and a forth compiler (and undoubtedly others).

--Curby

Of course, the super hightech feature I'm really jonesing for is a clipboard that can hold an entire memo (and maybe ditch the 4k memo limit while they're at it...) I mean, Microsoft finally made Notepad so it didn't choke on 32K files, can't Palm do the same?

There is a handy little program available for pc, and palm, called PasswdGen, that one can get to devise passwords for them. Get it here for palm, or here for PC The program allows users to have passwords generated for left hand, right hand, both, alternating, and pronouncable passwords. A magnificent little tool.

That's not my experience at all as a PDA user. I found that my first PDA (a Palm III) became an indispensible part of my life in short order. Over the years I upgraded to newer models and still use my for PDA for mundane tasks because it allows me to perform these mundane tasks more efficiently.
But I also use it as a cellphone , to keep passwords secure, to connect to the Internet, read news, e-books, as a desk and travel alarm clock and for many more things. I don't know if children will really use the device in this article but this mature adult will never grow tired of his PDA.

That's not my experience at all as a PDA user. I found that my first PDA (a Palm III) became an indispensible part of my life in short order. Over the years I upgraded to newer models and still use my for PDA for mundane tasks because it allows me to perform these mundane tasks more efficiently.
But I also use it as a cellphone , to keep passwords secure, to connect to the Internet, read news, e-books, as a desk and travel alarm clock and for many more things. I don't know if children will really use the device in this article but this mature adult will never grow tired of his PDA.

That's not my experience at all as a PDA user. I found that my first PDA (a Palm III) became an indispensible part of my life in short order. Over the years I upgraded to newer models and still use my for PDA for mundane tasks because it allows me to perform these mundane tasks more efficiently.
But I also use it as a cellphone , to keep passwords secure, to connect to the Internet, read news, e-books, as a desk and travel alarm clock and for many more things. I don't know if children will really use the device in this article but this mature adult will never grow tired of his PDA.

Here's an emulator that runs on a Palm.

Toggle switches. Ah, now that's a user interface!

Anyone else remember the 1802?

wot, like this?

What kind of future do you think there is for games development on such platforms like the Visor, the PalmPilot, and the next-generation-Gameboy that may come down the pipe in the next couple of years?

Head on over to PalmGearHQ and see how many games are available. Some good, some bad, many identical. Many are good enough that they have resided on my Palm, almost since day 1.

Palm has done a good job of avoiding creating a handheld PC and instead creating an advanced organizer. They've left it to other developers to do that work instead. Tools like this make that job just that much easier.

the first hit on "Cesium" in Google is: Songs of Cesium

on this page is a mention of Cesium Chloride... which (correct me if I'm wrong, I never did chemistry) I think is salt...

maybe we should take this article with a pinch of it...

the only software called Cesium that I could find is: clock and timing software for the Palm

Sharp looks like it is actually trying to be a bit innovative with a PDA, unlike many manufacturers. First of all, the reflective TFT color display is good choice - consumers and business users seem to have this desire for color (I personally own a Visor Platinum with a grayscale screen, I love the battery life).

I don't really see what Java and Linux bring to a handheld device. Development isn't that difficult for the Palm OS, even Pocket PC, which have each picked a niche in the handheld market (the Palm OS for basic PIM functions with lots of little add-on software, Pocket PC for built-in support of Office documents and multimedia). I have spent some time thinking about it, and the advantages of Linux (multitasking, different processor support, open source) don't seem as important in the handheld market. At least not yet. If Palm OS and the Pocket PC platforms weren't mature, I would definately think that using Linux would be a much better choice. Unfortunately, it is still quite immature, as one can quickly tell from reading through the Linux development mailing lists of the Agenda. Not to say it isn't useful, but on the same hardware it seems to be slower than the Palm equivalents, from the reports I have read.

Moving on, the choice of compact flash and lithium ion battery was very wise. Better than a proprietary expansion slot, in my opinion, but somewhat more limited. Handspring's sprinboards are capable of doing so much more than memory expansion and modem/ethernet devices - like a remote module, GPS, cell phone, wireless internet, etc. I am not sure how many of these things the compact flash design on this palmtop could support - with something sticking out the top. Seeing as this has a 206 Mhz processor and a color screen, the good rechargable battery will be quite needed. It would be nice if these are easily removable, so that those who don't get a chance to charge for quite some time will be able to pop in a second battery.

The sliding keyboard seems nice, but obviously useful mostly for "thumb-typing". Handspring just announced a clip-on sort of keyboard for their devices that does a similar thing - SnapNType. One thing that I wonder about this Sharp device - will it support handwriting recognition? The site claims the color screen has "touch panel support". Handwriting recognition is fairly difficult to code, as the Agenda creators have found. Grafiti is nice, especially for those that have learned it, but there is some sort of licensing with it.

All in all, this looks like a promising Linux handheld. They learned from the Agenda's mistakes, by including USB connectivity, a rechargable battery, and compact flash slot. With all these features it will definately be in the price range of the already-mature color Compaq's, which means a limited consumer base. I look forward to hearing how well the developer models work.

BTW, the numbers I mentioned above come from a program called Runtime. I currently have v1.5.1, but here is a newer version on PalmGear.

Void can be found here or here . It's only $10 to register, and provides a worthy diversion in meeti^H^H^H spare time.

Plus, theres some cool extras like the ability to buy space stations and use them to gain much capital!

There are alot of PalmOS applications that you will find on the net that will turn your palm/visor into a little workstation.

lftp- Ftp client for the palm.
Torpedo - html editor (use lftp to upload these pages)
mMail - the best pop3 email client for the palm
ptelnet - telnet client
PalmIRC - Palm irc client
TopGun ssh - ssh client
Palm httpd - httpd for palm

There is a large number of palm apps at http://palmgear.com if you are in search of some.

