Cross Platform GTD-Friendly PDA needed

[Will Wyatt]

I've been using a Palm m505 synced to my office PC for several years now, originally had the ridiculous Franklin/Covey software, got rid of that and went back to Palm software, which is still very unstable and clunky, at least for me. I've managed to shoe-horn GTD methodology onto it, (which yeah, I know would work better for me if I'd do my Weekly Reviews, well... weekly).

I've got a new, absolutely gorgeous iMac at home now, am forced to use windows at work, need a PDA onto which I can migrate all my Palm data, one that works well with GTD on both platforms. I've never used Outlook so am unfamiliar with it or any of the similar Mac applications. I need the PDA for travel and to transfer data between home and office.

Can my iPod be made to suffice? Does this give me an excuse to go get an iPhone? Can I get something that will get a few more years out of my existing antique Palm m505? (I know they'd love to sell me new one as this one does have issues such as switching itself on in my briefcase and letting the battery run down.)

I'm sure these questions have been answered before here on the forum but rather than spend several hours doing my due diligence I thought I'd go the lazy route and just ask the question upfront.

Will Wyatt

[choldener2]

My Palm Tungsten E2 came with both Mac and PC Palm Desktop software. I believe the $99 Zire I tried for a while did as well, though I never ran the Mac software on it. My wife uses Macs and we have an old laptop that I tried it out on, though I use PCs myself. The E2 synched fine to both; I just didn't like that on the Mac Palm software all the categories showed up when assigning a task or memo, not just the task categories on tasks, for instance.

[mmurray]

I've been using a Palm m505 synced to my office PC for several years now, originally had the ridiculous Franklin/Covey software, got rid of that and went back to Palm software, which is still very unstable and clunky, at least for me. I've managed to shoe-horn GTD methodology onto it, (which yeah, I know would work better for me if I'd do my Weekly Reviews, well... weekly).

I've got a new, absolutely gorgeous iMac at home now, am forced to use windows at work, need a PDA onto which I can migrate all my Palm data, one that works well with GTD on both platforms. I've never used Outlook so am unfamiliar with it or any of the similar Mac applications. I need the PDA for travel and to transfer data between home and office.

Can my iPod be made to suffice? Does this give me an excuse to go get an iPhone? Can I get something that will get a few more years out of my existing antique Palm m505? (I know they'd love to sell me new one as this one does have issues such as switching itself on in my briefcase and letting the battery run down.)

I'm sure these questions have been answered before here on the forum but rather than spend several hours doing my due diligence I thought I'd go the lazy route and just ask the question upfront.

Will Wyatt

Hi Will,

Which iPod have you got ? Unless it is a Touch you can't enter data. Even then there are problems with that. I guess you can use it to move data as it can act as a hard disk or usb memory stick.

If you want just one way sync I have found with my iPod Nano (latest one) things still don't sync correctly. I sync Contacts from my Mac to my Nano and then change on my Mac but the change doesn't go across.

I currently use a Palm TX and Markspace Missing Sync for Palm OS with iCal and Address Book on the Mac. My GTD setup is the basic one on the Palm David Allen describes on his website. Palm seems dedicated to smart phones now but the TX is still a good machine. I have WiFi at home and work so having that on the TX is handy.

In the longer term there is no sign Palm will produce another PDA. I am hoping that the release of the iPhone development stuff in the early new year will bring an explosion in the iPhone third party app space and it will become a usable PDA. Leopard bought some nice features like ToDo's and Notes in Mail which haven't made it to iPhone yet so I am not sure what Apple are up to. iPhones aren't released in Australia yet so I haven't had to think seriously about that option yet.

How are you going to transfer data ? If you mean syncing then syncing between two machines and one pda is advised against by Palm and usually screws things up. If it is just files I would get a USB memory stick.

Regards - Michael

[Will Wyatt]

Another option I'm considering is getting one of the smaller MacBooks and using that as my PDA. I almost always carry my Land's End "Man Purse" with me and any smaller laptop would go in there fine.

Any thoughts on that?

WW

[mcogilvie]

Another option I'm considering is getting one of the smaller MacBooks and using that as my PDA. I almost always carry my Land's End "Man Purse" with me and any smaller laptop would go in there fine.

Any thoughts on that?

WW

Wait! Apple will be announcing new products in early 2008. One strongly-rumored possibility is a sub-notebook or perhaps a tablet.

p.s. Which Land's End product is the "Man Purse"?

[Jay Levitt]

You may find it easier to use a Windows app and Parallels on the Mac. I'm not sure there are *any* good cross-platform GTD apps out there that'll sync up with a palmtop.

[Will Wyatt]

Wait! Apple will be announcing new products in early 2008. One strongly-rumored possibility is a sub-notebook or perhaps a tablet.

p.s. Which Land's End product is the "Man Purse"?

It's just a canvas attache' They don't make the one I've got anymore but what they do have is much more "Laptop friendly" Here's a link:

http://www.landsend.com/pp/BusinessA...6&origin=index

[Will Wyatt]

You may find it easier to use a Windows app and Parallels on the Mac. I'm not sure there are *any* good cross-platform GTD apps out there that'll sync up with a palmtop.

I don't want to start an religious argument here, but if I could I'd like to avoid all things Microsoft if possible.

WW

[Jay Levitt]

Oh, sure, sorry - it sounded like you need something that would keep working on Windows at work, as well as on your Mac at home.