Sunday, including PDA thoughts
May. 9th, 2004 05:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioMy father recently got himself a PDA. I was curious to know more, because he has the same vision problems I do. He was constrained in also needing something Mac-compatable, so his choices were more limited than mine would be, but for one data point, his looks pretty good. He has a Tungston E, which has a crisp, legible display that can fit a fair bit of text in fonts I can read. The graffiti interface is also much easier than the last time I used one -- this was "Graffiti 2", and most of the strokes look like letters, rather than semi-thematically-related glyphs (like an upside-down "V" for "A", which I remember encountering before). I was completely unable to write a "k", and my attempts at "u" kept producing "v" instead, but I think a small number of hours of practice would actually fix that. And I could write resaonably quickly too without it getting confused, which had not been true before.
My father carries his in a shirt pocket. Women's shirts don't tend to have that pocket, and even if they did the placement would be, err, suboptimal, so I'd need to find something I could reasonably carry in a back pants pocket. I imagine this has constraints on size, heat-tolerance, and durability. (Or are there belt-based solutions?)
I'd also need to think about how I would end up using it; things like the calendar, address book, and standing grocery list are obvious, but can I use it as a text editor to, say, compose LJ posts or edit a D&D character sheet when I don't have a real computer to hand? I know there's a Hebrew calendar out there somewhere, and someone I know has a siddur for hers, both of which would be handy. I'd want some application that supports a table or database of all my books/CDs, so I stop accidentally buying duplicates; I assume that's straightforward. I'm going to assume that music applications are not feasible.
What do people who have PDAs end up
using them for after the first few months? (I know that
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
dglenn also asked this question recently.)
What's involved in having web-browsing? (What do you
pay in monthly service fees?) My father didn't have
a browser on his, so I didn't get a feel for whether
most web sites even render on such a small screen.
I'm not going to run right out and buy one, but I'm at least entertaining the idea now, which is a change.
Short takes:
Fun stuff: Anton
Chekov's book-signing (and reading) in Union Square.
Link from nickjong, who got it from Neil Gaiman.
Non-fun stuff:
Soldiers
in Iraq losing internet access, just in case they want to ship
out more photos from prisons or something. (Link from
insomnia; see also this one from tangerinpenguin and others.) Feh. Some of my coworkers are in Iraq right now
(civilians, on a base, nowhere near prisons); if we stop
hearing from them I guess we'll know why.
PDA options
Date: 2004-05-09 03:14 pm (UTC)I recommend Rhinoskin. Good stuff to hold your PDA and keep it easily available.
palm pilot foo
Date: 2004-05-09 04:04 pm (UTC)My killer application is DateBk5, which I've configured with custom views for bills, shopping list, and a "quick glance" planner view, among others. Desktop calendaring software is less than useful to me given the number of desktops I use during the course of a day (minimum 3) and the amount of time I spend away from any of them.
Text editors are available but Graffiti (even Graffiti 2/Jot) is not what you want to be using for editing text; buy a portable keyboard if you decide to go that route.
Databases are available; I was underwhelmed but I tend to ask a lot of databases (comes from ten years as a DBA :). There are also canned applications for music and book databases, etc. on sites such as PalmGear and Handango.
Hebrew calendars: I've been using KaLuach; there's also Penticon Luach but it apparently has some limitations on PalmOS 5 devices --- and while you can get it bundled with Penticon's Hebrew Support+, the latter doesn't work on PalmOS 5 at all. (Hebrew PiLoc does, but I haven't been able to evaluate it because it doesn't work with the Graffiti support (RecoEcho) for Treos.)
Music applications: PalmOS 5 devices can in fact run MP3 and Ogg decoders/players, and 3G data appears to be good enough for at least 24kbps streams. (WMA is almost certainly a lost cause, though; Microsoft is unlikely to release specifications to makers of devices which compete with their PocketPC platform.) Since my Treo is PalmOS 3.5, I haven't looked beyond that, but you should be able to find at least two players on one of the aforementioned sites. If composing/experimenting with music is what you're looking for, there's miniMusic NotePad and companion applications.
