[JeffZPgh]

I just got my wife the PalmConnect USB kit so she could use her Palm III on her new iBook. I can get the Palm to sync just fine through the USB port in OS 9.2.1, but can't get it to work at all under OS X. I checked Palm's support site and they have a short statement there saying that, while they don't support HotSync under OS X, tests have demonstrated that it works if Classic is running before you press the HotSync button.

Can anyone give me any more pointers to use to troubleshoot this? The Palm extensions seem to be loaded in Classic just fine, and the port in the HotSync Manager setup is set to "PalmConnect USB" as it should be.

TIA,
Jeff

Hey Bud. I am in the exact same boat with my wife's Handspring. I emailed Handspring Tech Support and this was their reply - for what it is worth. She's out of town on business (Handspring in tow) and I won't get to try for a few days....


Thank you for your email. Please uninstall the version of the Palm Desktop
that came pre-installed with your Mac. To uninstall the Palm Desktop
software from a MacOS computer, please use the following steps:

1. Insert the Handspring CD into your Mac. If you do not have a CD, skip to
step 3.
2. Double click on the Handspring CD icon on the desktop if the window does
not open automatically.
3. Double click on the icon named Palm Desktop Installer.
4. Click the Continue button.
5. Click the Continue button.
6. Click the Agree button.
7. Using the mouse, click on the drop-down menu labeled Easy Install and
select Uninstall from the menu.
8. Check all boxes that are available and click on Uninstall.
9. Locate the Palm folder that you installed the Palm Desktop software in,
select it and click Remove Palm (do not worry, this will not remove your
user data - it will only remove the files installed when you installed the
Palm Desktop software itself)
10. When the uninstall finishes, reboot the computer.

Note: In case you are worried about losing your important personal data, the
uninstaller will not remove your User folder within the Palm folder. The
Uninstaller only removes those files installed by the installer. The user
folder was created afterwards when you first performed a HotSync operation.
It is safely left behind during an uninstall operation.

As of March 24th, 2001, Macintosh Palm Desktop 2.6.1 runs in the "Classic
Compatibility Mode" of Mac OS X. That is, the code is not yet "carbonized"
to work natively under Mac OS X. Instead, Palm Desktop runs under the
backwards compatibility mode of Mac OS 9.1.

Based on Apple's Mac OS X requirements, Handspring has found that Palm
Desktop 2.6.1 and HotSync Manager works well under Mac OS X's Classic
Compatibility Mode if your hardware and software conforms to the following
requirements:

MACINTOSH MODEL:
Power Mac G4 - 5-Slot, Power Mac G4 - AGP Graphics, Power Mac G4 - PCI
Graphics, Macintosh Server G4, Power Mac G4 Cube
iMac (Bondi Blue), iMac (5 Flavors), iMac DV, iMac/iMac DV+/DV SE (slot
loading), iMac (CD-RW)
PowerBook G4, PowerBook G3 Series, PowerBook G3 (USB), PowerBook G3 (USB &
FireWire) { *** original PowerBook G3 not supported *** }
iBook, iBook SE, iBook (FireWire), iBook SE (FireWire)
Power Macintosh G3 (All-In-One, Desktop, Mini Tower, Server), Power
Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) { *** processor upgrade cards not supported
*** }

USB ADD-IN CARDS:
Not supported by Handspring for use with Mac OS X systems.

MEMORY:
Minimum of 128 Mb of RAM (preferably memory factory installed by Apple).
More RAM is preferred.

INSTALLATION HISTORY:
i. Recommended situation:
Mac OS 9.1 on one hard drive partition
+
Palm Desktop 2.6.1 already installed

THEN Mac OS X upgrade made on ANOTHER hard drive partition.

ii. Acceptable situation:
Mac OS 9.1 on one hard drive partition
+
Palm Desktop 2.6.1 already installed

THEN Mac OS X upgrade made on SAME hard drive partition.

