.KEYWORD applemac
.FLYINGHEAD MACINTOSH SURVIVAL GUIDE
.TITLE More help for Mac users
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Contributing editor Jim DeLaHunt’s continues his Macintosh Survival Guide series with this helpful article. In it, he explores a whole bunch of really useful add-on Macintosh tools you can use with your PalmPilot. If you use your Palm device with a Macintosh, reading this article will help you get more out of both.
.AUTHOR Jim DeLaHunt
There are still more products which represent a good partnership of Macintosh and PalmPilot. Let’s look at a few of them.
.H1 Palm File Converter
Palm File Converter for Macintosh 1.5 is, as you might guess, a partner for PalmPilot database programs. Palm File Converter works with JFile and JTutor by John J. Lehtt. It also works with Mobile DB by Mobile Generation Software. Palm File Converter for Macintosh is an independent development by Robert Tsuk. I’d show you a picture of this no-nonsense utility, but, well, there’s not a lot to see. It has two menus. It lets you convert between FileMaker databases and the above PalmPilot databases. As of this writing there were a couple of limitations to these conversions. See the Convertor’s web site for details. In addition to FileMaker databases, it also lets you convert between tab-delimited text files and the PalmPilot databases. And that is just about that.
Palm File Converter doesn’t request a payment. You can find out more at its web-site: http://www.tsuk.com/pfc/.
.H1 ImageViewer
ImageViewer for Macintosh is a plug-in to permit the general-purpose Mac image conversion software GraphicConverter to convert files into the ImageViewer format common on the PalmPilot. In order to use this, you will also need a PalmPilot application which handles this format; there are several. GraphicConvertor, which is shareware, reads and writes a wide variety of image types. Using another convertor called Raw to PDB, you can also convert 160x160x2-bit pixel images into ImageViewer format. Once again, I’d show you a screen shot, but there’s not a lot to see.
.H1 Make DocDD
The Doc file format is wildly popular with PalmPilot users, and thankfully, one of the several intrepid Japanese Macintosh and PalmPilot software developers has come to the rescue of Macintosh users with MakeDocDD. MakeDocDD is a Macintosh application which converts text files to Doc format, and vice versa. There are many sources of the PalmPilot Doc application itself. It couldn’t be easier to use. You setup a panel of conversion options, seen in Figure A, and after that you just drag and drop the files you want to convert. As a special treat, it comes with special features for Japanese text, including stripping one-byte Katakana characters. Trust me, this is nice to have if you read Japanese text files!
.FIGPAIR A MakeDocDD lets you convert text files to Doc format, and vice versa.
.H1 QPaint
Another intrepid Mac and PalmPilot pioneer from Japan is Mikida Yasuda. He has written a painting app for PalmPilots called QPaint, plus a Macintosh companion called QPaint Reader. Using QPaint, you make drawings on the PalmPilot. You HotSync and the drawings appear as a file "Q_Paint.pdb" in your PalmPilot desktop user folder. Drag this PDB file onto the QPaint Reader. It opens a window containing these drawings. You can then save the drawing as a PICT, or use the Copy command in the Edit menu to copy these images to other places on your Mac. There is not much user interface to see, but the About QPaint Reader window is slick, as you can see in Figure B.
.FIG B The QPaint Reader application lets you copy images to other places on your Macintosh.
I looked at QPaint Reader, but didn’t try installing QPaint itself.
.H1 Web to Pilot
Web to Pilot is a utility for downloading a list of Web pages and converting them to Doc format for reading on your PalmPilot. It runs on the Macintosh. It appears to be an AppleScript which links together a variety of separate utilities. The utilities are all separate from Web to Pilot, so you have to go on a scavenger hunt to get them first. However, they look like useful programs to have in any case, so you won’t regret having gotten them.
I haven’t tried Web to Pilot, partly because I’m not in the habit of reading web pages on my Pilot, and partly because I had trouble figuring out where, among the copious and otherwise clear instructions, was the link to the script itself!
.H1 Crossbow Filter
There are many other Mac applications for PalmPilot users, which are of more limited interest. Crossbow Filter, another free utility by Rusty Kay, coverts crossword puzzles from the form USA Today uses on their web site into a form you can view on your PalmPilot.
.H1 AlbumMaker
AlbumMaker is a US$10 shareware utility to convert PICT images into a format which you can view on the PalmPilot.
.H1 PDPatcher & DicConv
For those of you using your PalmPilots in Japanese, Shuji Fukumoto has come up with a freeware utility, PDPatcher15, to patch the PalmPilot Desktop app to accept Japanese text. See his web page above. Yukinari Suzuki has DicConv 0.2.0, a freeware utility to help you tune how Kana-Kanji conversion input works.
.H1 CodeWarrior & CoPilot
Finally, honorable mention must go to two excellent PalmPilot software development tools that run on the Macintosh. Metrowerks’ CodeWarrior is the primary tool for developing PalmPilot applications. Their web site at http://www.metrowerks.com/games/pilot/
CoPilot 1.3 lets you run PalmPilot applications on your Power Macintosh. Originally by Greg Hewgill, it was ported to the Macintosh by Illumesoft.
.H1 On the horizon: relief, or a mirage?
In this series we’ve looked at several disappointing aspects of PalmPilot support for Macintosh users, and some very heartening responses by Macintosh users. The disappointing aspects all trace back to Palm Computing’s initial second-class support for the Macintosh.
.PAGE
So, will Palm Computing end this drought of Macintosh support? Are those rain-clouds on the horizon, or just a mirage? Certainly, the signs look good. A proper Conduit SDK means that Macintosh applications can finally begin to integrate smoothly with PalmPilot applications. Claris Organizer is a good foundation for new PalmPilot desktop software. While I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Mac software doesn’t appear during the summer, it does look like it’s finally on the way. And you can rest assured that PalmPower Magazine will give you the full details as soon as it does arrive.
The edge of the desert is in sight, and I think I see a whole orchard of apple trees. Let’s hope that it’s not a mirage, but the real end of our tiring journey!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information about Palm File Converter, see http://www.tsuk.com/pfc/.
ImageViewer is available at http://www.strout.net/macsoft/ivplugin/index.html.
MakeDocDD is available at http://www.pluto.dti.ne.jp/~yoz/PilotSoft-e.html (English version).
QPaint is available at http://www.t3.rim.or.jp/~quanta/English/ (English version).
Web to Pilot is available at http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/1943/webtopilot.html.
Crossbow Filter is available at http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/1943/crossbowfilter.html.
AlbumMaker is available now from Shuji Fukumoto’s web site at http://www.wakuwaku.ne.jp/shuji/.
DicConv is available at http://www.gix.or.jp/~ysuzuki/index-e.html (English version).
CoPilot 1.3 is available at http://members.aol.com/illumesoft/copilot.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@@.ee6c11c
