Palm Guides

[janos]

I started a document that attempts to aid Palm OS users to better use their devices. I guess this might be important mainly for the new Centro users.

To read the document click here (http://www.resco.net/palm/suite/downloads/Palm%20Solutions.pdf). My idea was to write a few general topics and then offer a list of easily written use cases.

It is just the first attempt and I apologize for the image quality. Could be better, but I thought that the pdf should be kept small and compact. (I still have original - mostly 320x320 - images, so this could be improved.)

The document is skewed towards the use of our products and I selected only areas, where I feel competent enough to say something. But this is no condition and can be changed.

Because several of you wrote very nice articles in the past (for example wozofoz links are included), you may want to find a platform where these materials would be collected.

If you have any comments, additions, links etc., let me know. Or if somebody would like to take over writing of the document or just added some chapter (or improve my English) - react here or contact me at palm@resco-net.com.

I have no problem with adding description of other (even competing) products as long as they fit into the document purpose. For example so popular Dmitry products would deserve a separate chapter for sure.

[tomtom1977]

I just had a quick glance through it, and - WOW! Thanks for that.

Your work you spent on doing this is much appreciated. If I find some time in the evening today, maybe I can contribute come things.

[scottl]

I'm impressed by the "Did you know?" menu option in RE. I wonder how many people have discovered that little gem... But this document is certainly going to help some people out - good work.

[gmfer]

Excellent, it coveres a lot of info that maybe after a long use of the PalmOS you discovery... a most for newbies (transalations may be needed)

[icefireicefire]

YAY THIS IS GREAT PALM SHOULD MAKE ANY NEW USER READ THIS FIRST!

It is a little biased towards Resco (but then why wouldn't it be :) ), but yeah.

Feel free to add info from and link to my post here: http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145902&

Dmitrys apps do definetly deserve a chapter too...

[martinloat]

Maybe a Wiki if enough people will stay the course to make it work.

I'd like to see something on changing the appearance of your Palm in there (an area I'm just getting to play with so I'm biaised).

You can't leave Alex Pruss out either & maybe a section on Japanese DA's.

[janos]

Feel free to add info from and link to my post here: http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145902&
Thanks, I'll do.

Dmitrys apps do definetly deserve a chapter too...
Sure, but who will write it?

[janos]

Maybe a Wiki if enough people will stay the course to make it work.
We'll, we never did it, but...
Should we host it, our backend is Windows IIS-based.
Or is there anybody else with a concrete experience?
And would there be enough people adding some content?

I'd like to see something on changing the appearance of your Palm in there (an area I'm just getting to play with so I'm biaised).

You can't leave Alex Pruss out either & maybe a section on Japanese DA's.
Yes, Alex has nice apps. Somebody should write it, I could then add it to the doc. Or should we ask him?

[Supertrucker]

I came into the Palm OS world two years ago, after playing with one the year and a half before. Since then, I have become quite adequate at getting around the Palm OS, asking questions, getting answers, and feeling somewhat resolved. Although my expertise is more in the "what can Blazer do" department, I'd love to contribute to this project, and expand on what others know, can do. I think the Wiki idea is a great idea, as 1src/BH is somewhat a jumbled host of answers/ideas. A collective location for Q & A is an excellent idea, and if we need a host for this let me know, I can oblige!

ST
Email address: supertrucker AT supertrucker sites dot com - sorry, didn't want to make it easy for spammers, but I think you probably get the gist!
ST

[martinloat]

A contribution toward the Dmitry section
http://www.1src.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1033911&postcount=289

Potential Wiki site
http://www.wikidot.com/
Although I think ST's offer is to be preferred as its better to have someone with a vested interest helping to run these things.

[Supertrucker]

In response to the last comment: I'd only ask that one or more of the regular 1src contributors offer to be moderators, as I'm quite busy in my own right and could use help keeping Spam and *garbage* out of it. I could quite easily , however, incorporate a BB service into my existing site, and for very little work, get a working site up and running. Any ideas on a domain name? Open for suggestions... .net, .com, .whatever? I'll fork the $$ if there are some willing participants.

Dedicated contributers will receive their own whatever@palmsitewhateveraddress.com. This can be customized to forward it to their own personal accounts. Please note that I will focus on also developing a mobile version of this BB as well, so that the few of us who do *quite* a bit of mobile surfing can be sufficed as well (i.e., Wozofoz!).

I hope that a few of you share my enthusiasm as I feel that this would be a great opportunity to congregate topics from Tamspalm, 1src, BH, as well as other great Palm related sites, and software reviews, into one site dedicated only to making things great for Palm OS users, as well as spreading excellent educational tutorials.