In this situation you will need to start HotSync Manager, quit it
immediately, then rebuild the desktop by clicking Classic System Preferences
| Classic icon | Advanced tab | Rebuild Desktop button.

iii. Acceptable situation:
Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X installed on the same hard drive partition

THEN Palm Desktop 2.6.1 installed in the Mac OS 9.1 Applications folder.

In this situation, you will need to start, then quit HotSync Manager and
then rebuild the desktop by clicking Classic System Preferences | Classic
icon | Advanced tab | Rebuild Desktop button.

Other installation histories / schemes (such as Mac OS 9.1 and X on
different partitions followed by install of Palm Desktop in root folder) may
be more difficult to troubleshoot. Handspring recommends one of the
installation situations above but we will be pleased to research and support
other configurations; research may take more than one day.

Essential troubleshooting questions:
1. Did Apple pre-install the Palm version of Palm Desktop on your Macintosh?
If so, ask Apple how to uninstall it thoroughly and completely. You should
maintain only one Palm folder.
2. Are you definitely sure you are using Palm Desktop 2.6.1 from Handspring?
Only this will work in Classic Compatibility Mode under Mac OS X.
3. Was your Visor synchronizing with Palm Desktop before you upgraded to Mac
OS X? If so, you need to concentrate on issues such as:
i. Are your other USB devices such as scanners and printers still operating?
If not, you need Apple to re-enable USB on your Macintosh.
ii. Do you have more than one Mac OS 9.1 System Folder? If so, you need
advice from Apple on how to settle on one System folder.
iii. Are Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X on different partitions on your hard drive?
If so, restart your Macintosh with the Mac OS 9.1 partition as your start-up
disk, uninstall Palm Desktop 2.6.1, reinstall the Handspring software in the
Mac OS 9.1 partition, then restart again in Mac OS X mode.
4. Does any program work in Classic Compatibility Mode? Test this, if
necessary, by double clicking on Applications (Mac OS 9):Graphing
Calculator.

All the regular Mac OS 8.1 to 9.1 USB troubleshooting, adapted to the new
interface, may also apply:
5. Unplug the USB cradle.
6. Click Classic System Preferences | Classic icon | Start/Stop tab |
Restart. As the Macintosh restarts back into OS 9.1, continue with the next
step.
7. Soft reset the Visor.
8. In Prefs | General, set "Beam Receive" to off.
9. Seat the Visor firmly in the cradle.
10. Securely plug the USB cradle back into either a built-in USB port on the
Macintosh or (less preferred) a name brand powered USB hub.
11. Click on the Instant Palm Desktop icon (upper right corner of screen) |
HotSync Manager | Setup... and toggle HotSync from disabled to enabled. Then
exit HotSync Manager.
12. On the Visor's screen, tap the HotSync icon and tap on (for Palm OS 3.1
units) "Local Sync" or (for Palm OS 3.5 units) tap on the HotSync circle
icon. *** Note: pressing the HotSync button on the cradle will not
automatically start Mac OS X into the Classic Compatibility Mode and run
HotSync Manager. ***

Uninstalling Palm Desktop 2.6.1:
You can uninstall Palm Desktop as normal but more items than normal will be
left behind in the Palm folder. Do not click on any of them or try to send
them to the Trash -- you may get various errors such as -50 if you click
anything. Instead, simply restart your Macintosh and then the Palm folder
will be empty except for (as usual) the "Users" data folder.

If you need to restart with extension off, click on Classic System
Preferences | Classic icon | Advanced tab and select "Turn Off Extensions"
in the Startup Options section.

If you are still experiencing problems please email us back at
support@support.handspring.com or call the Technical Support line at
1-716-871-6448. We are open from 9AM to 9PM EST, Monday to Friday. Any agent
will be happy to walk you through a solution.

Regards,
Sam
Handspring Technical Support

null <font color = red> </font>

[eyadams]

I have a Palm V and the Keyspan USB adapter, on a Beige G3 (OS X 10.1 / 9.2.1, Belkin USB PCI card). I have just now hot-synched on this setup for the first time since I upgraded to OS X.

