Quickies: WordSmith, Ir Blaster, Car Mounts, Poll, SF

Posted By: As Listed Friday, May 17, 2002 8:35:53 AM

Blue Nomad has quietly released WordSmith 2.1.5, which can take advantage of the 320 by 480 screen on Sony's NR series. It is a free upgrade. -Michael Reyes

Tech Center Labs has the Ir Blaster for Clié, which greatly improves the range of OmniRemote and RoboRemote for LEGO Mindstorms. It works with the N and S series. -Nicholas J. Penree

Revolve Design has released car mounts for the HandEra 330 and the Palm m100, m105 and IIIc. They make ones that let users HotSync, and recharge the batteries, as well as ones with built-in keyboards. -Seán Hennessy

There is a new poll on the PIC homepage asking "When will you get a Palm OS 5 handheld?" -Ed

The next meeting of the SF Palm User Group is tomorrow, May 18. There will be a presentation from riteMail and prizes from HandsHigh Software. -Tony Ching

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Silver Screen 2.7?

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/17/2002 9:16:49 AM #
Can't seem to find ver. 2.7 Any links?
RE: Silver Screen 2.7?
Ed @ 5/17/2002 9:22:25 AM #
Between last night and this morning, Pocket Sensei has removed SilverScreen 2.7 from its site. I'll write to Bohm and see if I can find out what's going on.

Until then, I removed the quickie.

---
News Editor

RE: Silver Screen 2.7?
Ed @ 5/17/2002 10:24:51 AM #
Here's the message I received from Bohm at Pocket Sensei:
None of our testers reported any problems with version 2.7; however in the few hours since it was released, users reported fatal errors accessing applications on the card.

We had to make the quick decision to pull 2.7 and revert to version 2.6.5. We will return to version 2.7 after we have investigated the reports.

They have been up all night working on it so hopefully they'll have the bug worked out soon.

---
News Editor
RE: Silver Screen 2.7?
big_raji @ 5/17/2002 10:37:33 AM #
Impressive. I actually see this as a good sign of the company, if they're going to pull a product and work out some bugs a little more, AND admit it.

Personally, I don't think I'd ever try Silver Screen (too happy with MegaLauncher), but now I won't be afraid to try it. :)

---
What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://raj.phangureh.com/picture.html

RE: Silver Screen 2.7?
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/17/2002 11:31:51 AM #
I can confirm this - I happened to DL 2.7 last night. Having not used SilverScreen in a while, I'd forgotten if PowerRun ws necessary to move things to the mem stick, or if Silver included as powerful the functions (running direct from stick for instance). I moved one game (Boxes) to the stick, and got a crash/reset all three times I tried to run it.

No biggie, Power Run still works fine.

Why call it "quiet release" ?

fkclo @ 5/17/2002 10:02:03 AM #
I received notice from Blue Nomad about the v2.1.5 upgrade shortly before the same is posted at PalmGear. I didn't notice anything difference in how is update is communicated to users, as compared to v2.1.4, v2.1.3....

Was there an update which is more "noisy" ? :-)

Francis

WordSmith XP support

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/17/2002 10:58:45 AM #
I'm still waiting for Blue Nomad to provide better support for Office XP. I have great difficulty with syncing documents over from Word XP. I have to put the document in RTF format before conversion because conversion directly from the Word format does not work at all. In addition, the add-in, pull-down menu that Wordsmith adds to Word does not work. If you read up on the issue on the Blue Nomad site, it really looks like a nasty problem, with some repairs involving reinstalling Office, not just running a repair of Office.

Maybe Microsoft is playing games and making syncronization more difficult. Some of the documentation produced during the the monopoly hearings have suggested as much.

I love WordSmith. I just hope this is the next issue the company addresses. Support for hi-res screens is great, but who cares if you can't sync smoothly?

JBH

RE: WordSmith Word XP support
bookrats @ 5/17/2002 11:50:50 AM #
I haven't found this to be a problem, myself -- basically because, from day 1 with WordSmith, I've saved any documents in MS Word to RTF format if I plan to have them hotsynced to my PDA with WordSmith.

This has actually been convenient for me: it identifies which of my documents on my PC are being hotsynced with WordSmith (I don't save files to RTF for any other reason). As to the Wordsmith menu in Word, I don't use it -- I've always used the stand-alone WordSmith conduit app to select which documents I want hotsynced.

I certainly can understand where this would be difficult for some users -- particularly in an office environment. But for me (and I suspect, for other folks using WordSmith for personal use), it's lower on the radar screens.

