VisorCentral.com - Mac Users: Please share your experiences!

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-- Mac Users: Please share your experiences! (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=987)

Posted by OpasM on 01-26-2000 10:17 PM:

If you use a Mac of any kind and sync to a Visor or Visor Deluxe through a USB or Serial cradle, please share your experiences (good and bad), troubleshooting tips, solutions, workarounds, etc.

Posted by DSRiley on 01-27-2000 03:27 AM:

I use a PowerBook 5300, and a PowerBase 240 (Mac clone) with a USB card installed. On the whole I'm very happy with the Visor and my Mac.

On the PowerBook, I use a serial cradle for syncing. I also connect to an AppleTalk printer, and they both share the only serial port. So I have to set the HotSync Manager Hotsync Controls to disabled. When I want to HotSync, I switch AppleTalk off, and then enable the HotSync when I need to sync. It syncs most of the time but can be very slow sometimes. I've occasionally had the HotSync abort in the middle of the sync, but resyncing seems to work.

On the PowerBase, I initially had some problems possibly due to the Serial Manager software. I did the same thing I did on the PowerBook and disabled the HotSync Control. I turn it on when it's time to sync. The USB cradle syncs much faster than the serial cradle, and I haven't had any problems with it sharing USB with my Epson printer.

On a plus note, I have reduced the use of my PowerBook significantly. With the instant on and off on the Visor, why wait to fire up the PB 5300, when I'm there in seconds with the Visor. For the most part everything syncs well on both machines. I get occasional duplicate appointments and address entries, like people on other platforms, so I use UnDupe to remove them and it removes them from the Palm Desktop program. Since I used Claris Organizer previously, It feels like being back home again. The Palm Desktop for the Mac is so much nicer thant the PC equivalent it's not funny.

On the whole, I wouldn't trade my Visor and Macs for anything, they're great!

Posted by DSRiley on 01-27-2000 03:28 AM:

Posted by blueUser on 01-27-2000 05:01 AM:

I use a PowerMac 7300 with an added USB card and a Blue Visor Deluxe. I love it. Quick, easy synching and software installation. I hav enot had a single problem with the Visor or the Mac connection.

Posted by matty on 01-27-2000 11:06 PM:

i'm an imaccer macos8.5, and mainly, it's great. i sync really fast via the usb connection.

but: there's an issue between palm instant desktop and the finder - mainly the finder hates it so much, it'd rather quit than stick around, and you can imagine how hairy that is...
so, i disabled the instant desktop extension.
the serial port monitor is also a source of constant foulups (maybe because i'm a usber - perhaps its fine with serialists. so that extension goes too.

by the by: these things only add the sligtest of conveniences when properly functioning - the tradeoff of nothing vs. screaming fantods from the computer was an easy one to make.

then there's the issue about the "included" games. included for the pc maybe, but they don't install in the mac st-up, and i've been unable to extract them from the cd. so no free games.

there's a syncing issue with outlook express and multi-mail--which you need if you want to read email from your mac - agin a little bonus the pc crew gets for free that we have to purchase --it downloads mail from the computer just fine, but when you try to upload, your visor created emails disappear. i hope the folks at actual software (multimail's creators) are working on a fix.

and everyone keeps talking about avantgo - but there's not a mac conduit for it yet.

so- there's the litany. but...

i use a mac at home, and a pc at work, and macs are so much better than machines running windows that i thank my lucky stars every single day that my dad raised me on apples. i wouldn't trade my mac for anything but a better mac

hope that helps.

matty

[This message has been edited by matty (edited 01-27-2000).]

[This message has been edited by matty (edited 01-27-2000).]

Posted by OpasM on 01-28-2000 12:30 AM:

Matty:
Are you able to HotSync without serial port monitor? What happens when you enable HotSyncing? Doesn't Serial Port Monitor run anyway? Or did you trash it? This is a significant issue to me, as I'm trying to isolate a problem, and your input is greatly anticipated.

Thanks!

Posted by matty on 01-28-2000 04:13 PM:

opasm

all i did was take the serial port monitor alias out of the the startup folder. i made an alias of the hotsync manager and put it on the desktop (along with an alias for palm desktop because of the instant desktop trauma). i do not have the hot sync manager set to enable on startup (if you do that, the serial port monitor is always on, running from the startup folder which in turn is located in the system folder of your mac).

when i want to hotsync, i open the hotsnc manager, enable it using the radio button, press the hotsync button on the cradle, and go. (there is no need to restart the mac after enabling the device - it's not reinstalling anything.)

so the serial port monitor does turn on as part of the syncing process, i guess it's some sort of built in scripting feature, and then it turns off when the sync is over. i've had none of my original mac/palm snafus since that workaround.

hope it helps.

matty.

Posted by AGreene on 01-29-2000 08:14 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by OpasM:
If you use a Mac of any kind and sync to a Visor or Visor Deluxe through a USB or Serial cradle, please share your experiences (good and bad), troubleshooting tips, solutions, workarounds, etc.

I have a handsprinf deluxe which I have been syncing sucessfully with both my serail machine at home and my USB machine at work. Now the USB cradle refuses to sync. Another friend at work is haivng the identical problem. We have done everything we could think of, minimum extension sets, reinstalls, changing ports, swithcing ports, all to no avail. 1 1/2 hours of hold time to handspring, and they seemed pretty clueless- they are sending along another cradle. Anyone have experience with this?

Posted by OpasM on 01-30-2000 12:33 AM:

AGreene:
Have you tried a pin reset on the Visor while it is in the cradle? I heard that that has worked for some people. Good luck!

Posted by AGreene on 01-31-2000 06:50 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by OpasM:
AGreene:
Have you tried a pin reset on the Visor while it is in the cradle? I heard that that has worked for some people. Good luck!

