PDA for Tech Savy Students?

Kichigai Mentat asks: "When I was a student in High School, I was quite disorganized. I found that a good organizer helped me out, and eventually got myself a reliable Palm m105. As I'm about to go into college, I'm considering picking up a new machine to replace my nearly-dead PDA. However, the selection seems to be either Palm OS, which I find rather limiting in terms of what you can and cannot do on the system (I LIKE being able to organize things into sub-folders), or Window Mobile, which isn't Linux or Mac OS X friendly. What sort of third-party options are available that work with existing PIM apps, will work without Windows, and won't cost an arm and a leg?"

Comments

Just keep this in mind...

[jbarr]

I'm not going to recommend any specific PDA, but I do have this bit of advice: Don't let the technology cloud your need to remain organized. It's so easy to get sucked into the features and capabilities that you often forget the real reason to have a PDA. I wrote an article about simplifying my PDA use wherein I describe how I "stepped back" to using a Palm Z22 instead of the latest and greatest whiz-bang PDA. You see, for me, I was so easily distracted by the "stuff of the PDA" that I found that I was spending more time tweaking, playing, and hacking my PDA than actually using it productively.

After a few months, in retrospect, I am now craving a higher resolution screen and more memory, but the surprising reality is that my Palm Z22 really works, and really works well...for me. And that's the key. Find what works for you and stick with it.

So regardless of what you choose, try to keep the perspective of simplicity.

-Jim
http://jimstips.com/

Re:A few things

[Mr. Slippery]

The manufacturer is Sharp, and they no longer distribute them in the US.

However, there are distributors that import them and do the English language conversion, such as conics.net.

The SL-C3xxx clamshell models with built-in harddrives rock. It's like having a laptop that was exposed to a shrink ray.

I installed KO/Pi on mine as an scheduler/organizer, and use the provided "Hancom Word" word processor to maintain my journal and do other writing. I got a WiFi card for it, and I can even hook up my cell phone via it's USB port and do a SSH session from anywhere I can get a signal.

I think their success in Japan versus the U.S. is due to the fact that in Japan, the clamshell form factor seems to be very common for electronic dictonaries, while Americans are still looking for something that looks like a Palm Pilot. It's a shame and a crime that such a wonderful piece of technology, which draws admiring stares whereever I go, isn't more widely available in the U.S.