Visorcentral.com has alot of good info regarding handspring visors.

There are alot of PalmOS applications that you will find on the net that will turn your palm/visor into a little workstation.

lftp- Ftp client for the palm.
Torpedo - html editor (use lftp to upload these pages)
mMail - the best pop3 email client for the palm
ptelnet - telnet client
PalmIRC - Palm irc client
TopGun ssh - ssh client
Palm httpd - httpd for palm

There is a large number of palm apps at http://palmgear.com if you are in search of some.

Visorcentral.com has alot of good info regarding handspring visors.

There are alot of PalmOS applications that you will find on the net that will turn your palm/visor into a little workstation.

lftp- Ftp client for the palm.
Torpedo - html editor (use lftp to upload these pages)
mMail - the best pop3 email client for the palm
ptelnet - telnet client
PalmIRC - Palm irc client
TopGun ssh - ssh client
Palm httpd - httpd for palm

There is a large number of palm apps at http://palmgear.com if you are in search of some.

Visorcentral.com has alot of good info regarding handspring visors.

There are alot of PalmOS applications that you will find on the net that will turn your palm/visor into a little workstation.

lftp- Ftp client for the palm.
Torpedo - html editor (use lftp to upload these pages)
mMail - the best pop3 email client for the palm
ptelnet - telnet client
PalmIRC - Palm irc client
TopGun ssh - ssh client
Palm httpd - httpd for palm

There is a large number of palm apps at http://palmgear.com if you are in search of some.

Visorcentral.com has alot of good info regarding handspring visors.

There are alot of PalmOS applications that you will find on the net that will turn your palm/visor into a little workstation.

lftp- Ftp client for the palm.
Torpedo - html editor (use lftp to upload these pages)
mMail - the best pop3 email client for the palm
ptelnet - telnet client
PalmIRC - Palm irc client
TopGun ssh - ssh client
Palm httpd - httpd for palm

There is a large number of palm apps at http://palmgear.com if you are in search of some.

Visorcentral.com has alot of good info regarding handspring visors.

Quite a few of the GSM phones have built in or add on infrared ports, and there are lots of Palm / PocketPC tools to talk to them using this interface.

Try running a search for "phone" on Palmgear.com. You can sync the phone numbers, and also compose ringtones and SMS messages on your PDA then upload them to the phone.

I think I saw something like a voice recording functionality with one of the mp3 SpringBoards. Thing is the microphone can ONLY be used with a Springboard, since the Visor doesn't have any audio abilities past the 'beep' thingie.

I'm too lazy to look for the exact links, but I'm sure you'll find an answer at palmgear or on Handspring's site.

The only Palm OS devices that have voice recording built-in is the kickass Handera 330 (but no mp3 to date) and maybe some high-end Sony Clié.

/max

C) Store them in a 128-bit DES encrypted database on their Palm pilot.
---

I find that massaging the back right under the ribs also helps. Also, there is a program for the palm pilot that is helpful in keeping track when the next one will occur.

I've got pretty much the same thing (ableit sans all the neato variables...but it's got most of the options) on my Palm. It's called Planetarium and can be found here.

Really great for romantic evenings with other geeks!

First, use a replacement serial redirection hack like the commercial IRlink or the free Comlink (search for them on palmgear).

Additionally, with Comlink, I've found that I would also have to use a trick to get PalmOS 3.1 to access the serial link directly: I would have to enter "00" for the phone number. This will complete the serial link to the phone's modem. Then you'll have to use scripting to actually dial the number and pause for authentication. -- Other people have said that simply entering the full phone number as "+-xxx-xxx-xxxx" also did the trick.

Good luck, and if all else fails, see if you can trade in for a phone with an IR modem :)

Go to palmgear.com and search for web browser and you'll find one or two.

Go to palmgear.com and search for web browser and you'll find one or two.

Yes, there's a color version of Sim City. Check it out here.

I for one haven't really understood what the big deal is with being able to run Media Player on WinCE devices. Sure, you could upload your Lord of The Rings movie trailer to it, but then you would not have any RAM left to do anything practical , e.g. store your contact lists, calendar, etc. Same goes for MP3s if you are going to put enough of them on there to make it worthwhile (32 MB+).

Playing media on these devices seems more like something people do for bragging rights than out of actual need or practicality. It is much more economical to just buy a dedicated MP3 player if you want one.

Not to mention that your battery life would go to shit if you were using your CE device to play MP3s/movies. CE is a battery hog already just doing basic tasks (from what I hear) without chewing up 100% CPU playing pr0n mpegs on it.

Although, the idea of being able to watch pr0n *anywhere* might be a real plus, LOL.

And FYI, there are several Gameboy emulators out there for the Palm such as Liberty and GameboyEMU

Mechanik

I for one haven't really understood what the big deal is with being able to run Media Player on WinCE devices. Sure, you could upload your Lord of The Rings movie trailer to it, but then you would not have any RAM left to do anything practical , e.g. store your contact lists, calendar, etc. Same goes for MP3s if you are going to put enough of them on there to make it worthwhile (32 MB+).

Playing media on these devices seems more like something people do for bragging rights than out of actual need or practicality. It is much more economical to just buy a dedicated MP3 player if you want one.

Not to mention that your battery life would go to shit if you were using your CE device to play MP3s/movies. CE is a battery hog already just doing basic tasks (from what I hear) without chewing up 100% CPU playing pr0n mpegs on it.

Although, the idea of being able to watch pr0n *anywhere* might be a real plus, LOL.

And FYI, there are several Gameboy emulators out there for the Palm such as Liberty and GameboyEMU

Mechanik