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Uses and Software for a Modern PocketPC PDA?
Deviant asks: "I just bought a new Dell Axim X30 with 802.11b and Bluetooth. It was a bit of an impulse buy and now I find myself trying to find out what I can do with it and what software is 'must have' for the platform. I work in IT for a bank where I have wireless available in the office and I am also a part-time education student. I got it primarily for basic PDA things like a calendar, a To-do list, e-mail/IM, taking notes, and am looking forward to getting a few good games for it. I guess my question is to Slashdot readers with MS Windows Mobile based PDAs: What software do you use daily that makes your PDA worth while for you? What uses are there for this that I may not have thought of?"
and load it up with scumm and spend the rest of your days playing maniac mansion..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
You need to buy Pocket Informant. It should be mandatory for all PocketPC's.
www.pocketinformant.com
They have a PocketPC client; then you can use the Axim as a VOIP phone.
RemoteAmp is a PocketPC program that allows you to control, remotely, WinAMP and iTunes for Windows, running on a desktop (or a laptop I suppose).
This would be more of an 'at home' thing, but it's pretty nice if you, like me, have a PC as your primary music source. You can change playlists, volume, EQ settings, etc. All remotely.
The downside is that it only works for Windows. There might be something similar available for Linux/Mac/others, but I haven't checked.
To find out more or to download: http://www.smashcasi.com/remoteamp/
Specialization is for insects. -Heinlein
Being able to ssh and kill a process that's died on your system at home, all from the comfort of a local tavern... that's priceless.
for reading books in txt format.
Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
I've heard you can play games on them. I'm not sure how true it is.
The Dutch Railway company equips every train conductor with a Pocket PC with a train timetable software for the whole country.
It does not always work reliably though... I once overheard a conductor swearing because the thing kept freezing, so she has to reset it again and again. Well you know Pocket PC and MS thing...
Linux?
Odds are it has a headphone jack. Should play mp3 files without issue. Older versions of pocketpc had to hack back in media player to support mp3 format, but I doubt that is an issue anymore.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
Skype has a pocketpc version of the Voip softphone. Works great on my Axim X5
That's what I have on my Palm (should I say sorry for not having MS Windows?):
1. MP3 player!
2. Readers for various formats. I've got applications for PDF, MS Office formats, e-books. Acrobat is especially useful since you can make PDF of anything.
3. Language dictionaries when you're abroad (I permanently am).
4. References like periodic table and physical constants, if you're in it.
Have a look at LogMeIn which allows you to log in to your desktop PC remotely. If nothing else, it's a great way of having a fully featured web browser running on your PDA!
With 802.11 there is a pretty cool application called express that handmark software has out called express - if you've tried web browsing on a pda you know it's pretty painful. this app makes it a more friendly experience in the form factor, and provides news feeds, stocks, address lookups tied to a mapping feature, weather updates, etc.. cool thing is it caches client side so you don't have to maintain the connection - you can set it to auto update or whatever.
i also have sms messages sent for service monitoring and have an ssh client that has saved my butt numerous times when away from my regular box.
Load some e-books onto it to kill time when you're traveling, waiting in line, compiling, etc.
I'm a PocketPC develper. Our customers use PDAs for field data collection, not personal productivity.
.lit files on the internet, and there are some free-as-in-beer tools for converting HTML or RTF to .lit, so it shouldn't be hard to raid the Gutenberg library and with the help of a text to html tool and and html to lit tool be up and running on your pcketpc.
I do carry a (palm) PDA though, which I use for recording time spent on various projects and expenses. However, since I also carry a laptop, I find the PDA is not much of a personal productivity tool for me. A PDA is a basically a waste if you carry a laptop.
That said, the one thing where I find the PDA functionality of my treo phone very convenient is reading ebooks. Since I basically use nearly all my free time reading, it's very convenient to be able to carry a small library on an SD card. I use the excellent open source weaselreader program, which is unfortunately, palm only. I don't know of any good OSS pocketpc readers, but Microsoft's Microsoft Reader is a very good ebook program IMO. You can find a lot of free
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
70% of the time I use my PDA it's to get passwords. I have ALL my passwords stored in DataViz Passwords Plus. There are currently over 50 of the buggers. I have an "uber password" I use to unlock them, which is a password I only use for that purpose.
Gave up trying to remember passwords years ago - now I can have huge long cryptic ones as well and have no feare of forgetting them, and I've never had a single problem since. Well, until I forgot the uber password, that is...
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
Something that would work over the net would be a real bonus too.
awww ... poor little rich kid has too many toys.
My advice, sell it and donate the money to a worthy charity. Profit!
1. Games
2. Acrobat reader (many books from www.gutenberg.org and then acrobat them) FREE Plus some manuals for work in IT, error code manuals and the like
3. Dive log program
4. Tide tool
5. planetarium program
6. Blood meter software (medical insurance paid for my PDA) / Blood meter module
7. GPS / GPS module
That sould get you started.
My opinion? See above.
Sure. I have a Palm (sorry), with 802.11b.
What I use it for (beyond names/addresses and calendar):
Lists and tracking
Dive Logging
Graphing Calculator
Encrypted Password Storage and generation
Drafting simple circuits
Note taking, including simple illustrations
Electronic books
Project Management
Email
SSH access to servers
"Simple programs" - LISP and C
It has pretty much replaced a laptop. The only thing that I don't do is on-line web browsing. Instead, I use something called "Plucker" to retrieve and convert web pages, and then peruse them off-line. But I do wish that the particular Palm I use would be powerful enough to do MP3s (its not).
Now, form factor (size) is important to me -- I find the Sharp Zaurus (and, yes, I have one) to be too large.
