Registered: Jun 2002
Location: By the toilet.
Posts: 174

Beam that doc!

It seemed that I'm always clicking on that frowning face emoticon lately.

I was a my client's office yesterday and after going through some discussions, he said he had a few word documents which he wanted me to see through in his laptop. He offered to take a diskette and copy it for me.

Well since my disk drive died loong ago (from prolonged dust accumulation) and I noticed that his laptop PC has an IR port, an idea popped up in my head;

Why not beam the documents to me? That'll be faster and I will literally have the documents right in my hand!

It was not the case. The IR port couldn't detect the Visor's but mine was able send information to his laptop. After several failed attempts, we went back to the very 80's way - transfer it via diskette.

Anybody ever attempted this before and succeeded?

I had the beaming receive on all the time and obviously was not stupid enough to block the IR path.

__________________
I'm just a dreamer..

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: By the toilet.
Posts: 174

Hmm.

Since no one replied my message might as well reply myself.

Okay, I assume that this is not possible, because of differing standards of the file formats of Palm and PC.

And I also assume that no one has succeeded in attempting this before.

AND I assume that it would be quite possible (perhaps even quick and easy) with PocketPCs devices.

The last assumption alone is enough reason for me to switch over to that platform, even though I would prefer not to, but since productivity is of number one importance, there'd not much of a choice for me or for my clients' sake.

And since im sulking about the Palm format, might as well throw in how I liked the fact that the Gameboy Advance was able to process some of my favorite old skool games such as Yoshi Island and Final Fantasy / Chrono Trigger type RPGs, that I wished that PDAs could do that too.

Yeah I'm getting a bit nostalgic but heck, after seeing my friend's brother's Gamboy Advance, Bejeweled just seemed that so much bland.

__________________
I'm just a dreamer..

Registered: Aug 2002
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 108

I think you hit the nail on the head. The two file formats were not compatible. You should check before you take the plunge, I do not know the answer, but MS Word for PPC may be different and incompatible with MS Word for Windows PC (Word 97, Office 2000, etc.)

A better solution could be to convert the Word document (in Word using "Save As", to plain text, a .txt file, which should output an ASCII data stream through the IR port. Your Visor should recognize the ASCII text and place it in a memo file (I think). You would lose formatting, but all the text and punctuation would be there.

Or will it only recognize .prc and .pdb files? I don't know but it may be worth a try.

Do a search on the web and see if there are any Palm OS programs that can import ASCII directly via IR, or better yet, import .rtf files (Rich Text Files, a generic word processing format included in many versions of Word)

Lastly, you could carry around your Palm Desktop 4.1 CD-ROM and ask if it is OK to install (explain the advantage of being able to Hot/Synch files to patient's PDA's), and possibly a MS Word compatible Palm program, like Word to Go, Wordsmith, Quickword, etc.

And regarding PDA gaming, I think you are missing the point. PDA games exist mainly as time killers. No one claims they can equal the experience of a dedicated gaming unit. Of course you can have more serious fun on a Gameboy Advance, just as you can do a lot more number crunching, graphics, etc. on a Notebook PC than you can on any PDA. I think it is pretty cool that I can play games (hey, I like Bejeweled, and of lot of people play it on PC's too!), take notes, keep a calendar, access my address book, monitor my To Do list, etc. etc. all on the same pocketable unit. Try doing those on a Gameboy Advance!

I remember the old story about the fighter pilot who pulled alongside an old cargo plane flying on the same heading. The fighter jock called over on the radio, "Hey, watch this!", then zooms off ahead, does a few barrel rolls, some loops, and other tricks, then pulls back alongside, saying, "can you do that?" The crusty old cargo skipper, radios back, "Watch this!", then leaves the cockpit for about 1/2 hour during which time the two planes maintained a steady course and altitude. Finally the cargo pilot returns, and the fighter pilot asks, "well, what did you do?" The cargo pilot replies, "I just went into the back, had a smoke, took a cr@p, lay down for a short nap, got up and stretched my legs and fixed a fresh pot of coffee which I am enjoying now. Can you do that?"

And with springboard modules on a Visor you can do even more. It will be a long time before SD devices for Treo, Palm, and others catch up. And PPC's need a "sled" to enhance functionality? OH, Please! What a Shame Handspring abandoned the Visor and Springboard, just as they were starting to really catch on.

__________________
The Prismer

"I am not a number, I am a person!"

Registered: Aug 2002
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 108

Re: Beam that doc!

quote:

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Originally posted by Digisane


He offered to take a diskette and copy it for me.

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__________________
The Prismer

"I am not a number, I am a person!"

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: By the toilet.
Posts: 174

Ow ow owowow

quote:

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Originally posted by Prismer2
I think you hit the nail on the head. The two file formats were not compatible. You should check before you take the plunge, I do not know the answer, but MS Word for PPC may be different and incompatible with MS Word for Windows PC (Word 97, Office 2000, etc.)

A better solution could be to convert the Word document (in Word using "Save As", to plain text, a .txt file, which should output an ASCII data stream through the IR port. Your Visor should recognize the ASCII text and place it in a memo file (I think). You would lose formatting, but all the text and punctuation would be there.

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__________________
I'm just a dreamer..

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: By the toilet.
Posts: 174

Re: Re: Beam that doc!

quote:

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Originally posted by Prismer2

"Diskette", as in Floppy? How last millenium is that? My new notebook does not even have floppy drive, although I do wish the DVD-Rom drive was also a burner.

I guess it could be handy if you deal with a lot of techno-phobes and cheapskates who won't update their own or their employees equipment, even though it could mean enhanced productivity and higher worker morale. Those guys are usually, the "Bottom Line" type, who don't believe in intangible costs. The funny thing is they will usually believe just about any lie you can put on a spreadsheet!

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__________________
I'm just a dreamer..