Palm III & PalmPilot (Visual QuickStart Guide) [Paperback]

Jeff Carlson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201353903 | ISBN-13: 978-0201353907 | Publication Date: November 6, 1998 | Edition: 1

You've got your desktop and laptop computers; now here comes the palmtop. The PalmPilot from 3Com is the hottest-selling personal digital assistant, the new organizational tool that busy people, from executives to college students, can't be without. More than just an organizer, the PalmPilot does nearly everything a laptop does, including email and Web connections, and also interfaces with many Windows and Macintosh applications.PalmPilot:Visual QuickStart Guide is a concise reference to the PalmPilot that delivers not only the basics of working with the PalmPilot, but also the best techniques for integrating the PalmPilot into users' lives to improve efficiency, organization, and mobile data management. It not only explains how to use the Date Book, for example, it illustrates how Date Book strategies can be used to improve one's overall time-management skills.The clear, concise writing style delivers the information users need quickly and easily. Why buy a 400 page book that is at least five times heavier than its subject? Also, the Visual QuickStart Guide is priced substantially lower than any of the competition on the market!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Palm III and PalmPilot takes a highly graphical approach to teaching readers how to use the PalmPilot Personal, the PalmPilot Professional, the Palm III, and the IBM WorkPad. The book's style--heavy on stepped procedures and screen shots--fits its subject well.

For the most part, Palm III and PalmPilot serves as a replacement of the instructions that ship with 3Com's products. However, Carlson--clearly an avid Palmist with some accumulated wisdom on the topic--goes beyond merely rehashing the Palm's own documentation. In one passage, he offers a workaround for Date Book's inability to distinguish tentative events from more certain happenings. He also comments upon popular hardware add-ons and gets into some of the Palm's more advanced capabilities, including Web surfing with ProxiWeb.

Recognizing that the standard Palm apps are inherently fairly easy to figure out, this book digs into the wonderful store of after-market Palm programs. The author pays a fair amount of attention to Aportis BrainForest, various HackMaster doohickeys, communications programs, and games. He then admits that he's only begun to describe the universe of useful software, which grows constantly. In an appendix, you'll find a directory of Pilot-related Web sites that will further fuel your downloading mania. --David Wall

From the Back Cover

Windows and Macintosh applications.

PalmPilot:Visual QuickStart Guide is a concise reference to the PalmPilot that delivers not only the basics of working with the PalmPilot, but also the best techniques for integrating the PalmPilot into users' lives to improve efficiency, organization, and mobile data management. It not only explains how to use the Date Book, for example, it illustrates how Date Book strategies can be used to improve one's overall time-management skills.The clear, concise writing style delivers the information users need quickly and easily. Why buy a 400 page book that is at least five times heavier than its subject? Also, the Visual QuickStart Guide is priced substantially lower than any of the competition on the market!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Pr; 1 edition (November 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201353903
• ISBN-13: 978-0201353907
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,777,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a freelance writer and designer. I've authored and edited a number of best-selling books about video editing, Web design, the Mac, and Palm devices. I'm a columnist for The Seattle Times, contribute regularly to magazines such as Macworld, HOW Magazine, and Photoshop Elements Techniques. The closest thing I have to a real job is Managing Editor of TidBITS.

See my personal weblog at http://www.jeffcarlson.com/, and my iMovie/video editing weblog at http://www.jeffcarlson.com/imovievqs/. More information about my work and current projects can be found at http://www.necoffee.com/.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough guide for beginners, excellent review for vets, December 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Palm III & PalmPilot (Visual QuickStart Guide) (Paperback)

Though I've used a PalmPilot for over a year and have played around with more advanced features, I still found this book an invaluable bit of spackle and fill - all the bits I didn't know, didn't understand, or hadn't learned were filled in and smoothed over. It's well illustrated, which certainly helps demonstrate the more sophisticated functions. And there's enough in even the basic chapters for a relative veteran user like myself. Chapters at the end address more expert topics, including installing special hacks to "detail" your PalmPilot. From start to finish, it's a good read - I read at one setting the first time - and a reference that I turn to again and again. It was a perfect gift for a fellow Palm user, too!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent guide to the PalmPilot, June 12, 2000

By 

Susan Paxton - See all my reviews

This review is from: Palm III & PalmPilot (Visual QuickStart Guide) (Paperback)

During my almost five years working for a national computer retailer, I became a major fan of Peachpit's Visual Quickstart Guides. Unlike the cretinous books for dummies, idiots, morons, etc, they cut right to the chase and are full of useful information presented in a clear, understandable fashion (besides, no dummy, idiot, or moron would own a Palm!). No jokes, no cartoons, just facts. These books are absolutely perfect for beginners and intermediate users. If you own any version of the PalmPilot or Palm, you'll find this book a very useful introduction to the life-changing device in your pocket, purse, or on your belt. As an early Pilot adopter (128K!), I recommend this book unreservedly.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Palm III & PalmPilot Visual QuickStart Guide, May 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Palm III & PalmPilot (Visual QuickStart Guide) (Paperback)

Recently I purchased a Palm IIIe Organizer. The manual that came with it was a little wordy and not completely clear in some areas, so I bought Palm III & PalmPilot Visual QuickStart Guide. What a difference! The writing was clear, concise, and easily understandable. I also bought a couple of other Palm books, but Jeff Carlson's is by far my favorite!