bignoseduglyguy

Online Books

Can't find an ebook that'll keep you busy whilst in a queue? Need a good reference title of the derivation of military titles and ranks? Confused about the various forms of Buddhism? Fret no more for The Online Books Page probably has what you are looking for. The Online Books Page was founded, and is edited, by John Mark Ockerbloom, He is a digital library planner and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. To appreciate the size of what this chap has achieved, check this page.

HOWTO: Kill Your Friend and Steal his Girlfriend

This is a hoot and nothing more.

A patently absurd invention?

The BBC has a nice report on the 150th anniversary of the opening of the UK Patent Office. The report has details on such ground-breaking patents as the cat delousing bag, the helmet gun and spectacles for chickens....to help them cross the road, presumably.

Chilli sauce lands diner in hot water

One can only admire the mission driven attitude of this guy who, in order to prove the chef was using a ready made sauce when preparing a 'home made' one, tried to break into the restaurant to get the evidence!

Ever feel you're being watched?

While I'd love to believe that this blog as massive import for those that read it, I suspect it is viewed more like this.

You're safe in the hands of the Hel(p) Desk #2

And yet more submissions for the world's most dangerous server rooms.

All manner of foobar scenarios

If you have absolutely nothing to do and like mild chuckles about all things geek, Slashdot has a great thread that is worth persevering with as it has a bunch of links to all manner of error messages and nightmare interfaces that should raise a smile.

UK digital TV gets into 2nd gear

As a subscriber to the now defunct OnDigital (latterly ITV Digital), I was sad to see the service go into receivership as it meant that I lost the select few 'pay' channels I wanted including the excellent Film Four. I don't follow football and find the politics, ethics and morals of media slime such as R*p*rt M*rd*ch and T*d T*rn*r objectionable, so it is a no-brainer to avoid Sky and their like. However, I do want to participate and get the most from this groovy technology.

So it is a hip, hip, horray for the BBC who, with the recent green light from the Government, have started rolling out their wider digital TV and radion offerings, as I discovered this morning when I was forced to reload the channels on my cranky (but never-collected-by-OnDigital's-administrators-so-free) Nokia DTB.

The only problem is that the kids have now kidnapped the remote and are watching a McCauley Culkin movie....so maybe I'll have to get that TV card after all.

I've got the surfin' munchies

Hungry? Read on.

Most weeks, Sunday morning is my prime surf time as the rest of the household are out doing other stuff. I was reading Chris' stuff in LockerGnome earlier and idly clicked through to egullet.com and from there to the online homes of The Fat Guy and Andy Lynes, who moderate at egullet.com.

Boy, am I hungry now. Time to kill the connection and raid the fridge

You're safe in the hands of the Hel(p) Desk

Those with a touching but blind trust in the tech heads and geeks who run our networks and ISPs should pop over to The Register and see some of the pictures of the world's most dangerous server rooms. And folk wonder why their network / connection is down sometimes...

The Homeless Guy

I am not having the best of days for reasons I'll not go into here but my day has been changed for the better by someone else's blog. The Homeless Guy is Kevin Barbieux's blog and is one of the very best uses of the medium I know. Kevin is homeless and uses the computer at his local library in Nashville to record his experiences in one of the most enlightening blogs out there.

Kevin speaks clearly and eloquently about his life and sheds light on the minutae of homelessness as well as the big issues. He is seems admirably broad-shouldered about the recognition that his blog has bought him and doesn't canvas readers for sentimental reaction or the sympathy vote. Some have criticised his decision to place a PayPal donation button on his site, calling it 'online begging' but Kevin defends his decision, citing that he believes folk are donating to help maintain the site not the author. However, this hasn't prevented Kevin and his site attracting criticism, mostly in the form of small-minded yet vitiolic and scathing attacks on Kevin and the homeless in general via the Comment features. Far from simply ignoring these, Kevin has stepped up and broadened the forum for debate by utilising a free discussion board service, in a move that I'm sure would find favour with some of the literary heroes listed on his site. Through this board, Kevin has offered to answer questions and queries that anyone wishes to put to him and, for the most part, the discussions are moderate and interesting.

