[cbarnett]

Originally Posted by BobR

You may be sorry you asked, but that would be very helpful. The next couple of days I'm going to sit down with my Clie and try to figure out what I "really" need. I.e. not the fun stuff and fluff, but the capabilities that I rely on.

Have a look at my other thread for what I've got installed on my PPC, that will give you an idea of some free (and not so free) software that may interest you - https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2246

Originally Posted by BobR

But this should be a pretty complete list of my essentials:

[1] A nice looking 1-wk view like DateBk5, with the 7 boxes for the days, and tiny text in each box with the time and description of each apptmt, plus capability to click on the day to get a day view or click on the apptmt and get the full information about it. The ones I've seen screenshots for have big fonts and look more cartoonish than serious. (Even though I don't expect to stay with PPC, I'd pay for this feature for temporary use.)

I just use the inbuilt scheduler. I like it, but would like to see the alarm work a little better. Divajess would know a lot more that me, I guarantee!

Originally Posted by BobR

[2] A nice outliner to replace ShadowPlan that has one-click note viewing for items, and allows you to easily move items to another outline. Also need to be able to mix both checkbox todo items and text note items without checkboxes. (I'd pay a little for this feature, too.)

[3] A Flash card mounting program (to mount the flash card as an external drive on my desktop). If I can't find this, I'll need to buy a separate hardware card reader to attach to my PC.

I use Activesync to copy my files. It's not too shabby, but you have to remember to copy and paste files, dragging doesn't work. Of course, card readers are a cheap alternative.

Originally Posted by BobR

[4] A password vault with decent encryption and ability to import/export/cut/paste from text somehow. And a related question... is there an emulator I can run on the desktop like for Palm? I use that as a backup in case I break my Palm, so I can still get to my passwords by running the emulator. If not, I'd need a password program that has a desktop companion.

I use Codewallet Pro, which is secure and feature rich, but not free. There are some freeware programs available, and I tried a few, but none came close to this. Download and give the trial a go, and you'll see what I mean.

Originally Posted by BobR

[5] A shopping list program like HandyShopper that allows repeatable checklists and stores a reference list of items for inclusion in the "needed" list. Also would like it to have notes allowed for each item and alpha sort, or at least a sort by category. (I use it for grocery lists, and the category is a short abbreviation that indicates the section of the store. Then the sorted list is in the same order I pass thru the store.)

Divajess already mentioned the Handyshopper port. I didn't know about that, thanks for the heads up Jess!

Originally Posted by BobR

[6] Klondike Solitaire Game

Already on the device.

Originally Posted by BobR

[7] Freeware Bible (KJV is fine)

You can also download the complete KJ bible from ereader.com for free.

Originally Posted by BobR

[8] Calculator -- This comes with it, doesn't it? As well as a simple todo list, calendar and memo app?

It's just a basic calculator. I use Calc98, which is much better, and free.

Originally Posted by BobR

[9] Dictionary

I got the free pocket vest dictionary with ereader, and the extended dictionary you can download for ubook. I'd like something better, but I'm not prepared to pay for it just yet

Originally Posted by BobR

[10] File manager

I use Total Commander, a nice and free file util (http://www.ghisler.com)

Originally Posted by BobR

And a couple questions:

* Do I need a utility to close an app instead of hide it? I've heard that you can't actually stop an app from executing by clicking the close x. Is there another way to stop the app?

Like Jess says, there are a few options (and you'll need one of them). One she missed was Magic Button, now at v 1.7, which is small, free and does the job nicely. So does Wizbar Advance, which also lets you skin your desktop.

Originally Posted by BobR

* Are there any other PPC-type utilities that I just really ought to have? Surely there must be some famous ones that everyone uses.

Media programs to watch mpg, divx, and a better MP3 player are things you might be interested in. PocketTV, PocketMVP, Todayplayer are free options you might want to check out (sorry I don't have urls handy, but googling the above will find them quickly)

PocketRAR is a good one too, if you want to conserve space and access rar and zip archives on the ppc.

We can talk about emulators in another post, I think. There's a lot of stuff you can emulate, and several options available to you

Originally Posted by BobR

I may have left something out, but those programs together with stuff I think is easy to find (like AvantGo, iSilo, eReader, MSReader, MP3 player, Acrobat Reader, etc) should be pretty close to making me fully equipped. Except for things I may have forgotten, everything else I have on my Palm is really "fluff".

Thanks, Divajess, for whatever suggestions you have with regard to any portion of this. Anyone else with some ideas for me also??
(Hey, I might even have a game plan before the PPC arrives!)

Only glad to help another convert to the dark side

Craig.