The Rohrbaugh Forum

Miscellaneous => The Water Cooler -- General Discussions => Topic started by: Michigunner on January 03, 2006, 11:57:53 PM

Title: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 03, 2006, 11:57:53 PM

I gave my wife a new PDA for Christmas.

It was almost a full time job getting it ready for service.

Any other forum members use a PDA?

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: DDGator on January 04, 2006, 12:38:37 AM

Heck yeah -- I use a Blackberry 7100t.  I love it.  Although being in touch all the time can be a bad thing, it gives me the power to be away from the office more without feeling like I am missing anything.  It still has an "off" switch when needed.  ;)

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: bigyimmy on January 04, 2006, 02:47:28 AM

I just received the new 7100i two weeks ago and my IT folks are still fooling around with getting the email to work on it.

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 04, 2006, 12:35:12 PM

My daughter is getting a Blackberry, too, but I read where they might have to withdraw service because of a legal problem.  That situation must have ended.

Anyway, unfortunately, my wife just got a new Nextel with all the accessories, so Blackberry is now out of the picture.  I should have been better informed and got her the Blackberry instead of a more conventional phone.

The new Dell hardware came with the latest version Windows Mobile 5.0, and it is like being on the "bleeding edge".  It had to receive a soft reset many times during the day.

I finally solved the problem by removing the 1 Gb SD memory card, and stopping all programs that were running when the device is put aside for the night.  Otherwise, the battery will be drained overnight.  Even though you quit a program, it may still be running in memory.  I think Quit should really mean Quit.

Sadly, I don't understand how a layman could possible circumvent all the problems.  I've been in IT since 1969 and get a little disgusted when the directions are unclear and incomplete, and the features do not function correctly.

I wish that software and hardware could be developed with more attention to quality control and with zero defects in mind. It only takes a few extra moments to do it right and the development costs should not be affected.

Instead, the software companies are filled with maintenance people who fix problems reported by customers.  The "bugs" are now expected and tolerated by suffering customers.

In addition, we now have to talk with support personnel in another country where the language differences are overwhelming.  

bigyimmy, I was just getting ready to offer helping you get the email working, but noticed that your IT staff is working on the problem.  I'm sure they will quickly solve the riddle.  Sometimes, you almost have to be a trained genius to be successful with these gadgets.

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: DDGator on January 04, 2006, 12:38:49 PM

The RIM/Blackberry legal battle is still on-going, but I don't believe that the outcome is going to affect service.  I think the outcome of that case determines who much royalties RIM is going to have to pay to keep the Blackberries running.  It wouldn't make financial sense to either side to shut them down.

Let me tell you, if my RIM Blackberry gets shut down, I am jumping ship to a Treo and whoever owns that technology can keep it.

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 04, 2006, 12:46:50 PM

Duane, does your Blackberry use Microsoft windows, in some form or another?

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: DDGator on January 04, 2006, 12:48:34 PM

No.  It uses a different operating system altogether -- like the Palm Operating System.  It will open MS Word and MS Excel documents, but it is not Windows based.

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: bigyimmy on January 04, 2006, 03:18:18 PM

Bill,
Thanks for the offer any how.  Yesterday I noticed the internet services showed up on the phone.  I think all that is left is to enter the user email address and password before a flood of automatic programming takes place over Nextel's airways.  

I resisted for over a year before getting a Blackberry.  The older style was larger and I felt I could get by without it.  Now it seems I have to have it to function well at my job.  If I don't like it I may just use a separate mobile phone for phone calls and just run email and web services on the Blackberry.  Blackberry is not the best device when using it as a phone.

Respectfully,
Jim

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 04, 2006, 03:32:30 PM

Thanks, Jim.

On my wife's Nextel, I seem to remember giving it her complete email address and her account password.  For example, username@comcast.net.

Also, it may ask for your POP3 information.  For example, at Comcast we say pop3.comcast.net and smtp.comcast.net.  One is the incoming mail server, and the other is the outgoing mail server.  I think that's right.