I encourage all to surf over to The Homeless Guy and judge for themselves.

Big bad church threatens defenceless corporation

My friend Chuck and his church have a very saddening challenge on their hands right now. A company are putting the squeeze on the church to give up their domain name because they are concerned that the surfing public, including intelligent folks like me and you, might just confuse their Big Blue Cross church website with their company Blue Cross.

Quite how this argument stacks up I'm not sure as I am unclear how anyone arriving at the distinctive Delano Baptist Temple's website, which has had 217 hits in total and gets 9 text-string-only results on Google (none of which actually link to the church's website), would confuse it with any of the numerous companies/organisations called Blue Cross (2,250,000 results on Google including many very similar insurance companies) let alone one of them in particular. I can only presume that The Blue Cross, one of the UK's premier animal charities and the thousands of other more similarly named outfits will be hearing from the same lawyers on how they must give up their domains too.

To read more on this and read a transcript of a lawyer versus church conversation, see big companies suck... on Chuck's blog.

Doom - literally

Man dies after playing computer games non-stop - your Mum always warned you about stuff like this.

Wanted: PSX2...and quick

I like the Tomb Raider games. Through thick and thin, good and not so good, I have bought and have enjoyed playing each of them. Once the games were mastered, I then went on to exploring the hidden fun and games of the by-now well known Expert Challenges. However, Angel Of Darkness (due to hit the shops between now and Christmas) is for PC and PSX2 only and there's my problem. I much prefer gaming on a console to a PC so I had better suck it up and start hunting for a decent second-hand PSX2 pretty damn soon. Those wanting a taste of the new, more sinister atmosphere of TR:AOD should head straight for the 'Hand Of Fate' .wmv or .mov files on the official site.

Big Blue on the loo

IBM are the largest recipients of patents in the US. So what do you think they file patents on?

Cross Town Traffic

My day job entails at least a couple of cross-town commutes every week, from the Isle Of Dogs in East London to an office next to the north runway at London's Heathrow airport. The journey is fairly grim, requiring me, as it does, to drive slap throught the centre of one of the busiest capitals with some of the worst traffic problems going. Add to this the muppets that pass for cab drivers, the subhumans that drive white panel vans and the other 'challenges' presented to the London motorist and it makes for a bad start to any day.

Luckily, Life is made more bearable by listening to Danny Baker's show on the car radio. Those living beyond the transmitter's reach can catch a flavour of what it is all about from the various media files available.

Me and Mrs Jones

Ok, so I might be a few months behind everyone else but I finally got round to buying Come Away With Me, the debut CD from Norah Jones. Ripped it straight to CF and have it playing in my iPaq-fed phones even as I type.

Sublime and superb.

First British spacewalk

Perhaps not the biggest news story of the day but wanted to blog the fact that the first spacewalk by a Brit has taken place. Of course, I now expect him to have tea and cucumber sandwiches on the moon.

Speaking of 'Lost In Space' reminds me of the Matt Le Blanc line in the 1999 movie where, on the flight deck of some trillion dollar spaceship, surrounded by hi-teckery and gizmos, he presses the LAUNCH key at the end of the countdown and says "...And the monkey flips the switch.."[CUE ROAR OF ENGINES]. Tee hee.

You don't have to be mad to work here but...

If anyone out there thinks that running their own hosting business would be a blast and a real easy way to riches, I'd suggest they slip over to my friend Chuck's blog. He's one of the hardest working guys I know out there in etherland and his blog records the ugly naked truth of how hard you have to work to turn a buck in e-business.

A cup of Java

I had one of the best espressos I have ever tasted today. It was made by an Italian colleague in our office kitchen using a Bialetti electric espresso maker. Bialetti are reknown the world over for their stovetop aluminium coffee pots but these are no good in our stoveless office environment. Another colleague brought the electric version on a trip back to the old country and his fellow countrymen and women have been trying to source them in the UK ever since.

