Palm TX-no idea where to start

[oneproudmom]

Hi to all! I just found this site and am hopeful to find a very patient person to help me. We purchased a Palm TX several years ago for my son to use as a planner (he has serious ADD and we tried everything to organize him). Unfortunately, he didn't stick with it long and it has been sitting gathering dust for a couple of years now. As a very frugal person, that is KILLING me! So, I have decided to spend some time this weekend and figure the thing out and use it myself. Looking on line I saw reference to using it to read ebooks, but couldn't find particulars. Is there anyone out there who could just point me in the right direction and help me get started?

[Nate the great]

Mobipocket Reader is a good place to start. You can download it here:
http://www.mobipocket.com/soft/reade..._PalmOS_US.exe

Copy all the files to your Palm. The actual reader program file is "MobiBook.prc".

[wallcraft]

A better starting point for those unfamiliar with PalmOS is The Mobipocket Reader for PalmOS. This gives you three ways to install. If you have a Windows PC, you may want to download the Windows version as well (link is on the PalmOS web page) - since it can be used to manage all your ebooks.

[oneproudmom]

Before I spend a bunch of time (because that is what it will take for me!), is the Palm TX still a worthwhile device or is it so far outdated that I should just take the loss and move on to something else?

[GntlmnBndt]

Originally Posted by oneproudmom

Before I spend a bunch of time (because that is what it will take for me!), is the Palm TX still a worthwhile device or is it so far outdated that I should just take the loss and move on to something else?

It is outdated in many ways, and if you wanted it to surf the web or play the latest games, I would caution you. For reading and reference, though, you should have no trouble. Much of the software available for Palm OS is just as functional now as it ever was.

I have a niece that reads on an old Palm-based Sony of mine -- she uses iSilo and eReader on a daily basis -- that is much older than the TX, and doesn't even have a color screen. Her main problem is trying to convince her mom to give her an advance on her allowance whenever Fictionwise/eReader is having a sale!

The Bandit

[pdurrant]

The Palm TX will make a nice eBook reader.

I used a Palm OS device for several years as an eBook reader very successfully.

I also recommend the Mobipocket Reader for Palm OS, although eReader is popular too.

http://www.ereader.com/ereader/softw...3_pro_palm.htm

Fictionwise owns eReader now, and offer 5% off books they sell in eReader format.

http://www.fictionwise.com/

Originally Posted by oneproudmom

Before I spend a bunch of time (because that is what it will take for me!), is the Palm TX still a worthwhile device or is it so far outdated that I should just take the loss and move on to something else?

[slayda]

I have a palm TX and still sometimes use it for reading. It has definite advantages, e.g. it easily fits in a shirt pocket or purse, it boots up immediately, it has a back light so can be used (read) in the dark.

On the down side, the LCD screens (Palm TX or other) are difficult to read in bright light, the screen is small, the Mobipocket reader SW allows only limited fonts & font sizes.

Other positives are all the other functions, e.g. calendar (with reminders), contacts, calculator, memos, multimedia (still pictures, video & MP3 player). Before I retired I used mine daily. It was like a secretary in my pocket and also a reader. However as your eyes get older and you want easier to read fonts, you can't beat the eink readers (Sony's PRS series, Bookeen's Cybook Gen3, Astaks's EZ Reader -just a Jinke Hanlin V3 that's sold in the USA.

Hope this helps.

[oneproudmom]

OK, I feel much better now. I'm going to dig in tomorrow and I won't look up until I feel that I have it mastered!! I appreciate you taking the time to walk me through this! Take care!

[Sparrow]

If you get hooked on reading on your TX, you could also try Plucker.

Project Gutenberg offers downloads in Plucker format.

[Seabound]

Originally Posted by oneproudmom

Before I spend a bunch of time (because that is what it will take for me!), is the Palm TX still a worthwhile device or is it so far outdated that I should just take the loss and move on to something else?

Oh my gosh, yes! Yes, the TX is still a totally worthwhile device, in my opinion. You might come to the same conclusion once you get the hang of it. Recently, I found out that one of my colleagues was still using his Palm M250 as his main organizer. Somehow, that made me glad. In today's consumer society, I think it is sometimes too easy to toss out devices which still serve their purpose in exchange for sexier devices.

[wayrad]

Nothing wrong with a Tx for reading. PalmOS may lack some bells and whistles, but that doesn't mean it isn't still very good at what it does.

Ereader format books are readily available (see Fictionwise and Ereader.com), and they have about the least annoying form of DRM I've encountered (books are encoded using a hash of your credit card number rather than being keyed to the specific device, so it is trivial to transfer books to another device, should you buy one - and anyway, the DRM can be removed).