ST

[wozofoz]

Here are a couple of links to Posts at BrightHand that I think are helpfull and explain things very well :)

eBook Readers and Sites by dmccunney:
http://forum.brighthand.com/showpost.php?p=1631937&postcount=6

FAQ: What to do when I see a 'Datamgr ...' error or hotsync simply hangs ?
Corrupt Databases, dbScan and dbFixit by Holvoetn:
http://forum.brighthand.com/showthread.php?t=220958

myKeyboard Review by Holvoetn:
http://forum.brighthand.com/showthread.php?p=1444684

All the best, woz of oz

[wozofoz]

Here is my method for a Touchscreen (Digitizer) test.
Trash or edit as you see fit :)

Soft Reset then select Touchscreen from the Prefs app screen and Calibrate the Touchscreen.
If that makes no improvement then try these tests.

First Test:
If you use a Screen Protector.
Check that it is not stuck between the screen and the frame.
If it is pushing down on the screen then this will cause your device to respond to that false 'Tap'
Best is to remove the Screen Protector and test.

Also, you may have some 'Dirt' trapped between the screen and the frame.
Take a sheet of stiff paper (business card works) and drag it between the screen and the frame and see if any dirt etc comes out. Don't push it in too deep or use a lot of force, just drag it around.

Soft Reset then select Touchscreen from the Prefs app screen and Calibrate the Touchscreen.
If that makes no improvement then try this next test.

Second Test:
Backup your info!
Sync to your Computer.
It is also recommended to use a 'backup to card app' like [Insert App Name/s Here] for backing up all your info to an expansion card.

After backing up all your info, do a Hard Reset after which you will be asked to Calibrate the Touchscreen.
While still in this 'factory state' (no added apps) and no Screen Protector see if you still have the same problem.

Also, go to Notepad and tap on the screen to get a dot then tap exactly on the dot again, is there a second dot? If yes then this how much your TouchScreen is out of alignmennt.
Try this all over the screen.

If your Touchscreen has not improved after a Hard Reset then you have a Hardware problem.
If you have warranty then you need to call Palm Support and arrange getting an exchange unit

If you don't have warranty then: UsedPdaParts (they use NEW parts) has a good reputation for repairs and fair prices
http://usedpdaparts.com

If your TouchScreen does improve after doing a Hard Reset then you have a software conflict and need to find the bad application.

All the best, woz of oz

[wozofoz]

Oh yeah and how could I forget these classics.

Setting up and connecting to your WiFi Router by WyreNut:
http://forums.palm.com/palm/board/message?board.id=bluetooth_and_wifi&thread.id=9560

Fixing the TX's power and 5-way/hard buttons, a how-to bv Pruss:
http://www.1src.com/mobile/showthread.php?t=132824

Sorry about the seperate Posts but the text boxes in Blazer are limited.

All the best, woz of oz

[Adam Helberg]

The Centro is not the first Treo not to use SD as the memory card. The 755p uses the miniSD and predates the Centro.

Adam

[martinloat]

In response to the last comment: I'd only ask that one or more of the regular 1src contributors offer to be moderators, as I'm quite busy in my own right and could use help keeping Spam and *garbage* out of it. I could quite easily , however, incorporate a BB service into my existing site, and for very little work, get a working site up and running. Any ideas on a domain name? Open for suggestions... .net, .com, .whatever? I'll fork the $$ if there are some willing participants.

ST

I'm up for it if you think someone with little or no experience in this area can be of help.
As for a name - "garnet.net" seems to be still up for grabs.

@Janos I think you can't avoid helping if only for editorial continuity. ;)

[thenrik]

Hi:

I'll be glad to help with the project. I've been swamped with work but life is calming down a bit.

Tom

[janos]

I am extending the pdf acc. to the suggestions presented in previous contributions and will present the result at the end of the today.

[TheDreammaster]

Cool, you've made a great work!. Lots of useful info.
Thx dude!.

[janos]

I just posted an update with these changes:

Card topics rewritten
Added chapter on eBooks
Added Advanced Topics. However, this needs more work and I am not sure how much can I devote to it.

Thanks to all who contributed.

[Zxanphorian]

Interesting read. It makes me fell good that the Palm OS community is still alive and kicking! I unfortunately took a hiatus of constantly looking at Palm news, postings, etc because nothing spectacular happened recently (for Palm OS). It always seems that the news is dominated by WM, iPhone, etc.

I think the guide is an excellent start. I would love to contribute to a wiki devoted to the Palm OS if it would be created. It would be awesome if we had a central hub of information, without having to sift through many threads to find out what I want to know.

[icefireicefire]

One correction: not all palms support up to 4gb non SDHC cards -- the Tungsten E2 only supports up to 1gb (because of the slot driver, PowerSDHC can fix that)

[philpalm]

(My suggestion for adding to the article)
Palm OS and pricing the devices

The starter Palm OS has its PIM (personal information) and limited ability to read e-news (like Avantgo) due to memory space limitation. For under $100 there is no SD card but you have beaming ability, hotsync and limited photo (low res) viewing. The early models had no color but size of 300x300 is barely adequate. Sony's upgrade of higher resolution is admirable but daytime viewing may or may not be adequate.

