PalmOne PalmConnect USB Kit

• Complete solution for connecting your Palm handheld to the Mac
• USB-to-serial-port adapter and USB software
• Palm Desktop 2.1 organizer software for Macintosh
• Manages and synchronizes date book, addresses, memo pad, and more
• Compatible with Palm III series, Palm V, and Palm VII handhelds

This USB to Palm adapter is a mixed blessing.

On the positive side, it lets USB based Macs (and PCs) connect to their Palm device, it's easy to install, and once it works, it works without a hitch.

On the negative side however, there's some complaints. It's too expensive. The Mac Serial to Palm adapter costs less than 10 dollars and this one is 40! The software is outdated. It ships with version 2.5 of the Mac software which will NOT work with OS 9.0.2 or greater. The box that it ships in seems like it's a fine size for this small of a device, but when I unpacked it, I found my adapter was kinked directly in the center instead of curled so there would be no wire breakage. There isn't any damage to make it unuseable, but if it were in that position for a long time, I'm certain it could cause a problem.

Once you get the adapter working, it works without a hitch. Problems I encountered and the fixes:

Q. Why does my Desktop not see the Palm when I try a HotSync?

A. The Palm may be corrupted slightly (mine came this way out of the box). Do a soft reset by inserting a pin in the hole in the back (it's documented in your manual).

Q. Why does my Mac freeze, crash, or stall when I try to HotSync?

A. The adapter ships with an older version of the Mac software that is outdated for OS 9.0.2 and greater. Go to palm and download the newest version of the Palm Desktop for Mac (v2.6.1).

Good luck, and happy Palming!

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The product works just great. But the fact that I have to buy TWO connectors to get from my Palm to my iMac is ridiculous. I'm sure it makes sense to the inventory control people, but it is definitely not looking from the customer's perspective. My vote says -make a cradle and a cable with USB connectors!

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The PalmConnect USB performs exactly as advertised, and is utterly essential if you have a modern Mac (iMac, iBook, PowerBook G3, or PowerMac G4) as the original MacPac will not work. However, it does appear that they are shipping outdated Mac software with it. Don't install the software from the included CD, instead download the latest (and greatly improved) version of the Mac Palm software (currently 2.6.1) from [Palm].

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If you're like me, and stuck with an antique clockwork PalmPilot (in my case a III) from the days when the HotSync cradle connected to the serial port, the recent trend towards eliminating serial ports in PCs (and the fact that serial ports disappeared from Macs years ago) is something of a problem.

If you're also like me in not really being able to justify an upgrade to a more modern Palm or Visor because you don't actually use the one you currently have very much, or don't have a compelling need to transmit color images of your address book via a built-in cellular modem, the PalmConnect kit offers a way to keep your ancient PDA synced for a substantially lower cost than buying a whole new PDA.

The box contains a CD containing the appropriate software (I didn't use it since the Mac OS X Palm software is only available by direct download from Palm's site) and the converter itself. This, as you can see in the photo up top, is a little black box about the size of a box of Tic-Tacs with a rather short USB cable sticking out of one end and a female DB-9 serial connector on the other. Fortunately the fact that the initial market for this thing was iMacs didn't compel Palm to ditch taste and make the thing out of translucent puce plastic. It's plain, black and completely opaque.

Plug the serial cable from your cradle into one end, plug the other iend nto a handy USB port and that's about all there is to it. Really.

Since it's still basically a serial connection it's obviously not going to be as fast as a true USB cradle, and I'd personally have preferred (and been willing to pay for) a new cradle that had the serial-USB conversion built into the cradle base since it would have looked rather less clunky, but it does what it's supposed to, and I suppose you can't really ask for more than that.

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There are many bad reviews about this USB kit, but I decided to try it anyway. I have a laptop that has not serial port and a Palm IIIxe. Well, I went through the installation and everything went well but at the last step, it would not synchronize. I contacted Palm support and in a few hours (yep, not one day, or two days, but just a few hours) they sent me an email with the solution. And IT WORKED!.

Here are my suggestions to others who want to give this USB kit a try: (My laptop runs Windows 98SE, btw)

-Don't use the CD for the installation of the drivers... Look to the right and choose the PalmConnect USB kit software for your O.S.

-On the download page, they include installation instructions that vary a little bit from those included in the CD. Make sure you follow the installation instructions on this Web page.

-Before you synchronize, make sure that the HotSync software has Local USB and Local Serial checked. (This was the solution to my problem). To make sure, these options are checked, right click on the HotSync icon on the System Tray, and see if Local USB and Local Serial have check marks next to them. Now synchronize.

This should do it! :) It worked for me! Everything runs a-okay. :)