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: bigyimmy on January 04, 2006, 04:46:01 PM

I have the email address information, but I need a password which was sent to my work email address.  I can retreive it through with my remote access token and my home computer which is kind of pain (little one) since I left my tablet PC at work.  I'll be going into my office in a few hours and will check it all out then.  Hopefully this will be the end of connecting this gadget up.
Respectfully,
Jim

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: flyandscuba on January 05, 2006, 09:46:50 PM

I use an HP Ipaq 3715 for work.  It has a camera and I added the Garmin GPS 10 unit and the Garmin Que software for GPS use in the car.

My HP Ipaq 4700 is dedicated to the airplane -- also used with a Garmin GPS 10, and XM Weather receiver along with the Anywhere Map/Weather aviation GPS mapping and weather information system.  I'll not fly cross country without it.  Having real-time NEXRAD radar in-flight is a huge safety item.  Approach plates are digitized into the PDA (eliminating the need for paper plates in the cockpit).  The system will even place the aircraft position directly on the approach plate!

I find myself using the PDA-based system more in-flight than the panel mounted Garmin GNS 430 (the "legal" GPS for instrument flight rules).

Technology is wonderful!

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 05, 2006, 11:59:49 PM

flyandscuba,

I would have fun sitting on the ground playing with all that stuff.

It is amazing how aviation has changed so much.  When Flying magazine comes each month, I enjoy seeing the all glass panels.  VOR sounds like something out of the past.

I hope your PDAs don't require frequent ROM updates.  

I tried to put a screen protector on mine tonight.  Boy, was that a joke.  It attracted every bit of dust in the area, and ended up looking pretty bad.  I've decided not to use it.

Thanks for the info about your airplane.  I enjoyed reading it.

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: flyandscuba on January 06, 2006, 09:57:52 AM

Thanks Michi,

There's not much the lil' ol' 172 can't do these days...except maybe cruise faster than 115 kts.  But she'll take me anywhere I want to go in a day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/flyandscuba/n20483cockpit062005.jpg

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Richard S on January 06, 2006, 05:53:44 PM

Fly:

Reading your posts, I get this urge to start flying again.  (If only I could fly an airplane as well as I can drive a sports car or sail a sloop. . . .     :'(  )

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: tracker on January 06, 2006, 07:14:12 PM

You probably could if you practiced it; a friend of mine
just bought an A-36 so I am looking forward to strapping
on that little beauty--I also intend to carry the pup along.

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 06, 2006, 09:40:24 PM

fly,

You are so cool.  I was dying to ask you what type of flying apparatus you had, but didn't want to get too personal.

Thanks a million for the pictures.  Much appreciated.

I've flown in a Cessna Skyhawk ? ?  I believe that's a 172.  ?

A-36 somehow seems like it might be a Bonanza.  I flew the T-34 which is kind of like the Bonanza, but is stressed for aerobatics, etc.

On the subject of computers, I've failed for two years to get my wireless router to work on WPA which has the stronger encryption.  Only WEP would work.

Today, I bought a Linksys router and notebook adapter card and it is up and running wonderfully.

Of course, the technology will immediately be obsolete.  I'm always in on something the last day!

Thanks again for the pictures.  I can talk airplanes for hours and hours.  They are great fun.

After seeing the 172 panel, I started making airplane sounds.

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Richard S on January 07, 2006, 07:52:17 PM

Quote

You probably could if you practiced it.

Tracker:

You're kind, but to quote "Dirty Harry," a man's got to know his limitations."  

I can strap on a well-tuned sports car and it becomes a part of me.  I can take the helm of a sloop-rigged sailboat, and make it sing.  (Once, bareboating a 37' sloop out of St. Thomas in the aftermath of a tropical storm, I slipped anchor on the north side of Virgin Gorda before dawn, caught a coaster wave with the right wind conditions, and was able to surf the boat for 20 minutes -- bow out of water, rudder in the wave -- all without waking anyone down below.)  

I flew recreationally for three years in the Washington, D. C., area (single-engine Cessnas).  In spite of its having been a pain in the ### to stay out of all the restricted zones (of which there are a lot more now), I enjoyed it.  But I never felt that the plane was a part of me.  I never felt that I could make it sing.  And I was always pleased when I got it back on the runway with no parts bent of missing.

