The Palm Pilot III

I have recently got an old palm pilot working, and I am amazed at how cool these devices are. You hot-sync it with your PC and it stores all your addresses, calendar, and to-do lists. Also it is easy to add new software to the device, just double-click on the .prc file and next time you hot-sync it will automatically install the application. You can install more than just games, I even turned the palm pilot into a remote control for the TV !

Here are some essential links....

Go here to upgrade your palm pilot to OS 3.3, and to download documentation and the latest version of the desktop (the software for Windows) .http://www.palmone.com/us/support/palm3/

Get a book reader from http://www.palmsource.com/interests/ebooks/ and get a book from http://www.memoware.com/

Here are some sites where you can download software:

http://www.eurocool.com/

http://www.freewarepalm.com/

http://www.palmgear.com/

Go here for a forum where they can help you with problems http://www.pdastreet.com/forums//forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=45

And here is the software I have currently installed on my Palm-Pilot III. It should all fit in the 2mb, and it all works without crashing on a Palm III OS 3.3.

• Adventure (Text adventure, good for learning to write with the stylus)
• BigClock (Time and date, as well as alarms and timers).
• Blackjack (Pontoon)
• CSpot (Simple Book reader for palm .doc files - see below for my current book)
• Dopewars (Classic "buy and sell drugs" type game)
• FlySnake (Classic snake game)
• HandyShopper2 (Useful lists program - many people say this is their favourite application, so I am going to try it).
• Impactor (Arkanoid/Breakout style game)
• Minefield (Minesweeper clone)
• Mirror (turn your Palm into a mirror(!?))
• Pocket Chess 2 (Very good chess game)
• SFCave (Fly through a cave, control is just one key (customisable) which gives you lift, else you fall)
• SimCity (Classic city building game)
• SpaceTrader (Classic Elite-style space trading game, careful - it's addictive. Unfortunately after using I have to press the reset button to get the backlight working again so I may have to remove it from my Palm soon. Just one more go!).
• Remote Control (Change channels on your TV)

Here's the book I currently have installed on my Palm pilot : The Runaway Asteroid

With all the above links you should be able to choose OPEN to add directly to your Palm. If you want the help files or addtional items such as PalmIIIc colour version then please look elsewhere, because of lack of space and for ease of use I have only included the PRC files needed for the Palm-III.

Please send me software that I may want to add to my Palm Pilot III, or let me know if any of the above software causes you problems on your Palm Pilot III.

Palm III Tips

• hold the on button for 2 seconds to turn on the back-light.
• make a stroke from the bottom of the screen to the top to run Graffiti help. (In the Preferences you can change what happens when you make this stroke, so later when you no longer need the Graffiti help you can change it to toggle the backlight on/off, or to lock and turn off the palm)
• Use rechargeable AAA batteries, and always have a spare set so you can change over quickly when they go flat, this way you should not lose data.
• There is a DOT COMMAND (a hidden option) to tell the palm which battery type you are using (Ni-cad, NiMh, Alkaline, Rechargable Alkine), go here to read about DOT SHORTCUTS.
• On the PC you will find a BACKUP folder with all the software and data that will be put back onto the palm-pilot in the event of data-loss. You can make a copy of this folder to backup your palm pilot.

There is a reset button on the back of the Palm Pilot that can be pressed with a pin (Beware , pressing this button will lose any unsaved work)

• If you have the original stylus you can unscrew the end to give you a pin to press the reset button.
• Press the reset button to clear the memory - useful when the Palm Pilot starts behaving badly eg the backlight does not come on (Like Rebooting Windows).
• Press the reset button and hold the up arrow key to start the machine when you have errors on startup and you need to get into the Palm to delete the problem software (Like Safe Mode).
• Press the reset button and hold the down arrow key to reset machine to factory defaults - Beware, this will erase all your data and remove all installed applications, so hotsync first. (Like Reformating then Reinstalling Windows.).