BootsnAll Travel Network



Computing on the Road 5: Palm Patches

The m125 may actually be a really bad idea… Is it the last model Palm released with AAA batteries? If so, we’re stuck with a bad thing. I have never patched so much, and I haven’t even used my device for anything yet.

The m125 (and I think I may have said this before) is skeletal. It (at least mine) runs OS 4.0.1 which is 0.0.9 points behind version 4.1 which you need if you actually want to use those cards that fit in the slot. I have already pointed out that the device can’t read cards >64 MB (Palm coyly claim 128MB on the download site, but they mention 64MB, and even 32 MB on one of their FAQ(you) pages—so what is it?). Even worse, Palm states that inserting such cards which have not been formated on a Palm device can lead to data loss. Cheers. I suppose I should be grateful that I did not pay full price for my 64MB Proporta ProBackup card. Of course, Palm will not take the blame—read the small print (even if you have to dig deep to find it)! You need:

http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/file_manager_update.html

to fix this (the file manager, not the compromised applications on your card). If you also want to copy files to SD cards (the mere thought!), you’ll need to install:

http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/file_manager_update.html

in addition.

Of course the 64k dollar question is whether all these patches will be preserved, read and re-installed from a card backup, along with all the other messy ‘updates’ that are required, not to mention the applications. If Palm cannot release devices with a properly working OS and application suite, they should at least build them with flash ROM so they are properly upgradable.

PS The OS version of your palm can be found under ‘info’; ‘version’ from the menu button as accessed from the launcher (home) window.

PPS Both of the above patches should and might have been uploaded with the current package available on:

http://www.palm.com/us/support/m125/

mine did actually copy (yipeee), but I don’t think it reads properly. We shall see. This tale is to be continued.

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