This page documents some aspects of my PDA which others may find interesting.
I have a Handspring Visor Deluxe. This was a competitor to the Palm V when it came out, and has similar specs:
I've had it since 2000. Actually, I'm on my third one since 2000. I dropped one and broke the screen. Handspring replaced it for free. The second one eventually went on the fritz for no apparent reason, and I received another used one as a gift.
I also have the Visor backup module. This I consider essential to ensure I don't have a catastrophic data loss. I believe backups are essential for digital data. If you aren't backing up your important data, you run a huge risk of losing it.
I use the following packages on a daily or frequent basis:
The following programs I use less frequently, but still enough that I consider them useful:
My favorite PalmOS websites are:
I believe that all the software I mentioned above can be found at one of those two sites. Most of those packages are free. The ones I remember now that are shareware or commercial are:
I believe there is a freeware clone of NoClick hack called Keyclick hack but I haven't tried it since NoClick hack works fine for me and I already ponied up for it long ago.
I use David Allen's Getting Things Done method, which is more fully described in the paperback book of the same name. There's a popular blog called 43Folders which also explores these ideas. The low-tech "Hipster PDA" on that website is quite interesting too.
In my todo app, I have the following categories:
Unlike David's recommendations in his book, I use both the priorities and due dates in my todo lists. I sort each list first by priority, and then by due date. I always display tasks at all priorities and all due dates. I find the priorities useful for shortening my "scan time" on long lists. That way I'm not constantly looking at all 20 items on the list when I need to concentrate on the first 5. My main use of the due dates is in the Waiting For list, but sometimes I use them in the action lists too. In the Waiting For list I always set the date that I should start to "wonder" about the item. Once that date arrives, then I will start investigating why I haven't received what I'm waiting for.
I keep my projects list in memopad under a Projects category. Each project has its own memopad entry. Typically I name the project with a WikiWord, which means that MegaWiki can link to it from anywhere else on the palm. These days I don't use this feature very much.
I of course put my appointments and "hard landscape" items in Datebook5. For tickler entries I create a floating event with "no time" in Datebook5. I could create an appt event, but then if for some reason I don't go to my palm on that day, I would miss the tickler entry. Using a floating event means it will just keep advancing forward until I deal with it. If I don't do the tickler entry immediately but I want it to stop "nagging" me by showing up every day on my calendar, I use the "Convert Float <-> Todo" function in Datebook5 to put the item on the appropriate list in my todo list.
I have some of these tickler entries set up to automatically recur. For example, I have an entry to "backup visor & laptop" which automatically recurs every three days. Others, like changing the oil in my car, I will manually setup after each time I complete them.
Like David recommends, I keep separate action lists for email. For my personal email, I have the following action folders:
These help me keep my inbox empty and track what I need to do. Occasionally I will make an entry in one of my Palm action lists instead of leaving it in email, but this is the exception to the rule.