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Palm PDAs and Linux - My usage Three levels of portable devices - laptops (big, bad battery usage, good wireless connectivity), modern PDAs (small, great battery usage, keyboards, wireless connectivity), old PDAs (small, great battery usage, no wireless, limited to syncing and some email). I'm at the low end. I've been using Palm III and IIIc for over 4 years with Linux. I'm not tempted to get a newer Palm. No compelling reason yet. Considering Linux based PDAs, but that would negate the time and money investment in Palm software. Colour screen is vital, would never go back to a mono-colour PDA. Too hard to see, especially as I'm getting older. Except when travelling (battery reasons). Prefer to use disposable batteries, especially when travelling. Rechargeables mean you travel with the cradle, or a charge unit, and the different plug accessories. You can buy replacement AAA batteries even in the wilds of Turkey, but you can't always find a socket with electricity for recharging. I keep my old green-screen Palm III for travel. I use the Palm keyboard for fast data entry. Works with both Palm III and IIIc. Probably won't work with newer Palms. Have to buy a new keyboard, and I'd rather buy a PDA with keyboard built in. With the keyboard, a Palm is almost as good as a laptop on travel, but with much better footprint and far better battery usage. I don't bother syncing to a desktop app, as I practically never use it the desktop app. I don't like having to connect. Only time I sync is to backup or install new software or data. When travelling, I write the text of my web pages on the Palm, sync to JPilot when I get home, then copy the text out and add HTML. That's the only time I use the organisers like JPilot. I use these packages HandBase (www.handbase.com) - store the hundreds of passwords I have, in an encrypted database, no use syncing that to Linux as there's no Linux client. CityTime (www.codecity.net) - to know when to phone overseas DateBk5 - (www.pimlicosoftware.com) - so I know when to miss appointments and birthdays Currency - semi-dead software, but best currency converter around, takes an hour to find latest version through Google chasing all the links. Helps me know when the currency exchanger is ripping me off. RPN - (www.nthlab.com/software/rpn/) a Hewlett Packard RPN calculator for the Palm. Essential for nostalgia. miscellaneous utilities like chmod calculator, password generator, pilotp (one time password generator) Plucker (plkr.org/index.plkr) - Two part software. One part is a Palm DOC reader, the other part is Linux software to convert text, HTML and other formats into a DOC file so you can transfer it to the Palm. I use this for work documentation, Gutenberg documents, lists, all sorts of stuff. Games - there's lots of games for the Palm. A lot are junk. I like only specific addictive games and I'm willing to pay for them. Favourites like Yahtc (home.pacific.net.sg/~kokmun/palmpilot.htm) and the Seahorse Software games suite (www.seahorsesoft.com). [NEXT]