Beyond the Starter level is the Tungsten and Zire offerings

Now abbreviated as the T series and the Z series, better than starter level is no longer offered in the Z series. Zire 31, 71 and 72 offered SD card usage and MP3 playing capability. Z-71 and 72 offered low res photo capability. I believe that a microphone may have been offered to record in wav format for T series. Lifedrive did offer a microphone and for Tx it is an addable option.

Tungsten E2 is the cheapest way to have a SD card, use blue tooth and can download a browser (optional wifi card available) that connects to the internet either by bluetooth or optional wifi. Purchasing a TE-2 with a wifi card can run you up to $200, so in all practicality purchasing a TX for over $200 should be considered as an option.

[dmitrygr]

the section reading


The built-in security
Built-in Security application (or security panel in the Prefs application) allows marking records as private. However, this just means setting a flag – the actual contents is not encrypted and any file application ignoring this flag will show the private contents. In other words, the built-in security is not secure at all. (Not mentioning the fact that it completely ignores the card data.)


should instead say



Built-in security:
inadequate

[philpalm]

One correction: not all palms support up to 4gb non SDHC cards -- )

In otherwords the article never specified what model of Palm it is talking about.
I suppose the article has not Treos information either? Let alone any reference to Sony Clie?

[janos]

In otherwords the article never specified what model of Palm it is talking about.
I suppose the article has not Treos information either? Let alone any reference to Sony Clie?
I know that Clie situation is different. They actually pioneered several things in the Palm OS world (cards including), but I don't feel competent to write a summary. Somebody else should take it over.

Based on your previous request I added a chapter on Palm devices - look and judge. Maybe this would be a good place to add Clie information.

I also added a pointer to the Pruss MassDL into the chapter about the downloading.

[Supertrucker]

Potential Wiki site
http://www.wikidot.com/
Although I think ST's offer is to be preferred as its better to have someone with a vested interest helping to run these things.

The only thing I would have done different was install wiki software on my own servers. So rather than reinventing the wheel, I did go with wikidot. I actually found a palm.wikidot.com thread, but it doesn't look like it's been edited in a very long time and it's closed for subscription. Instead, I created a new one http://howtopalm.wikidot.com. Anybody can join. I'm new to this platform, but if you'd like to contribute, try creating an account and we'll go from there.

If we get enough contributors to this, I'll purchase a standalone domain name, i.e., howtopalm.net or something. I'll wait and see how this turns out first.

@janos - Would you mind us using most of this document you put together, very nicely I might add, in this wiki? Footnotes and link-backs would be included of course.

[janos]

@janos - Would you mind us using most of this document you put together, very nicely I might add, in this wiki?
Use it. I hoped for such an outcome :)

If you wish, I can put somewhere 320x320 images, too.

[Zxanphorian]

I will contribute when I find time. When we go to a standalone domain, I recommend using MediaWiki, which is what Wikipedia uses.

[Supertrucker]

That would be great :) Where would you like the reference (original source of information) to point to? The main resco site?

[Supertrucker]

@Zxanphorian, when I said stand-alone, I meant there would be a web address that points to howtopalm.wikidot.com. I don't really plan on changing this, as I've already set everything up on wikidot, although, if usability is better, I can always do so. I'll look into it, as nothing is overly involved at this point.

On second thought, I will look into this as there are several mobile front ends for wikipedia by third parties.

Scratch that. I will look into hosting mediaWiki on my server, though. I'd have to write my own mobile front end for it though. No big deal.

[janos]

That would be great :) Where would you like the reference (original source of information) to point to? The main resco site?
Could be for example to http://www.resco.net/palm/suite/default.asp. But it does not matter in fact.

The images can be downloaded from here:
http://www.resco.net/palm/suite/downloads/PalmSolutionsImages.zip

I'll leave them there for a few weeks.

[Zxanphorian]

@Zxanphorian, when I said stand-alone, I meant there would be a web address that points to howtopalm.wikidot.com. I don't really plan on changing this, as I've already set everything up on wikidot, although, if usability is better, I can always do so. I'll look into it, as nothing is overly involved at this point.

On second thought, I will look into this as there are several mobile front ends for wikipedia by third parties.

Scratch that. I will look into hosting mediaWiki on my server, though. I'd have to write my own mobile front end for it though. No big deal.

Yeah, it's no big deal. Any wiki is better than none!

