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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?"
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.
Linux?
Are you sure she was swearing, and not just speaking Dutch?
It's generally accepted that http://betaplayer.corecodec.org/ is the best audio and video player for pocketpc. I use it on my windows smartphone, and can watch pretty much any avi I can find on it. Music support is superb too, it'll play back my favourite musepack codec, as well as the usual aac/mp3/wma files.
It's free too, and in my mind is a killer app for the platform.
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.
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.
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.
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
Or, you could use LogMeIn for free, and not have to worry about getting through firewalls and fighting dynamic IPs (and dynamic DNS services), because it does all the hard work for you.
Now, if you DON'T mind doing this (I was already working with that, because I was running a web server), Ultr@VNC is the way to go on Windows. TightVNC on everything else.
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?
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.
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
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Right, becuase having *anything* that isn't strictly necessary is stealing from the mouths of some poor person in a far off country whom the money could better serve. Except the money is stolen regardless by corrupt government officials (Im looking at you, UN) so ... really ... your stealing from government officals?
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley