2. Palm Computing
I used to use a Palm Tungsten T|X to track various personal information; it's small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, fairly functional, and is fairly interoperable with a variety of computer systems.
The software on the PalmPilot is flexible and powerful enough that it starts to overcome the long time "lack of flexibility" problem of the electronic PDA; the touchscreen system works sufficiently well for limited note-taking. The Pilot is the first PDA that I find replaces enough of the functionality of the traditional DayTimer for it to be worth carrying around.
The PalmComputing platform runs an operating system called PalmOS which is based on the Kadak AMX real time executive.
There's some hardware information on my Hardware I Run web page.
2.1. Palm Computing "Pilot" FAQs
With the popularity of the Pilot, there is no dearth of lists of Frequently Asked Questions; consider consulting these resources before asking questions on Pilot-related Usenet newsgroups...
Available in sundry formats including DOC
2.2. Pilot DOC
Paul Nevai's PaulComputing - some really nifty text editors to replace the Note Pad.
gut is a program that marks-up Project Gutenberg Etexts to HTML, suitable for reading in any Ebook reader that supports HTML; e.g. Plucker (or any web browser).
2.4. Calculators, Computations
Much like the HP calculator "solver," this is used to solve systems of nonlinear equations where only one value is unknown. Useful for things like loan amortizations.
A 64 bit PalmOS programmable scientific calculator
A powerful programmable RPN calculator
An implementation of Lisp/Scheme for the 3COM Pilot
Rather like "Matlab for PalmOS."
2.5. Third Party Pilot Hardware
You want to have an indestructible titanium case for your Pilot, don't you?
In the category of "I wouldn't have believed it..." comes the Raycom Personal Massager which is a massaging device that snaps right into the Springboard slot on your Visor handheld. It uses "EMS" (Electronic Muscle Stimulation) pads to stimulate muscles.
Don't bother putting hands up everyone that is waiting for the software patch that sets this up to "stimulate" other parts of the body...
2.6. Techie Pilot Links
Includes some highly technical information analyzing the format of executable files. The intrepid Theodore Ts'o is also involved in IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and Linux kernel work.
Includes links to the X-based emulator, xcopilot.
LockMe! periodically locks your Palm[Pilot], starting at a specified time. Mostly useful for people who don't want to keep their Pilot locked all the time, but rely on the built-in "security lockout" (with a contact address) in case it ever gets lost/stolen/runs away.
LockMe! can be set to auto-lock once every day (e.g. at 03:00 in the morning), once every hour, or something in between. It can optionally hide all private records, and lock right after a system reset.
Implementation of Smalltalk for the Palm Computing platform. Development platform is either Dolphin Smalltalk or Squeak ...
Compresses about 20 times as fast as the m68K version
2.7. Programming on PalmOS
Prolog for PalmOS
2.8. Sundry 3COM Pilot Links
David Browne's PalmPilot Archives
Dave is my brother, so any opinions I have on the web page may be somewhat biased!
www.palmopensource.com - The PalmOS Open Source Portal - Top:/ PalmOS Software/Database
FreewarePalm: the one and only site for downloading freeware files for PalmOS handhelds.
PalmPilotWare.com - Software for the Palm OS - Home Mirror Page
Links to lots of tools both free and expensive for various platforms for developing applications for Pilots. This includes software that converts Pilot schedule data into both ical and remind formats. I wouldn't mindseeing (or perhaps even writing) the module to convert Pilot schedule data into vSchedule form.
This schedules repeated entry of events onto the ToDo list
FindHack is a replacement for the PalmPilot's Find function, providing notable things like:
Remembers last 6 searches
Allows preconfiguring some permanent searches
Select apps in which search is to be performed
Find text inside words
Use wildcards
Amazon present The Complete PalmPilot Guide; Calvin O. Parker, Calvin O. Parker; Paperback
Amazon present Palm Pilot Companion; Steven M. Schafer, Steven M. Schafer; Paperback
GNU KeyRing (hosted at SourceForge )
GNU Keyring lets you securely store secret keys on your PalmOS (PalmPilot, Visor, WorkPad) handheld computer.
This is excellent for storing the many, many passwords that accrete over time. There is a conduit between this and JPilot , allowing you to manage your keys either on palm or on desktop.
Complete with apps for Palm, Android, ...
Provides an alternative "writing" scheme to the PalmOS Graffiti, and, according to the vendor's extrapolations, is supposed to be considerably faster than Graffiti. (It seems a mite odd that there aren't claims involving speeds that have actually been directly measured...)
A collection of links to PDA-friendly web sites...
Pilot-DB - Open Source database for PalmOS
Palm STRIP (Secure Tool for Recalling Important Password)
Uses AES to encrypt database of Important Secret Personal Information.
Simple Editor for PalmOS
Deflater is a utility which allows you to compress and decompress the databases on your Palm OS device using zlib. This can be helpful if you want to save space or transfer databases faster.
zlib is a free, general-purpose, legally unencumbered, lossless data-compression library that runs on many different platforms. This implementation is an ARMlet, which allows it to run significantly faster on Palm OS devices with ARM processors.
PenguinBackup is a single, bootable 3.5" floppy disk which includes a complete operating system, utilities, and communication software for all kinds of Pilots (OS 1.x - 3.x), wrapped in a nice, easy-to-use menu system.
2.9. Palm Backup Software
Puts Palm backups on SD/MMC cards
2.10. Pilot Easter Eggs
2.10.1. Credits
Go to the Memory App
Hold stylus tip on system version number in the upper right of the screen
Press the down button with your finger.
2.10.2. Taxi
Set the date to before February 1st, 1996. (ex. 1-31-96)
Go into the memo pad, entering a new memo
Hold down the PageDown key
Make a stroke from the middle of the graffiti area, going left to the far left of the display (right to the edge)
2.10.3. Description: see the DOS message "Error reading Drive C: Abort, Retry Fail?"
Start the Giraffe game
Place your stylus on the top of the screen
Press the down button
2.10.4. Photo of two guys in suits
Start the Giraffe game
Place your stylus in the lower right corner
Press the up button
2.10.5. Dancing hula tree
Start the Giraffe game
Hit the Help button
Draw the '#' character