The big difference ultimately came from the Keyspan Serial Assistant, a program that lets you play around with various obscure settings. Up until now whenever I tried to synch the backup would be incomplete - not all the data would make it across, and the Palm would report the backup was incomplete while Palm Desktop was happy. I bumped up the "default buffer size" from the default 64 (no units are provided) to a more respectable 256, and now my Palm V synchs every time. Of course, I haven't rebooted yet :-).

I don't know if the Palm USB kit has anything similar to the Keyspan configuration utility, but if it does I suggest looking there.

[dmcknigh]

I sync my Visor Deluxe fine using "Classic 9.1" under OS X.i on my Pismo. Here's what I did. Booted off my partition I set aside for Classic. Installed Palm Desktop and Avantgo (Avantgo can actually be installed using classic under X if you forgot to install it like I did). Rebooted into OSX, attached my HotSync cable (my cradle worked perfect as well)and away I went.

Notes: 1. If HotSync "dies" that is just quits without the usual message saying HotSync not complete I have to restart cassic from its preference pane.

2. If you only have one partition for 9.x and X installing it from OS 9 then booting into X should work.

3. Sync likes to not finish completely a lot. I've noticed this if it's running in the background or if my screen saver kicks in. Usually trying again works.

Hope this helps!

Originally posted by JeffZPgh:
<STRONG>tests have demonstrated that it works if Classic is running before you press the HotSync button.

Can anyone give me any more pointers to use to troubleshoot this?</STRONG>

hi.
I think the key might be in that lengthy Palm support email.

I personally have it working nicely. Two things that differ from the previous posts is that i installed the Palm desktop stuff from 10.1 and i am running 9.1 as classic. Palm Desktop was never installed previously on this machine.

I just got a handspring visor deluxe (the reconditioned / free phone dealie) and popped the cd in while in 10.1. Classic started (because of the installer being run) and i ran the installer. After it did its thing, i clicked restart and classic restarted. Launching Palm Desktop worked fine and pressing the sync button is functional too. It was suprising how smooth it worked. The software version of the Palm DT is 2.6 and i'm running os9.1 for classic on a firewire powerbook with a USB cradle.

hope this helps.
jf

[MickS]

My sync worked fine under Mac OS X 10.0.0-3 then stopped working at 10.0.4. When I upgraded to 10.1, 9.2.1 for Classic and the latest Palm Desktop everything started working again.

Just to complicate things I have a Sony CLIE with USB cradle and am using the Mark/Space Missing Sync drivers.

BTW: Spiral, Apple recommend 9.2.1 for Classic under 10.1

[bluehz]

I'm having no problems synching my Visor Deluxe under OS X ? Classic. The only oddity is that at the end of the process - a dialog appears on the Mac that states the Synch was unfinished/interrupted - but the Visor itself indicates a successful Synch. checking the logs reveals successfull sunch too. Just an anomaly I guess.

[MacmanX]

Hi,

I've found that in order to Hot Sync my Visor Platinum in classic, I have to launch the HotSync® Manager software first. Then everything goes well. Fortunately, my Visor came with an USB cradle, so that may make things easier.

Cheers!

[+ spiral +]

Originally posted by MickS:
<STRONG>BTW: Spiral, Apple recommend 9.2.1 for Classic under 10.1</STRONG>

Yeah i know. I use 9 for work so i steer clear of 9.2 since 9.1 works fine with everything. Using 9.1 as classic works fine for how infrequently i use it.

thanks though.


Speaking of PDAs ... does anyone have the Visorphone with Voicestream? I've been on the phone with customer support but i can't seem to figure out what # to put in SMS Email field and Voicestream is no help.

thanks.
jf

[jasong]

Speaking of PDAs ... does anyone have the Visorphone with Voicestream? I've been on the phone with customer support but i can't seem to figure out what # to put in SMS Email field and Voicestream is no help.

The Message Center Number is +12063130004
The e-Mail Center Number is 500

to send to an email address, the first line of the message is the address you want to send it to, with a # symbol at the end (i.e. noone@nobody.com#), and then put your next on the next line.

Hope this helps.

- Jason