What to replace a Palm Treo with - for use with Ubuntu.

[Chris G]

On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 05:46:43PM +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 5:41 PM, Chris G <cl at isbd.net> wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 05:27:37PM +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
> >> On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 9:03 AM, Chris G <cl at isbd.net> wrote:
> >> > My wife's Palm Treo is feeling its age in various ways and needs
> >> > replacing.  Currently she synchronises the Treo with Evolution in
> >> > Xubuntu using the built-in Gnome/Evolution software.
> >> >
> >> > So, what can we buy now to replace the Palm that will allow her to
> >> > continue as far as possible in the same way?
> >> >
> >> > I'd prefer a solution that doesn't involve a separate server
> >> > system/process, especially one 'out in the cloud', but apart from that
> >> > we really don't have any major constraints.
> >>
> >> Have you looked at the Palm Prē? Not sure if it's compatible with the
> >> old sync methods, though. Logical successor to any PalmOS machine!
> >>
> > The Palm Pré actually runs Linux itself, however that helps not at all
> > in getting it to synchronise with Linux desktop applications.  As far
> > as I can tell it's as difficult/incompatible as everything else
> > nowadays.
> 
> Have you tried making a small hole in both ends and carefully sucking
> the white out that way?
> 
> Yes, I know the Palm runs Linux.
> 
> The thing is, the way devices sync is changing. It used to be that you
> connected the device to your PC and synched with apps on the PC. After
> a while, this basically meant Outlook.
> 
> Now, devices sync directly with the cloud, your PCs sync with the
> cloud, and thus, both stay in sync. It's often easier to change work
> patterns than fight the way things go.
> 
I bet most Windows users *don't* use the cloud, just about every PDA
you can buy *still* synchronises directly with Outlook.

The trouble with the cloud approach is lack of security, lack of
guaranteed continuity, complexity, and several other things. There is
also one major additional problem for us, mobile network coverage is
very marginal at our house so the PDA *can't* synchronise to the
cloud. 

-- 
Chris Green