Rising to the challenge, I said that I'd track them down but as yet (awaiting a mailback concerning importers and retailers) the closest I have got is the Bialetti website where I found the cherised pot in their online store. Roll on pay day...

Million Dollar Tweaking

Palms, iPaqs and Psions aside, I'm not a big hardware nut when it comes to computing. However, I have friends and colleagues who are nuts for hardware. Sadly, they all pale into insignificance now and should be dragged before the alter to pray before the geeks who do this to not one but two $1.5 million computers. Truly excellent.

Found at the venerable Slashdot where twas posted by timothy.

Friends

In this first post to my rejuvenated blog, I wish to take a few lines to recognise and thank two friends of mine, Jason and our mutual friend Chuck who enrich my online life. Why? Because between them, and always with unstinting good-humour, generosity of time, abundance of assistance and enthusiasm, these have given me the gift of friendship, the fun of late night debates concerning hand held computing, a home for this site and all in spite of the fact that we have never met. Readers familiar with their posts in various PDA forums and their contributions on the Happy Palm site will know of their generosity and readiness to help others less informed or experienced than themselves.

The team at Thrust Networks also deserve a mention for providing hosting in a calm, efficient and reliable manner. If you are looking for high quality hosting, programming or web design, I can thoroughly recommend them.

Using an iPaq and Nokia 6210 for Internet and Mail

A user's guide to getting up and running

Whilst the Nokia 6210 is a fine WAP phone with Bluetooth connectivity, it doesn't have half the functionality of a infrared connected iPaq. WAP phones are great for the odd SMS message, news headline and weather checks. However, why settle for that, when 10 minutes tinkering will give you so much more? How about mobile email retrieval handling? Full feature-rich browsing? Remote access to your PC? Interested? Read on.

In Preparation
What to check before you start
It is assumed that your iPaq is fairly standard and that, where necessary, you have enabled data connectivity by calling your cell phone provider's Customer Services - this differs depending where in the world you are. It is also assumed that you have already configured the Inbox and Pocket IE clients with your ISP / DUN settings - a fairly safe bet here is to simply replicate the settings of your desktop machine on your iPaq.

Setting up the iPaq
Configuring 'Connection' in Settings

1. From Start, choose Settings and then Connections.
2. Tap Modem and then New Connection.
3. At Enter a name, type 'Nokia Connection' or something you'll remember.
4. At Select a modem, choose [Generic IrDA Modem] from the drop down menu.
5. At Baud Rate, choose [19,200bps] from the drop down menu.
6. Tap 'Advanced' and ensure the Port Setting's Connection preferences are:
   • Data Bits: 8
   • Parity: None
   • Stop Bits: 1
   • Flow Control: Software
7. Leave all Terminal options unchecked.
8. Under TCP/IP, check 'Use server-assigned IP address', 'Use software compression' and 'Use IP header compression'.
9. Under Name Servers, check 'Use sever-assigned addresses' and tap 'OK' to return to your ISP settings screen.
10. Tap 'Next' and then enter the country code, area code and access phone number for your ISP.
11. Tap 'Next' and check 'Cancel call if net connected within 120 seconds.
12. You may need to try dialling with the 'Wait for dial tone' option checked / unchecked but unchecked seems fine from my BT line.
13. Leave 'Wait for credit card tone' and 'Extra dial string...' unchecked and empty unless you need special configuration - in which case this page is way beneath you!
14. Your Connection is now configured so tap 'Finish'.

Configuring 'Dialling' in Settings - for the UK

1. Tap 'New' and enter 'Home' or something equally meaningless for a MOBILE connection :O)
2. Enter your area code WITHOUT the leading zero - i.e. 207 for central London.
3. Enter your country code WITHOUT the leading zeros - i.e. 44 for the UK.
4. Check 'Tone dialing'.
5. Leave 'Disable call waiting' unchecked unless you specifically have it set up on your cellphone, in which case you may need to check with your airtime provider about the disable digit required.
6. Tap 'OK' to return to the main Settings screen.
7. You should now see your new connection listed in the 'Modem Connections' list. If you tap the 'Connections' link at the bottom of the screen, you should also see it as a new Connection icon next to the ActivSync and IR ActivSync icons.

