Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 17

Just looking for some insight into this "problem".

I just got off the phone with Handspring Tech support. (I think Steve was his name)

I was calling regarding the possibility of not being able to upgrade the Visor OS when new OS's become available. Steve informed me that I was correct and that you can not upgrade to a new OS because of the type of ROM used by the Visor. (Not a flash ROM)

This is also a problem that Visor is not currently addressing and he didn't know if it would be in the future.

I would like to now if I am being overly concerned by this possible hinderense (quirk) of the Visor.

If not, I may change my order for a Pro and step down to a "standard" model.

Thanks in advance.

CZ

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Spokane, WA, USA
Posts: 114

Haven't you been reading any other posts about this FlashROM problem? It just seems to go on and on.

Here's my take (sorry for everyone else who's already seen this three or more times)... I don't think the lack of FlashROM is a big issue. If there are going to be significant changes from say OS 3.1 to OS 4.0, it is quite likely that you'll need different hardware anyway in order to take advantage of it (color support?).

If there aren't significant changes from 3.1 to 4.0, then who cares? The main thing is that the machine works. The machine will continue to work even if OS 6.0 comes out.

The processor is only so fast, you only have so many shades of grey that are worth looking at, the screen is only so big (although slightly smaller on the Visor & Palm V), it's resolution is set, color isn't an option, OS 3.1 has already been optimized from OS 3.0, and OS patches can be applied rather invisibly to the user.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

It depends on what you are going to do with the Palm OS 3.3. Someone once posted the key features to the Pilot mailing list:
-Sync up to 115Kbps (The Visor uses USB which is faster)
-IR HotSync (there is 3rd party software for this)
-Euro currency symbol support (you may or may not need this)
-Can use all Comm ports (N/A for Visor because it uses USB)
-Enhanced login scripting for token-based authentication systems (Do you logon with your Palm organizer?)
-System patch 3.1.1, to fix problems with screen refresh and clicking noises. (Download from 3com and install in Handspring RAM)

Overall, not much. The way I see it, if you are happy with the OS rev that comes with the Visor, you have no need to upgrade.



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James Hromadka
http://come.to/hromadka