***** POCKET PRESS ******
The AOL Personal Digital Assistants Community Weekly Newsletter October 9, 1999
CONTENTS
* Community News: New Windows CE files News release preferences Cyberwriting Class Halloween * Review: ActiveSync * Member to Member: Troubleshooting FlashPro * PDA Humor: Laments of a Teenage PDA User * Web site of the Week: PDAMart * Featured Files: Windows CE - 19; Palm - 3; Newton - 1; Chat - 1; Etexts - 21 * News Snippets: Palm VII news * This Week's Chats 9:30 PM ET: Monday - iBook; Tuesday - Palm; Wednesday - PDAs in Business; Thursday - Psion * How to Subscribe to Pocket Press * If You Wish to Unsubscribe... 
******************************* COMMUNITY NEWS Windows CE files Many thanks to PDC Bill who uploaded a great pile of Windows CE files this week. Whether you use a H/PC, H/PC Pro, or P/PC, you'll find programs for your handheld. Bill even found a freely distributed book reader. Check the list in the featured files section below, or scan the Windows CE Utilities, Graphic & Sound, and Games libraries at keyword: PDA -> Software Center -> Windows CE.
 Adding files to our libraries is a way that you, too, can contribute to the PDA Community. Select a favorite, get permission from the author, and upload. If you need help, give me an IM or e-mail jingle.
 News release preferences The PDA world is evolving so rapidly, we receive more and more news releases each week. I use to put a one-paragraph summary in Pocket Press, but there now are so many, they can gobble up most of my 20,000 character limit.
 This week, I tried something different, arranging the releases in categories and giving just a title and url. For more details, you can check the complete text at keyword: PDA -> PDAs in the News. Send me a note if you like my new plan or would prefer something different. 
Cyberwriting The PDA Community sponsors the Cyberwriting classes in the Online Classroom. If you are interested in developing an ezine, stop by keyword: Online Classroom on Sunday nights at 8:00 PM ET for information and discussion.
 Halloween Looking for scary etexts and other ghoulish downloads? Keyword: Halloween -> Scary Stuff -> Halloween Downloads is the place to go.
Check out the Terrifying Tales folder.in the PC and Mac downloads.
 E-mail your articles, comments, tips, reviews, and favorite Web sites to PDA Susan. The PDA Forum is updated every week. If you haven't spent time there recently, stop by and check out the tips, the message boards, and the new files. It all begins at keyword: PDA.
 If you'd prefer to receive Pocket Press without HTML formatting, send a note to PDC Larry.

******************************* REVIEW Still Using Windows CE Services?
Upgrade to ActiveSync 3.0 - It's Free by Dale Shank (PDC Dale) and Bill Marinelli (PDC Bill)
[Ed. note: Great minds think alike. Dale and Bill both wrote an ActiveSync review for Pocket Press, so I merged them to create one article.]
Many of you with Windows CE Handhelds and Palm-based PCs are still using CE Services for synchronizing with your desktops. Microsoft is providing all existing CE Services users with a free upgrade to their new ActiveSync software for anyone with a Pentium class desktop unit.
This "must have" upgrade for Windows CE users follows Microsoft's long history of "third times the charm" programming. ActiveSync is faster, easier, and best of all, free. 
ActiveSync is a substantial improvement over the CE Services program. It now can automatically detect the COM port and connection speed settings of your CE device, and no longer depends on Dial-Up Networking to establish a connection. All of the bothersome messages and questions you became used to are gone. The program is much more intuitive and almost never asks you any of those annoying "are you sure?" questions, it just quietly and effectively synchronizes all of your Outlook databases; calendar, contacts, inbox and tasks, as well as the routine file conversions, and specialized files such as AvantGo services. (Look for an update article on AvantGo in next weeks Pocket Press) ActiveSync also now incorporates an easy to use all in one window that allows you to explore your device, and gives access to ActiveSync options.
 Office 2000 synching is now available, but unfortunately ActiveSync 3.0 no longer supports synching with Microsoft Works documents, definitely a blow to home users who don't need the power or price, of Office.
