SV: Re: Palm vs Pocket Pc

[John Formsma]

Hi Paul,

Regarding PDAs and mileage, I use Excel spreadsheets to keep up with
mileage. It's really easy to create with Excel, although I use
OpenOffice Calc to do it, then save as an Excel file. (I use Documents
to Go for Excel and Word files on the Palm.)

I have small spreadsheets for each month so I don't have to scroll
down forever to enter the date and starting mileage w a y y y down at
the bottom of the spreadsheet.

Once the month is up, I'll bluetooth the file to my Mac, where it's
stored for permanent record keeping. Then I'll bluetooth the next
month's template to my Palm.  (It keeps the documents folder more free
so I don't have to look through a bunch of documents to find 'July
2007 Mileage.'

It's easy to copy and paste the 12 small spreadsheets into a larger
spreadsheet to calculate mileage for the entire year. This is just the
way I do it. I'm sure there are better and easier ways, but probably
none so free and straightforward.

Anyone want a template? Let me know, and I'll email it.

I've seen the Michelin GPS, and am glad to get some feedback from a
user. Would love to have Verizon, but service is not good here. No
other cell phone that my provider has will do GPS, although I've seen
some subscription-based services that might possibly work.

I'd like to have a dedicated GPS device, but I'm always trying to
reduce the number of devices that have to be plugged in to my car. I
get frustrated with power cords!  Since I already use a PDA, I'm
leaning toward a PDA that has GPS.  I'm planning to do CTE training
eventually, so I need to have an ETD for that. Grrr!  RCT is probably
what I will get b/c of its small size.

By the way, I've been to San Diego once, and would love to get lost
anywhere there. It's a beautiful city! ;-)

JF

On 7/18/07, Paul McCloud <pmc033 at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> There are a huge amount of Palm applications.  I use a program called Trip
> Deluxe, which helps me keep track of mileage.  It will print out the
> information through Excel, which allows customization of the layout and
> information.  I love the Palm platform because the software is
> bullet-proof.  Like in the old days of DOS and XT computers, the software is
> very efficient.  It doesn't crash, ever.  No need for updates and patches.
> No "bloatware" in the Palm.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Cybertuner,
> Tunelab or Veritune.  They do have the Palm Treo 700 series that runs
> Windows Mobile, that will work with PPC applications like Cybertuner, etc.,
> and has the included cell phone.  You can get GPS capability with the Treo
> as an added unit.
> If you make your PPc GPS capable, you would use a special mount on your
> dashboard, not hold the thing in your hand.  It has to have a clear view of
> the sky, so it needs to be on the dashboard or suction-cupped to the
> windshield.  The stand-alone units come with the mount included.  I
> purchased a very inexpensive unit made by Michelin, for about $200, which
> works very well.  It has the SIRF III chipset in it, which is very sensitive
> and fast.  If your GPS unit doesn't have this chipset, don't buy it.  The
> better units have "talking" prompts that say the street names and have
> capability to warn of traffic jams and rerouting, but you'll pay more for
> extra features.  I've found I don't need all the bells and whistles (ok, so
> I'm cheap!  It would be nice, tho).  I keep the unit in the glove box to
> hide it from thieves.
>     FWIW.
>     Paul McCloud
>     San Diego