Handspring Blazer is a proxy-based Web browser for the Palm OS(r). Using Blazer and a wireless or wireline modem, Visor and other Palm OS device users can access virtually any site available on the Internet. Blazer provides access to sites developed in a number of commonly-used Web and wireless markup languages, including HTML, WAP (HDML/WML), and cHTML (i-mode).
To learn more about or get the latest information on Blazer, please visit http://www.handspring.com/blazer/.
System Requirements
* A Handspring Visor or other handheld running Palm OS version 3.1 or higher. Palm VII handhelds cannot use Blazer via the Palm.net service.
* A modem for your handheld device, such as the VisorPhone or other SpringboardTM modem. Other wireless or traditional landline modems designed for use with Palm OS handhelds may also be used.
Note: It is possible to use a cellular phone, which has an integral modem and is 100% IrDA compatible to make a connection to your ISP.
* An Internet Service Provider. Wireless Internet service is available from several providers such as OmniSky, GoAmerica, and AT&T. Many ordinary ISP accounts will also allow you to make a connection with your Visor. There are notable exceptions: AOL, MSN and Prodigy do not provide PPP connectivity.
* 350K minimum, 400K recommended of available RAM on the handheld. Additional space may be needed for offline cache and bookmark storage. Note that although pages are cached, they may not be suitably stored for offline browsing.
* Synchronization cradle and desktop synchronization software (which come bundled with most handhelds).
Installation and Setup
* Install the Blazer.prc file by double-clicking on it. This will launch your Palm Desktop Install Tool software. Close the Install Tool when you are finished.
* Place your handheld in its synchronization cradle and press the HotSync(r) button. This will install Blazer on your handheld. If you have difficulty with the installation of Blazer, please consult your handheld's User Guide.
* For guidelines with setting up your handheld device for an internet connection, check the FAQs at http://www.handspring.com/blazer/.
Connectivity
* If you are using Blazer with a VisorPhone, and are unable to connect to your ISP, check that your VisorPhone SIM is unlocked. If it is locked, launch the VisorPhone app, power on the VisorPhone, and enter your password.
* If, during a Blazer session, your handheld powers off due to idle time in excess of your "Auto-off after" preference setting, or you manually power off your handheld, Blazer may not realize that the internet connection has been lost, and will try to connect to a web site then return a connection error message. If this problem occurs on your handheld, be sure to select Disconnect from the Options menu (or disconnect using the method prescribed by your ISP) when you power on your handheld and Blazer is already open.
* If you are using a wireless modem and have trouble accessing web pages, the problem may be related to coverage for your Internet connection. If you are using a wireless Minstrel modem (with OmniSky and GoAmerica services) and the left-most light on the modem is blinking, you are out of coverage. VisorPhone's indicator light will flash red slowly if it is out of coverage.
* If you suspect that the connection to your ISP may have been dropped, attempt to reconnect by selecting Disconnect from the Options menu in Blazer and then reloading the page. Some wireless modems will perform this reconnect function automatically.
* Ensure that the modem did not drop the connection because your handheld powered off automatically. Modems use a lot of power. As an efficiency measure, the Idle timeout setting in the Details section of Modem preferences (under Network in Palm OS 3.5), is set to Power Off by default. This means that the connection will drop if your handheld goes to sleep. You can lengthen the Auto-off after setting in General Preferences or set the Idle timeout to a higher value.
* Palm OS 3.x is not helpful about warning you when your connection has been lost to the Internet. You might not see any error message alerting you to the lost connection. Some third party modems use hardware detection to get around this problem and they will automatically try to re-establish the connection.
* If you have a Palm OS 3.1 or 3.3 handheld device manufactured by Palm or 3Com, your Internet connection will be automatically disconnected when you quit Blazer to work around a memory allocation issue. Handspring devices are not affected.
* Make sure your unit has adequate power. Low battery levels can lead to poor connection quality.
Proxy/Security
* If you are dialing into an Intranet protected by a firewall, Blazer may not be able to retrieve web pages because the browser is unable to communicate with the Blazer proxy server. Contact your network or system administrator for a possible solution, such as using a separate HTTP proxy server.
* If you are attempting to access web pages on your corporate Intranet, the Blazer proxy server may not be able to communicate with your Intranet web server, in which case you will not be able to view these pages with Blazer.
* Blazer cannot be set up to use proxy servers which require authenticated access.
* For security reasons, some web sites may automatically log you out of a secure session after a set amount of time. In order to re-enter the secure session, you may need to clear the Blazer cache first.
Other
* If your Navigation bar or loading progress icons are displayed incorrectly, try reloading the URL, or exit and relaunch Blazer.
* Very large pages may not load fully due to the fixed limit on available working memory on Palm OS devices.
* Blazer may fail to load pages containing JavaScript, Java or plug-in dependencies such as Macromedia Flash. Blazer attempts to load pages by ignoring these features but does not always succeed.
* Some web sites will detect that you are browsing from a PDA, and will serve a different page than you would see from your desktop browser. Such pages are typically formatted and optimized for mobile devices.
* If you are using a 2 MB Palm handheld and already have established an internet connection, you should disconnect from the network before launching Blazer to avoid a startup error caused by insufficient memory. This is not necessary on 2MB Handspring Visors or handheld devices with 8MB or more memory.
* Visit http://www.handspring.com/blazer/ for the latest Blazer support information.