Setting up the Nokia 6210
Activating InfraRed Reception

1. From the main screen, press the [Menu].
2. Press the UP scroll button twice to show the Infrared screen.
3. Press [Select].
4. A splash screen reading 'IrDA Reception Activated' will show briefly.
5. Activation is confirmed by a small flashing IR symbol like this |--- in the top right hand of the screen
6. Your Nokia 6210 is now enabled for InfraRed connection with you iPaq.

Getting connected the first time
Using Inbox as an example application.

1. Turn the iPaq on and tap the 'Inbox' icon.
2. Activate the phone as above.
3. Place phone and iPaq on a flat surface (with the phone 5mm higher than the iPaq for perfectionists), with their IR ports facing each other - normally 5cm / 2 inches is about right but you may need to experiment.
4. Tap the Connect icon (hand holding PDA) or 'Services' followed by 'Connect' when the correct service in the list is checked.
5. A progress screen will show 'Dialling your connection number' on your iPaq and the Nokia's backlight will illuminate and show 'Calling your ISP/DUN number'.
6. Once the call to the POP is established, the cell phone display will show 'Call 1' preceded by a 'D' which indicates that a data call is in progress and the IR symbol will change from flashing to constant.
7. The iPaq progress screen will show 'Connecting' , 'Device Connected', 'Authenticating User' and 'User Authenticated' during the handshake and password verification process.
8. When this changes to 'Connected', you are connected and ready to send and receive mail - just tap the 'Send and Receive' icon (two envelopes).

To close the connection
Using Inbox as an example application.

Tap 'Services' then tap 'Disconnect'.

Troubleshooting

Hopefully, you won't need to but there's always a chance. Firstly, run through the setups again. If necessary, delete the setups you have just configured to make sure you don't keep any errors, and re-enter the data cross-checking your ISP / DUN information and watching for those dreaded typos in your entries. If that doesn't resolve your problem, do what I did and post a plea for help to some of the excellent iPaq User Groups at Yahoo Groups or do a keyword search (6210, iPaq, infrared etc) in your favourite search engine for more pages like this.

If I have goofed (this was proof-read) or have missed something, don't curse me. This was written with all good intent as my contribution to the wider online community of Palm users - mail me and I'll put it right as soon as work allows.

Using Palm IIIx and Nokia 6210 for Internet and Mail

A user's guide to getting up and running

Whilst the Nokia 6210 is a fine WAP phone with Bluetooth connectivity, it doesn't have half the functionality of a Palm loaded with the right apps. WAP phones are great for the odd SMS message, news headline and weather check. However, why settle for that, when 10 minutes tinkering will give you so much more? How about mobile email retrieval handling? Full feature-rich browsing? Remote access to your PC? Interested? Read on.

In Preparation
What to check before you start

It is assumed that your Palm is fairly standard and that, where necessary, you have enabled data connectivity by calling your cell phone provider's Customer Services - this differs depending where in the world you are. It is also assumed that you have already configured your mail and browser clients with your ISP / DUN in accordance.

Setting up the Palm IIIx
Configuring 'Connection' in Preferences

1. From your launcher, choose Preferences and then Connection.
2. Choose [New...].
3. At Name, type 'Nokia Connection' or something you'll remember.
4. At Connection Method, choose [IrCOMM to Modem] from the drop down menu.
5. At Dialing, choose [Touch Tone^TM] from the drop down menu.
6. At Volume, choose setting of your choice from the drop down menu.
7. Choose [Details].
8. At Speed, choose [115,200bps] from the drop down menu.
9. At Flow Ctl, choose [Automatic] from the drop down menu.
10. At Init String, leave text entry area blank.
11. Tap [OK] [OK] to return to the Connection preference screen.
12. Your Connection is now configured.

