Palm Sync in Classic

[stephenfleming]

My G4 Powerbook absolutely refuses to recognize Palm's HotSync Manager, even when running Classic. Yes, I know Palm has released an OS X version of their desktop application... but my critical data is handled through a third party conduit (MeetingMaker calendar), and they are still promising OS X "Real Soon Now."

(Which is weird, since they've been running on Unix for years. How tough can it be?)

Anyhow -- I use a Handspring Visor plugged into a USB cradle. MeetingMaker tech support tells me it *should* work in Classic. I've reinstalled their conduits, and done a clean reinstall of System 9.2.2. Other stuff works in Classic without a problem, including programs that talk to the USB ports (scanner and label printer). But the Palm is missing in action.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[hschickel]

I use Palm m505 so this may not be entirely applicable - but I have a few observations:

1. Palm support in Classic (for the Palms with the universal usb cradle) came along with one of the many OS X and Classic updates. It definitely works with X.1.2 and 9.2.2. I'm not exactly sure when it started though. The point is please make sure you have the latest upgrades. The latest version of the Palm Desktop software is 2.6.3 by the way.

2. The conduit manager seems to require a tremendous amount of memory when running from Classic. I give it 100000. This allows a proper sync about 90% of the time.

3. Other CPU intensive tasks running in the foreground or background seem to mess with a good hotsync. I think it might be timing out but I'm not sure about this. To solve the problem I leave CPU Monitor's floating window in the background and kill off CPU intensive tasks before doing a sync.

4. Along the same note as 4 - syncs seem to work better if I allow the sync to run in the foreground and just do something else in the few minutes it takes to sync the palm. (Getting a coffee refill is usually the solution.) Even with the extra memory a Palm sync is still slower in Classic than 9. This is one of the few apps where I find that to be the case - its not very good with X's version of multi-tasking.

5. If you've reinstalled your system folder or are using a seperate system folder for Classic - make sure the Palm desktop extensions are installed. Your Palm sync will not run without these. I believe they are:
PalmConnect® USB
Instant Palm Desktop
PalmConnect® USBSerialHAL
Help With QuickHelp™.cnt
PalmConnect® USBSerialShim
Help With QuickHelp™
QuickHelp™
USBSerial
USB Palm
You may have others with a Visor device.

6. If your backup regimen includes your Palm users folder make sure that folder is not mounted when you sync. For some reason this seems to confuse Palm in Classic mode.

7. If you've moved your Palm users folder the Palm desktop seems to have a hard time reconnecting to it. Trash the Palm preferences and rebuild the desktop to reconnect. As with point 6, do not have any backups of your Palm folder mounted when you do this.

Good luck. Hopefully one of these will do the trick for you.

Hugh

[stephenfleming]

Good things to try. (Palm Sync really won't run without QuickHelp? How bizarre.) I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

[hschickel]

I'm not sure if it will run w/o quickhelp. The desktop application does install it though.

Hugh

Edit - seems to run fine w/o quick help - no help though.
:)

[RichB]

I can confirm Meeting Maker does work in Classic with an m505. I've since upgraded to native beta and all third party conduits don't work.

Make sure you use the Handspring installer since there are some different extensions. And of course make sure the HotSync Setup is set to Handspring USB instead of Palm USB. Good Luck.