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  • Need to read documents and take notes ­ which PC Companion?

I just purchased your magazine and read it cover-to-cover -- a good job. However, I feel unclear about a good choice to make for a new PC Companion and I'd like your advice. My job requires me to read a tremendous number of Word documents (specs and the like), coordinate many tasks and contacts (PIM type stuff), and of course take brief notes at meetings. I have powerful laptop and desktop machines, but I don't want to cart them around all the time. Could you recommend a PC Companion (or two)? You raved about the Jornada 680. Is there a smaller machine that I could still comfortably read documents on?

Lee Eggebroten

Lee, I think the HP Jornada 680 Handheld PC Pro (a 690 is now available) is about as small as you want to go. You'll even be able to do light editing and writing on it. If you want to go smaller, you'll have to loose the keyboard and get a Palm-size PC, which uses a pen-entry system similar to the Palm PDAs. You'd have to convert the Word documents to simple text format to read them with the Palm-size PC's built-in Note Taker application. The Jornada 680 will read Word and Excel documents without the need of converting them to another format. And once you get used to the smaller keyboard, it's pretty easy to compose documents on it. Press rumors are circulating that the next version of the Palm-size PC, renamed the "Pocket PC," will have versions of Word and Excel on it. Hope this helps some. -- Rich

  • Developing for H/PCs and P/PCs

Thanks for the links to developer sites (see below) -- they were helpful and I found much cool stuff out there. To write programs for the Windows CE operating system one can use the latest version of Visual Basic or Visual C++. In addition to one of these programs, one must also have the Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic or for Visual C++. At present, programs for the Palm-size PC can only be written with VC++ and its toolkit. Microsoft will extend the toolkits soon so that either language can create applications for the P/PC as well as H/PC. One more caveat: Visual Studio Service Pack 3 does not install with the P/PC Toolkit for VC++ existing on the system. One must use VS SP2 to install the whole works or move to SP3 and not develop for P/PC.

Paul Smietan

In a previous message, I gave Paul the addresses of some developer-related Web sites, including Microsoft's Windows CE Toolkit Web site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/cetools; CE City developers message board: www.wincecity. com/boards/Developers; HPC Net (go to the Discussion Boards): www.hpc.net. Also, Chris De Herrera has an Internet resources page with links to Developer's Discussion Boards. The developer discussion board links are mixed in with the general ones: www.cewindows.net/other_info.htm

Microsoft has announced the upcoming (mid-2000) release of the latest version of Windows CE (code-named "Rapier"). New Palm-size devices based on this OS will be called "Pocket PCs." I expect that new or updated Windows CE Toolkits for both Visual Basic and Visual C++ will be released before the middle of next year. -- Rich

  • Handheld PC Magazine on the Web

Do you keep the current issue of your magazine on the Internet, or do you only keep past issues there? I have wanted to sample your magazine before I subscribe, and I am scared at the way it gets on the Web so late. Are you slowly dying away, or are you a real live magazine?

Tom Redd

Tom, we are a real live magazine. Our circulation is growing. We place the previous issue on the Web as soon as the current issue hits the newsstand. -- Rich

  • Abandoning the Handheld PC?

I feel you and your magazine are abandoning the Handheld PC. As evidence look at your Nov/Dec issue; it is mostly about palm devices. Don't believe me? Count the pictures. Handheld PCs are in the minority. Count the number of times Handheld PC is mentioned vs. other PC Companions. Handheld PCs are in the minority. From cover to cover, the Handheld PC as distinct from the palm devices seems like an afterthought. Look particularly at your selection of Newsbytes. Articles about Handheld PCs are in the minority. Why does a magazine devoted to Handheld PCs have two cover stories about Palm-size PC? Why does a magazine devoted to Handheld PCs have an article on Casio's E-100 Palm-size PC?

Ray Bleicher

Ray, I apologize for the confusion in the name. We named it Handheld PC Magazine back when handhelds were the only Windows CE devices. But even in the very first issue we said "For users of Windows CE" right on the cover. We never intended to limit it to the handheld format and started covering Palm-size PCs as soon as they were announced. We will continue to cover both platforms.

Most of the news and major reviews in the Nov/Dec issue covered Palm-size PCs because that's the way it worked out -- that's the way the news broke. In the January/February 2000 issue most of the major reviews and articles focused on Handheld PCs. It's going to continue doing that.

