PDA usage??

Submitted: Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 11:13
ThreadID: 46137 Views:2762 Replies:14 FollowUps:22
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To all the PDA users out there. The PDA is a great little gimmick for mapping- but what else can it be utilised for in the line of travelling?? We use a HP iPAQ.
I do like to have my equipment used for multi tasking (eg the missus can change a wheel AND do the cooking AND put the hubs in when required !!)
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Reply By: Mr Fawlty - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 11:34

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 11:34
I am the proud owner of an original Palm Pilot. Without my plastic brain I would be late for appointments, would not be able to keep track of service needs of my fleet of vehicles, would not be able to write down jokes when I hear them so that I can recall them on an ad hoc basis...And it stores my phone contacts.

Mine dosen't have a mapping facility but it does have stored on it the colour codes for resitors, signal flags (should I ever have the need to send or recieve a signal from one of his majesty's ships) and a beaut little gem called the "Palma Sutra"... I never knew there were so many ways consenting adults could enjoy themselves.
All of it is free ware.
Great little gizmo of course super seeded by the blackberry but who cares, the marche of technologie shall neveair be alted....I'm in a french mood today No. 307 in the Palma Sutra.... Sibil, Sibil....
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Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 14:10

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 14:10
OK on Palma Sutra- but could be limited in a 9x9 touring tent, especially with that pole up the middle !!
But then.........
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Follow Up By: Footloose - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 20:53

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 20:53
Palma Sutra ...knew a woman called Palma once...seriously...it's an Italian name I believe. But her surname wasn't Sutra.

Palm Pilots eh ? I've no time for smaller than my eyes electronic gizmos....I'm waiting for the brain chip implant technology :))))))

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Reply By: Member - 'Lucy' - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:48

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:48
Sync the sucker and you have all your contacts (and details), Calender with appointment dates etc etc.

Also you can run it the same as your lap top if you wish.

Emails if you run blur tooth/wireless

Internet

List just goes on.

Shopping lists for the wife.

How to instructions for the wife on such things as lighting a fire, preping the toilet area, carting the water, changing the oil (just limited by your imagination.

Yep - PDA - wonderful invention
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Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 13:08

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 13:08
That calendar is really useful. We were sitting around the fire near Vokes Hill two weeks ago, and my mate's fancy PDA/phone went off reminding him of an appointment - I offered him the use of my HF Radio but he declined and chose to ignore it :-))
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Reply By: John R (SA) - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 13:16

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 13:16
Frequent functions of my marvellous electronic brain;
-diary
-address book
-mapping
-farm mgt software
-email (when away from home - check email with gadget going through phone)
-spreadsheets for stock trading, spray mixes, pasture growth, stock condition, local uhf channel users, fuel usage . . . .
-password manager

Wonderful inventions!
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Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 13:20

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 13:20
List of UHF repeaters- Now that's a good idea:-) Thanks.
Where would you bung it- in Word or Excel ??
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Follow Up By: John R (SA) - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 20:42

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 20:42
excel - easier to sort, list & search.

I don't use word much at all on the pda.
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Reply By: MikeyS - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 14:18

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 14:18
Pdf's of instructions books for various electronic do-dads, eg, uhf radios, cut and paste track notes, and the best one, Google Earth screen shots of tracks and other locations where the electronic maps are a bit dodgy. I could turn the Google Earth images into moving maps, but I need to have a few hours of uninterrupted time to work out how to do it.
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Reply By: Patrolman Pat - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 14:48

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 14:48
Haven't got past playing free cell on mine, but I'm getting some good ideas from this thread, such as UHF repeaters..
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Reply By: Member - Kingsley N (SA) - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 15:57

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 15:57
All of the above.

But be warned. If you change to Vista OS on your home PC or laptop the HP Ipaq 2210 that is much used and favoured by a number of members will no longer synchronise with Outlook. There is no driver support from MS or HP due to the new Windows Media Centre in Vista. I don't know how other PDA's fare but my three year old model is now superceded.
Fortunately it can still be recognised as a "removable storage device" so I can load maps, files etc for OZI CE. There was an issue loading the latest CE update onto the PDA but the OziExporer site has a workaround.

