Palm as a Portable toolkit

A few years back, I worked for a major telecom manufacturer. At that time, I used my Palm IIIx, pTelnet, and a modified HotSync serial cable to connect to the management ports in order to configure and troubleshoot many different network devices and test equipment. That same set-up served me well as I progressed through a TRGPro to a Handera330. It amazed colleagues that I could use a Palm as a “dumb terminal” It wasn’t so dumb once I had set-up some macros for common logins and configurations; I could be logged in and configure the device in under a minute! When I was laid off after surviving countless rounds of other cutbacks, I started a training and consulting company, and my Tungsten T (then Treo 650) became a part of my toolkit by being the presentation engine. Presentations were drafted using Docs To Go, and then presented over Bluetooth using QuickOffice and the Pitch Duo. Live demos were done using iDisplay and the Duo; that way, the small screen ended up on the Big Screen! These days, I use my trusty Treo 650 to help me with debugging products that use optical communication using a program called IRMonitor. I also use it to access various Linux machines over Bluetooth using TuSSH, and access Windows and Linux Desktops using PalmVNC. I’ve seen other applications that use Palm powered products to read power meters, temperature probes, car computers, and other devices. All this in addition to the usual organizer and e-mail functions! The Palm Platform is a virtual “Swiss Army Knife” of portable computing, given the right software, adapters and a little bit of ingenuity.

I had originally submitted this to Palm Addicts. The post can be seen here.