The May/June issue will probably coincide with Microsoft's release of the next version of the operating system. Unfortunately, most of the initial devices released will be in the Palm-size format (to be renamed the "Pocket PC"). I keep hearing rumors that HP will release a new handheld. If I can confirm that and get one, I'll review it in that issue. I'm also trying to get NEC's new MobilePro 880.

Whatever we call this magazine, we intend to support both the Handheld PC and Pocket PC platforms. I have an HP Jornada 680 Handheld PC Pro in my pocket and I won't be giving it up.

I very much appreciate your feedback. -- Rich

  • Convert from Lotus 1-2-3 format to Pocket Excel

Is there some kind of loop program which can automatically change my Lotus wk1 spreadsheet files to the format used by Pocket Excel on Windows CE? I used Lotus 1-2-3 for years on my HP 200LX Palmtop PC. If I switch over to the Handheld PC, I don't want to have to convert these files by hand.

Neal L. Spevack

Neal, you used to be able to drag and drop 1-2-3 files from your desktop PC to your H/PC and have them converted to the Pocket Excel format using Windows CE Services. Microsoft recently "improved" Windows CE Services. The new program, now called ActiveSync 3.0, fixed a number of problems with the previous version and is actually much better in many ways. But I noticed that it no longer gives you the option of converting wk1 spreadsheet files to Pocket Excel format when they are transferred from the desktop PC to the H/PC.

Do you have Excel on your desktop PC? You can open a bunch of 1-2-3 worksheets in Excel in one fell swoop. Highlight them all in File Open dialog box and hit Enter. Unfortunately, you have to save them as Excel files one at a time. I realize you were probably looking for something quicker than that. -- Rich

Task list up to snuff?

I am a long time user of HP's 200LX Palmtop PC and I'm strongly considering upgrading to the Jornada 690 H/PC Pro. But my casual review of its Task list has me concerned. I have a ton of to-dos each day (average of 4-5 pages) sorted by priority (I use 20 levels). I also flip from one day to another frequently. I couldn't find the viewing options to give me the same convenience/flexibility in Windows CE. Are you familiar enough with the Calendar and Tasks features in both products to comment on whether I should be concerned? I called HP & they said I could download everything I'd need if it doesn't come with the native Jornada. I hate to depend on add-ons. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ralph Gardiner

Ralph, the Jornada 690 H/PC Pro is a pretty decent handheld, but the Task application built into it does not have as many priority levels as the ToDo list found on the 100/200LX. However, you can set due dates for new Tasks and flip back and forth between days in Calendar's Agenda view, which shows a day's appointments/events side-by-side with the day's tasks. The Tasks application on all Handheld PCs only has three levels of priority (Low, Normal, and High). This suits me fine, but doesn't come close to your 20 levels of priority. Are you using your 20 levels for more than priority? Are you using priorities to separate tasks into categories (phone calls, meetings, stuff I have to do in the morning, research, etc.). If so, maybe a combination of the three levels of priority and the various categories (Holidays, Ideas, Phone Calls, Suppliers, etc. -- you can add your own categories) will work for you.

Hewlett-Packard builds in an application called HP Viewer, which lets you quickly view appointments, contacts, and tasks from one application. But you can't edit or manipulate data from within HP Viewer. There are also a couple of dedicated Contact Manager programs for H/PCs, including Maximizer for H/PCs & P/PCs (www.maximizer.com) and Pocket On-Schedule (www.odysseyinc.com). I don't know much about their Tasks feature and don't have any feedback on that.

The way Microsoft decided to do Tasks is different and will take getting used to. But it seems to me to have most of the capabilities of the 200LX's To Do List. -- Rich

Keeping his and her data
separate in Outlook

I own a Jornada 680 and my wife has a Nino 510. When I synchronized her Nino (a recent purchase) with Outlook on our desktop PC, the process combines her Pocket Outlook data with mine in the desktop's Outlook. Even worse when I synchronized my Jornada 680, all of her Contacts and Appointments are downloaded to my Jornada. When she synchronizes her Nino, she gets all my information on her Nino. Is there a way to separate the data from these two devices when we synchronize with our desktop PC? I am currently using Active Sync 3.0.

Albert Angulo

Albert, according to Microsoft technical support, you need to create two different profiles in Outlook. Then, when you attempt to synchronize a device, you will be prompted to select the Outlook profile you want to use (synchronize with). You should be able to find the instructions for creating separate profiles by searching on "user profile" in Outlook's Help screen on your desktop PC. -- Rich.