Comments on: Quickies: 256MB SD Cards, T615C, FatFinger, Poll, Detroit

Several companies are offering 256MB SD cards and some readers have asked for confirmation that they will work with their Palm OS handhelds before they bought them. A spokesperson for PalmSource said its licensees have run tests with these and found no problems. -Ed

The T615C is now on Sony's official list of discontinued handhelds. Circuit City appears to have sold out and is no longer offering them at $250. -Terry Salmi

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GAH! My 615's no good anymore!

jpfeiffer @ 9/12/2002 11:24:40 AM #
jk ;^)

Appears to be working as well as the day I bought it...and I thought I'd be afflicted like so many other's whose PDAs became useless the day they were discontinued.

The utility from my 615 has never been greater (as I actually learn how to integrate this bad boy into my routine).

RE: GAH! My 615's no good anymore!
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 7:01:28 PM #
LOL my CLIE 610 works fine too. Really has all the functionalilty I need.
RE: GAH! My 615's no good anymore!
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 9:00:06 AM #
I love the speed of turnover in the Clie line. It's good for the people who need the absolute best thing right now, if they don't mind shelling out the $ every couple of months. Or, for someone like me, you can wait a few months and get a unit that is discontinued by Sony, but still better than anything any other Palm-based maker is selling.

I bought my T615C when it dropped to $300 a couple months ago, and am still very pleased.

256 SD Card OS question

I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 11:30:38 AM #
Ed, do they mean that the 256 cards have been tested with OS 4, 4.1 or both?

I know that I personally had a hard time with larger capacity SD cards (Sandisk 128) under OS4.0 on my m505, both before and after adding the FATFS patch. Amazingly enough, after fretting over it for months and finally taking the gamble to try and 4.1 flash process, everything worked properly and most of my SD card problems have gone away.

RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 11:47:19 AM #
Probably just 4.1. The only company that used 4.0 was Palm and you can upgrade the m500 or m505 to 4.1. AFAIK, the main point of 4.1 was to handle larger mem cards.
RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 12:57:17 PM #
The Sandisk 128 Mb SD-card had a bug.
RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 1:40:35 PM #
I have tried a Lexar 512MB SD card on my Palm m515 with no apparent problems, although I didn't dare format it using the Palm :). VFSMark also shows it as significantly faster than another SanDisk 128MB SD card I use.
RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 2:22:06 PM #
Does anyone know if the currently shipping Sandisk 128 SD cards still have the bug? Is there any way to see which cards are affected? Also, will Sandisk offer replacement cards in the event you get a buggy one?

I would normally just buy another brand of card, but I've been offered a great price on a Sandisk 128 meg (he's getting a Sony) card by a colleague and I was wondering if it was worth the risk.

RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 3:31:01 PM #
Ask if you can try it. If you can read from it and write to it it's OK. Just don't format it, there's no need for it.
RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 4:11:07 PM #
I too am suffering the frozen format problem of a Sandisk 128 Mb SD card using Palm OS 4.0. Is there any way to tell the defective batches of cards? I have installed Copyupdate and FATFS with no luck. Palm's answer is a Hard Reset. Based on posts to this messageboard I sense a hard reset will not help. Of course we multilanguage m505 users with XP are out of luck flashing to OS 4.1 ! P.S. An IPAQ can format the card in 2 seconds which is my only option.
256 on my M125? OS4.0?
Strider_mt2k @ 9/12/2002 4:59:05 PM #
All these responses, and I still can't figure it out.
Does this mean I can run one in my M125 with no hassles?


strider_mt2k@yahoo.com

RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 5:40:05 PM #
"Does anyone know if the currently shipping Sandisk 128 SD cards still have the bug?"

I just bought a 128 sandisk. I had upgraded my m505 to 4.1 previously. The first one I tried in the shop and it locked up trying to auto format. The next one I tried was fine?? Obvious to say I bought the second one.

Guess what? Sandisk were selling the first one cheaper, $200 as to $239aust. ?? Makes you wonder if they knew of the problem. I got the second one for $200 anyway.

BB

RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 11:48:20 PM #
I have a 16 meg SD card in my m505. If I want to upgrade to a 128 card, how do I get everything on the 16 meg card to the 128?

RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 1:54:32 AM #
Yes, Sandisk knows about the problem. However I don't know how to see which are the good ones.
RE: 256 SD Card OS question
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 10:37:20 AM #
To the poster asking about how to move the contents of his 16 meg SD card to a larger one....well, the easiest way to do it (but not the cheapest way) would be to buy a USB SD card reader (while you're at it, might as well get one that is universal for all formats) and just copy everything to your PC's hard disk. Then stick in the new card and copy everything onto it.

