Palm Pilot/Visor and Linux questions

[mark at buttery.org (Mark J. Dulcey)]

Gerald A Feldman wrote:
> 
> Most of the new Pilots and Visors are USB, so my questions are:
> 1. Can I use the pilot-link and Jpilot through a USB port (2.4+ kernel).

Yes, there is support for that now, at least for the Handspring Visor. I
don't know if it works with the new Palms yet, because they're so new,
but I'm sure somebody is working on it.

> 2. Can I use my current serial cradle with the newer Palms (I'll probably
> opt for a low end Palm III or possibly a Handspring Visor). The main
> reason is that I want to upload my previously synced data to the new Palm
> or Visor. (Essentially, I want to be able to place it in the existing
> cradle and perform a pilot-xfer).

If you actually find a Palm III or variant thereof (like a IIIxe), they
use the same cradle as your old one. Besides, they're serial, not USB.
The USB interface is only on the new m-series Palms.

The Handspring Visor is incompatible with all Palm cradles. All the
Handspring cradles work with all Visor models, though only the special
USB cradle that comes with a Prism can charge that model.
 
> The third question has to do with the Windows based software. When
> installing the Palm or Visor software on Windows, does it upgrade the
> existing data bases? (This is not too important as long as I can grab my
> existing data from Linux). It's just more of a convenience when I am at
> work.

The data gets moved to the new software. It doesn't have to be
"upgraded"; the data format on the Palm hasn't changed.
 
> Lastly, does anyone have any opinions regarding whether I should get a
> Palm or a Visor keeping in mind that I will be obtaining an IPAQ (Linux
> based) in 3 to 6 months.

Rather than an iPaq running Linux, you might have a look at some of the
Linux-based PDAs that are coming out soon - they'll actually come with
the right software out of the box, including organizer apps.
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