----

Jeff Meyer

RE: WordSmith XP support
GeauxVols @ 5/17/2002 12:21:32 PM #
When I sync my documents through XP and WordSmith, I consistently encounter the same set of errors. It loads the document just fine onto the handheld, but, when I open Wordsmith, it tells me that I have an "out of date conduit" (paraphrasing here). Once, I tried opening the document, and the Palm equivalent of the Blue Screen O' Death occurred.

For those of us in an enterprise environment, this is unacceptable. It is becoming tedious to use Word To Go AND Wordsmith, but until the syncing problem with XP is rectified, that's what we are left with here.

High res? Applause for Blue Nomad. But first things first. Please fix the XP syncing problem

RE: WordSmith XP support
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/17/2002 12:38:51 PM #
I use Office XP on my home and work computers, and have not had any of these problems. Slick as oil on my systems. Home is Windows Me and Work is Windows 2000
RE: WordSmith XP support
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/17/2002 2:10:39 PM #
Tough luck with the MS way. I see this type of reports all the time. Older programs don't function, other (non-MS) companies' programs don't work with new Windows. Or new file formats that cannot be opened from older Office, and/or cannot open older documents properly.

Maybe it's time to ditch MS? Why has the world got to turn their backs around just to ensure they support MS? (Instead of MS supporting their customers?) I just wish Bluenomad will sync with StarOffice/OpenOffice. It's a saner way to go... and if they ever sell a CD/boxed version, might as well include OpenOffice with it when they sync nicely to it (with the pull-down menu, etc.). One of these days... who knows what might happen? Other than the PocketPCs, nothing else will sync on their OS and/or to their Office!

Sorry that this comment doesn't help resolve the problems. Personally, I'll recommend switching back to Office2000 and/or 97. What is in the new versions you cannot live without? Most companies should still allow you to continue using the older version, unless they signed up for some ridiculous new license agreements with MS that forces them to upgrade all installed MS software.

RE: WordSmith XP support
Bartman007 @ 5/17/2002 2:11:14 PM #
I am running Office XP Professional on Windows XP Professional with a upgraded Sony Clie 710c. I have not run into these problems, the only problem I have found is that a document will not sync if it is open in Word. This I can deal with. I wish I had time to help you guys troubleshoot your problems but alas, AP testing and Finals are going on =(

RE: WordSmith XP support
jimski @ 5/17/2002 2:35:22 PM #
I have had no problems running Windows 2000 and Office XP and syncing with my NR70V. DOC files sync just fine and can be opened without any messages or errors on the desktop and PDA.

RE: WordSmith XP support
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/18/2002 6:55:38 PM #
Thanks, Blue Nomad ... he says ironically. WordSmith is a superb app, but it takes up so much room. The last thing we need is support for a screen resolution which is useless to 99% of registered users. I'll be sticking with the previous version for a while yet.

Tech Center Labs

c_blue @ 5/17/2002 11:08:03 AM #
Nice to know they still make nice accesories.. I bought a 5 inch hotsync cable from them... the best cable I could get for my Vx 'cause it allows me to charge it too. Does anybody knows if there is any equivalent for the UC (serial.. I also use this cable to run terminal emulation)?

C_Blue

RE: Tech Center Labs
Altema @ 5/17/2002 4:12:17 PM #
There's a few serial cables around in the brick-and-mortar stores, and several online, but I don't remember any of them charging from the serial port like some of the usb cables. None of them were five inches either, most were three feet long. Funny that I've not seen any that will charge, since the power is there at the db9 pins.

I use my serial cable from InnoPocket for terminal emulation connections. I don't like the way it connects to the Palm. It seems like they took a shipment of stock Palm UC's, then addapted it to a holder which works like a miniature cradle, but with no back support. You have to hold it to keep it from falling off. There is one made by Innovative which locks firmly in place. I have their USB version and like the connector, but I don't recall seeing a serial version, let alone a 5 inch serial version. The must be as hard to find as a retail GPS unit for the M5xx.

RE: Tech Center Labs
Quik_Fix @ 5/18/2002 12:19:14 PM #
I have the same problem with Tech labs that I've always had: I can't get a tale vibe. I'm going to try and call them later today. I've always had serial palms IIIxe, IIIc, and now HE330. And I would love a vibrating dongle. But they never ever ever have any available shame.

...In accordance with the prophecy...

Quik_Fix
quikfix@hotmail.com

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