Comments on: Wi-Fi SD Drivers Delayed Even Further

I wouldn't blame it all on Sandisk. Palm may be exerting pressure on Sandisk to delay the drivers until enough T|Cs are sold or after the T|X with BT AND WiFi is released.

I know; its a conspiracy theory but it makes sense.

>"SanDisk just lost credibility with lot of Palm owners."<

Since when did ScamDisk ever have credibility with Palm owners? First they make SD cards that don't play well with OS5 devices, then they seem much more succeptible than other brands to being fried, and during all this they welch on their committment to making a WiFi SDIO card.

Sooo... when DID they have credibility?

_________________
Sean

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

And this is a surprise??? Like the writing wasn't on the wall in full view... Too bad, though.

"Palm may be exerting pressure on Sandisk to delay the drivers until enough T|Cs are sold or after the T|X with BT AND WiFi is released."

This wouldn't make sense. If you are Palm, you have to WANT to see this product work. How many sales are lost each day to PPC's because of the lack of Wi-Fi support?

Alric, you wrote

"I wouldn't blame it all on Sandisk. Palm may be exerting pressure on Sandisk to delay the drivers until enough T|Cs are sold or after the T|X with BT AND WiFi is released.

I know; its a conspiracy theory but it makes sense."

Actually, NO, it doesn't make sense. If Sandisk needs help on the drivers then would/should consult w/ Palmsource. The T|C & T|X are from PalmOne a separate entity. (& yes i know that that separation is fairly recent, but they were working to separate for quite a while) Plus it is in Palmsources' best interest to get the Wi-Fi drivers going so people will buy more that just PalmOne's devices & if so then there is a great need for developer which again helps Palmsource. So, at least to me, the conspiracy theory isn't credible. (plus if it were, that would be collusion which is illegal last time i checked)

I'm frustrated by SanDisk (& to a certain degree PalmSource). Somebody really needs to step up, it be nice if Toshiba (Not a PalmOS player, but an SD one) or Panasonic (SD) would do what can't be done. Hey Samsung, please help out !!!

I'm sure there are technical issues, but it seems far fetched that OS5 can't handle (or handle well) Wi-Fi & OS4 can. Especially if there are now OS5 Smartphones.

& as far as SanDisk, despite their lackluster image, i think they need to put the appropiate resources to it. I think by missing Wi-Fi on PalmOS they are missing out on a lot. From the boards it sounds like a lot of businesses have PalmOS devices in use & having a Wi-Fi card for PalmOS would make them much more valuable ! (plus i could surf @ starbucks ;-) )

my thoughts.

Thanks,

-painted dog

Can you say "Vaporware"?

When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.

I agree that SanDisk should have been more up front on the reason for delay.. but consider this, if they had put out a buggy product.. people would bitch about it.. and so they don't put out a buggy product, and people bitch about it!

A Palm in hand is worth two in your pocket.

I'm a little lost here. Palm T|X?
Is there already some confirmation if a "newer" Palm will include BT and WiFi? Or is it just speculation (or wishful thinking :-))?

James

>>>
if they had put out a buggy product.. people would bitch about it.. and so they don't put out a buggy product, and people bitch about it!
<<<

Just wanted to add that if they put out a buggy product, people would bitch about AND SanDisk would have to do tech $upport. By not putting out the product, SanDisk is settling for people just bitching about it :-P

I heard if best from an old manager of mine, "Never look for conspiracy where you can find incompetance."

With SanDisk, this can apply very well. They are a high-volume, low margin hardware outfits. Classically, software development is viewed as a "magic box" that is not questions and very little apprecation of what goes into making firmware work.

My guess is they screwed up the software development by going with the lowest bidder and, most of all, never read "The Mythical Man Month." If you don't know what that book is, read it of you want to flourish in this business.

The OS 5.0 can't handle WiFi SDIO without turning it into absolute noodle and breaks just about anything afterward.

So much for Palm cheerleader having hope that tungsten will 'soon' have WIFi capability.

Shut up, Ska.

_________________
Sean

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

"The OS 5.0 can't handle WiFi SDIO without turning it into absolute noodle and breaks just about anything afterward."

And your factual backing is...?

I think making these drivers for OS 5 is almost useless, now. I'm looking ahead with much anticipation towards OS 6. Will they need new drivers after that? Will it take until OS 7 to get drivers for OS 6?

For some reason, I find it very hard to believe they are having problems developing a driver for the Wifi SDIO to work. Didn't mikecane post an email response he received admitting they were influenced by Microsoft first and foremost for the drivers?

11/10/03:

Here is the entire email transcript between myself and the Sandisk rep:

Q: Is there any particular reason having to do with
PalmOS that required more development time? Or was
the dev team simply tasked with Pocket PC development
first? And is the December date firm?

A: Yes, yes and hopefully yes."

I think the whole thing smells pretty bad.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T616

Let's make it clear, abosco, that that is *your* interpretation of the email exchange, not mine. I saw it as them going after the faster, simpler route: PPC drivers first.

More to point.. The UX-50 has 802.11 in it, no? And thats Palm OS. So its not like Palm OS cannot do it.

jeff

The Shadow knows!

The Tungsten C has it too... plus all the other devices that have WiFi expandability options (clamshell Clie line, Handera 330/TRGPro, any Handspring Visor, Palm's sled, Enfora case...) why is it so much harder to put it on an SD card? If someone can put GPS on one, for crying out loud, why hasn't someone beaten SanDisk to the punch here?

Agreed. Can someone,anyone--(Panasonic, please?)--take a knife to their SD prices and blow these scoundrels out of the water?! This is just becoming too much aggravation to cope with!

