.FLYINGHEAD MAC SURVIVAL GUIDE
.TITLE Apples in the Drought: using a PalmPilot with a Macintosh
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.SUMMARY Pity the poor Macintosh user. Sometimes, dedicated Macintosh users feel like unwelcome cousins when it comes to the PalmPilot. In this first of a series of articles, Jim DeLaHunt tells you how to cover the gaps in the PalmPilot’s Macintosh software by taking advantage of some of the Mac-oriented PalmPilot software on the web.
.AUTHOR Jim DeLaHunt
Nietzsche is often quoted as saying, "That which does not kill us, only makes us stronger". Most of the time I use my PalmPilot organizer and the myriad of add-on software available for it, I don’t reach for my Nietzsche. And when I shuttle back and forth between Windows and Macintosh environments, I do so without heavy philosophy. Connecting the PalmPilot to the Windows environment runs pretty smoothly. But when I connect my PalmPilot to my Macintosh, I frequently enter a long, dark teatime of the soul.
For there is no denying it. The experience of using a PalmPilot with a Macintosh, especially when compared to the same experience with a Windows machine, is deeply disappointing. You lose features, you lose performance, you lose reliability, and you lose convenience.
Yet Nietzsche’s aphorism is actually optimistic, in a twisted sort of way. And so is the Macintosh community’s response to the strengths of the PalmPilot and the flaws in its Macintosh support. The flaws aren’t enough to make us give up our PalmPilots or our Macs, and people have come out with some really marvelous software to work around those flaws. In fact, with the right tips and the right extra software — much of it free — your Macintosh can come away a stronger partner for the PalmPilot than its Windows cousin.
In this article, we’ll look at the drawbacks to the Mac version of the PalmPilot desktop software. We’ll list some utilities you’ll need to take advantage of the Mac-oriented PalmPilot software on the Web. And we’ll review some elegant and innovative utilities to cover the gaps in the PalmPilot’s Mac software.
.H1 The disappointing Mac version of the Desktop software
The most important part of the PalmPilot experience is, of course, the PalmPilot unit itself, but the PalmPilot Desktop software comes a close second. The PalmPilot is a "connected" organizer, and the Desktop software is really what it is connected to. The Desktop runs on your personal computer. It contains replicas of the major functions of the PalmPilot unit — a Date Book, a Memo Pad, a To-Do List, and more. It also contains an application to install PalmPilot software into your PalmPilot unit, and HotSync software to manage the communications between your computer and your PalmPilot.
Palm Computing has made versions of this software for Windows (of course) and Macintosh. In Figure A, you can see how this software looks on your Macintosh. Most of the software is located in a folder called "Pilot Desktop 1.0" on the top level of the disk that contains your system folder. One important part is in the Control Panels folder in your system folder.
.FIGPAIR A The Pilot Desktop software is in a Pilot Desktop 1.0 folder and in your Control Panels folder.
Now it’s hard to talk about this software without expressing disappointment. I use both a Macintosh and a Windows machine regularly, and I HotSync my PalmPilot Professional to both. It’s good that the Mac support exists at all, and I’d be very unhappy if it didn’t. On the other hand, the quality of the Mac desktop software lags behind its Windows cousin on every measure.
Take features, for example. The name of the desktop software is the first giveaway. The Mac desktop is only at version 1.0, while the Windows desktop is at version 2.1 and counting. This means that the Mac software is limited essentially to supporting the features of the Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000, omitting support for the new features of the PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional, let alone the Palm III. Expense, Mail, and TCP/IP are all unavailable on the Mac Pilot Desktop.
What does this mean for you, as a PalmPilot user? Well, first it means that if you use the Expense application on your PalmPilot Professional, you can’t get at the data on your Macintosh. If you read email on your Macintosh, there’s no way to HotSync this down to your PalmPilot. There’s no Network HotSync.
But even the features that are there on the Mac aren’t implemented as well. The Desktop application takes 50 seconds to boot up on my 133 MHz PowerPC-equipped PowerBook 520. That’s certainly too slow to be convenient, and slower than other software of comparable complexity, such as a simple word-processor. Just opening the HotSync control panel takes 12 seconds on my PowerBook. By way of comparison, even my geriatric 486-based Windows computer beat these times, and my 133 MHz Pentium-based computer leaves them in the dust.
