Palm Iiixe and Vista OS

[+FScout]

I am a geocaching newbie and really enjoying it so far. I have read a little about paperless caching and would like to go that way. I have found several inexpensive Palm IIIxe"s on Ebay. My question is , is this pda compatible with Vista Home Premium? If not could someone recommend one that is? Thanks.

[+johnling]

I am a geocaching newbie and really enjoying it so far. I have read a little about paperless caching and would like to go that way. I have found several inexpensive Palm IIIxe"s on Ebay. My question is , is this pda compatible with Vista Home Premium? If not could someone recommend one that is? Thanks.

 

Palm desktop works with Vista. I have 2 TX's and an E2 all syncing to Vista machines. I use Cachemate installed on a 2gig sd card. I put my latest PQ on the card and I'm off.

 

I keep Cachemate up to date but use Cacheberry on my Blackberry now.

 

Note - The Palm 3 may need a serial connection to sync rather than USB for newer models. If you have to also buy a USB to Serial adapter you just may want to get a newer PDA. Also, in a newer PDA you have the option to use SD cards.

Edited September 11, 2008 by johnling

[+AndrewRJ]

I am a geocaching newbie and really enjoying it so far. I have read a little about paperless caching and would like to go that way. I have found several inexpensive Palm IIIxe"s on Ebay. My question is , is this pda compatible with Vista Home Premium? If not could someone recommend one that is? Thanks.

Based on the best info I have seen the Palm III line is not compatable with Vista.

[sdarken]

The Palm z22 might be a better choice because of the USB connection. Looks like you could get one for under $50 on eBay. I think the Palm z22 also has a backlight which might make it readable at night. The iiixe isn't readable at night without a flashlight or other light source.

[+AndrewRJ]

The Palm z22 might be a better choice because of the USB connection. Looks like you could get one for under $50 on eBay. I think the Palm z22 also has a backlight which might make it readable at night. The iiixe isn't readable at night without a flashlight or other light source.

I have a Vx and I just have to quickly press the power button once to turn on the backlight. Does the IIIxe not have this feature?

[+Zac Young]

I own a IIIxe and from my version, there is a very impressive night light on it. All you have to do is hold down the green power button for a few seconds when the Plam is on and the light will illuminate. Hope this helps!

Edited September 12, 2008 by Zac A Young

[Neos2]

The Palm III can be made to work with 32-bit Vista OS.

 

It will not work with 64-bit Vista. In fact, no Palm product will work the way it should with 64-bit Vista OS. There are no drivers for 64-bit Vista, so you can't sync you Palm to your computer. Palm apparently doesn't intend to ever make the drivers available.

 

The only work-around we've found, involves a PDA with an SD card, a friend who will sync your Palm to their computer, and GSAK & Cachemate. We had a Palm that worked with our old computer, but it had gone through a hard reset, and wouldn't sync to the new 64-bit computer--so we couldn't send files to Cachemate from GSAK.

 

We had a friend sync our Palm to his computer at an event. As long as we don't have to erase the Cachemate program on our PDA, we can drag and drop GSAK files to the launcher folder in Cachemate and load those to the SD card on our Zire.

[+PaperbackWriters]

FYI, my Palm Zire 72 is useless with Vista 64 bit edition. Sure seems like Palm COULD have written driver to overcome that, but then, nobody would be forced to buy a new Palm that way. Think of all the money lost if they had done that!

[jholly]

I am a geocaching newbie and really enjoying it so far. I have read a little about paperless caching and would like to go that way. I have found several inexpensive Palm IIIxe"s on Ebay. My question is , is this pda compatible with Vista Home Premium? If not could someone recommend one that is? Thanks.

 

For $25 you can get a used m500 palm from PDAParts.com. It is usb, lcd screen which is really good outside, and has a SD slot. Probably cheaper that what you could buy a IIIxe for on e-bay and not have to worry about the serial interface hassles.

 

Jim

Edited November 11, 2008 by jholly

[+Jenischmeni]

Correct in that Palm won't sync to 64-bit Vista. Palm WILL sync to 32-bit and Palm has already added the updated Desktop program for 32-bit Vista.

 

There are some workarounds for 64 bit users. Neos told of the one that works the easiest. I can sync my Palm to my 64-bit Vista but I wouldn't be able to tell anyone else how to do it and it doesn't even always work. (I have a son who is a techie and he's worked on this issue a LOT for me!)

 

I really, really, really do believe that Palm will eventually release a desktop program for 64-bit Vista. They'll have to. It won't be that long until most machines are 64-bit and they'll either have the software or give up the business.

[Neos2]

I really, really, really do believe that Palm will eventually release a desktop program for 64-bit Vista. They'll have to. It won't be that long until most machines are 64-bit and they'll either have the software or give up the business.

And I really, really, really do hope Jenischmeni is right.