Ratboy
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
Except for contacts and calendar, my PocketPc is mostly used for GPS navigation. There are many programs available, of which TomTom (www.tomtom.com) is my favourite. Slap on a cheap GPS receiver, and you save time every day!
Personally, GPS navigation is the killer app PocketPc's and Palm's have been searching for...
If you do IT and have Linux machines, then you will need programs to access the machines remotely. As mentioned by many comments previously, you will need an ssh client. I would like to also suggest you install an NX client from NoMachine.com. You can remotely access the GUI desktop on your Linux desktop (you'll need to install Free NX in your Linux box). Or you can install a VNC client and just about control any OS remotely.
Linux at home
How about you give it to someone who could actually use it for something useful, but couldn't afford to drop half a mortgage payment on an impulse purchase?
... when they are cheap enough for you, you can consider tossing (or not getting...) an MP3 player.
"Derp de derp."
PocketSNES, PocketNES, and PocketGnuboy. I do use them everyday on the subway. Good way to play all the games I missed as a kid.
http://www.rayn.net . Funny. Stuff.
I did the same thing, buying a Zaurus when the 5500's were cheap on HSN. For the most part I was simply using it for solitare and the occasional web surfing / chatting if I was out (or the wife had pilfered the laptop).
Recently updated the PIM apps to Opie apps and lost the sync ability with my work machine (and never really got it to work with my OSX or Linux boxes correctly). I was pulling my hair out trying to update my contacts via the little keyboard when I decided to install a VNC server on it. It was then that I half-assed figured out how to actually make the thing productive: basically it is now my central repostory for task lists, phone numbers, calendars, etc. Whenever I'm in front of a computer (be it home or work) I fire up a VNC client and have it perched in the corner of my desktop, making it easy to access. When I leave anywhere I just shove it in my pocket and have everything handy for the road. Mail stays synced via imap.
This way I never actually have to sync the machine (I'm in front of 4 or 5 every day), entering data is a breeze and my brain-dead ass still gets reminded of meetings, etc.
I find that NMAP and Ethereal in concert with swappable 802.11 - 10/100 ethernet cards are indispensable on my (Linux) Zaurus. I would imagine that these, or similar, are available for the Axim.
\/\/oobie
Got to be the best purchase for my Pocket PC I've ever made. Hands down. Snapstream's Beyond TV is as good as TIVO- better in one way for me, it doesn't try to guess what I like to watch. I just enter the names of shows I like, give them a priority rating, and it gets them- it schedules itself a window where it can record that show, squeezes it to a VERY clear 200x120 WMV file, and lets me download it to my CF-sized Hitachi hard drive. I can then watch the video on the commute on the train. Brilliant!
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
heh - ok, given that you have wireless, you could just ssh into a server and run vim, emacs, whatever.
OR you could just download vimce here.
Well, the best use (or at least the one I enjoy most) I've found for my iPaq is to load it up w/a couple of emulators for games :)
:)
:( But you can play Galaga all day to your heart's content :)
You definately want to grab pocketnester. Then you can play any NES game that you want
Also, check out MAME CE3. Unfortunately it was written w/an older version of MAME, so a lot of the ROMs I have tried didn't work
Place sig here.
You could always look here--- http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/10/23 59209&tid=185&tid=100&tid=4
With over 50 comments, I can't believe no one mentioned Novii Remote!(http://novii.tv/). The PPC version is behind the version for Palm, due to the sheer number of processors for PPCs, but it is a good universal remote if your pda is compatible with it. You can fit hundreds(if you wanted to) of codebases for various devices(TVs, VCRs, Stereos, cable boxes, etc) on the pda, assuming you have the space, making it easy to control devices. Care to drive your neighbor nuts when you visit? Hehe. :)
eWallet is pretty much essential if you have a PDA. Stores all your personal info on 'cards'.
I was conned by an old man in a cloak. It turns out those *were* the droids I was looking for.
I have an older Handspring Visor and without a doubt the most important thing it does is run PocketMoney. I don't know how I'd get by without it. Seriously. It's a simple way to manage your money and it exports to Quicken or MS Money. Every day or three I pull a wad of receipts out of my wallet and enter them into PocketMoney and I'm good to go. I know exactly how much money I have. You can even plan ahead by entering in future bills and stuff. I can't say enough good things about this app. I love it. They also make a Pocket PC version. For me this would be a must have app. *diclaimer* I am in no way affiliated with Catamount software, the makers of PocketMoney.
Two great strategy games that Kept me busy for hours.
i would like to get either a palm or pocket pc and use it for my delivery driver to get signature confirmation of prescriptions. i have been searching and had mediocre luck in finding the combination of features i need. bar code scanner for rx identification, date and time log , and signature capture. i would also need a to sync this to a database program of some sort when neccesary to search for this info. any ideas? or even where to keep looking?
The only thing I need to make my life complete is pocket DOOM.
I wrote a small stopwatch app for it with programmable alerts that emit programmable wav sounds every few minutes or so. I use this app to display the elapsed time (more legible than that of a regular stopwatch) while the programmable alerts remind me of the start and end of an interval while I am riding my trainer (stationary bike). I also use it to play mp3s while it simultaneously reminds me of the intervals while riding my trainer.
I have it taped to a camera tripod so it is within easy reach while I am in my trainer... that way I can select the music I want to play and / or reset the intervals while excercising.
netfront omega battery pack pro gsplayer phatnotes adobe reader for pocket pc 2.0 skype
IMO pdas are a thing of the past. Just about anything you can do with it can be done on newer cell phones.
I have a ipaq that was purchased almost 2 years ago. I use it for passwords, to take notes, a contact list, and for a few books. Most of the time it sits in the cradle.
Send me email if you want to make an offer for the software only, with the disclaimer that there's no support of the Axim yet.