It's sooo much easier to be able to delete files via the windows explorer or drag'n drop prc files onto a card than to have to sit around and wait for a Hotsync process to complete.

Additionally, I think there's a program out there that basically mounts the Palm's SD slot as another drive letter to windows....like the MS program that comes with the Sony units. Since I've had my external SD reader for over a year now, I haven't followed the existence of such software, but I am fairly certain it IS out there. Then you can do the procedure I described above to drop your old files onto the new card. Make sure it goes into the palm\launcher directory, of course.

Hope this helps.

RE: 256 SD Card OS question - SanDisk
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 2:25:33 PM #
For those having trouble reformatting their SanDisk 128MB SD Card using Palm's built in CardInfo program, SanDisk will replace your card for free since they warranty their cards for FIVE years (http://www.sandisk.com/tech/rw_sd.asp).

SanDisk fixed a Palm compatibility problem with their first batch of 128MB SD cards around March or April 2002. The main way to tell if you have the updated SD card is to try to reformat it using Palm's CardInfo program. If it works, you have the updated card.

I have one of their updated 128MB SD cards, after getting my incompatible one replaced, and it has worked very well ever since I got it replaced.

FatFinger

ardee @ 9/12/2002 12:07:38 PM #
Compare FatFinger at $15 to this tool for the PocketPC at $10:

www.softspb.com/products/fsk/screenshots/fsk.jpg

www.softspb.com/products/fsk/index.html

Judging by comparative appearance, FatFinger should be about $1.

RE: FatFinger
ardee @ 9/12/2002 12:10:23 PM #
By the way, this is the picture you're comparing:

http://www.avaion.com/images/fatfinger.GIF


RE: FatFinger
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 12:21:20 PM #
Well, I haven't used either (and don't plan to... not
my type of app). But, the Palm app download is 55 k,
the PPC app download is 1.8 meg. Maybe the PPC
download gives you a full-color 100 page pdf manual
or something like it, or maybe the software comes with
200 different skins, or maybe it's just bloatware.
You figure that out. :-)
RE: FatFinger
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 12:22:26 PM #
Who cares about either one of them. Touching your screen with your fingers is a bad idea. Your screen gets all greasy and you'll eventually scratch it all up.
RE: FatFinger
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 12:44:15 PM #
why bother ?

"Judging by ... appearance"

As it is said, all is appearance in ppc world :)

RE: FatFinger
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 1:36:47 PM #
Let's see.....
--PPC looks pretty, FatFinger looks plain
--PPC only costs $10, FatFinger costs $15
--PPC d/l is 1.8MB, FatFinger d/l is 55KB
--PPC needs a $600+ HHPC, FatFinger runs on a $100 Palm
--both make you touch the screen (use the stylus!!!)
--neither lets you see your document
Guess I'll stick with grafiti or the pop-up keyboard
RE: FatFinger
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 1:42:26 PM #
Either program seems a waste--taking up the whole screen with a keyboard! Call me crazy, but I just might like to have more than one line of TEXT on the screen!!!
RE: FatFinger
Taqi @ 9/12/2002 1:47:23 PM #
I have been hunting for CHEAP and A GOOD TEXT entry solution.

Fat Finger
Not much thought into the layout of the keys. Inability to alter the order, Believe it or not the keys are too big.

The best solution for anybody looking for a really decent and FREE keybpard is by far and away is the QuickType Hack. If the squares on this could be made fractionally larger by using the width of the graffiti screen this would be unbeatable.

RE: FatFinger
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 2:14:01 PM #
> Not much thought into the layout of the keys. Inability to alter the order

It does have two different key layouts: Block (alphabetic) or Qwerty (a variation on the standard keyboard)

RE: FatFinger
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 2:33:26 PM #
I think this review of fatfinger is pretty good
http://www.useless.ca/pullmyfinger.html
RE: FatFinger
Taqi @ 9/12/2002 5:10:19 PM #
lAYOUT OF fATfINGER KEYS

Block
Is idiotic.

QWERTY
It isn't. You need a row of ten keys width to have a qwerty keyboard, this thing is much less than that and then wraps the rest of the keys around the next few line making it a QWEERY keyboard.

Apologies to those who know what a pun is and the feeble attempt at one... (smile).

