VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Visor & Deluxe (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)
-- Do I need serial cable cradle? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=1055)

I do not have a visor yet- have been researching PDAs for about a month. Thought I wanted a palm, but after researching the visors, I think I can get more for my money there. My question is- I'm not sure if I can use the USB cradle or need to purchase the serial cradle. I am getting windows 98 and a USB port in an upgrade at work on my PC. But, we do our calender, e-mail, and to do list on Outlook. Outlook is on the server for the office which runs windows NT. What do all you experts think?

If the machine you're plugging the cradle into is running Win98 as you said, you should be fine. Synching to is supported, and Win98 hotsynching can be done with the stock USB cradle.

I've got Win98 at home and use the USB cradle. At work we run WindowsNT...so I've got a serial cradle hooked up there. I've had no trouble with either system or cradle.

When your Visor HotSyncs, it is working off (or through) the applications installed on your local machine. As long as your installation of Outlook is working, you should be able to sync with it. However, there are some things to keep in mind:

ONE: For USB to work reliably, your computer needs a recent BIOS. Some of the problems that I have encountered were due to older system BIOS that were not fully USB compliant. Conservatively, if you have a Pentium II - 400MHz (or better), you should be fine. Also, USB has to be enabled (there is a BIOS setting for this). If you use a USB hub, make sure that it is powered (connects to a power "brick"). Operating a scanner, ZipDrive, printer or camera on any USB chain at the same time as you are trying to HotSync is going to be a problem. In fact, I could only get some user's systems to work reliably if they only connected one USB device at a time (ZipDrives and scanners are the worst). Sorry, but there it is - - USB is still subject to compatibility problems, at least on PCs (might be better on Macs). If you can afford it, a serial cradle is some insurance (but it is still no guarantee - - some folks have problems with these as well).

TWO: If you have aggressive settings for power management, they can really screw with USB. For some reason, some systems don't consider USB activity when polling for system status, and drop into low power mode. Screen savers can also screw things up.

THREE: While the bundled Outlook connector works, it will only sync with your in-box. It won't work with subfolders (bummer if you use rules to sort in-coming mail into folders).

[This message has been edited by yucca (edited 02-09-2000).]

[This message has been edited by yucca (edited 02-09-2000).]

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I will have 233Mhz, and no USB "hub" - just one or two ports. But the company upgrading our computers assures me my computer and operating system will support an USB port and any applications. I hope he is right.