Limitations in Current Breed of Palm Handhelds?

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Limitations in Current Breed of Palm Handhelds?

Posted by Cliff on Sunday December 12, 2004 @08:00AM from the search-for-improved-functionality dept.

JabrTheHut asks: "Having been a Palm user for over two years now, I've upgraded to a Tungsten T3. While the features I'm used to using have not changed, I have become increasingly frustrated by what I see as a lack of progress. It doesn't seem to want to deal with text files (there is no import feature for the Palm Desktop notepad or memo pad, for example). Also there seems to be no way to copy arbitrary files to the Palm - all files must be "owned" by an application. With a 256MB SD card I expected to use it to copy files between work and home. Has anyone else noticed these or other shortcomings and have figured out ways around them?"

12 of 329 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Work arounds for most things by laing · 2004-12-12 08:04 · Score: 4, Informative

The Palm desktop application sucks. You can work around some of the issues you mentioned though. Moving text files is pretty straightforward if you just copy and past the content. There are file size limitations though. A better way is to write to your SD card directly, and use (on the palm) an application (like FileZ or UniCMD) to access it.
You should be able to add arbitrary files by DJStealth · 2004-12-12 08:05 · Score: 4, Informative

In Palm Quick Install.. Click on "Add" then select files of type "All Files (*.*)".

Alternatively, get a SD card drive, its faster :)

Documents 2 Go can handle text files, alternatively, you can use the Palm Desktop to copy/paste things into memopad.

There are various shareware/freeware utils that act as very basic file managers for the palm, with hexedit capabilities. (They can also be used to edit/delete your preference files - which can come in useful)
Third Party Apps by yoblin · 2004-12-12 08:06 · Score: 5, Informative

Third party applications are really the only solution to this problem, here's one I used a while back: http://www.tealpoint.com/softmovr.htm
Gateway software by murgee · 2004-12-12 08:07 · Score: 4, Informative

Some Palms (and Palmish devices.. I have a Sony Clie) come with a gateway-type program you can use to put random files on the memory card. If yours doesn't have one built in, you may be able to find a third-party one.

--
mrg
Install files to card by ahecht · 2004-12-12 08:11 · Score: 4, Informative

You can install anything to a SD card by selecting "Install to Card". Alternatively, you can install anything to ram using a program such as RAMDisk. Palm uses a very efficient database file system, and they don't want it cluttered up with your MP3 files (just look at the problems they had with the T5 when they tried to allow any files to be stored in RAM).
Palm does what you complain it wont... by Jhon · 2004-12-12 08:32 · Score: 4, Informative

It doesn't seem to want to deal with text files (there is no import feature for the Palm Desktop notepad or memo pad, for example).
Check out your hotsync settings.

File Link|Create New Link|Application (Memopad) | File Path (Select your file -- even a .TXT file).

It will sync the file to the palm EVERY time you sync. Works great.

You can EASILY install ANY file to ANY palm with an SD card using either a USB card reader OR install-to-card on the palm quickinstall menu.

This doesn't even begin to address 3rd party solutions available, too. I have a LOT of problems with palm -- but what you are complaining about isn't a weakness in palm, but a weakness in your knowledge of how to USE a palm.

My current palm is a Zire 72 -- and I'm quite happy with it. Aside from the paint peeling off (DUH PALM!), it's VERY stable. My few work-mates who have PPCs crash almost daily.
pilot-link CVS version by turgid · 2004-12-12 08:32 · Score: 4, Informative

I recently upgraded from a Palm m100 to a Tungsten T3. I'm a Linux user at home, and I also found this sort of thing frustrating.
I eventually found out from talking to the developers that version 0.12.0, currently in CVS, supports the uploading of arbitrary files to the memory card on the palm.
I downloaded 0.12.0-rc4 from CVS and it compiled cleanly. There's a new option to pilot-xfer, -D, to install arbitrary files to the filesystem on the memory card.
This worked perfectly, but I found it a bit slow for transferring lots of MP3 files, so I bought a cheap USB2 card readed, which I can mount like a drive, and use cp to copy the files across. The card readed only cost UKP9.95+VAT and is really worh it for convenience and ease of use.