There's at least one web site selling siddurim for PalmOS, requiring TealDoc to read. You might also want to look at PilotYid for other Hebrew texts (most of which require one of the Hebrew support packages mentioned above) and other Judaism-related software and documents.
Belt pouches, and other carriers, for most of the Palm models are available from various third parties; PalmGear (above) should sell them. I wouldn't plan on carrying it in a back pocket unless you buy one of the hard cases, though; it's far too easy to sit down on it and break the touchscreen.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-09 04:09 pm (UTC)On Palms...
Date: 2004-05-09 04:37 pm (UTC)As to cases, before he got the keyboard he had a belt pouch, now generally he keeps both in a fanny pack (which he wears over his shoulder, not around his waist) or his backpack, depending on where he's going.
Re: On Palms...
Date: 2004-05-09 04:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-09 05:04 pm (UTC)I'm thinking of upgrading as well, possibly to a Zire -- which still has more functionality in some ways than what I need.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-09 09:02 pm (UTC)Otherwise - I have addresses, phone numbers and email addresses stored there, I have two games (Bejeweled and what seems to be Library of Congress of Solitaire games, so it's many, many games with weensy cards). I read fanfiction, and use iSilo to reformat them from either html or text files for the Palm. I also download novels (you can get a lot of classic ones for free on the web, since they're public domain. I'm currently reading Mansfield Park.) PalmReader comes standard, and it's possible to make the words comfortably large enough for my mother-in-law. I know. I've tested.
And, as others mentioned, I have www.dataviz.com's Documents-to-Go, which is MS Word. I've written several short stories on it, using both a stylus pen and the wireless keyboard. I also keep a template for my Pakua reports there so I can start them when the sessions are fresh in my mind, before emailing them off to my teachers.
Quite honestly, I'm not sure how I functioned without it. And that's without my using email.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-09 09:46 pm (UTC)I have an original Palm Pilot, on loan from the office. I love it. I used to carry a date book and a little ruled blank book (well, a series of such) in which to take random notes. (I'm always taking random notes.) Now I just carry the Palm, which is vastly better. I can catalog my notes as I go, so I can find things by some means other than rifling lots of little books. And there's a backup. I once had my purse and current little books stolen.
I primarily use the Palm for the datebook, phone book and notepad functions, but sometimes use the check list functionality and the calculator. I don't have wireless internet on it, I've never even loaded more software on it, and I still find it very useful. I carry it in a fanny pack.
I am planning on upgrading to a more recent model soon. I covet the MBTA's system-wide schedule application. No more carrying paper bus schedules! Also, I am thinking about learning to write my own palm aps, because I have some ideas...
Since carrying the Palm (well over a year ago), I've started compiling and using some personal information which I always thought it would be great to have, but I didn't want to have to carry more little books. For instance, I've started making notes about important things about food vendors -- both groceries and restaurants -- which are hard for me to remember at exactly that time I need that information most: when I'm hungry. I've started lists of restaurants organized by geographical center, so when I'm somewhere and starving and wondering "where is there to eat here?" I can look it up, along with useful information like "Thursdays is the corned-beef-and-cabbage special".
I use it for shopping lists; its very convenient that whenever I think of something I need to pick up, my shopping list is always right there. I have a list called "food I like to eat" because -- no kidding -- when I'm not hungry I forget, which makes grocery shopping a real challenge.
It's fantastic for notes for travel plans or event organizing. I have a note category called "Wedding" which seems to get a lot of use. :)
I keep all sorts of trivia on it, such as the shopping list for the dish I make for Thanksgiving Dinner, the dimensions of various of my furniture, a log of my blood pressure as taken at every drs. visit, handy IP numbers for when DNS is down, etc. Sometimes I take class notes on it, but Graffiti is slow for that.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 06:11 am (UTC)I've been trying to find a good database program, but I'm not happy with what I've tried. I want to be in the grocery store, type in the price and quantity, and be able to compare it with similar data points that I've collected (this is on sale here, but is it cheaper than at the other store that normally sells this item for less?). I've found an Access database online that someone wrote for this, and I may just have it spit out excel spreadsheets on a semi-regular basis for the iPAQ.
