This time for real getting started with using that Palm IIIxe

2022-04-13

See the previous post from August:

2021-08-30 A 6AM dive into PalmOS getting started with use of.

Interpilot - the Polish characters mod

Interpilot is a program that replaces some of the keys in the Intl keyboard tab and adds a "7" key (written from the upper dash) to Graffiti and to the keyboard, that when superceding a character alters it to become its "AltGr" counterpart (\u017c from z, \u017a from x, ...). See the previous post for links.

As I wrote in the previous post, I couldn't find downloads for Interpilot's successor PiLoc, so that's why I went with it.

Interpilot ships with a demonstration product registration code "democode" by default and I don't have a proper one so I keep being annoyed with a dialog titled "Reminder" saying "Your Interpilot is not registered" and "Dismiss" that sometimes comes up extremely often.

The most recent versions of Interpilot, as I remember them from the past, are said to work with specifically version 1.2 of the Palm Keyboard driver.

Palm Portable Keyboard

Finding the driver

Here:

https://archive.org/details/palm-portable-keyboard-drivers

which also links to

https://www.palmdr.com/cart/keyboard-vvx-series-1701102-p-310.html

I found the following:

https://archive.org/download/palm-portable-keyboard-drivers/Kb_P10802U_192.prc

http://palmdr.com//eBay%20Photos/Kb_P10802U_192.prc

^md5 b9697e30d4cc14ddd6f7c9f99c56cc93 Kb_P10802U_192.prc

https://archive.org/download/palm-portable-keyboard-drivers/Keyboard2.2p.prc

^md5 f9f8fe5b49d3b8d4e95539235487a264 Keyboard2.2p.prc

https://archive.org/download/palm-portable-keyboard-drivers/kb_P10802U_15.prc

http://palmdr.com//eBay%20Photos/kb_P10802U_15.prc

^md5 e5934816666760234477d03effc5c4c5 kb_P10802U_15.prc

http://palmdr.com//eBay%20Photos/Kb_P10802U_12.prc

^md5 b71c9ce0b968d6fcdda1fabe93a055ee Kb_P10802U_12.prc

The issues

It turned out all of them worked fine, I think I tested all of them to work with the Interpilot features even. But while all was well while I was removing a keyboard driver before installing another, I got a fatal error prompting me to hard reset (erase) the device when I dirty-installed version 1.2 over version 2.2. After that and restoring from backup I had an issue when Interpilot didn't have the language database selected (not everything is in databases to be restored...) and thus was crashing the device when I was responding "Activate" when it asks on start after a reset, so that required me not to activate immediately but go to the Interpilot application and select the language.

The reason I was trying all versions was because it turned out the keys of my Palm Portable Keyboard model number P10713U lining the left side of the middle bend (which goes behind the front latch), that's the letter N and digit 7 and the big space key (having a tiny partially-redundant another space key to its right) don't work anymore. The rubber lining of the edge on the inside also got unsticked only in that place.

So that's sad :c. A keyboard without a 7 nor an N and having the space misplaced is not good enough to use.

A glance at the Expense application

Isn't that an outdated concept? Don't we make more payments these days and track them with more accessible these days online credit/debit card reports? And there is no summation in this application, no reports. Just a list of entries with fields: date, category, type, payment type, currency, vendor, city, and a list of attendees with address book lookup and a note. You can show just one category or all at once, and you can sort by date or by type. The types are a predefined list you can't change, with Mileage being a special type and the rest being: Airfare, Breakfast, Bus, Business Meals, Car Rental, Dinner, Enternainment, Fax, Gas, Gifts, Hotel, Incidentals, Laundry, Limo, Lodging, Lunch, (Mileage), Other, Parking, Postage, Snak, Subway, Supplies, Taxi, Telephone, Tips, Tolls, Train.

I finally learnt how to use the To Do application

Due Date for me is now when I want the item to show up for me. I can then have the "Show Only Due Items" checked, and if I want to see items that have a later due date, I can open the fourth view of Date Book on the Due Date or any later date.

There's not much time left... Palm Day is coming Dec 31, 2031

When this date is reached, all standard Palm clocks will be frozen, unable to tick one second more. It's not all doomsday, though. Palm OS itself doesn't particularly care about the date, and most apps will continue to work just fine.

https://palmdb.net/about/palm-day

More applications

So far the only user application I have on my Palm is BigClock that I've had beamed onto it from my Z22 for a long time. I prefer to be very conservative in installing new fun things these days, as each increases the risk of a crash such that would neccesitate erasing the device, when I would be without a most recent backup.

But I just had a disappointment as I'm writing this in JPilot Memo Pad view and I used Memo Pad on the Palm to briefly proofread the whole post and it turned out I can't add anything to the post, as if it was too long maybe. I could delete characters though and it HotSynced to JPilot.

JPilot supports a "pedit32"'s "Memo32" database format, maybe I should have a look at it and consider switching.

In two days I will be visiting my parents for Easter and with that I will be able to take some prc files from my PowerMac G5 there which I have mentioned in a previous post:

2022-02-24 Getting back to my PowerMac G5