PUGSL home page http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Forum/4272
or alternative (note underline in pug_stlouis)
http://www.geocities.com/pug_stlouis
Minutes of September, 1999 Meeting St Louis County Library – Main Branch
_____________________________________
Well, the clones are coming - the Visor from Handspring has been announced, with PalmII/V functionality for $249 in an 8mb version (PalmV), and $149 in a 2mb (PalmIII)version. The crqadle, which is optional on the low end, is a USB style, which takes some pressure off the need for serial ports, and a serial cradle is an option.
A great additional feature is called the "springboard" -- a slot in the PDA device that allows you to insert a SmartMedia sized card that comes in gps/pager/mp3/flashmemory featured addons. This really sounds like a good product (from the people who invented the PalmPilot), but we have yet to actually see one "in hand". Ordering is from the website. We anticipate this will result in pricing pressure on 3Com (or the soon to be spun off Palm Computing) which will benefit the end user.
HARDWARE NOTE AND EMAIL QUESTIONS
Our email list will continue to be used to determine member’s interests in particular applications for future discussion. Even if you cannot attend, drop a note with what you want discussed and we will brainstorm to the best of our abilities and include it in these minutes.
TAP Magazine http://www.tapmagazine.com graciously provided multiple copies of a "best of" review issue, which were distributed at the meeting.
Diddlebug was again demonstrated as a "handy" way to keep text and graphics mixed reminder notes. Diddlebug 2.2 http://www.palmcentral.com/product.shtml?productId=4875
Beaming is as always, a feature of the meeting that cannot be demonstrated without two palmpilots -- even the experienced users who come to their first meeting enjoy sharing Infrared beamed business cards!
Beambox is a shareware tool that allows you to transfer PDBs.
cBas was described by a member as a means of programming mathematical models on his Palm, which he then translated to a graphic display. (Check a shareware site for these programs, like PalmCentral http://www.palmcentral.com).
2d edition PalmPilot Ultimate guide by D Pouge is now available -- remains the best book in our opinion.
Programming for PalmPilot, by O'Reilly publishing, appears to be the definitive text on that topic, although we haven't plunged into it just yet. Some sample chapters are online at the publisher's web site.
REVIEW OF OUTLINERS
We put a new member on the spot to describe "outliners" (this was fair, since he actually reviewed them for his business website -- see link below) Brainforest, Thoughtmill, Ranger all were described and have a cost of $30-40.
They use a "leaf and branch and tree" analogy/metaphor to organize thoughts and ideas.
Brainforest was the one the presenter is most familiar with, and he noted that it can substitute for the todo list, and is better than the memo pad
Entries from the outliner can export to todo or memo program.
See the full review at www.nettechinc.com/palm.html
Two pieces of hardware seen on ZDTV were govox, which is a digital speech capture device that is built into a hardshell case for the PP -- inexpensive, and gotype, which is the familiar keyboard addon for the palmpilot -- some members have this.
By Infrared? YES!!!
Irda and the palmpilot/wireless PPP link - Arsene’s Page Finally, PUGSL broke down and bought a serial IrDA adapter and spent several weeks trying to get Linux running under kernel 2.2 so he could hack Penguin(http://wwwipd.ira.uka.de/~witte/pilot/backup/) and demonstrate an Infrared application.
Penguin is based on a LINUX kernel and doesn't even require a hard disk, It allows a complete backup of a compressed image of your installed programs to a single floppy (one for Penguin, one for backup). It also allows installation of single PRCs (Palm Programs) from a floppy source without a complete hotsync. These latter capabilities have been demonstrated using a a cradle serial attachment at the meeting. Penguin continues to rate a "MUST HAVE" status.
On the night before the meeting, there was no way to tackle this horrendous Linux problem. Fortunately, the "pilot-xfer" guts of Penguin have already been ported to Win95, so PUGSL was able to attach the serial IrDA adapter to the Win95 notebook, install W95IR.EXE (the Microsoft IrDA stack), and run pilot-xf to accomplish what Penguin does under win95. More on this later -- probably will devote a subpage of the website to this, since it can get pretty complicated.
POTENTIAL TOPICS AND MEETING FEATURES
The web page will continue with the simple first page and follow a "low bandwidth" style. Assistance from the members present in preparing future meeting notices, presentation topics, and keeping the minutes and webpage up to date was solicited.
The cometo redirector and listbot were suggested addons to the web page -- since the meeting, a onelist discussion group has been created and a link placed on the webpage, as well as a "guestbook".
As always, meetings (and "membership" which implies that you are on the mail list and/or have been to at least one meeting) are free and open to the public, and any level of experience is completely welcome.
All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of the respective owners. No financial support or other inducements were received from any developer, manufacturer, or distributor of any product mentioned. Privacy of persons in attendance or corresponding by email is maintained to the extent reasonably possible and not collected for commercial use by PUGSL.
______________________________________________
ADDITIONAL LINKS: Return to top
TAP Magazine http://www.tapmagazine.com
Diddlebug 2.2 http://www.palmcentral.com/product.shtml?productId=4875
Irda and the palmpilot/wireless PPP link - Arsene’s Page
-----------------------
PalmCentral http://www.palmcentral.com
3Com/Palm Computing http://palm.3com.com/
PalmPilot Homepages Webring http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/9600/
PalmPilot webring http://www.palmcentral.com/webring.html
PDA Central http://usol.pdacentral.com/
PDA Page http://www.pdapage.com/
Penguin single disk backup http://wwwipd.ira.uka.de/~witte/pilot/backup/
Palm OS Emulator http://www.palm.com/devzone/pose/pose.html