I need recommendations for useful word processing and note taking software for OS X.

September 20, 2004 11:35 AM

The Poor Man's Laptop: As I've parted ways with my previous employer, I've had to relinquish my beautiful, 15 inch aluminum PowerBook. I can't afford a new machine, but have a need for some basic word processing and note taking capabilities. So I've picked up a Palm Tungsten E and a wireless keyboard. It works great, but I could use some recommendations for useful software. My main computer is a desktop G4 running OS X 10.3.5. [MI]
posted by aladfar to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Documents to go mates well with Word and Excel (although the data is somewhat fragile, so sync often, and don't attempt to sync huges documents) Iambic's Agendus is a good enhanced contact manager. There's now, supposedly, a WiFi card for the Tungsten E.
posted by ParisParamus at 11:41 AM on September 20, 2004

Response by poster: Specifically, I'd like to find a reliable (and preferably free) application that will sync with the Apple Mail client. Versamail, which came with the handheld isn't capable of this. I've discovered HandRSS to be quite useful, but it's having difficulty remembering my settings and subscriptions. Lastly - I've been experimenting with the Yanoff newsgroup reader, but can't seem to get it working . . .

Any recommendations on these or other apps would be very much appreciated.

Ultimately, I plan to use the Palm and the keyboard for note taking and document editing/writing (I've just started graduate school), but it would be great if I could use it as a sort of stopgap when I'm away from my desktop and my mail, networking apps, etc.

On Preview: DocsToGo came with the Palm, and works pretty well, but I don't use Word that often, so am leaning toward the basic notes application. And WiFi for the Tungsten E would be great, but I've heard that the new card only works in a couple of models, and the E is not among them . . . anyone know for certain?
posted by aladfar at 11:43 AM on September 20, 2004

Last I checked (with J&R Computer is NYC), the "E" card was just about to come out.
posted by ParisParamus at 11:45 AM on September 20, 2004

I haven't tried it, but perhaps this mail.app conduit would do the trick? It's still in beta, but claims to work with VersaMail.
posted by teg at 10:49 PM on September 20, 2004

For writing, you could try MegaMemo, which includes HTML template macros. Some decent, though spartan network apps are LGet, NetNews, PalmVNC, upIRC, and World Finder, a Lynx-like textmode browser. Two file-transfer utilities to consider are Receiveit and PalmDisk.

Should you find yourself needing a temporary host for diagnostic runs on LAN, PokeServer is better than nothing.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:48 AM on September 21, 2004

I use my Palm for the exact same purpose (note-taking and laptop-esque tasks in grad school). The above mail conduit works fine with Versamail; you should also check out MacNoteTaker, which syncs text files on the Palm to text files in a folder on your Mac. It's rudimentary, but less unwieldy than Docs to Go in my experience, and I use it as my main Palm word processor.

Also, check out ShadowPlan, an outliner -- there are some scripts on the web for opening ShadowPlan outlines in OmniOutliner and saving them back to your Palm, and I heard on the OO listserv a few weeks ago that SP will be officially supported in OO3. And the Splash suite of Palm apps (Shopper, ID, Photo, Money) have very high-quality Mac OS X desktop companion apps which will really increase the utility of your Palm.

I myself have a T2 and am going to move up to a Treo 650 when they come out -- these apps really do let me replace my laptop, which is awesome.
posted by josh at 6:38 AM on September 21, 2004