Thanks- that did the trick. Why didn't handspring suggest this, I wonder.

Posted by alexbfi on 09-14-2000 05:03 PM:

"USB" option in Local Setup

Here's a recasting of a post I put in another thread. Seems it belongs here too:

My boss has been having similar hotsynching problems between his iMac running MacOS 8.6 and his Visor via USB cradle. Seems no way around a reboot before every hotsynch. The serial port monitor also quits with a "Type 3" error.

A complicating factor, however, which might help others trying to sort through this hotsynching mess is in the Hotsynch Manager setup.

I found that when the Local Setup is set to "Handspring USB" (as anyone would figure), hotsynching does NOT work, period, no matter how many reboots and resets you try.

However, there is a capricious extra setting in the Local Setup list called simply "USB". When that is selected, hotsynching works. It only appears after a reboot, so I suspect it is associated with the Serial Port Monitor that always wants to quit after your first hotsynch and can only be brought up again after a reboot.

Is there such a thing as an upgrade for the Serial Port Monitor? Seems that's what's really needed here.

This whole situation seems rather disgraceful to me, especially the apparent cluelessness of the Handspring techs. Very surprising to me that this chronic problem hasn't reached mini-scandal proportions in the tech press. Do Palm devices have the same problems synching with Macs?

Do Handspring techs even know about these forums? Unlike the MacFixIt forums, these discussions are mainly speculations and experimentations shared among hapless, dedicated users who are spending hours of their valuable time trying various things. Seems a lot of confusion on BOTH sides could be cleared up with some expert involvement here.

Replies welcome.

-Alex Yourke

Posted by BobMcD on 09-22-2000 09:07 PM:

Can't synch email addresses

I have a new iMac running MacOS 9 and have problems synching email addresses with Now Contact. NC takes the Visor's email addresses and puts them in Custom Field 5. But on subsequent synchs the addresses are wiped off the Visor and a note appears in the address record giving an error message and the email address. Does anyone know how to map these fields properly?

__________________
Best Regards
Bob McDermott

Posted by vsurfer on 09-23-2000 03:01 AM:

Mac user's experience

opas,

I have an iMac Dv running 9.0 and a VDX running 2.1 I think.
I am not changing Os on either since they are both working well. (Though I'll try OS X on another partition when it's ready for public consumption.)

There have been times I have toyed with the idea of going back to the Dark side...Windows and Palm, but I love my mac too much. I use a good PC running the cursed Windows 2000 Professional, as well as a G3 Mac, -- a PC just isn't the same experience. I am a mac convert (even though my Imac was recently very naughty).

Anyway, I remember how frustrating this was, so here's a repaste of stuff I posted on 4/18/00. I don't remember much about this now, or the order in which every thing happened

but this synopsis was key

synopsis: save user data, uninstall, reinstall & unchecking the defaulted "local setup" in Hotsync Manager seems to be key for me.

SO HERE GOES:
Post from 4/18/00
<<This has a happy ending, sort of, so read on if you are mac frozen in the sync zone.

synopsis: save user data, uninstall, reinstall & unchecking the defaulted "local setup" in Hotsync Manager seems to be key for me.

First sync was did not merge handheld data with already existing user data from my pre-Visor use of Palm Desktop. Then began a litany of crashing & freezing woes. Beginning with "serial port in use by another extension or application" "reset serial port" -- which did not work-- deleting old palm 2.5 files (except "user data" saved elsewhere) reinstalling from the handspring disk, conflict catching, swithching to a "standard set" of extensions that worked before Vdx etc etc.

unchecking the defaulted "local setup" in Hotsync Manager seems to be key for me.

Only USB setup remains checked. This seems to prevent conflict with the modem when going online, preventing type 11 (i believe) error messages.

Saved user data copy in a safe place away from palm files, about to be uninstalled.
Also, "exported" (not just copied) user data which was different than the data on my handheld, into a new file outside of Palm folders.

Ultimately "de-installed" (not merely deleted) palm via handspring disk and resinstalled fresh from handspring disk. (this was to avoid any possible typographical error in user name config). Installing the software again then imported the files to go with existing records. Which worked. until the next morning when the Visor went into fatal error mode...to be continued...>>

<<Reply to OS ?'s:

[I'm using 2.1

if it continues to work. i'll stick with it.

If not then I'll be checking out 2.6. I'd liek to see other's experiences with 2.6 before I take the plunge. Same way as i will stick with OS 9 for a while -- i see 9.0.4 is buggin up the synch it seems in some quarters
Vsurfer]>>

<<CONTINUED
So having gone to bed flush with the success of a successful - or so i thought -- sync up, and a burgeoning address book, and a spiffy calendar blooming onthe desktop. I woke up to
a fatal error, the next morning.

Could it have been because I had more than 15 categories "somewhere" and that one of those categories had a name with more than 15 letters? as the sync log revealed? Who knows?

Tried the soft reset, but the machine just kept on blinking "Palm Computing Platform" for a long time. Patience did not have any rewards here.

Went into a meeting and by the time I was out, the thing was just flashing lines down the screen. Another soft reset attempt left it dead to the world. And I guess the batteries went from 50% to 0% in that time.

Back home I plugged a few new batteries in and found a revived but, however, completely amnesiac Vdx. good thing we have a backup of the data on the desktop, eh?

last nite's sync-up had reinitiated the serial port monitor conflict/freeze/crash syndrome. This time I unchecked the "local setup" box in "Hotsync manager". (leaving only the "USB setup" option checked). THe sync worked and we seem to be back in business.
Vsurfer

<<Make sure that you double your memory on Hot Sync Manager and Conduit Manager. That solved a lot of problems for me including random loss of data.>>
rmross

Posted by vsurfer on 09-23-2000 03:09 AM:

Mac user's experience

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