Currently I prefer the freeware app PalmFiction, which handles Palm DOC, .rtf, and .txt files (maybe others, I don't remember). I think it is unfortunately no longer under development, though. It allows use of aftermarket fonts, which the free version of Ereader doesn't, and it lacks Ereader's 500-book limit. On the down side, it loses some font formatting.

It's worth noting that Palm DOC and Ereader book filenames all end in .pdb, while Mobipocket files end in .prc or .pdb. This often causes confusion among new Palm owners, since a .pdb extension doesn't provide much clue as to what reading app to use!

[oneproudmom]

Thanks to all for the great input, I have spent DAYS loading everything onto my Palm and trying to figure everything out. It is a wonderful thing. I would like it even more if I understood it better, sooooo a couple of more questions if you can help, please.

My problem is:
I somehow got a wireless hotsync connection yesterday to my PC (which is set up on a wirelesss network with a router). I am very frustrated that I somehow deleted it and I don't know to get it back. I've spent hours trying to make it accidentally happen again. I don't know if it was through bluetooth, network or wi-fi. I don't know if I had selected "network" or "local" in the "hotsync" menu. I don't know it found my computer before.

I think my basic confusion is about the whole "communication" preferences thing. I really don't understand how connections are made and which to choose and under what circumstances, although I have read the Hot Sync Manager Help screen many times.

Under Preferences>Communications:
>Bluetooth - I can turn bluetooth on, but can't connect to anything when I try to "set up devices". It can't find my PC or my LG phone. Is just having it on doing something besides draining the battery?
>Network - I can get it to connect to my wireless network using wi-fi, but don't know what network is used for. Wireless hot sync isn't working with it on.
>Connections - What is this? Do I need to have it set to IR to PC/Handheld? How does it relate to bluetooth, network and phone?
>Phone - It can't find my LG phone, but found my daughter's phone. Her phone is now listed under "select the connection for your phone applications". If I am not using that, is it OK that it is listed there. I can't make it blank again or have it find my LG phone. (more below)
>Wi-Fi - I can get it to find and connect to my wireless network, but hotsync still doesn't work.
Also, in "power" preferences does it matter if "beam receive" is on or off? Is it used to print a document on my network printer? If so, the Palm is not finding the printer either. Does it affect hotsync?

To elaborate on the LG phone issue: I couldn't get the palm to find my LG phone through the bluetooth preferences. My LG phone found the palm, though, and paired with it. During pairing, the palm asked for the passcode and accepted it. When I try to connect through the palm, though, the LG isn't on the list, so it won't let me. It tells me to "run the Phone Link Updater application in the Palm folder on your PC", but it isn't there either. My LG shows up in "trusted devices" since I used the LG to pair with the palm, but there is no way to connect to it.

On a positive note, I have my contacts and calender loaded and have those down pat. I've got versamail working and even got google maps on the web. They are great!

Thanks so much for any help!

[slayda]

Originally Posted by oneproudmom

Thanks to all for the great input, I have spent DAYS loading everything onto my Palm and trying to figure everything out. It is a wonderful thing. I would like it even more if I understood it better, sooooo a couple of more questions if you can help, please.

My problem is:
I somehow got a wireless hotsync connection yesterday to my PC (which is set up on a wirelesss network with a router). I am very frustrated that I somehow deleted it and I don't know to get it back. I've spent hours trying to make it accidentally happen again. I don't know if it was through bluetooth, network or wi-fi. I don't know if I had selected "network" or "local" in the "hotsync" menu. I don't know it found my computer before.

I think my basic confusion is about the whole "communication" preferences thing. I really don't understand how connections are made and which to choose and under what circumstances, although I have read the Hot Sync Manager Help screen many times.

Under Preferences>Communications:
>Bluetooth - I can turn bluetooth on, but can't connect to anything when I try to "set up devices". It can't find my PC or my LG phone. Is just having it on doing something besides draining the battery?
>Network - I can get it to connect to my wireless network using wi-fi, but don't know what network is used for. Wireless hot sync isn't working with it on.
>Connections - What is this? Do I need to have it set to IR to PC/Handheld? How does it relate to bluetooth, network and phone?
>Phone - It can't find my LG phone, but found my daughter's phone. Her phone is now listed under "select the connection for your phone applications". If I am not using that, is it OK that it is listed there. I can't make it blank again or have it find my LG phone. (more below)
>Wi-Fi - I can get it to find and connect to my wireless network, but hotsync still doesn't work.
Also, in "power" preferences does it matter if "beam receive" is on or off? Is it used to print a document on my network printer? If so, the Palm is not finding the printer either. Does it affect hotsync?

