(Last edited Feb 27, 2008)

Before I start on the topic of this posting, I would like to take a moment to remind everyone that today, November 11th, is Rememberance Day (in Canada) or Veterans Day (in USA). In Canada, we wear a red poppy on our clothes to show our rememberance of the Canadians who died in the First World War, WWII and all veterans who served in the wars.

Each year at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, we have a moment of silence to signify the official end of WWI in 1918. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of the significance of remembering those who sacrificed their lives for war so that we can enjoy the freedom that we often take for granted. Imagine what life would be if Germany won WWII, or even WWI. If you are not familiar with what Rememberance Day is about, I’d suggest taking a moment to search on “Rememberance Day” and the significance of the red poppy and why Flanders Fields was blooming with poppies during the Napoleonic war and WWWI on the internet and why it’s very important to “Never forget“. This is not a political blog and I don’t intend it to be. I am against wars but I feel that I need to remember those who sacrificed for my freedom and maybe raise a little awareness of those young men and women (someone’s Dad, Mom, brother, etc) who died. Okay, back to topic.

So, why didn’t I write this article earlier, say, shortly after I’ve written the series on Why get a Palm? Well, had I written and posted this article then, which assumes you know much about how the applications work, many of the new Palm users would be very lost. Unless they are knowledgeable with electronic devices and understand how to navigate around the menus, which, I can’t assume they are, they would not know what to do. And that’s not my point, to confuse and disillusion anybody. I want is to help people understand what Palms are all about so they are comfortable with them.

We as human beings are always afraid of the unknown. We don’t really feel comfortable with something new, like having a new boss, moving to a new place, getting a new job, changing our usual routines. We’ve become so complacent that we don’t want to change because it’s a new thing and we have to learn to change and adapt and do a lot of things. But change in many ways can be good. We learn new things. We establish new ties. We create new habits, hopefully good ones. And that’s where the Palm comes in. If we can learn to get used to this new habit, we will discover that it’s so wonderful that we can’t work efficiently without them. Or , at least I know I won’t.

My idea is to try to give a good idea of what the Palm device can do. Of course, the previous postings give a good simulation of the programs and how to use it but it’s really set up to introduce the program to someone who doesn’t know what they are, so they get a good feel of it and feel comfortable with it. As well, those simulations are for someone who is starting out to learn about the Palm. Feel free to go back to the previous postings to review how each application works while you’re reading this posting. Again, I AM NO PALM EXPERT. I know some things about the Palm and want to share what I do know with everyone. So don’t assume I know everything.

So, here’s how to get started with a Palm.

Taking the Palm out of the box

You’ve bought your Palm. Now what? Well, obviously, take out all the accessories, chargers, cradles, cables, manuals, install CD and whatever is inside the package. Take a look at the accessories and figure out which ones are the chargers and cables and connectors. You may need to refer to some kind of a “getting started” sheet or guide that I’m sure is included in the package so that you can properly connect the various accessories and cables to the Palm correctly.

CHARGE THE PALM

First of all, your Palm currently doesn’t have any power so it is advisable to get it charged. Place your Palm on the cradle, or charger and plug it to the wall socket to start charging the Palm. Do not succumb to the temptation of turning it on after half an hour of charging. Doing so may cause your Palm to not be fully charged and may affect its charge retaining capabilities. As with most electronic devices, you should try to fully charge it before its first use.

While you’re letting the Palm charge (best to let it fully charge in 4 - 6 hours or longer) make use of your time to read up on any information you can about your new Palm. It’s always a good idea to get a feel of what to expect so that when it comes time to using or doing something that you are “somewhat” prepared. That goes with Palms. I’m sure most of you don’t have a lot of time to learn something new so there’s no better time to learn and read up on at least a bit of Palm material while you’re waiting for it to fully charge.

CHECK OUT THE PALM SUPPORT PAGE FOR MANUALS, PATCHES, UPDATES

Check out the Palm support pages for your device. Select your Palm model from the drop down menus and you will be taken to your device’s support page.

There’s a wealth of information available at the Palm support website. You can download updates, patches as well as various manuals (they call them “user guides”) and software. The manuals are in Adobe’s Acrobat pdf format so you’ll need to install the Adobe Acrobat Reader to be able to read them. I suggest downloading the manual in pdf and saving it to your hard drive so that you can easily refer back to it rather than relying on viewing it online. It’s well worth your time to check out the Palm support pages because many potential problems you may experience can easily be fixed just by downloading and installing various patches which fixes them. For example, in the Tungsten T, there’s a voice memo bug that will hang the T. Installing the update fixes that immediately.

Many times in the various Palm forums, I read about people who discover that they’ve fried their expansion flash memory SD (Secure Digital) card without installing the necessary Palm updates and patches or that they can’t get their wireless keyboards to work. So, it’s VERY important to install all the patches just to be on the safe side.

- Read the manuals (or user guides)

- install the relevant patches for your specific device

- download the software that you may wish to use

INSTALL THE SOFTWARE FROM THE CD(S)

Once the battery in the Palm is fully charged (after the 4 - 6 hours or more. There’s no fear or overcharging since it’s a LiOn battery), start installing the necessary software onto your computer so that you can install them onto the Palm and have the capability to transfer and synchronize data between the Palm and computer.

Put the install CD (in the case of the Zire 71, there’s two CDs) into the CD drive of your computer. Usually the drive will detect the install CD and will pop up with a Window about starting the installation.

Start with the first one, which is the Desktop Software CD 1. In it, you will install the essential software like Palm Desktop software and Chapura Pocket Mirror (which allows you to synchronize the information between MS Outlook and your Palm). Go through the prompts and windows you encounter, answering the prompts and selections and eventually, everything will be installed.