Configuring 'Network' in Preferences

1. From your launcher, choose Preferences and then Network.
2. Choose [New...].
3. At Service, type ' my ISP', 'myLAN' or something you'll remember.
4. At User Name, enter your ISP user name or network dial up user name.
5. At Password, you can either:
   • Enter your ISP / network log in password to save doing so again.
   • Leave as [Prompt] if you wish to be prompted for it on each occasion.
6. At Connection, choose the connection you have just configured above from the drop down menu.
7. At Phone, choose [Tap to enter phone] to enter Phone Setup.
8. At Phone #, enter your the dial up number for your ISP or Dial Up Networking access, configuring the check box items as necessary. You may need to experiment with leading zeros, country codes but the full in-country number you'd use from your PC is favourite.
9. Choose [Details...].
10. At Connection type, choose [PPP] from the drop down menu.
11. At Idle timeout, choose [Power Off]
12. At Query DNS, tick the check box
13. At IP Address, you can either:
    • Tick the check box for Automatic allocation (if unsure, choose this option).
    • Enter the static IP address given by your system administrator.
14. Choose [Script...].
15. Ensure no script is present. A PUG correspondent advised that when he checked he found a simple script and suspected this to have been loaded as part of an OS upgrade. Whatever the case, remove all text so you can only see the drop down arrow and [End].
16. Tap [OK] [OK] to return to the Network Preference screen.
17. Your Network option is now configured.

Configuring 'Serial/IR' in Preferences*

1. From your launcher, choose Preferences and then Serial/IR.
2. At Serial via, choose [Infrared].
3. Your Serial Port is now configured.
4. Tap the Applications silk screen button to exit Preferences.

Setting up the Nokia 6210
Activating InfraRed Reception

1. From the main screen, press the [Menu].
2. Press the UP scroll button twice to show the Infrared screen.
3. Press [Select].
4. A splash screen reading 'IrDA Reception Activated' will show briefly.
5. Activation is confirmed by a small flashing IR symbol like this |--- in the top right hand of the screen
6. Your Nokia 6210 is now enabled for InfraRed connection with you Palm.

Getting connected the first time
Using Eudora Internet Suite as an example application.

1. Turn Palm on and tap icon for Eudora mail.
2. Activate the phone as above.
3. Place phone and Palm on a flat surface, with their IR ports facing each other - normally 10cm / 4 inches is about right but you may need to experiment.
4. Tap the Menu silk screen button, then Options.
5. In Options, choose [Network Preferences].
6. Choose the Network setup and the connection you configured earlier from the [Service] drop down menu. Now is a good time to double check that the 'Serial via' is set to Infrared - first time I tried this, it took me ages to work out what I'd forgotten to do.
7. Tap [Connect] - a progress screen will show Dialling your connection name' on your Palm and the Nokia's backlight will illuminate and show 'Calling your ISP/DUN number'.
8. Once the call to the POP is established, the cell phone display will show 'Call 1' preceded by a 'D' which indicates that a data call is in progress and the IR symbol will change from flashing to constant.
9. The Palm progress screen will show 'Signing On' during the handshake and password verification process.
10. When this changes to 'Established', you are connected and ready to send and receive mail, browse the web

Getting connected thereafter
Using Eudora Internet Suite as an example application.

Once you know it all works, subsequent connections are even easier. Open the mail or browser of choice and simply tap (or command stroke) the menu item or to retrieve / send mail or go to a URL and the Palm will fire up the connection, just like your PC.

Troubleshooting

Hopefully, you won't need to but there's always a chance. Firstly, run through the setups again. If necessary, delete the setups you have just configured to make sure you don't keep any errors, and re-enter the data cross-checking your ISP / DUN information and watching for those dreaded typos in your entries. If that doesn't resolve your problem, do what I did and post a plea for help to some of the excellent Palm User Groups at Yahoo Groups or do a keyword search (6210, Palm, infrared etc) in your favourite search engine for more pages like this.