I've used it to compose LJ posts (using the PDA app for LJ), and it's easy and simple. I get tired composing long posts with the stylus, but I don't use it often enough to get a keyboard (I'd probably loose it between trips).
I don't have trouble with music, other than storage space (I have a slot for removable memory cards, but I haven't had the spare fun-money). But then, the model I got was top-of-the line when I got it (Nov 2002); I don't know how it compares to the current models or to what range you're looking at.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 07:40 am (UTC)Re: PDA options
Date: 2004-05-10 07:41 am (UTC)Re: palm pilot foo
Date: 2004-05-10 07:47 am (UTC)Calendars: I use Kaluach on my desktop; I'm not surprised they have a Palm version too.
Do any of the apps you use make use of Hebrew fonts? I'm wondering how well the nikud renders.
I wouldn't plan on carrying it in a back pocket unless you buy one of the hard cases, though; it's far too easy to sit down on it and break the touchscreen.
You're the second person who's commented on the problem of sitting on the contents of back pockets, so now I'm curious: am I a mutant, or is it a gender thing, or what? The bottoms of the back pockets on all my pants end before the seating surface; Dani says this is not true for him and I gather it's not true for you. Now I'm wondering if I'm built funny. :-)
Re: On Palms...
Date: 2004-05-10 07:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 07:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 07:53 am (UTC)Neither require a Hebrew reader
Does that mean it has its own built in? How is it producing the Hebrew? (Can you change the size?)
but EshSiddur only offers variations on Orthodox Nusach
That's ok. Reform changes to the siddur fall into two groups: ones I understand (and can make the alterations on my own if need be), and ones I don't care about and/or find gratuitious. :-) So long as the software offers actual Hebrew and not just translit I'm fine. (I don't care for translit, and Ashkenazi pronunciation in translit makes my head hurt becuase I learned to pronounce Sephardic.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 08:09 am (UTC)Thanks for the usage info. I tend to accumulate pockets full of little pieces of paper too (you're more organized if you use actual notebooks), so this is an area where a PDA would help. Well, one important consideration: I need to somehow organize my notes in such a way that I see them all. If I reach into a pocket and find three pieces of paper I deal with all three; if I pop open the PDA and find the top note I'll need a prod that there are two more. I assume this is a solved problem.
I covet the MBTA's system-wide schedule application.
That does sound handy, yes!
Since carrying the Palm (well over a year ago), I've started compiling and using some personal information which I always thought it would be great to have, but I didn't want to have to carry more little books.
I've found that collecting information is easy, but indexing is a bitch. For example, given your restaurant info, you might plausibly want to answer any of the following questions: Where's nearby food? Where can I satisfy my craving for corned beef in the next hour? Where can our group of twelve people get lunch? Where can I get adequate food quickly, 'cause I only have 45 minutes including travel time? How do you organize your data for these various sorts of lookup?
This reminds me of an app (or set of apps) I would like to have. I'd like to be able to store a recipe, and then say "put that on this week's shopping list", and then be able to edit the list (full list, not just that recipe) because maybe I already have garlic and milk, and so on. (It should be smart enough to merge quantities for things that are already on my shopping list -- e.g. adding more milk, not listing milk twice.) But I'd also like the recipes to be indexed by key ingredients, so when I discover in the store that the squash looks really really good I can ask the database what I can do with squash and what else I need to buy to make that happen. Too often I pick up the unplanned ingredient without getting everything else I need to go with it.
I use it for shopping lists; its very convenient that whenever I think of something I need to pick up, my shopping list is always right there.
