New Buyer Question on Application install and restore

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops (More info?)

Hi,
I am about to buy my first PDA and I have a question about program installs
on the Palm OS, do I need a computer to run installations of new
applications and also if I have to hard reset the palm, do I need a desktop
to restore my data or can it be done via a SD card?
All views welcome
Patrick

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops (More info?)

This is one of the best answers I have seen on any newsgroup. Detailed,
precise, anticipates the real needs of the user and dead on. Mr. Harris
has done an excellent job.


On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 22:57:27 GMT, Bob Harris <harris@zk3.dec.com> wrote:

>Generally a computer (PC, Mac, Linux with some work on your part) is
>used to run the desktop software that will sync with your PDA and in the
>process also install new applications and other stuff. It is much more
>difficult without it, but it is possible.
>
>If you have a PDA that has the ability to connect to the network (via
>built-in WiFi, BlueTooth to a cell phone to the internet, infrared to a
>cell phone to the internet), then it might be possible to download a new
>application directly to your PDA via the net. But you will most likely
>need a utility to uncompress zip files (some PDAs include this, some do
>not; my Sony CLIE TH55 does have it as part of its "CLIE Files" utility.
>
>If your PDA includes a removable storage card, you can sometimes (but
>not often) buy applications on storage cards (mostly I've seen game
>packs). I would not count on this as different Palm OS PDA makers used
>different removable storage card formats and software makers find it
>much easier to just send a CD or have you download the program off the
>internet.
>
>If you have a way to get applications copied onto an external storage
>card (a friend or via a computer with a multi-card capable card reader),
>then you can use that method to get applications loaded on your PDA.
>
>If you have a friend with the application loaded on their PDA, then they
>can "Beam" it to you (assuming it is freeware, or you are going to pay
>the shareware fee, or you have purchased the licensed software and the
>friend is just providing you a transfer service)
>
>Some licensed and shareware software requires a license registration
>code and to get one you need to have a HotSync name. This is generally
>assigned during HotSync with your computer, but you can get a utility
>called "palmname.prc" that can set the HotSync name on your Palm device
>without needing to HotSync with a computer.


>A desktop where you have HotSync'ed recently to your Palm can restore
>your data.
>
>But it is often times much easier to have a backup on a removal storage
>card. BackupMan, BackupBuddyVFS, FlyBackup are some of the utilities
>that can maintain a backup on a storage card for you.
>
>Note: If you are not loading lots of new applications on your PDA, then
>for the most part it will tend to remain stable and you will not find
>that you need to do a hard (or even a soft) reset. Once I figured out
>all the applications and utilities I wanted on my old Handspring Visor
>Edge, I maybe had a soft reset once a year, and no hard resets. But in
>the first few months after I got it, I was downloaded anything and
>everything experimenting to see what I could do with my new toy. And
>during that time, I found some stinker programs that did nasty things to
>my PDA. Then having a backup on my Mac was very useful. I just
>recently upgraded to a Sony CLIE TH55 and I'm going thought the download
>everything and anything to see what a color PDA can do. I run a
>scheduled backup utility every night at 1AM to make sure that the next
>stinker program does not loose my stuff. I figure that sometime around
>September/October, I'll have settled down and will no longer be in the
>experimental mode.
>
> Bob Harris

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