Connecting your Palm to a LAN

A user's guide to getting onto a network with Mocha W32 PPP

Hang on - doesn't Mocha have setup info on their site?
Yes it does but, without wishing to offend anyone at Mochasoft, it is pretty brief and, having helped a few others get connected, I thought I'd put up a page with slightly more detail and a few screen shots. All Mochasoft copyrights are acknowledged - this page is simply here to help others enjoy Mochasoft's software, so please don't sue me guys, OK?

Why connect to a LAN anyway - isn't that what my PC is for?
OK, so the Palm was never intended to be a LAN terminal and, for obvious reasons, never will be one but Palm to LAN connectivity has it's uses. If you have direct access to your LAN, you don't need to hook up that modem or IR cellphone to do all that TCP/IP or UDP stuff you want to do. Website authors can carry out repeated checks on how Palm-friendly their website is. Handheld email users can upload and bulk send their replies. Info-junkies can update Avantgo superquick. Techs can use as their Palm as a seperate emulation terminal to monitor ongoing diagnostic tests. Control freaks can even use it for remote PC access.

In Preparation

What you need before you start
It is assumed that your Palm and cradle / connector are fairly standard, that you hotsync through a serial port and that your PC is running one of the following:

• Windows 95
• Windows 98
• Windows NT
• Windows 2000

Please note that is no support for USB connections or Visors at this time.
If you have performed the Conklin Systems Battrey Drain Fix 'surgery' on your cradle, Mocha W32 PPP will not work - don't ask me why, I'm in telecommunications not electrical engineering!

Setting up your PC

Downloading and setting up W32 PPP

1. Go get Mochca W32 PPP from MochaSoft's website.
2. Save the .exe file to your desktop.
3. Double click the PPP icon to run the self extracting installation - it is very simple.
4. Once installed, click Start | Programs | MochaSoft PPP.
5. If trialling the shareware version, wait for the greyed-out 'I agree' to darken then click on it to bring up the application window.
6. Choose Configuration from the Settings drop down menu.
7. Choose the COM port to which your cradle/hotsync cable is attached.
8. Choose the Baud Rate (port speed) to match that specified in the Connection section of Preferences on your Palm - the best option is to choose the default speed for your OS version as shown. According to MochaSoft, a mis-match of these two values is the most common reason for connectivity failures and calls to Mocha support.
9. Check the Palm Pilot(sic) radio button.
10. Under Palm Pilot option, choose your preferred option for how you wish W32 PPP to share the COM port with Palm's HotSync Manager. Mocha state that PPP asking Hotsync to free the port is the best solution, I prefer to have PPP terminate/start HotSync to gain access to the port. Experiment to see which of the three offered is best for you.
11. Use the 'Browse' button to find the correct path to the 'hotsync.exe' file on your PC - by default, it should be 'C:\Palm\hotsync.exe' without the paratheses. This will enable PPP to find and restart HotSync after you close your PPP session.
12. Under Advanced HotSync (Palm Pilot) Configuration, leave all fields as they are - by default the process name is 'hotsync' and the timeout value (m.secs) is '300'. HotSync menu 'Local' event ID will unique to your PC.
13. Click OK.
14. Ensure that 'Icon Mode' is ticked in the View menu and then click the minimise button to place PPP on 'standby' in the task bar system tray.

Setting up the Palm
Configuring 'Connection' in Preferences

1. From your launcher, choose Preferences and then Connection.
2. Choose [Direct Serial].
3. Choose [Edit...]
4. Name should read 'Direct Serial' and Connection Method should ready 'Serial to PC'.
5. Choose [Details...].
6. At Speed, choose [57,600bps] from the drop down menu.
7. At Flow Ctl, choose [Automatic] from the drop down menu.
8. Tap [OK] [OK] to return to the Connection preference screen.
9. Your Connection is now configured.