That would be a big improvement over the paper list in my kitchen, for two reasons: it's always available, and I could automatically organize it based on location within the store (all the produce at the beginning, etc). That's harder to do on paper in one pass.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 08:18 am (UTC)I want to be in the grocery store, type in the price and quantity, and be able to compare it with similar data points that I've collected
You'd also need to think about data expiration. Your price records on laundry soap are probably pretty stable, but last month's information on strawberries won't help you now (but might eleven months from now). Could be tricky.
Music: I should have specified; I was thinking more of compositional aids (ranging from jotting down a melody stuck in my head to full-fledged composition) moreso than playing MP3s.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 10:32 am (UTC)I concur that you want to get a keyboard if possible. The foldable Stowaway is really excellent for its size (and a marvel of engineering) -- not a great keyboard, but as good as many laptops in a folded form-factor not too much larger than the PDA. The Treo has a built-in keyboard, which I'm fond of for notetaking (significantly faster for me than Graffiti) but far too small for serious use.
The most important piece of software I run is SmartDoc, but it isn't clear to me that that's still available -- Googling seems to indicate that it's been replaced by the far fancier QuickOffice, which I haven't tried. SmartDoc is a very simple little editor that uses the common Palm Reader format. It's important mainly because the built-in Memo function is limited to a puny 4K per file. So I use SmartDoc for larger files (including, eg, our CD inventory).
The Blazer Web browser is decent, although it works best on graphically simple sites. I actually deal with many of my smaller day-to-day databases by turning them into web pages -- for example, my Dinner Shopping List is a page with a precis of the ingredients for all of the usual things I make for dinner. Some conventional graphics-heavy webpages are usable on the tiny screen, although it's helpful if you know the page's layout, to help you decipher how things wind up getting arranged. (All non-JavaScript pages render, but some can be hellishly confusing.)
My Treo is a 300, which runs on Sprint. In general, I'm happy about the plan -- it's not dirt-cheap (around $40/month IIRC), but has plenty of cellphone minutes for my purposes, and unlimited Web access. So I find myself using it at the oddest times: for example, at the wedding this weekend, I wound up Googling around to figure out the address of the site so that the JP could fill out her form correctly. And I often find myself looking up the Eastrealm OP or Laws at various high-court events, when a question comes up. (Yes, I try to at least be unobtrusive.)
I always wear a beltpouch, so that's where the PDA gets kept. Indeed, the reason I specifically wanted a combo PDA/phone was so that it would all fit into the pouch (along with wallet, checkbook, pillbox, Altoids, change, etc).
One downside of the Treo 300: if you wind up out-of-range, it can eat the battery very quickly trying to find a signal. I've had to get into the habit of turning it off during work, since my office is a total dead zone, and it can chew up the entire battery in the course of a work day. And the battery dies very ungracefully: when it starts to run low, it sometimes begins to throw fatal logic errors, which cause the screen to lock in the "on" position, which kills the whole battery lickety-split, forcing me to reload the memory.
So while I like the machine quite a bit, I'd check the service in your area before committing. You do *not* want to be out-of-range for long stretches of time with this device...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 10:42 am (UTC)I use my PDA multiple times a day. What do I do with it?
- track phone numbers & other contact info
- track appointments and birthday [Datebk5 as others have mentioned is wonderful]
- jot down all sorts of quick notes
- keep track of my medications
- keep track of my *@(%-crazy periods
- keep track of my bank & credit card accounts -- when I make any kind of withdrawal or deposit I can update *right then* and not have to worry about forgetting or losing a receipt. I use "Pocket Money". It has a hookup to use various things for PCs/Macs.
- games. Lots of games. I have a ~25 minute bus ride to & from work. Some of these games kept me sane when I had to spend lots of time in bed with no tv nearby. Ok, "sane." but still...