 Follow the link below to the Microsoft site to find out more about ActiveSync 3.0 and download it today. You will find it a vast improvement over CE Services.
 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsce/products/download/activesync.asp
And it makes really cool sounds when it connects, disconnects or asks you a question. Give it a go, and as we always say, FREE is good.

******************************* MEMBER to MEMBER Troubleshooting FlashPro Problems by Danybyrne
FlashPro is a popular program for the Palm OS because it makes approximately 800K of otherwise unused RAM available as flash memory. In response to the member's problem in the following paragraph, Danybyrne provided information from the FlashPro readme file plus additional hints.
 <<I installed flashpro and moved some apps from RAM to FLASH. Well.......now my IIIx is locked up! the only thing that will come up is the "PALM COMPUTING PLATFORM screen.>>
From the Flash Pro Read Me file: Not all Palm programs are compatible with flash memory. Moving an incompatible program into flash may prevent the Palm device from booting. In order to restore proper operation to a Palm device, perform the following steps .
 1) Perform a soft reset by pressing the reset button on the back of the Palm device.
 2) If a soft reset fails, hold down the PageUp button and repeat the reset. This will bypass application initialization. If the device boots, rerun FlashPro and remove the offending application from flash.
 3) If the Palm device does not boot after a PageUp reset, hold down the MemoPad button and press reset. This procedure will put the Palm device in TRG's Recovery Mode. The Palm device should display the screen shown in Figure 12. (There's a gif here - basically asking should FlashPro reformat your Flash?)
Press the ToDo button to format the flash, clear all of RAM and reset the unit. 
If all else fails, contact TRG Technical Support at (515) 252-7522 or e-mail "support@trgnet.com".
 For all crashes I've heard of, holding down the Memo Pad button while doing a reset and then reformatting the Flash has worked.
 Check <http://www.asynccomputing.com/cgi-bin/displayTRGCompatListing.pl> for a current listing of compatible programs. And NEVER put hacks in Flash.

******************************* PDA HUMOR Laments of a Teenage PDA User by KC8GOQ
These ten reasons for students to carry a PDA were offered by many pathetic teenagers who currently tote a PDA to school:
10. To organize your life (if you happen to have one :) 9. PacMan (need we say more?) 8. Pocket Word (type your papers during class....English teachers love this :) 7. Music and voice recorder (record the lame joke so you don't forget it) 6. Paranoia (School security hates PDAs....I dunno why..it's funny though) 5. English to Metric conversions (Chemistry, very useful, NASA needed a PDA) 4. Solitaire (again, need we say more?) 3. On the fly, paper editing and PRINTING (Wireless printing, very useful....You can have a final draft on the teachers desk in 10 minutes :) 2. Spanish to English translation (useful....search feature beats an index) 1. It's a chick magnet!!!! (A Diamond Rio works just as well :)
 ******************************* WEB SITE OF THE WEEK To view the Web site of the Week, simply use keyword: PDA and click on the "PDA World Wide Web Sites" folder and then on the 
PDA's Web site of the Week. headline in the list box.
 PDAMart offers a wide range of PDA hardware, all organized to make your shopping convenient by providing simple and intuitive navigation. For example, if you were looking for information on the Palm VII you would go to Palm OS Drive. This "street" contains news, reviews, information, and specifications about Palm devices, their accessories and their software.
 The PDAMart streets include:
Palm OS Drive WincCE Way Psion Street REX Road and Gadget Square
For those without AOL access, the url is: http://www.pdamart.com
 ******************************* FEATURED FILES To find software for your PDA, visit the community's 
PDA Software Center
Thanks to this week's uploaders: PDC Bill, PDC Dale, Fusion624, PDC David
Windows CE Libraries Windows CE Utilities CE: MobiBook, files for H/PC, H/PC Pro and P/PC MobiBook is specially designed to give you the same reading experience as a paperback : turn pages with your fingertips, add bookmarks and annotations, full justified page layout.
