My kids gave me a Palm Vx for mother's day last year. I don't know how I ever lived without it!

The calendar is key make it to every game and practice on time. Love the alarms and repeat features.

I am addicted to Disney trip reports. I cut and paste 'em into Memo Pad and read them later.

I tried to load AvantGo, but it didn't work. I hot synced to load it onto the Palm, but the syncing didn't work right thereafter, so I de-installed it.

I installed ShopList this weekend and used it at the grocery yesterday. It worked very well.

In what other ways do you all use your handhelds for trip planning?

Anyone write their trip reports on their Palm? I didn't because I don't have a keyboard and writing that much with the stylus would drive me insane.

The last time I was at Disneyland I used a program called HandyShopper (which I think is similar to Shop List) and listed all the things we wanted to do at Disney. When we did them, I checked them off and what was left were the things we still needed to do or would do the next time. It worked great for us.

Where did you get Shoplist? Is it on the Palm site? I haven't tried downloading anything yet...I guess I should try! I keep mine pretty busy using the calendar and task functions!

Okay, I checked out all the downloads at the Handspring site. does anyone know about the reliability of these downloads? Should I trust them? Okay, so I'm a little nervous about this...never used them before! A lot of them sound really interesting.

Originally posted by Dlandmom
Where did you get Shoplist? Is it on the Palm site? I haven't tried downloading anything yet...I guess I should try! I keep mine pretty busy using the calendar and task functions!

I am embarrassed to admit I no longer remember where I got it. It was one of those days where a trail of links led me off into the wild blue yonder <g>. Have you done a search on it?:confused:

You can get ShopList here at PalmGear (http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?sid=77813620020415133310&prodID=6648). You can get practically everything there.

Originally posted by Dlandmom
Okay, I checked out all the downloads at the Handspring site. does anyone know about the reliability of these downloads? Should I trust them? Okay, so I'm a little nervous about this...never used them before! A lot of them sound really interesting. Downloads from major sites are not a problem.

I do have a few suggestions:

- Download, install, and purchase a copy of Backup Buddy from Blue Nomad (http://www.bluenomad.com). Use it periodically to back up the data on your PDA. What Palm does not explain clearly is that the regular backup does not necessarily retain all of the DATA in your applications. Backup Buddy backs up every single byte on your PDA.

- Make sure to run Backup Buddy before you do any major installs on your PDA, in case applications conflict with each other.

- Be particularly wary of installing things like HackMaster, which tap into the actual extensions in your Palm OS. This lets you do all kinds of nifty stuff, but also has the potential of causing major crashes. Caveat emptor.

- Remember that there are two types of things you can install into your Palm: Applications, and data. In Palm jargon, any file that is not in itself an application (that is, any data, such as a text file) is treated as a database file. I realize that is confusing, but it means that some of the things you download (such as my MLB baseball schedules (http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?sid=77813620020415133310&prodID=39021)), you can ONLY see if you have already installed and are running the application that the data is meant for. That is, if you install my schedule on your Palm without correctly installing MobileDB (http://www.handmark.com) first, the schedule will not appear anywhere on your menu. It is only after you have MobileDB on your Palm, and you open MobileDB itself, that the schedule becomes visible to you.

I think that's it for now. Most of the files come with readme files. Make sure to read them first before installing anything. That tip comes from a technical writer (me).

Okay, since I'm new to the PDA world, any suggestions on applications or programs you have that you find very useful/clever/cool?

Check out this older thread:

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5855

Some of us listed some of our fave apps and sites where you can find them.

I use a Visor Deluxe for over two years daily. Other than that, I also own Jornada 548, Jornada 720, and more. Now is good time to buy a new Sony SL-10 ($125 + $40 limit-selection software coupon) or anything that uses AAA or AAA rechargeable. I am speaking of a useful PDA for a multi-day trip, of course.

I alk about freewares here. The popular site to load them are www.freeware.com and www.palmgear.com. Palmgear list all sharewares first. Freeware does not include a few good one occasionally. One good pda travel site is www.pocketgoddess.com and travellite.com.

HandyShopper is very good for shopping. In addition, I use it to estimate the cost of travelling. I am surprise to find out that it costs approximately $300 a day, with a variety of different assumptions, for a family of two adults and two teenage daughters. I use it at resturant for tax and tip - especially the Chinese Tea House where the price of dishes can be small, medium, large, and special.

Progect is very good for list and list-within-the-list applications. For example, a list of must-see or maybe-see attractions.

Yaps is an application to protect all your personal data. I use it to store my bank accounts, personal ids, and (of course) my secret password to MousePad.

My wife normally would not allow me to carry any PDA or camcorder because she claimed they would "prevent" me from enjoying the trip. I think it's time for me to start a small revolution after 23 years of marriage. In my next trip, I will carry it to record my trip journal and to play a few games such as ParkingLot, LandMine, four-in-line, Pente, Renju, NeverMind, BlackJack, Poker, and etc. I tried not to read eBooks on any trip. I only read the iSilo converted short articles.

The only thing that I miss with my Visor is the recording capcability.

Hope the information is helpful for Palm beginner.

Good Palm Freeware can also be found at:

www.freewarepalm.com

They have a lot! :)

Some of the software I use on my Visor Prism are Trip Deluxe, Automobil, Bejeweled, Video Poker, Text Twist, Monopoly, GPS Navigator.

Trip Deluxe I use for work to keep track of my mileage. Automobil I use to keep track of my gas mileage. Bejeweled and Text Twist are cool games from popcap.com (all their games are cool). Monopoly is from Handmark and I have a GPS on my visor which I use for work. I have alot of other software too but these are all I can think of at the time.

Oh I just thought of another one... Splashphoto. Which you can put images on your pda to view.

And I get my software from http://www.palmgear.com usually.