There she is. My little spifire PalmOne Tungsten T5.
Who knew something so tiny could consume so many hours in set-up time?
Aside from the basics -- charging it for THREE HOURS before you can actually install software or do anything with it (are they trying to torture us?), reading the little manual and other assorted fare -- there were some "tricky bits" involved in trying to get certain things to work. These "things" mainly revolved around being able to connect to the internet wirelessly so I can access KNIT BLOGS for reading offline. Hehe.
Getting this thing to communicate with my computer involved some finagling. It wasn't horrific, but at the same time, it wasn't as simple as I'd expected. A few reinstalls of the Palm Desktop Software and forty-five minutes later...I was in business.
Until I tried making it communicate with my cell phone.
I have a GPRS phone with Network Services enabled, but sadly, I could not make this work. I need a specific driver for my phone and I guess they didn't make one -- because, BELIEVE ME, I searched!
After admitting defeat and deciding to use this as a good excuse to get a cell phone with Bluetooth capabilities in the future, I decided to try to hook up to the internet wirelessly via the broadband connection on my PC. To "piggy-back," so to speak. I figured, I could just connect via the PC, hook into Bloglines for the PDA, clip my subscriptions and email for offline viewing and that would be that. I really don't need to be online surfing with the PDA. I just want to be able to get my offline content in an efficient manner.
FOUR HOURS LATER, I could not make this work. As far as I can tell, I've tried every imagineable method: I tried all methods suggested on the PalmOne support site; I tried several methods from searching on the requisite tech/geek forums; and, I've asked people I know who have actually made this work using similar devices on the SAME type of computer (Powerbook G4).
Again, I admit defeat.
Another "tricky bit" (translation: pain-in-the-ass) was getting Adobe Acrobat Reader to work properly on the PDA. This feature is CRUCIAL for my knitting purposes. I want to be able to scan-in, save and view my patterns as PDFs on the Palm so I don't have a bunch of unweildly papers to cart around everywhere. It makes pulling out a project with a complex pattern much easier since it's all contained in this tiny device as opposed to perpetually unbalanced and falling sheets of paper on the train or in the waiting room. Also, I wanted to be able to scan-in patterns or charts from my books and grab articles from online mags (for example, Knitter's Review or Knitty articles to have on-hand for reference), and save them as PDFs for viewing and for reference.
At first, it wouldn't work at all. Then, after a reinstall, it worked partially. THEN, after installing an older version and having that version work fine, I opened up the newer version by accident (right before trashing it) and now it works.
All I can figure, is that when I initially installed the newer version, I noticed that the Acrobat conduit was missing from my conduit manager interface and when I installed the older version, it must've rectified this problem, allowing the newer version to function.
Sigh!
Of course, everything else about the PDA worked fine -- beautifully, in fact. It has so many great features, I'm beside myself. But, these three specific functions were necessary to support my knitting work/reading habits, hence all the invested time.
Because, really, this is the main reason I bought the PDA -- well, about 70% of the reason anyway.
I know this first post seems rather negative and I don't mean it to be. This PDA is GREAT. It has helped me tremendously and functions like a dream. I've figured out a workaround for clipping knit blogs until I can buy a compatable device -- which will also get rid of the need to connect via the PC. And my ability to view PDFs is now fully functional, so it's all good.
But, as with anything, you have to go through the crappy, annoying part to get to the good stuff. And there is good stuff.
Stay tuned for the next installment of "PDA: Knitter's Helper? Or Tool of The Devil?" where I extol the virtues of this little gadget.
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In Knitting Progress News:
The Maths commence this evening on the Tivoli. They would've commenced last night had I not been tripped up by trying to figure out Maths for a pattern in the rowund when I've never actually knit a garment completely in the round and haven't had a need to review the logic behind it. Luckily Kathy offered a small paragraph of explanation on the Yoke construction and I had my "ah" moment and feel I'm good-to-go.
Also, I've settled on a subtle variation for the Feather and Fan sock which could be my Sockapal2za sock.
I can't wait to sink into knitting the Tivoli. That GGH Scarlett is SO divine I almost can't take it!