Still and all . . . .   8)

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: tracker on January 07, 2006, 08:18:03 PM

Richard,
If you can do all of that, I can assure you that if you had
spent a commensurate amount of time in an airplane, you
would feel that same oneness: it is a great feeling no matter
what you are driving, flying, riding, skiing, skating, or sailing.

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 07, 2006, 08:50:05 PM

Richard,

My wife and I enjoyed sailing trips on the Maine coast twice.  First time, it was the Victory Chrimes, and then the Adventurer.

You spend a week sailing around the coast.

I eventually got sea sick.  Never thought it would happen, since my experience with airplanes was always satisfactory.

That business about eating when you are below deck is too much for me.

I was in the back seat of an F-89 one day on an aerobatic flight  over Lake Huron, and the day before some gentleman threw up in the oxygen mask.  It had been fully cleaned and was sanitary, but it still smelled yucky.  Rather unpleasant.

I got sick when we returned to Detroit Wayne Major, now called Detroit Metro.

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: tracker on January 07, 2006, 11:15:45 PM

Bill,
It may be called Detroit Metro but the airport ID is DTW--
so Wayne is still in there.

I landed there many times but one cold winter night a snow
storm delayed our landing 1 hour while they plowed the
runway. When we landed the R/W was fine but when I
taxiied off onto an intersecting R/W there was 12-18" of
snow there. I didn't know what to do since no one ever
talked about the pros and cons of taxiing inbound in those
conditions. I though about it, poured the coals to it and
taxiied slowly to the gate. I really liked going to Grand Rapids,
though.

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 08, 2006, 12:16:05 AM

That must have really been something, tracker.  I can just imagine getting stuck in that much snow!

My relatives north of Grand Rapids usually have much more snow than SE Michigan.  Probably lake moisture that comes off Lake Michigan.

I bet they have some major snow problems at that airport.

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: flyandscuba on January 09, 2006, 12:07:42 PM

Quote

Richard,
If you can do all of that, I can assure you that if you had
spent a commensurate amount of time in an airplane, you
would feel that same oneness: it is a great feeling no matter
what you are driving, flying, riding, skiing, skating, or sailing.

I agree.  The more time you spend in the cockpit, the better it gets -- as in anything you do.  The most important key to makng the aircraft "sing" -- is to make the transition from riding in the airplane, to strapping the aircraft on and becoming part of the airplane itself.  Eventually, when you "think" a maneuver -- the airplane responds...rather than making the airplane "do' something.

Here's my next adventure -- building my own airplane.  A plans-built airplane, not a kit.  I'm just beginning the process and chose a design created by a local pilot.  He has the onlyflying example, but there are about 100 projects in various stages of construction around the world.  Mine is #74.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/flyandscuba/CX4a_in_clouds.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/flyandscuba/CX4.jpg)

www.thatchercx4.com

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Michigunner on January 09, 2006, 03:21:53 PM

fly,

That's a mighty fine looking airplane.  I hope you will decide to show some pictures of your progress.

tracker,

Did you ever join the Caterpillar Club?

Bill

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: Richard S on January 09, 2006, 03:24:25 PM

Fly:

That is one georgeous design!  It reminds me of a small P-51D Mustang.  

(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/P51Mustang.jpg)

Photo from Air Force Link, http://www.af.mil/history/aircraft.asp?dec=1940&pid=123006547

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: tracker on January 09, 2006, 06:03:32 PM

Never did a nylon letdown, Bill; and I don't believe in jumping
out of perfectly good airplanes, either.

A friend of mine had an A-7's engine come apart during the
catapult stroke one night off Vietnam. His chute did two
swings at most prior to splashdown. His next major concern
was being run over by the ship or getting caught in the
screws but the bowwave kicked him off to the side; he
was picked up by the planeguard helo.

Incidents like this one are why carrier pilots fear the night
cat shots much worse than the landing.

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: tracker on January 09, 2006, 06:09:52 PM

Sky,
What is the HP and cruise speed on the Thatcher?

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: flyandscuba on January 09, 2006, 07:16:01 PM

http://www.thatchercx4.com/specifications.htm

Title: Re: Xmas PDA  Dell Axim X51V
Post by: tracker on January 09, 2006, 09:48:21 PM

Thanks, Fly; that will be one that you strap onto yourself.