RE: FatFinger
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 8:06:49 PM #
Geez! What a waste. If you want keyboard entry without cell phone then just get a Treo 90.

If you want keyboard plus cell phone then get one of the other Treo's.

If you want keyboard plus access to on-screen Graffiti then get a Treo and download the freeware Newpen from PalmGear.

Why would any one waste their money on a software keyboard?

FatFinger?
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 2:50:25 AM #
Forget FatFinger

I remember way back on the Pilot 5000, I used Tegic's T9. A GODSEND. I wonder if you can still find it around...

RE: FatFinger
thompsgr @ 9/17/2002 6:26:56 PM #
I've read a number of the comments, and appreciate much of the feedback. Some of the ideas mentioned also came up during our beta test, and are already under consideration for Version 2 (configurable keyboards, an option to set key size). I thought I'd take a minute to also comment on some of the other points that were made.

As one reply pointed out, the FatFinger download is 57K, which includes X-Master (for user convenience). The FatFinger programs are 29k. One of our top priorities was to keep FatFinger as small and fast as possible, while providing functioning buttons that
invert and click when pressed, so we opted for a simple, if not particularly glamorous, user interface.

There are two keyboard layouts for the Alpha Keyboard: Qwerty and Block. To keep the keys big enough for fingers, it was necessary to alter the Qwerty layout to six keys across vs. ten - hence, the 'bent' design. We considered including an option for the user to create layouts in Version 1.0, but decided to see whether this would be of value to users before adding to the size and complexity of the program. We are now gathering feedback on this and other feature requests on our website.

Also, we recognize there are other options on the market for text input, including add-on hardware and new devices with built-in keyboards. While FatFinger will not be for everyone (if you are entering a great deal of text at a single location, a full-sized add-on keyboard is the superior choice), we hope it will be an easy-to-use, cost-effective alternative for those who would like to enter text while on the go, without carrying additional hardware or paying hundreds of dollars to upgrade their device.

Lastly, we want to reassure readers that while it is true that your fingers sometimes leave smudges on the screen, and you will want to clean it periodically with a soft cloth, your fingers are softer than the stylus, and will not damage the surface. The best re-assurance we can offer? Palm wouldn't have put the full-screen calculator on every device if they didn't want the screen to be touched.

Thanks again - we appreciate the feedback.

DPUG That's Entertainment

godschoice @ 9/12/2002 12:40:26 PM #
At the DPUG meeting, they will be discussing remote controls for Palm devices. I have done a roundup of the TV guides and remote control app at Palmloyal.com

Palm Remote Control and TV Guide Roundup
www.palmloyal.com/article.php?sid=1007


If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got!

Type to you later,

Carl
http://www.palmloyal.com

T615C at Costco....

I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 2:40:15 PM #
just bought for my wife...$229...$243 with tax at Costco (12noon, 9/12/02 in Atlanta GA)
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 3:41:32 PM #
That tax is outrageous!
RE: T615C at Costco....
volcanopele @ 9/12/2002 4:02:54 PM #
I hope you are joking. That's only 6% sales tax. I wish I had 6%, instead I live with 7.2%.

Jason

RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 4:33:40 PM #
I live in Nassau County, NY with a ludicrous 8.5% tax - and our county is broke!
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 4:54:33 PM #
Try living in canada... in manitoba we havea total of 14% tax... tell me how much fun that is!

and our government has no money!

I think in manitoba they made 300 Million alone on gambling!

geez.. i hate tax!

RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 5:02:42 PM #
Sweden has 25% sales tax. 30-50% personal income tax on the salary.
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 5:12:46 PM #
Remember folks, paying tax is a priviledge.
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 5:37:15 PM #
Remember folks, this is what Democrats and the political left want. You vote for them, you deal with it. County or national level.

6% here

RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 7:11:40 PM #
Remember folks, paying taxes is a RESPONSIBILITY. You don't want to pay taxes? Get off the freakin boat! I hear they could use able young men in Iraq right now...
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 7:43:03 PM #
No tax in oregon... payroll tax works out to about 27%. But then, if you own a house, ouch!
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 7:54:25 PM #
If you don't want (sales) tax, move to Delaware. they have some nice beaches (if little else).
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 8:40:43 PM #
"Remember folks, paying taxes is a RESPONSIBILITY. You don't want to pay taxes? Get off the freakin boat! I hear they could use able young men in Iraq right now..."

Wow, thats the worst and lamest argument I've heard in weeks!
I've been having a good day, that just made my day better!

RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 9:21:09 PM #
Its too bad that i'm going to college in new york with an 8% sales tax rate, but am from northern virginia with a 4.5% rate (and we are suburb of washington, d.c.)!!! I also love how this thread gets turned into a political debate about the left wing people....it's great though.....because i'm on the 'right' side with the other conservatives :-D
RE: T615C at Costco....
cyruski @ 9/13/2002 4:54:50 AM #
turkey, 18% sales tax, plus varying rates of special consumer tax.

RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 6:45:18 AM #
Buy online from a vendor that doesn't have a retail presence in your state...0% tax. You'll have to pay shipping at most places though.
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 11:25:50 AM #
3% here in Singapore...
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 1:04:52 PM #
15% tax in Ontario, Canada. Hmmm... wasn't the tax supposed to pay for war time expenditures... say... WWI? Wasn't the current gov't supposed to do away with the 7% GST? Bah.
RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 2:48:12 PM #
If you don't want to pay federal income tax in the US, then just don't work. No income equals no income tax. I see thousands of people all around San Francisco and other big cities doing this.

I really wish there was a flat federal income tax at 11% or less instead of the current BS we have to go through.

RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 7:35:14 PM #
Funny that his thread has become a topic of tax!

0% tax in Hong Kong.... yahoooo!

RE: T615C at Costco....
fenfen @ 9/13/2002 11:23:08 PM #
It's 7% tax here in Pittsburgh, capital of the rust belt, and the oldest average age population of any count in the US. But we do keep the rich athletes in new stadiums.

And my local Costco don't carry **** in the way of PDAs. I guess old guys don't need handhelds.

What the heck, the beer is good. Not.

RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/14/2002 11:07:24 AM #
> but am from northern virginia with a 4.5% rate [...]
> because i'm on the 'right' side with the other conservatives :-D

Oh yes because, Virginia's "right" sales tax on food, unlike most other states, more than makes up for higher tax rates in most other states. Just like our previous "right" governor essentially drove the state to economic disaster. I hope they're actually teaching you something in that New York college.

RE: T615C at Costco....
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/14/2002 11:40:52 PM #
325.82% - Ohhhhhh, now my wallet has actually gone to a negative size, whatever that means!

Here in Canada,

I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 3:58:42 PM #
It seems that nothing has been discontinued in the CLIE lineup.... I'm wondering why? Look at SonyStyle.ca and they are still selling the N760, NR70V, T665, S360, T415, SL10, SJ20, SJ30, and T615 models at the same time.

However, they lack accessories and releases of new CLIEs are usually later than the US.

RE: Here in Canada,
big_raji @ 9/12/2002 4:04:41 PM #
Sales probably aren't so great in Canada, so it's taking longer to get rid of old stock.

The only places I've seen Clie's are at Future Shop and A&B Sound... and of course the Sony Store.

Staples, Office Depot, Costco, Wal-Mart, etc only have Palm and HP brand PDAs

---
What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://raj.phangureh.com/picture.html

RE: Here in Canada,
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 4:12:16 PM #
I bought my T665 at a Staples. I think it just depends on which ones you go to. Even Staples.Ca lists several Clies.

RE: Here in Canada,
writedoc @ 9/12/2002 7:33:20 PM #
My local staples, in Kanata, also carries the Sony Clie line

__________________________________________
The only constant is change; learn to embrace it!

T615C infrared problem?

I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 9:41:33 PM #
Just bought the T615C deal at Circuit City. Twice now have had to return it due to an inoperable infrared. Anyone else having this problem?
RE: T615C infrared problem?
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/12/2002 10:27:40 PM #
It's a glitch with Sony's. If you soft reset it a second time after the first sync, it should correct the problem. I've had to soft reset twice after the initial set up with every Sony I've owned.
RE: T615C infrared problem?
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 3:40:21 AM #
Many of the Sony devices seem to have problems beaming out of the box. Here is a short recipie for fixing the problem that has worked time and time again for me when trying to get various devices to work.

1. Do pin reset with the "UP" button held down. Doing this will reset the device and prevent it from running anything at startup, including loading additional libraries, of which the Sony has a few extra.

2. Do a simple pin reset.

Hope this helps someone frustrated with beaming on Sony devices.

RE: T615C infrared problem?
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/13/2002 11:24:50 AM #
This reminds me of a new car I bought once. It wouldn't start the first time. So the salesman told me to remove all the spark plugs and put them all back in one cylinder higher than before. Then the one in the highest cylinder was placed in cylinder number one. The car ran fine after that.

Sheesh!

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