--
Stick Men
Blatant bit of self-promotion by BenjyD · 2004-12-12 08:42 · Score: 5, Informative

It doesn't seem to want to deal with text files (there is no import feature for the Palm Desktop notepad or memo pad, for example).

I found the lack of a decent text editor so annoying that 18 months ago I started writing a text editor for PalmOS: SiEd. It opens text files straight from SD-Cards, as well as Palm DOC files in main memory. You can use it to convert between the two as well.
Much of this has been fixed now... by diamondsw · 2004-12-12 08:48 · Score: 5, Informative

...with the Tungsten T5 and the Treo 650. Each of these handhelds has two types of memory built in - the usual RAM that we've had for years, and non-volatile memory where all of your user data, programs, etc are stored. This memory is formatted with a standard FAT filesystem, and can be mounted on the desktop with no special tricks. Essentially, this NVRAM acts as a "hard disk" for the Palm, and should be every bit as flexible as one.

From the T5 spec sheet:
256MB (215MB actual storage capacity: 160MB internal flash drive, 55MB program memory for applications and data.)

And from the Treo 650 spec sheet:
23MB user-available stored non-volatile memory [doesn't list program memory - I believe it's 32MB]

See the following for more details:
How does the Treo 650 memory system work (NVFS)?

--
I don't know what kind of crack I was on, but I suspect it was decaf.
That's the fault of the browser, not multitasking by porkchop_d_clown · 2004-12-12 09:51 · Score: 5, Informative

As someone who wrote palm apps for 1.x and 2.x, I find statements like this particularly annoying. First because you don't need multitasking for that - you need properly stateless computing.
Second, because Palm apps used to do that - when you entered an app it put right where you were when you last left it. Strictly speaking they never launched or terminated, they were just active or not.
PalmOS lost it's focus a long time ago, it's very depressing.

--
Clear, Dark Skies
Even the 12-year old HP-100LX was better by Diomidis+Spinellis · 2004-12-12 10:24 · Score: 5, Informative
I am glad somebody has pointed out the lack of progress in the palmtop market. My 12-year old HP-100LX is literally falling appart, yet I can not find a worthwhile replacement.
Things I am missing from the current generation of Palms, but I find as built-in features on my [tr]usted HP-100LX are:
- A rechargable battery that runs for about three weeks.
- The ability to plug in standard AA bateries when the rechargable battery runs out.
- A plain vanilla 12V charger port and a backup batery when the two options fail. (In 12 years I have only lost data once, when the machine fell from my bike in a shallow water ditch).
- Real (though not preemtive) context switching. When I enter one application, the other one is suspended in the state it was, and will be resumed at exactly the same state when I return to it.
- An industry standard file system (FAT), and support for cheap standard PCMCIA memory cards.
- A complete spreadsheet (not just a viewer) that includes macros, and graphs.
- A customizable database supporting complex queries and a visual form builder.
- Customizable calendar, phone book, and note-taking applications, based on the above database.
- A scientific and financial calculator with an equation solver, and graphing capability.
- Locale support for Greece (fonts, keyboard, sorting) out of the box.
- A sturdy design that can withstand 12 years of (ab)use.
The flexibility and stability of the machine's software is legendary. Over the years it has adapted to a change in the daylight savings time rule, Y2K, the introduction of the Euro symbol, and a number of phone renumbering exercises (it contains a world city database with a dialing prefixes and a map). The software is fixed in ROM; all needed changes were made via configuration files.
Zaurus is great if you don't NEED a PDA by mtfbwy · 2004-12-12 13:51 · Score: 3, Informative

I use Linux daily at work. It's the only OS I use for development. I tried to swttch from a Palm to a Zaurus and it was a tremendous failure. First off, I could expect crashes consistently that would trash all of my PIM data. Secondly the apps (or lack thereof) made me carry my Palm as well as the Zaurus. The Zaurus wasn't good a s a PDA or as a "mini laptop", IMHO.