Progress and security courtesy of Bill Gates. My three year old HP scanner is no longer supported either.

Kingo
AnswerID: 243992

Follow Up By: Waynepd (NSW) - Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 06:14

Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 06:14
I use the palm desktop app for synching, it works on my vista laptop,
always had trouble with outlook even in XP. It kept producing multiple entries in calendar whenever i synched with it, couldn't find a fix so i switched to the desktop.

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Follow Up By: Member - Kingsley N (SA) - Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 14:33

Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 14:33
Waynepd,
I'm not sure what you are synching with Vista. Is it a Palm Pilot (Palm O/S) PDA or is a HP Ipaq PDA (pocket PC 2003 Windows OS)?

I used to have a Palm IV but it would not work with OziExplorer CE to give a moving map so I changed to the HP.

Vista expects to synch with Windows Mobile O/S

I am no computer expert, so I might have some terminologies mixed here!

Kingo
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Follow Up By: Waynepd (NSW) - Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 21:29

Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 21:29
Sorry Kingo,
I didn't spell it out in this follow up, i don't use the palm for mapping. Only synching appointments and tasks etc.
I am running a Palm T/X. It works with outlook but it kept creating new entries whenever i tried to update i have had better success with the palm desktop software
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Sunday, Jun 17, 2007 at 23:01

Sunday, Jun 17, 2007 at 23:01
Kingsley, I htought you were right for a while too but look for a program to download called Windows Mobile Device Center as a free download from MS Site Link it works with Windows Mobile 2003 ok
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Sunday, Jun 17, 2007 at 23:04

Sunday, Jun 17, 2007 at 23:04
Just as a note Kingsley, I had it working before I went OS in April
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Follow Up By: Member - Kingsley N (SA) - Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 09:56

Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 09:56
John,

Thanks for that link and information. I have had a quick read and it think it may be the goods!

I will download and report back later today.

Kingo
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Follow Up By: Member - Kingsley N (SA) - Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 11:59

Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 11:59
John,

It Works!

Thanks muchly. I was thinking about a new PDA and now the old one is OK. I also have a problem with my HP Scanner. Vista only allows limited use. I shall renew my search for a driver.

Kingo
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 14:57

Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 14:57
Glad it works mate. I quite like Vista despite the restrictions presented. Some things are a lot easier to connect.

We have a fax, scanner laser printer combo here that isn't supported. I think it is not so much Bill Gates as HP that thinks they will sell another one as this one is several years old. Planned obselesence in the computer industry you may deduce. If I want to print on the laser I have three other puters here I can do it from I guess, including the server. I guess there are a couple of other lasers on the network too, come to think of it.... {:-]
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Reply By: mike w (WA) - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 22:16

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 22:16
Only just set my Ipaq rz1710 up with mapping, but I also carry a copy of the rodeo manual in PDF format on a spare card. I have to squint (or use the zoom) but it is sure to get me out of trouble.
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Reply By: The Explorer - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 23:26

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 23:26
Hello - use mine mainily for gps mapping but have loaded the PDA version of Skype

www.skype.com/download/skype/mobile/

and now it can be used as a "phone" - requires internet connection but certainly worth having onboard. Skype phone calls are free computer (or PDA) to computer (or PDA). Calls to land lines are ~0.27 cents a minute. Mobiles ~ 27c a minute and SMS ~12cents. Probably wont use it much (because use PC version when possible) but its there if I need it.

Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 23:35

Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 23:35
Sorry - that should have been "Calls to land lines are ~2.7 cents a minute"

Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 10:15

Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 10:15
I thought you were just setting up a new provider Greg. Very industrious of you at 0.27 cents..... ;-)
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Follow Up By: John R (SA) - Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 13:48

Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 13:48
Conneting via a hotspot, if it's free access, would be quite worthwhile, but if your access is through a mobile phone while travelling, would that be considered data connection and rather quickly use up expensive data allowances?