I think the program itself will then expect you to do the first Hotsync. Make sure that the Palm is seated in the cradle, and it’s connected to your computer. Then, proceed with the Hotsync. During this time, the necessary files and programs will be installed.

Once done, continue on with installing the software from the second CD (if applicable). Decide which software you wish to install. In most cases, we will most likely install everything so that we get to figure what software is available and whether we want it. Most of the software can be freely downloaded from the internet. Some of them are trial software which has a trial limit before they are locked and require purchase and registration before they can continued to be used.

The software that is included in the Software Essentials CD 2 on the Zire 71 include: Real Player, Audible Player, Kinoma Player, Palm Reader (now eReader), Phone Link Updater, Telephony/SMS drivers, VersaMail is included in the CD, but there is no free download due to copyright agreements. By that, I mean that each official Palm device install CD is “licensed” to that particular Palm device. As we all know, it costs money to for a program license. Unfortunately, if you got your Palm via Ebay and the seller did not include the install CD, you are very much out of luck. Unless you can find someone who is willing to break the law and burn you a CD image of the install disk, you will have to purchase the software yourself.

Trial software (they have a time limit of from 7 - 30 days depending on the software) in the CD include PowerOne Calculator, Solitaire. As I’ve mentioned, these are “trial” software and in order to use them beyond the “trial” dates, you will need to pay. Again, do a Hotsync once you’ve installed each one. It’s always better to install the programs one at a time, rather than all at once. Sometimes, there may be conflicts that can occur. By only installing one program at a time, you can easily isolate where the problems stem from. You will understand this as you continue using the Palm and encounter problems. And I will discuss this in a future posting.

Palm has a great set of videos and guides on the Palm, that’s available on the Zire 71 support page. Under Video Guides, there’s Desktop Video, Handheld video, Handheld Setup Guide, and Hotsync Support Guide.

Some of the video are dated, as shown on the packaging for the Palm in the Handheld setup guide, but most of the information are relevant. I’d strongly suggest checking these videos out as they provide a great idea of what to expect, especially the Handheld Setup Guide. You may want to check out your device’s support page for any relevant video or web guides specific for your device here.

Here’s a link to Palm’s setup guide for the Zire 71. LINK. If you want the setup guide for your device, either go through the support page for your device or do a search for setup guide in the Palm knowledge base support.

Simulation of the first start up of the Palm

Alternative Flash links: ImageShack

This is a simulation of what the Palm goes through the first time it’s turned on and started up. This is also the same thing that happens after a “hard reset”, which is a reset that wipes all data off the Palm and resets it back to default factory conditions.

The simulation will play through to the end unless I’ve inserted a pop up note for specific points.

To continue playing the simulation, press the button.
To go back to a previous paused segment, click on the button.
To pause the simulation at any time, press the button. To continue after it’s paused, press the button again.
To scroll forwards or backwards in the simulation, click anywhere on the left (to go back earlier in the simulation), or right (to go forward in the simulation) on the progress bar.

TIME TO PLAY! CHECK OUT THE NEW PROGRAMS

Now that you’ve installed the software on the Palm, take the time to check them out.

Real Player is a compressed audio music player that can play mp3 files. It can integrate with the desktop Real Player to allow easy transfer of music files from Windows to the Palm. In my view, Real Player is an inferior mp3 player to many of the other 3rd party software available. Even DioPlayer (freeware) will be better than Real Player in sound quality and features. I will discuss more details with suggestions in a future posting.

Audible Player is an audio book player that can only play digitally encrypted Audible ebook files. You purchase digital ebooks from Audible.com and immediately download and transfer them over to the Palm. No more waiting for audio books to arrive in the mail. You can burn them onto a CD to play in your car or cd player.

Kinoma Player is a video player that can only play Kinoma converted video files. You will need to purchase Kinoma Producer to do the conversions. Again, there are alternatives, especially a freeware alternative to the video player. I will discuss this topic in a future posting.

Palm Reader (now eReader) is a digital electronic book viewer program. You can buy digital books from eReader.com and download and view entire books without adding any physical bulk to your Palm. There’s bookmarking capabilities, auto scrolling, font changes, and many other features available. In the Zire 71, the entire book of “The Last of the Mohicans” is included. There are various other formats of ebook viewing software that can offer what eReader does which I will discuss in a future posting.

Phone Link Updater is a program that can install the necessary drivers to enable you to connect to your cell phone via infrared or bluetooth, so that you can transfer data between them as well as using your cell phone’s connection to connect to the internet.

Telephony/SMS drivers provides the necessary drivers to use your Palm to send and receive SMS text messages.

VersaMail is an email program that can allow you to send and receive emails when the Palm is connected to the cradle and uses the computer’s internet connection for the connection. Again, there are better alternatives to this program that I will discuss in a future posting.

PowerOne Calculator is a multi-function calculator program that can perform many different types of calculations from scientific to financial, etc. Calculators are aplenty in the Palm world. Depending on your needs, you can easily try any of the many freeware calculators available rather than spending the money.

Solitaire is a Palm game program that allows you to play solitaire games on the Palm. Again, there are tons of Palm solitaire games out there that you can try and play. Many are freeware.

I hope that this posting has given you some info on how to get started with your brand new Palm device and that you’ll take some time to play around with them and figure out whether you use it often enough to warrant it being installed on the Palm or whether you don’t think you want it anymore.

In the next part of this Putting it All together topic, I will discuss the various ways you can remove any Palm programs installed in RAM as well as other useful info that you may find helpful.

Thanks for visiting and supporting Palm Discovery. If you are not reading this article from Palmdiscovery.com or palmdiscovery.net, the website you are reading it from is guilty of copying and posting my content without consent. Please visit Palm Discovery for the original source of the material.

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