- have a handy calculator that i can even use with my finger. this is so convenient it's easy to take for granted
- track blood sugars
& other stuff i'm probably forgetting...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 04:39 pm (UTC)You can't change the size, precisely, but you do have a choice between bold and not bold. I find not bold easier to read and my mother-in-law had no problems with it. She had to squint but she could read it.
You can d/l a crippled version to see if it's comfortable.
No translation or transliteration - just the straight text. I have the same problem with Ashkenazi transliteration. Funny thing is that I have no problems when I hear it. Which is good because most of the daavening I hear is Ashkenaz, when it isn't Ashkasphard.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 10:03 pm (UTC)Summary:
No db, text files, with categories. I find that mostly completely adequate. Simply being able to put all the notes on the same topic into the same file is the main advantage.
Re: palm pilot foo
Date: 2004-05-13 09:03 pm (UTC)I have one application which displays Hebrew with nikudot; it uses self-contained Hebrew support, which comes in two font sizes: tiny and flyspeck. I find it sometimes difficult to distinguish seghol from qamatz, but then I have the same problem with some printed documents (which look rather like the Hebrew was photocopied...). In general the nikudot are fairly small, though (dots are single pixels), so it could be a problem.
As for the back pocket problem: it's fairly common among men; I don't know that many women who carry PDAs so I don't know if there's a problem in general. It also wouldn't surprise me greatly if the pockets of women's pants are placed to avoid the gluteus maximus. :)
BTW, I may be finding out about PalmOS 5 support in a few weeks; apparently we're all to be upgraded to Treo600s as part of the new service contract between CMU and Sprint.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-13 09:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-13 09:15 pm (UTC)The 4k limitation to the Memo Pad is only in PalmOS 3.5x and earlier; PalmOS 4 and later replace the Memo Pad with a Note Pad which supports unlimited sized notes (IIRC). Unfortunately, there's very little chance of the Treo300 being upgraded to PalmOS 4 (and no chance of PalmOS 5, which requires a different CPU).
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-13 09:24 pm (UTC)Re notes: the first line of each memo is used as a title, and the "top level" memo display is a listting of these titles. Additionally, you can replace the ROM Launcher application with other launchers, some of which (SilverScreen, at least) support "sticky notes" of various kinds.
Someone I know is working on a PAT schedule application. (The basic application is done; the hard part is parsing PAT's schedules to produce usable Palm databases.) However, I find that bus.maya.com is quite usable in Blazer. :)
Earlier you commented on just wanting an editor that handles text files. As far as I know, Documents-To-Go can do that; if not, TealDoc can edit both text and Palm DOC files, and there are other text editors available, including replacements for the built-in minimal text editor (mostly useful with the Note Pad in later versions of PalmOS; the 4k limit in Memo Pad makes it essentially useless for serious work).
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-14 06:23 am (UTC)Ah -- I hadn't realized that was an officially-acknowledged bug. It's only happened to me twice, so I wasn't 100% sure, but yes, I've seen that one. It's actually a more minor inconvenience to me than the dead-battery one, actually -- a soft reset is pretty easy -- but still a nuisance.
The 4k limitation to the Memo Pad is only in PalmOS 3.5x and earlier; PalmOS 4 and later replace the Memo Pad with a Note Pad which supports unlimited sized notes (IIRC).
Nice to know. I was surprised that that limitation persisted in PalmOS as long as it did, since it was the single greatest annoyance of the OS, IMO...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-21 08:40 am (UTC)I think I will get a keyboard soon as I find that using grafiti to be annoying on an extended basis. I type much better than I write nowadays and I find that I put off typing in the stuff in the right place (jot a note in notepad) so that I can do it properly at home on my computer (which introduces a host of other distractions).
I believe I've had a PDA since 1999, when I had my daytimer stolen which was quite traumatic. Going electronic with a back-up on my computer really is great. I've only had one hard crash so far and have migrated from my palm V to Tungsten T with no problems. I am paranoid about breaking the screen again though.
I find now that my to do list is daunting as I do write everything down (I have horrible short term memory)...