 CE: PeekABook, files for H/PC, H/PC Pro and P/PC Carry a virtual library in the palm of your hand! PeekABook is a book reader that supports the wildly popular DOC format which was created specifically for space-constrained handheld devices. 
CE: PPC HandyBook, files for H/PC, H/PC Pro and P/PC Read your electronic texts or books while you're travelling or sitting at home. 
CE: PPC PalmBrowser PalmBrowser is a fully featured Web Browser for Palm-Size PC devices
CE: PPC TaskSwitcher TaskSwitcher puts its icon overlaying your desktop icon, saving valuable screen real estate while providing rich functionality in such a small package.
 CE: PPC TaskSwitcher Skins Three different Skins for use with Conduits TaskSwitcher.
 PPC Interface (Beta) Gives your Wyvern (Color) P/PC a new look.
 CE: PPC CoPilot Port of Copilot for Palm-size PC. Requires around 5MB free memory to run, as well as the ROM of a PalmPilot (named Pilot.ROM) in the root directory or in a Storage Card directory. 
CE: PPC EMU48CE Port of Emu48CE to the Palm-size PC, an HP48GX emulator.
 Windows CE Graphics & Sound CE: PPC PalmPlayer PalmPlayer allows MP3 playback and an extensible interface for your Palm-size PC.
 CE: PPC PalmPlayer Skins PalmPlayer skins are a collection of overlays, or "Skins" to help customize your PalmPlayer Interface.
 CE: PPC PalmFlash (Beta) PalmFlash allows playback of Macromedia Shockwave Flash 3 files (*.SWF) on your Palm-size PC. 
Windows CE Games CE: PPC NonoPalm NonoPalm (pronounced nah-no-palm) is a puzzle game for the Palm-size PC. 
PalmPilot Libraries PalmPilot Books PP: Pocket Press for 9/25/99 PP: Pocket Press for10/2/99 PP: 24 Stories by HP Lovecraft
Newton Libraries Books of the Month NW: 24 Stories by HP Lovecraft
Conference Transcripts Chat: Windows CE 10/07/99
Etext Libraries To find thousands of electronic books and instructions for using them, visit the PDA Community's Etext Libraries. You'll find the books listed below in the Book of the Month library.
 Book notes from PDC David I am uploading several interesting etexts this week. Let's start off with the really big one first. H.R.H. the Rider (Also known as The Rider) by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is an extremely rare Edgar Rice Burroughs book that I reconstructed from a magazine in the public domain. This one I did especially for our PDA community leader PDC Bob.
We have some other Edgar Rice Burroughs books planned for the future but we will be doing most of them from the magazine serials. We probably have about 3 more that we can do. 
As I promised from last week we have the remaining two books by Homer Eon Flint, The Devolutionist and The Queen Of Life. We also have The Incomplete Amorist by E. Nesbit, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent by John Henry Newman (Cardinal Newman), The Story of the Gadsby by Rudyard Kipling and How the Brigadier Played for a Kingdom by A. Conan Doyle. We also have for the Halloween season The Knightsbridge Mystery By Charles Reade, An Episode of Cathedral History by M.R. James, Through the Ivory Gate by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews, The Invisible Ray by Arthur B. Reeve and a few others.
 The Memoirs of a Minister of France by Stanley Weyman Mrs. Botherby's Story the Leech of Folkestone By Thomas Ingoldsby Later Poems by Alice Meynell The Monster of Lake Lametrie by Wardon Allan Curtis Lahoma by John Breckinridge Ellis The Lady's Maid's Bell by Edith Wharton Lady Audley's Secret. An Original Version of Miss Braddon's Popular Novel, in Two Acts,By C.H. Hazlewood Keziah Coffin by Joseph C. Lincoln The History of Krakatuk By Ernst T.W. Hoffmann translated by William Makepeace Thackeray The Knightsbridge Mystery By Charles Reade How the Brigadier Played for a Kingdom by A. Conan Doyle An Episode of Cathedral History By M.R. James Through the Ivory Gate by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews The Invisible Ray by Arthur B. Reeve The Incomplete Amorist by E. Nesbit An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent by John Henry Newman The Story of the Gadsby by Rudyard Kipling Their Dear Little Ghost By Elia W. Peattie The Devolutionist by Homer Eon Flint The Queen Of Life by Homer Eon Flint H.R.H. the Rider (Also known as The Rider) by Edgar Rice Burroughs
 ******************************* NEWS SNIPPETS For details on these and other stories, visit 
PDAs in the News.