Finally, there’s unreliability. I’ve almost never had problems HotSyncing to my Windows machine. In contrast, I frequently have problems HotSyncing to my Macintosh. Sometimes, I get a message that the PalmPilot lost its connection with the computer. Sometimes, the Macintosh just hangs. In any case, once this happens I rarely get the use of my Macintosh back — I need to restart.
One of my hobbies is singing opera. So of course I want all of my rehearsals — about 20 of them — entered as appointments in my Date Book. I tried this once by running the PalmPilot Desktop application on my Mac and entering them one by one. The more I entered, the slower and slower the Desktop got. After a dozen or so, it finally got to the stage where I was sure my Desktop had hung. Fortunately, it hadn’t. I stopped entering appointments, quit out of the Desktop application, and re-started it yet. All the appointments were there, and the application sped up to its original molasses pace.
This, then, is what it’s like to use a Macintosh with a PalmPilot. The basics work, just barely, and with a lot of effort. It’s not enough to kill you, but you wonder how it’s making you stronger.
.H1 Some shelter from the storm
But in this gloomy picture, there is a bright spot. Here, as elsewhere, Palm Computing’s brilliant decision to throw open the PalmPilot to software developers means there are many resources for the Mac user to tap. Plus, Palm Computing has released one or two things which no Mac and PalmPilot user should be without.
First, it goes without saying that you should have the Mac Pack. This is Palm Computing’s product which adapts the standard PalmPilot to the Macintosh. It consists of a small package with an adaptor cable and some floppy disks. The adaptor cable adapts the PalmPilot’s cable to plug into a Mac serial port. The floppy disks contain the PalmPilot Desktop software for Mac described above.
Second, run, don’t walk, to Palm Computing’s web site to pick up the update to the Conduit Manager. This will fix some problems with HotSyncing, and every user should have it. You can download it from http://www.3com.com/palm/custsupp/macconmgr.html.
Third, in order to download PalmPilot software from the Web, there are two indispensable applications: Stuffit Expander, and DropStuff with Expander Enhancer. Both are published by Aladdin Systems, and can be downloaded from their web page. Stuffit Expander, presently at version 4.5, uncompresses StuffIt format (indicated by a ".sit" at the end of the file name), BinHex format (".hqx"), and MacBinary format (".bin") files. It works great on its own or in conjunction with a Web browser like Netscape Navigator. Best of all, it’s free. You may have a copy already, or you can download it from http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/index.html.
This will be sufficient for Mac-specific software, and some PalmPilot software which is distributed in ".hqx" or ".bin" format. But much of the good PalmPilot software is distributed only as a PC ".zip" format file. A great way to get access to this format is with Aladdin Systems’ DropStuff with Expander Enhancer. (It took me several tries to comprehend this gargantuan name.) Basically, it enhances Stuffit Expander by adding ".zip" format support, plus lets you create your own StuffIt format archives. It is shareware, priced at US$30. You can find it at http://www.aladdinsys.com/dropstuff/index.html.
By the way, in case your Windows-using friends get jealous of the cool PalmPilot software distributed in ".sit", ".bin", or ".hqx" format, Aladdin Systems has something for them too, and at another great price. Stuffit Expander for Windows is the Windows version of Stuffit Expander, and is also freeware. You can download it from the same URL where you got Stuffit Expander for Macintosh, that is http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/index.html.
.H1 MORE TO COME
In a future issue, we’ll cover some third-party Mac software which synchronizes ingeniously to the PalmPilot, point out places to go for Mac-specific PalmPilot information, and see what the future holds.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
Conduit Manager is available from PalmComputing at http://www.3com.com/palm/custsupp/macconmgr.html.
Stuffit Expander for the Macintosh is available at http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/index.html.
DropStuff with Expander Enhancer is available at http://www.aladdinsys.com/dropstuff/index.html.
Stuffit Expander for Windows is available at http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/index.html.
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.BIO Jim DeLaHunt is an independent PalmPilot software developer. In his spare time, is an engineering manager with a multi-national software company and a tenor with local opera companies. He can be reached via E-mail at jdlh@jdlh.palo-alto.ca.us.
.DISCUSS http://www.component-net.com/webx?13@@.ee6bd54
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