I keep remember my comment from a while back where I said something to the effect of: "if there's ever been example of a company continuing to make money despite itself, it's Sandisk". The company seems to be spinning in circles, kept afloat by their massive retail/B&M presence. The only thing that their products have going for them are low prices (which is due to using cheap components & controllers on their SD cards), wide availability, and good customer service (which would not be an issue if their cards were actually reliable!)

Thats what you get when you buy cheap stuff. Slow. However I just got hold of another Sandisk card and it works fine on my T3. Very slow when compared to my Panasonic 256Mb. But it was £20 cheaper. Now I use the Panasonic card for videos, backup and main programs stuff and the Sandisk for my e-books, audio files and other read-only stuffs.

Psion 5/StarTac > Vx > m505 > Sony N770C > Sony T625C > Sony NR70V/Ericsson T39m > Toshiba e310 > Tungsten T/Ericsson T68m > HP h2210 > Tungsten T3/Ericsson T610

[img]http://www.danasoft.com/vipersig.jpg[/img]

Nope, they totally screwed up on outsourcing the driver development. My guess is there is a working driver overseas with an gray zone extortion on releaseing it. Another lesson to keep you cutting edge development local.

Look at Fossil watch, PalmOs version didnt came out, but guess what, the M$ "Spot" technolgy is ready to roll out.

I guess M$ is either bribed SanDisk or warned them .
Damn M$ sucks a$$.

I bet it has nothing, zip , zilch ,zero , cero, null to do with outsourcing. How many time to write a WiFi drive. How much have they been doin this *delayed* bool shee it?
It is a press game they are playing, nothing else.
There is alot of M$ influence that people can see. Their anticompetitiveness have no limits.
M$ will try to choke any decent competitor and simply steal other's IP.

I don't think that current sanctions against Microsoft is working and that M$ has to be placed under economic sanctions as well IMO.

In a Desolate Forest, an enchanted Palm-Powered Handheld is waiting to possess a helpless soul in the wake--The Palm-Powered Handheld's name is EURENZANNIG.

keep on holding up that Handera flag, buddy...there are fewer and fewer of you guys left standing these days ;-)

Anyway, you'll also recall a similar situation (that no one is really complaining over) about the total lack of OS5 drivers for the Palm BT card. Additionally, we were teased many months ago with the "new" shorter/less power hungry BT card from Toshiba. That has also failed to materialize. Too much vaporware and fading commitment from peripheral manufacturers is really starting to make me worry that the entire PDA/handheld market is in danger of capdizing as the mass market jumps ship to day-glow cellphones with built in novelty cameras...

Ah, and you can use it with the Palm Wireless Keyboard too!

See pics here:

http://tinyurl.com/wkhh

And the keyboard shortcut for changing landscape screen orientation is:

http://tinyurl.com/wkhn

Nice!

I had no idea that Enfora was so small. I'm against velcro in anmy fashion, so I'd most likely leave the T3 loose in the case, but that's a small price to pay for wifi and case in one package.

Another nice plus to consider is the rechargeable power source on the Enfora. No worries about additional drain on the palm batteries (especially when using a T3). :)

It can be hard to develop the drivers, but Sony developed drivers for the BT Memory Stick, and for their CF Wifi card, both running under OS 5. Even Hagiwara developed drivers for the WiFi Memory Stick they are realeasing in December, to be run in OS5. It should not be that hard...

Yes, but since PalmOS doesn't have support for CF and MS out of the box, so, presumably, Sony wrote most of the low-level I/O support for CF and MS expansion cards themselves. That should make it easier for them to build WiFi drivers.

Furthermore, Sony is a much bigger company than SanDisk and Sony has a big stake in making the MS/Palm combo a success. I suspect that SanDisk doesn't view support for a WiFi SDIO card for Palm as a high priority.

I think Socket owns the chip.

Enfora is nice but the Guyver (I believe) is a better proposal especially if you already own a WiFi or GSM PC card.

Well atleast I am not a WiFi user. I don't like being tied down to a hotspot in order to access my e-mail. That is why I believe Bluetooth with a mobile GPRS access is the way to go.

Psion 5/StarTac > Vx > m505 > Sony N770C > Sony T625C > Sony NR70V/Ericsson T39m > Toshiba e310 > Tungsten T/Ericsson T68m > HP h2210 > Tungsten T3/Ericsson T610

[img]http://www.danasoft.com/vipersig.jpg[/img]

...the Guyver (I believe) is a better proposal...

Not, however, if you're using a T|C or T|T3. It's not currently compatible, and the manufacturer shows no enthusiasm for making it so.

This makes a lot of sense.

>Since they have PPC drivers already out, it seems likely that the problem is with PalmOS: its driver architecture or networking support.

I don't know. I had WiFi on my M500 using the Xircom WiFi sled. Worked great. In fact, I was able to get that device to work on my TT if I held the sled just right. The problem was that the hooks wouldn't quite engage properly. Same deal with the Novatel M500 CDPD modem sled. Worked, just wouldn't hold on.

I could be wrong, but I wouldn't think that the SDIO interface would be that much different than the universal connector serial interface. Power consumption may be a bigger issue. In that event, I'd rather have a well designed (i.e. slim) sled device with it's own power source. That leaves my TT's SD slot and battery out of the picture.

It is called a Tungsten-C.

>>>It is called a Tungsten-C.

If that was the extent of WiFi on PalmOS, it'd drive many vet Palm owners to PPC. UGH!

I did the same thing. I am probably the one of the first guys who purchased the TT. Currently I own a HP h4155. I am absolutely loving it. It has almost everything. Most importantly working wi-fi, with a great hotspot sniffer capability!
No more Palm, no more problems. I still keep my old TT for old days. But thats about it. I think I am going to wait until Palm comes up with something really reaaly good to beat my current HP h4155.
Soory Palm HP Rules!!!

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