 Palm Connected Organizers 3Com announces special eddition Palm orgnizers and lowers prices--www.palm.com SkipJack point of sale software from Evolv--www.skipjackic.com Zagat and Landware bring Zagat Restaurant Guide to Palm--www.landware.com Tiger Woods PGA Golf available for download--http://www.easports.com/handhelds/tigerpalm.html Sign-On and InkSnap biometric signature verification--www.cic.com
Palm VII news 3Com delivers Palm VII nationwide with new pricing--www.palm.com BellSouth enhances wireless coverage for Palm VII--www.bellsouthwd.com Amazon.com Anywhere wireless shopping on Palm VII--www.amazon.com Recipes for Palm VII--www.ucook.com Health and Fitness Web clipping for Palm VII--www.fitforall.com eBay goes wireless with Palm VII--www.ebay.com iPopper e-mail client for Palm VII--www.corsoft.net Bank of America wireless banking forPalm VII--www.bankofamerica.com Wireless content for women via Palm VII--www.women.com Fax anwhere capabilities for Palm VII--www.rovenet.com MonkeyMail for Palm VII--www.monkeymail.com BrandFinder searches local business--www.palm.net/apps/index.html OAG travel information available for Palm VII--www.palm.net/apps/index.html K2 provides insurance risk transactions via Palm VII--www.palm.net/apps/index.html Quo Vadis HandyGPS Receiver module--http://www.navicom.co.kr EarthCam Mobile enables wireless access to live webacasts--www.earthcam.com/mobile/ ThinAirMail application for Palm VII--www.ThinAirApps.com Handspring Visor Blue-connect Bluetooth wireless module --www.widcom.com Lonely Planet travel titles for Visor--www.conceptkitchen.com MyCorder data acquisition module from Datastick--www.datastick.com
Windows CE MediaWallet for CE P/PCs--www.applian.com Siebel Sales Handheld software--www.siebel.com Symbol introduces PPT 2700, PDT 7200, PDT 7500 vertical market handhelds--www.symbol.com
Cross Platform Enterprise Harmony 99 to synch with Lotus Organizer 6.0--http://www.extendedsystems.com/go/harmony New version of Intellisync--www.pumatech.com Wireless GoAmerica offers wireless web access for RIM 850--www.goamerica.net GoAmerica and Lexis offer legal information via wireless--www.lexis-nexis.com
Other Telxon announces PTC-2134 pen-based computer--www.telxon.com 
***************** THIS WEEK'S CHAT SCHEDULE Join the PDA Team and forum members in the PDA Conference Room Monday through Thursday at 9:30 ET. They'll help you get a brand new handheld computer up and running and will troubleshoot problems with older models. 
Monday: iBook Tuesday: Palm Wednesday: PDAs in Business Thursday: Psion
You'll find more information about this month's chats in 
The PDA Conference Center
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******************************* PDA COMMUNITY TEAM Susan Gustafson, Community Leader (PDA Susan) Craig de Fasselle, Community Founder (PDA Craig) Larry Finch, Community Leader Emeritus (PDC Larry) PDA Community Consultants Warren Hart, (PDC Warren) Chris De Herrera, (PDC ChrisD) Terry L. Stibal, (PDC Sensha) Howard Janoff, (PDC Hufn) Robert L. Hicks, (PDC Bob) Ryan Kennedy, (PDC Ryan) Marcus Green, (PDC Marcus) David Reed, (PDC David) Doug Eddy, (PDC Doug) Bryan MacDonald, (PDC Bryan) Jim Brown (PDC Jim) Deborah Soares (PDC Deb) Dale Shank (PDC Dale) Bill Marinelli (PDC Bill)
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