Am I wrong, or does the connection not use much data?
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 15:02

Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 15:02
I am a bit with you John R, it is always better to use someone elses data charge but Greg can answer what he does. When I asked a cousin in Canada about his charge for data he did give me a funny look. Just a monthly nomatter how much he uses the connection like in cities here.

It is something dreamed up here so Telstra can get more 'value' (read charge like wounded bull) out of the bandwidth they have in rural Australia. I haven't used Skype becaue I always have to pay data rates.
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 23:37

Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 23:37
Hello again - RE Skype: you obviously have to take into consideration the cost of the internet connection/data cost to figure out which of the various options you may have available are cheapest. I can not comment as I do not know all the different plans available. Currently I am in Whim Creek – I have purchased 1 weeks wifi internet connection for $16 (100mb limit). Before hooking up burnt about $8 in phone calls using Telstra phone box in 2 days. So far with skype, after 4 days, I have used up about $3 and made many more calls. It wont be the best option in all circumstances but include it in your arsenal – it costs nothing if you don use it – unlike your mobile/sat phone.
Cheers
Greg

I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 08:21

Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 08:21
Thanks for that Greg, interesting and worth looking further to. The wireless may be more stable than the Nex G wireless too which seems a bit up and down here but may be issues of trees and the like across the landscape.
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Sunday, Jun 17, 2007 at 22:54

Sunday, Jun 17, 2007 at 22:54
G'day Greg, just bring this post back to life as I have Skype on both the PDA and the laptop now. Hope to use it over Next G while at Warraweena. Be interesting to see how far we can stretch. Better try to get through to camp when we are there Greg.......
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 00:02

Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 00:02
John - good stuff. Report back on usefulness. Most importantly have good trip

Regards
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 07:37

Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 07:37
I haven't got to calling any phones Greg, and the only contacts I have are an old reprobate in Peterborough and a cousin in the UK who uses it when travelling, through his laptop.
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Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 09:54

Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 09:54
I'm still trying to master "bubble breaker" on mine.

I actually don't use mine for much other than turn by turn direction in the city areas and OziExplorer in the country.

I have however, set up a little excel file to convert HK$ to AUS$ for a holiday I'm going on shortly.

I don't use the PDA for calendar functions, contact lists etc. I already have that feature on the mobile phone and it works very well with Nokia PC Suite and a blue tooth dongle.
Synchronises Office Outlook between the PC and the phone and the phone is something I always have with me.
Bill


I'm diagonally parked in a parallel Universe!

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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 10:18

Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 10:18
Thoughts of leaving mine on a plane seven weeks ago had me in a panic. It was fortunately just further down the cabin bag. Phew
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Reply By: Richard W (NSW) - Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 20:08

Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 at 20:08
Great for storing and playing MP3's through an FM transmitter to the car radio. I've got about 800 songs on 2 SD cards. It can do this at the same time as running Ozi.
As others have said can be also used to get onto the internet using a phone as modem.
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Reply By: Waynepd (NSW) - Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 06:27

Sunday, Jun 03, 2007 at 06:27
Hi Signman,
I don't use it for mapping but i get reminders for bills, meds, anniversaries etc. I also have the adobe acrobat reader installed for reading manuals etc.
It also reads word docs. I made a recipe book for bush camp recipes, created from some posts to this very forum last year i think it was. It travels in my King Gees workpants in its own zip pocket so it isn't a load to carry around and i can hear it call me when i need to remember something.

From a work point of view i store our shift roster, any overtime worked and some work procedures i need to be reminded of occasionally.

I bought it as a novelty/curiosity to start with now i can't function without it.
AnswerID: 244282

Reply By: equinox - Tuesday, Jun 05, 2007 at 19:59

Tuesday, Jun 05, 2007 at 19:59
I just uploaded the complete "Explorations in Australia" by John Forrest, complete with pictures, for reading and reference for when I am away.

Looking for adventure.
In whatever comes our way.



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Reply By: Skippy In The GU - Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 08:20

Monday, Jun 18, 2007 at 08:20
I play Solitaire, calculator and record notes with mine, it's much easier than typing into the tiny keyboard.
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