Re: Palm Devices

[Stephen L Johnson <sjohnson@monsters.org>]

So one asked me about the list of software that I use(d) on my various Palms 
over the years. I didn't forget. It was just a bit low on the TODO totem pole.

Before my Palm VII, this was the usual list of software that I had and a short 
description on who I used it.

ptelnet - http://netpage.em.com.br/mmand/ptelnet.htm

One of the best all all around communication programs that I've seen for any 
platform / OS. It's a telnet client and a terminal program. Needless to say I 
used this one quite a lot. It is great as a console. I used it extensively to 
diagnose and fix an external RAID unit at a datacenter across town from my 
office. The sync cradle is fabulous for this sort of thing. It's angled just 
right to view and write on. And the cable is wired to connect to a DCE serial 
port.

ping  - http://www.searat.com/palm.html

A standard ping command based on BSD ping. I didn't really use it that much. 
But I had it when I needed it.

Top Gun SSH client - http://www.ai/~iang/TGssh/

A Secure Shell client for the Palm. A good implementation. It handles all of 
the major encryption library currenly in use.

Top Gun Postman / Proximail - http://www.proxinet.com/

A partial mail client that handles the MTA portions of mail handling. It work 
in conjunction with the Palm Mail application. Proximail is the current 
incarnation of Postman. It handled POP and the sending of of e-mail.

Palmscape - http://www.ilinx.co.jp/en/
Proxiweb  - http://www.proxinet.com/

Two web browsers that I have tried. Palmscape is a full stand-alone web 
browser. Proxiweb is a web browser that works in conjunction with a gateway 
server. The Proxiweb gateway handles the translation of text and graphics to 
formated that a Palm can handle, e.g. graphics scaled and remapped to 4 bit 
greyscale etc.

When I first used them they were still beta programs. But now that fully 
featured and work really well. I can recommend them both.

DOC readers

There are way too many to even start discussing. Best advice I can give is to 
try them all out until you find the one you like the best. I first settled on 
TealDoc. But nowadays I use iSilo. I think that iSilo beter handles HTML 
document conversions. But now I'm looking at and evaluating Plucker.

The way that I kept a master IP address databse with me was as a DOC file. The 
database we used was for an entire class B network. This was way too big to 
keep in an actual Palm DB format. The IP keeps eventually developed a report 
format that he printed to a file and converted it to DOC format. This was 
small enough to keep on our Palm. It was searchable by Ip address or by name 
using the Find function.

progect - progect.sourceforge.net

Progect is the latest hierarchical TODO/Project Manager program that I use. I 
started off with Brain Forest.

For complex things the Palm ToDo app won't cut it. This is what I use.

IP calc - http://www.palmgear.com

IP addresses, netmasks, broadcast addresses, network addresses, CIDRs, etc. IP 
calc will fix you up. It handles all of the calculations.  I use it all of the 
time. Don't leave home without it!

---
That is all for the non-Palm VII apps. What follows are all of the Palm VII 
apps that I current use for Admin related stuff.

ThinAir

A remote mail access application. It can handle up to 3 different 
POP/IMAP/HotMail accounts. It's limited to you inbox. But it is a handy app 
when you on the road.

GuruNet and Foldoc

Two handle WEb Clipping apps that are great in looking up strange acronyms 
that you don't know.

Pocket Geek Tools - Pocket GT

A Web clipping app that give you access to the Geek Tools web site. Access to 
the various IP calcuators, the RFC database, a Traceroute Gatway and a WHOIS 
proxy.

Net ToolBox

A Web clipping app that gives your access to traceroute, Ping, NS Lookup, 
Finger, Whois, Host Info, DNS Query. It is from the SeanHayes.com web site.

It is handy when your 'Net access is out and you want to know where the 
problems lies: your ISP or futher upstream?

Time

A web clipping app that gets the current US Time from the NIST and US Naval 
Observatory.

OK, not so useful that those outside the US, but you only have to do some time 
zone conversions.

Simple Wire

A Web Clipping App that allows you to send pages to pagers on a wide range of 
paging providers.

Snakeeyes

A Web Clipping App that can fetch the text from almost any web page. It is 
really limited, but it will don when you are in a pinch.

KBrowser

A WAP brwoser for the Palm VII from 4thpass.com. IF you want WAP on your PALM 
VII, you need this browser.

I use KBrowser to keep watch on my Unix servers. I use my package Spong 
(http://spong.sourceforge.net) to monitor my Unix Servers at work. The web 
interface for Spong is much too intensive for a small screen device. Now in 
comes WAP, it's a perfect interface for wireless devices with small screens.

Last, but definitely not least

DP Web

This is a combo Web Clipping App. It give you text based web browsing from 
your Palm VII. If you register and and pay $20, you get access to a bookmarks, 
cookies and secure web sites (i.e. https:// ).

This is probably the app I use the most away from a computer. It allows me to 
surf the web almost as well from a desktop computer. I said almost. You are 
limited to text only, no graphics. It is at most 8Kbps, so be patient. Busy 
web sites with lots of text and graphics are a pain because you have to wade 
though so much text.

Stephen L Johnson <sjohnson@monster.org>

P.S. And for those who need their daily SlashDot fix will on the road, there 
is a SlashDot Web Clipping App for the Palm VII. ;>