Configuring 'Network' in Preferences

1. From your launcher, choose Preferences and then Network.
2. Choose [New...].
3. At Service, type 'myLAN' or something you'll remember.
4. At User Name, leave blank - not required as your PC is already connected to the LAN.
5. At Password, leave as [Prompt] - not required as your PC is already connected to the LAN.
6. At Connection, choose the 'Direct Serial' connection from the drop down menu.
7. Choose [Details...].
8. At Connection type, choose [PPP] from the drop down menu.
9. At Idle timeout, choose [Power Off]
10. At Query DNS, tick the check box
11. At IP Address, tick the check box for Automatic.
12. Choose [Script...].
13. Ensure no script is present - you should only see the drop down arrow and [End]. A PUG correspondent advised that when he checked he found a simple script and suspected this to have been loaded as part of an OS upgrade. Whatever the case, remove all text so you can only see the drop down arrow and [End]
14. Tap [OK] [OK] to return to the Network Preference screen.
15. Your Network option is now configured.

Configuring 'Serial/IR' in Preferences*

1. From your launcher, choose Preferences and then Serial/IR.
2. At Serial via, choose [Cradle].
3. Your Serial Port is now configured.
4. Tap the Applications silk screen button to exit Preferences.

Getting connected for the first time

Connecting to the LAN and logging in

1. Ensure that PPP is setup and running in Icon mode as covered above in 'Downloading and setting up W32 PPP'
2. Doubleclick the PPP icon in the system tray and check settings - note the graphic showing a question mark and the caption 'Connection disabled'.
3. Place the Palm in the cradle - note the graphic has changed and now shows a white X on a red disc and the caption reads 'Ready'.
4. On the Palm, choose Preferences then Network then 'myLan' or whatever from the Service drop down menu.
5. Leave User Name blank - it should not be required as your PC is already connected to the LAN.
6. Leave Password as [Prompt] - it should not be required as your PC is already connected to the LAN.
7. Ensure that the Connection type chosen is Direct Serial.
8. With the PPP window visible on your desktop, tap [Connect].
9. In rapid succesion, your Palm should display Service Connection Progress Screens showing 'Initializing', 'Signing On' and 'Established'
10. At the same time, the graphic in the PPP window will have changed to show the Palm linked to the PC and the caption reading 'PPP link is active'. This can be confirmed on the Palm by the usual pulsing cursor in the top right hand corner of the screen.
11. You may now minimise the PPP window to the system tray and use your mail/browser/other application as you would normally.
12. Ensure that the Connection type chosen is Direct Serial.

Getting connected thereafter

One tap/command stroke connection & login

Once you know it all works, subsequent connections are even easier. As long as the Connection/Network/Serial configurations haven't been altered and PPP is running on your PC, just open the mail/browser/other app and simply tap (or command stroke) to retrieve / send mail or go to a URL and the Palm will fire up the connection.

Troubleshooting

Hopefully, you won't need to but there's always a chance. Firstly, run through the setups again. If necessary, delete the setups you have just configured to make sure you don't keep any errors, and re-enter the data cross-checking your information and watching for those dreaded typos in your entries.

If when you tap to connect to your LAN, the display first shows 'Signing On' and then gives an error message like "Error: PPP timeout (0x1231), the baud rates do not match. The baud rate specified in the Preferences | Connection on the Palm must match the baud rate specified in Setting | Configuration in PPP on the PC. Change them both to the default 57,600bps and try again.

You shouldn't get any Hotsync conflicts but if you do try changing the Palm Pilot options in the PPP configuration settings on your PC. If all else fails, try closing HotSync Manager.

If your Palm spends prolonged periods in the standard cradle, battery drain will be accelerated - numerous webpages and posts elsewhere deal with this issue and remember, Conklin Systems Battrey Drain Fix is NOT compatible with Mocha W32 PPP.

If the above tips do not resolve your problem, do what I did and post a plea for help to some of the excellent Palm User Groups at Yahoo Groups or do a keyword search (Mocha W32 PPP, Palm, etc) in your favourite search engine for more pages like this.

If I have made an error or have missed something, don't curse me. This was written with all good intent as my contribution to the wider online community of Palm users - mail me and I'll check it and put it right as soon as work allows.

*A reader advised that the Serial/IR option in Preferences is not shown in the 3.5.0 version of the OS - it would seem that 3.5.0 users can simply skip this section as his connects fine!