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PalmPilot - The Ultimate Guide (2nd Edition)
Now I think of my pilot as a computer, one that will provide almost as much hackish enjoyment as my Linux box... as a matter of fact I'm now following the microLinux project with great interest and wondering how long it will be before I can upgrade to a Palm/Handspring device that will run Linux, a POP3 client and support a wireless modem. In the preface, Pogue says "Taking your Palm further: that's what this book is about." He delivers on that one-hundred percent.
David Pogue's "Palm Pilot - The Ultimate Guide" is absolutely excellent. It did take forever to read, though, because I kept stopping every few pages to optimize my Pilot with the tricks I had just learned, or to turn an easter egg on (yes, the book tells you where all(?) of the easter eggs are). The book has everything from office productivity tips for suits (when transferring lots of data from the expense program to Excel, you can end up with multiple spreadsheets which you have to total seperately, p. 228) to great hackish tidbits for hardcore geeks (like how to turn on verbose hot-sync logging, p.142).
Like many people I completely ignored the manual that came in the box with my Pilot, so some of the stuff Pogue covers, like ferinstance the Ronomatic stroke, is probably actually in the manual (l've only ever looked at it once - to try to solve an installation failure problem. The manual was unhelpful, and I found the information I needed to solve the problem in the FAQs at PalmCentral.com. The problem and solution are on page 181.
What's good and/or my favorite bits:
- the musical notation for the palm chimes on p.137
- the official solution vs. the better solution to upgrading
- the way it explained why a backgammon game I had installed and then deleted kept 'coming back' every time I HotSynched
- even though I will probably never surf the web on my pilot the explanation of how ProxiWeb works is mega cool.
- didn't really need four pages on the various classic games that you can download from 3Com
- doesn't mention quickwrite in the 'graffiti alternatives' section
I. This Is Your PalmPilot Speaking
The 3x5 inch powerhouse
Setup and guided tour
Typing without a keypad
The four primary programs
Other built-in programs
II. Palm Meets PC
HotSync, step-by-step
Installing new palm programs
Palm desktop (win&mac)
III. The Undiscovered PalmPilot
The electronic book
The secret multimedia world
Database and number crunching
IV. The PalmPilot Online
Email anywhere
The web in your Palm
Paging, faxing, printing, and beaming
Palm VII: wireless email, wireless web
V. Troubleshooting and Upgrading
Troubleshooting
The Palm family, model by model
VI. Appendixes
CD-ROM
A few notes about the CD-ROM that comes with the book: Though it was
obviously outdated by the time the book went to press, it will save
you hours of hunting for the best software and, depending on the speed
of your modem of course, a significant amount of download time (for
those of us unfortunate enough to live in corners of the world with
metered phone calls, you will probably save yourself the price of the
book within weeks). I've been working my way through a variety of
'world' clocks (ones that show multiple timezones), trying to find
one that I like; because there are half-a-dozen on the CD, this is
pretty painless. The Catalog software resident on the CD makes it
easy to find what you are looking for, and in many instances, shows you
what the program is going to look like. I've 'trialed' a lot more
software on my PalmPilot than I would have ever been bothered to
download.
And yes - I did write this review on my Pilot, mostly on trains & on the London Underground. Speaking of which: as soon as I get the time, I'm gonna figure out how to make ImageViewer docs, so that I can update the London Underground map for the Pilot - the one that's currently available still has Mornington Crescent crossed out!
Purchase this book at Amazon.
Janet, please send your name, address, t-shirt size, and this article's URL to roblimo so we can send you your t-shirt. (Everyone who writes a Slashdot review or feature now gets a free t-shirt!)
--
What I want is a book from O'Reilly called "PalmPilot - The Ultimate Programmer's Guide"
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
I picked up the first edition at a local used bookstore over the weekend ($15 including CD, I couldn't resist) without knowing a second edition was in the works..
Is there anything about the second edition that would make it worth "upgrading" to?
I couldn't care less about the software on the CD, but what about real content, specifically for the newer models like the III(x,e), V(x), and VII?
-LjM
(seems like I always buy something right before something newer is announced.. wish I'd held off on my IIIx untli the Visors or Vx were out)
Hemos wrote: wondering how long it will be before I can upgrade to a Palm/Handspring device that will run Linux, a POP3 client and support a wireless modem
:-)
Well I don't know about the first part but if you are interested in wireless POP and telnet there is a palm-cellphone that will make you drool. It is currently supported by Sprint Spectrum, and the other carriers are picking it up too. You've probably seen the ads but they just becams avaliable last week.
Telnet from a cell-phone; every security administrators nightmare (or dream).
Peter
And don't tell me there isn't one bit of difference between null and space, because that's exactly how much difference there is.
-- Larry Wall
i just puchased handspring's visor deluxe.
i was wondering if the book would be useful
to me? does it center around the palmOS? or does
it mention physical aspects of the pilot?
ERROR: Keyboard not attached. Press F-1 to continue.
Disagree.
As an owner of a PalmPilot, and an owner of a Laptop, AND an owner of a Newton Messagepad (RIP), I can tell you that
A) A laptop is too big and bulky to carry around on a regular basis.
B) a Newton-sized object (slightly smaller than a VHS tape, and only half as thick) is too big and bulky to carry around on a regular basis. Oh sure, in teh beginning its no big deal. You show it off to your friends, use it to meet chicks on the bus or at the coffee shop. After about 2 months you start leaving it at home more often. Eventually, it sits in its special bag (the one you had to buy for it so that you could carry it around comfortably) collecting dust, and you only pull it out to program it, or to play games on when you're on an airplane.
C) The Palmpilot I've had for many moons and I still carry it with me. I don't have to have a special bag for it. I use it daily. I carry it everywhere. I use it when I'm on the throne. How's that for lifestyle integration?
This question is actually almost moot, now that Handsrping is manufacturing PalmOS devices for sub-$150, the question of cash vs. power just went out the door. When I palm can be had for about 1/10th the cost of a subnote, where's the comparison?
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
:-)
-
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"I am not trying to prove that I am right... I am only trying to find out whether." -Bertolt Brecht
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