Traveling with the Minstrel

In preparation for a trip from San Francisco to Oklahoma, I got an OmniSky account, including a Minstrel V wireless modem, and a GoType keyboard to take on the trip.

The plan was to use the OmniSky setup during the day for web browsing and random email checks, then at night disconnect it, set up the GoType, and answer email.

The short summary is that it worked very well. The OmniSky worked fine in most places. The exceptions were the lunch stops and the Texas panhandle - no coverage there. Prior to this trip I had some problems with the modem hanging the Palm, sometimes requiring a hard reset. On the trip, I was a bit more patient, and always made sure I powered down the Palm in a state that wouldn't cause it to try to talk to the modem. I had no problems whatsoever with it hanging.

The GoType keyboard was a godsend. I had injured the first finger of my right hand, and couldn't use it to hold a stylus or to type. Trying to use a stylus that way was painful; trying to type on a small keyboard was just a bit clumsy. For those into arcana, PocketRogue is quite playable on the GoType keyboard.

I had three mail agents. My preference would have been TGPostman, which uses the built-in Mail application for reading, composing and synchronization. It's real advantage was that it supported the more secure APOP protocol. Unfortunately, the server refused to let it send real mail, though small test cases worked fine.

I actually used the Palm version of Eudora, which is easily the best mail agent of the three. If I were going to be using the Palm for mail regularly, it's the clear winner. However, it won't have APOP support until version 2.

Finally, there's the mail package that came from OmniSky. It's a little friendlier than the built-in mail application, but that's about it. It keeps account information on the server, polls your accounts at intervals you specify, and lights an LED on the modem when you have mail. While it's cute, I'm not sure I like the idea of my user id and password being on their server. Since they provide an account, forwarding urgent mail to that account may be the best use for it.

I also had three browsers. AvantGo came with the modem; I downloaded PalmScape; and Eudora came with one - was a frustrating experience. AvantGo is designed to be used with the AvantGo MAL server, which creates problems in and of itself. The other two don't suffer from that, but aren't noticeably friendlier. The problem is that most documents on the world wide web are written for one of two mainstream browsers, and minor variations from there behavior - even if allowed (or, for that matter, required) by the standards - make the pages unusable, if not downright unreadable. If you are an HTML author interested in avoiding such problems for your readers, see the anybrowser web pages.

For the record, at no time did I have problems with power for the modem - or for the Palm V.