[Supertrucker]

@janos - Thanks, keep it there for a bit please, at least until I finish the front end for this project. I should have the front end finished by today, but on the off-chance that I don't complete it, I should do so by the end of the week, and at least find time to download it and transfer it. This is all done in my "spare" time off a dial-up :)

[gmfer]

Count me in for any help i can add... a wiki would be great!!1

[janos]

@janos - Thanks, keep it there for a bit please
Sure - if I said a few weeks, then I meant it will be deleted in some distant future.

BTW, I plan to contribute, too.

[Supertrucker]

@janos, That's great, and thank you for the work that you've already put into this!

Everyone else, I spent 16 hours over the period of two days, uploading MediaWiki to my hosting provider. If you don't live in the sticks, let me tell you, options are thin, and dial-up really stinks! In any case, the server is ready to go, and I have provided a domain name. The main site is, and unless there is argument for a better one, http://wikipalm.net. I tried palmwiki.net, palm.net, and others... palmwiki.info was available, but I felt wikipalm.net was easier to remember, at least for my old mind! If anybody has a better suggestion, please let me know, otherwise, fork up the minute coin it cost to register a domain, and point it to http://supertruckersites.com/wikipalm or http://wikipalm.supertruckersites.com, either will always work, as they point to the same place.

As of right now, only I have access, but I'm working on learning the platform. If anybody has experience with MediaWiki and is interested in this project, please step forward and PM me. A decent record of good faith would be to PM me the email account that you would like to register with, as I'm guessing that I will have to approve moderators/contributors.

We are going to need a logo that will appear in the upper left hand corner of the screen, as well as some pronounced editorial work, as my grammar is not always the best :) If you're graphically inclined (I am not!), please step forward; whether or not you decide to contribute to the How-To's/Tutorials, graphics will be needed in more than one place, besides the websites main logo, and we could use the help. The tutorials, How-To's, etc, will come naturally, with specific applications to meet the tasks (developers, here's a chance to step forward and tell the world in a Wiki why your application is a helpful addition to the Palm OS platform, again). I only say this because there are many tasks on the Palm OS platform that would not be available to novice users without purchasing specific applications to complete the task at hand. For example - Resco Explorer; Wow, is all I have to say, and holy cow, what was Palm like before it?!?!

My vision of this site may vary from what you foresee it to become, so please feel free to PM me here on 1src and lend input. This project is an infant at this point and can still grow into what we shape it to be.

ST

[martinloat]

We are going to need a logo that will appear in the upper left hand corner of the screen, as well as some pronounced editorial work, as my grammar is not always the best :) ST

Just an idea for a logo (my drawing is lousy but you should get the idea).
:)

[Supertrucker]

I have added an adequate skeleton to the site, so that others can begin making contributions. Just go to http://wikipalm.net and click on "WikiPalm." A basic menu will load with subject categories listed, i.e., "File management, hot syncing, media, etc." I think that I set it up so that all registered users can contribute, so if you feel like it, have at it!

If you would like extended privileges, i.e., deleting pages, etc., PM me here and I'll adjust your rights.

ST

[martinloat]

Just visited and it's looking good!
I even started a page to see how it went. A bit slow at times but no problems encountered.
You knocked this up in less than a week? I'm well impressed.

[palmuse]

janos~ I just wanted to let you know that Pruss was not the author of Mass Downloader (MassDL). The 1Src User ID of the author is alt236 not pruss.

Great pdf doc BTW.

[martinloat]

Hanging in 'til ST gets back :p

[Mickets]

I started a document that attempts to aid Palm OS users to better use their devices. I guess this might be important mainly for the new Centro users.

To read the document click here (http://www.resco.net/palm/suite/downloads/Palm%20Solutions.pdf). ...
Wow! And I say Wow!.

I can barely belive I can access all the data of my mobile phone through Resco Explorer via a Bluetooth connection. My blame for not reading the handbook...

[philpalm]

Looks like MartinLoat is still participating in this endevour. For a very short while I did work on Tamspalm's wiki. There is a lot of work to be done and I have been inspired by recent purchases of TX and Z-71.

Janos still deserves a tip of the hat for inspiring this attempted Wiki. His PDF file is still available (in first comment). I wonder if he will add any comment on his company's work with Pre?

Bluetooth? Did you know there are different drivers for different Bluetooth dongles? Belkins vs Blue Solei. From what I gather a license (and free updates come with it) will cost you $20 from Blue Solei. Since Bluetooth is a work in progress you might consider Blue Solei. The free trial enables my TX to hotsync with my PC.

[janos]

Janos still deserves a tip of the hat for inspiring this attempted Wiki. His PDF file is still available (in first comment). I wonder if he will add any comment on his company's work with Pre?

Well, at least Explorer (and maybe more apps later) will be transfered to the Classic emulator. Hence, a kind of compromise. We did not think about the direct Pre programming yet.
I can't give more details, sorry. NDA:-)