To elaborate on the LG phone issue: I couldn't get the palm to find my LG phone through the bluetooth preferences. My LG phone found the palm, though, and paired with it. During pairing, the palm asked for the passcode and accepted it. When I try to connect through the palm, though, the LG isn't on the list, so it won't let me. It tells me to "run the Phone Link Updater application in the Palm folder on your PC", but it isn't there either. My LG shows up in "trusted devices" since I used the LG to pair with the palm, but there is no way to connect to it.

On a positive note, I have my contacts and calender loaded and have those down pat. I've got versamail working and even got google maps on the web. They are great!

Thanks so much for any help!

OneProudMom, it sounds like you already have a lot to be proud of. I'll try to answer some of your questions but am no expert, just another gadget freak who likes to experiment.

Question, do you have a USB cable to connect to your PC? That's the way I hot sync. In fact the only way I do and am not sure you can hot sync via wi-fi. Also if you don't have that cable (or a user guide) you can order the cable from www.palmone.com (and download the manual).

I have managed to connect to my phone via bluetooth but don't find any real use for it and bluetooth is also a potential security risk. (Bluetooth must be turned on on the phone and the TX.) Someone with a portable PC with bluetooth and the correct software can easily get into your phone (if bluetooth is turned on) and DL all your info (contacts, text messages, etc.) They can also use your phone to make calls (including long distance or overseas calls), and even turn your phone on to listen to what's being said near you. When I learned this, I keep all bluetooth turned off. (Some newer phones do have security measures to prevent this.) To use bluetooth with your PC, you'll have to purchase a PC bluetooth capability. Most don't come with that built in.

Wi-Fi is what I have used to connect to my wireless network. However you need security there too. The only thing I was able to do was surf the net and with the very small screen, that was impractical.

You can use the IR to down(or up)load data between PDAs. I also have a program for my TX called "Novii Remote Deluxe Palm" that allows me to use the TX as a universal remote control for TV, VCR, etc. You can find it here. It's pretty neat but a little awkward to use.

Bottom line, for me, was that the communication ability for the TX was more a curiosity that useful.

Hope this helped you somewhat but you should keep on experimenting. I found that was the best way to figure it out.

Good luck.
Don

[tompe]

Originally Posted by slayda

I have managed to connect to my phone via bluetooth but don't find any real use for it

When I had a T5 I used this connection to send and read SMS and to get an internet connection in places were WiFi was not available (I had WiFi SD-card).

[wayrad]

My device uses an older version of PalmOS than yours, and requires an aftermarket card and driver for Wifi, so I can't answer all your questions, but I'll try to help! Hopefully the things I am describing are on your OS version too...

Connections is where you tell the Palm what hardware you want it to communicate with, what technology to use (eg BT, wifi, cradle/cable, IR), what data speed to use, etc. You need a Connection for each device you might want to tether to. Some are already in the list, like Cradle/Cable; some you need to create.

Network is where you enter settings that relate to getting in to your ISP or phone provider's system. You may have more than one Network configuration also, if you plan to do different things. One of the things you select when setting up a Network is which of your Connections you want to use to make the actual connection. Network settings are not relevant for hotsync AFAIK (bear in mind that I have no experience with wifi hotsync).
There is a "Connect" button on the Network screen which is useful for testing whether you can actually reach your ISP or phone provider; however, you will be able to do nothing with the resulting connection since it isn't going through your browser or email app. Those apps will give you a place to select one of your Network profiles (which in turn specifies one of your Connection profiles) and normally you make the Internet connection through them.

Phone is a screen where you can select one of your Connections for use in "phone applications". I have only found two things this is useful for - one is to select a BT connection to the phone and use it make the Palm dial numbers in your address book for you (via the "dial" command in Address Book). I also have a little app that lets me check signal and battery strength on my phone from my PalmOS device, and it apparently uses this route. The Phone screen seems to have nothing to do with hotsync or internet access.

Bluetooth is where you pair your Palm with other devices. If you have trouble seeing a device, make sure it is in "discoverable" or "visible" mode. The reason you paired with a phone and still don't see it in your Connection list is probably because you haven't created a Connection for it yet. Once you create a Connection it is used to populate the appropriate lists from which connections are selected in Network, Hotsync, Phone, etc.

Infrared is useful for "beaming" information between two Palms, for syncing to an IR-enabled desktop, for printing to an IR-enabled printer, getting online with an IR modem, running a TV remote app, or entering information with a folding IR keyboard. Some of these uses have been rendered more or less obsolete by Bluetooth. You should definitely turn off "beam receive" when not in use because it is a major battery hog. (The other main battery hog is the screen - turning brightness down will help battery life a lot.)

Hope this helps.