Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 21:58:05 06/18/01
Go up one level in this thread
On June 18, 2001 at 21:06:12, stuart taylor wrote:
>On June 17, 2001 at 17:04:05, Christophe Theron wrote:
>
>>On June 17, 2001 at 11:34:09, stuart taylor wrote:
>>
>>> 1.Can someone explain to me exactly what Palm is good for, what it is and what
>>>it does?
>>
>>
>>It is a true computer that fits in your hand and allows you to carry a lot of
>>your important data with you all the time.
>>
>>You can easily transfer data from your PC to your Palm, and easily transfer it
>>back to the PC if you have made any change. By easy I mean really easy. You put
>>the Palm on its cradle and push ONE button.
>>
>>The Palms come with various memory sizes, currently 4 or 8Mb is common. That is
>>plenty of space. You cannot compare PC memory size with Palm memory size. On the
>>PC, 8Mb is ridiculously small (the system doesn't even fit in!) but on the Palm
>>it represents thousands of pages of information.
>>
>>The Palm is also presented as a sophisticated organizer, but it is actually a
>>true computer.
>>
>>It has a graphical operating system. I find the Palm Operating System (PalmOS)
>>to be rather close to the first versions of MacOs. So for me the Palm is a
>>little bit like a Mac Classic in my pocket. As a matter of facts it uses the
>>same processor as the first Macintoshs.
>>
>>The mouse is replaced by the stylus. The keyboard is replaced by handwritting
>>recognition (or a virtual onscreen popup keyboard).
>>
>>The PalmOS operating system is well documented and there exists commercial as
>>well as free tools to write programs for it. So thousands of developpers have
>>created thousands of applications for it.
>>
>>If you want to see what it can do, then you need to have a look at the
>>applications that run on it.
>>
>>Just go there:
>>
>> http://www.palmgear.com
>>
>>it is just one of the sites that offer to download PalmOS applications. Some of
>>them are free, some of them are not, but generally a Palm application is not
>>expensive.
>>
>>There are currently close to 15 million Palm users in the world.
>>
>>This represents IIRC 70% of the market of handheld computers.
>>
>>The rest is composed of various handheld models which are not compatible with
>>each other.
>>
>>PocketPC represents IIRC someting like 10% of the market at this time.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> 2.Can the best buy be recomended?
>>
>>
>>3Com, the original creator of the Palm, has been very wise by agreeing to sell
>>licences of his OS to other companies.
>>
>>So at this time there are several companies that offer PalmOS computers. A true
>>"Palm" is the one sold by 3Com/USRobotics, but Sony, Handspring and IBM as well
>>as other less known companies all manufacture PalmOS computers.
>>
>>99% of the PalmOS applications will run indifferently on any of these computers.
>>So you do not need to care about compatibility, you just need to find the right
>>model for you.
>>
>>Personally I would suggest that you have a closer look at the Palm Vx (8Mb of
>>RAM, and currently rather cheap) or one of the high end Handspring models (some
>>are running faster than their 3Com equivalents, which is better for chess
>>programs).
>>
>>Go to:
>>
>> http://www.palm.com
>>
>> http://www.handspring.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> 3.Obviously I'm also interested in chess program(s) for Palm. I'm sorry that I
>>>never read most of these threads about it, but now I'm asking, in a nutshell,
>>>what are the features and elo estimate of Palm Tiger?
>>
>>
>>Chess Tiger for Palm is a COMPLETE port of the Chess Tiger 14 engine (it is
>>actually more advanced than Chess Tiger 14).
>>
>>I estimate that on a fast Palm it is between 2100 and 2200 SSDF elo.
>>
>>Go to my website to find more:
>>
>> http://www.chesstiger.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> 4. Others?
>>
>>
>>Richard Land has ported his 1987 version (Mephisto Roma) to the Palm under the
>>name ChessGenius. This one does not have hash tables, but plays well.
>>
>> http://www.chessgenius.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> 5.Can Palm access internet together with cellphone? If so, how much can be
>>>displayed on it?
>>
>>
>>Yes, I can read/answer my emails and access the Web with my Palm.
>>
>>In order to do so you need:
>>* a compatible cell phone
>>* a Palm mail client and Web browser
>>
>>I'm using a Nokia 8210 cell phone. The good thing with this one is that it is a
>>Nokia (the best cell phone manufacturer out there), it's very small, and it has
>>an infrared port. So I don't need to plug any cable in when I want to access the
>>net. The phone and my Palm are connected together by the IR ports.
>>
>>If you have another phone, you might need a cable to connect the phone and the
>>Palm.
>>
>>The screen is a little bit small to display Web pages, but it works anyway. for
>>example I can do a search at Yahoo without any problem. With the Web browser I'm
>>using (Eudora) I cannot see graphics, but some browsers will display them.
>>
>>There are also WAP browsers for the Palm if you are interested in WAP.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> 6.Is it any good for graphics, or even video?
>>
>>
>>You can display graphics on the Palm. Most Palms allow grayscale graphics. Some
>>of them do have color screens.
>>
>>There are applications that allow you to carry photo albums with you.
>>
>>Video will be possible later, when the processors of the Palm have been upgraded
>>to the brand new models from Motorola with an ARM (RISC) core.
>>
>>
>>
>>>Thanks for answers!
>>>(The idea is that I'm about to leave for the USA where it is much better to buy
>>>such a thing than in Israel. I expect to be away for about 5 weeks. Farewell! in
>>>about another 40 hours, and I'll be checking in until then.)
>>
>>
>>There are currently real bargains on the Palm market. Palm has big inventories
>>at this time and is offering special prices. That's the right time to buy a Palm
>>in the US I guess.
>>
>>
>>
>> Christophe
>
>I can't describe how appreciative I am for all your carefull and long
>informative answers, Christophe.
> The only problem is that I'm leaving in about 8-10 hours from now, and I simply
>don't have time to study all about it.
> If you or someone can recommend an exact thing which is best for relatively
>reasonable cost, I think that might help me much more than if I have to simply
>rely on an eager salesman!
>Thanks very much.
>S.Taylor
I have not studied very carefully all the differences between the models, so I
fear you'll have to go to these sites (Palm and Handspring) and have a look for
yourself.
I have a PalmIIIx, but it's an outdated model. You must buy a PalmVx or above,
in any case buy a 8Mb model. Be also careful about the processor speed.
Christophe
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