3Com's PalmPilot is the world's bestselling hand-held computer platform. In three years, its 16 models from 5 different manufacturers have captured 80 percent of the palmtop market. About the size of a playing card, Palm devices are lightweight (under 6 ounces), offering two-month battery life, handwriting recognition, Internet connectivity, and a touch-screen display. Above all, these devices are fast and elegantly designed. PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide was an instant classic when it debuted in 1998, becoming, and remaining, the bestselling Palm book (and a top ten title among all computer books) every month since. Dense with previously undocumented information, this newly updated bible for Palm users delivers hundreds of timesaving tips and surprising tricks, plus a CD-ROM containing over 3,100 Palm programs. The second edition offers exclusive insider coverage of all models, including 1999's Palm IIIx, Palm V, laser-equipped Symbol 1500, and the revolutionary, wireless Palm VII. The book is divided into five sections:

• Section One details every hardware and software aspect of PalmPilot as it comes out of the box: the stylus and screen, the buttons, and the current line of models. A tutorial takes the reader through the palmtop's preferences and settings panels, teaches the Graffiti alphabet, and unearths surprising features of the machine's eight built-in programs.
• Section Two explains step-by-step how your PalmPilot can work with your PC: how data gets from your palmtop to your desktop computer and back again (HotSyncing). New chapters give special coverage to the separate Windows and Macintosh (Mac Pac 2.0) versions of Palm Desktop, which duplicates the functions of the PalmPilot (calendar, phone book, to-do list, memo pad, email, and expense tracking) on the desktop machine.
• Section Three takes the reader beyond the built-in Palm software to the best of the add-on programs included with the book. They include such graphics programs as DinkyPad, TealPaint, and the amazing ImageViewer (which unlocks the "black-and-white" Pilot screen's grayscale features); electronic books in Doc format; and music programs that use the hand-held's built-in speaker. New in this edition: how-to advice for using PalmPilot database programs to collect data in the field, and syncing them with such popular PC programs as FileMaker and Microsoft Access.
• Section Four covers the new Palm VII, the first one-piece, pocket-sized, wireless Internet device ever marketed, offering cell-network-based email and Web access anywhere in the country. As this section makes clear, any PalmPilot model can access the Net when equipped with the tiny PalmPilot modem. Such an arrangement is ideal for reading and replying to email--a great time-shifter for anyone who'd otherwise consider plane, train, or automobile time as downtime. Additional chapters cover the five Palm Web browsers, paging, faxing, and infrared beaming features.
• Section Five explains simple ways to troubleshoot both software and hardware, including HotSync snafus and various software glitches. Special chapters cover Palm fans' options for upgrading and accessorizing their palmtops. Two new appendixes debut in this edition; one explains how to write Palm VII Web-querying applets; the other, for the first time, covers the PalmPilot's synergy with Unix and Linux machines.

PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, 2nd Edition is the most comprehensive Palm-platform book yet written. With the cooperation of Palm Computing, and 3Com, bestselling computer-book author David Pogue succinctly answers every conceivable question, unlocks Palm features most users never suspected, and radiates the fun, passion, and sense of community shared by Piloteers the world over. The enclosed CD-ROM (for Windows 9x, NT, and the Macintosh) is a disc-based version of the #1 Palm-software Web site, palmcentral.com, offering over 3,100 programs organized in a searchable, sortable database catalog with auto-install features and web links. PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide is the essential guide for the PalmPilot owner.

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PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, 2nd Edition Review,  November 29 2000
Submitted by A. Caruso   [Respond | View]

I thought it was a great book that helps even the experienced piloteer become more familar with their palm. Although the software on the CD is dated with old versions of software, it does give links for updated ones. What do you expect, it takes time for a book to get to print. Anyway, the compilation of software was great. Wish it had some of the newer programs out there but overall pretty happy. Lots of good tips and tricks!

I agree with the other reviewer about the palm Emulator software on the CD. I could not get it to work either. Sounds like a cool tool though if it worked. I also sent an e-mail to the author about this complaint before even reading that he did not reply to your email. Hope we can find a solution to make it work.


PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, 2nd Edition Review,  November 03 2000
Submitted by Stacey Donahue   [Respond | View]

Great resource. Well put together. However, I found some things frustrating.

Mr. Pogue includes his email address but doesn't respond. The Palm Emulator

included on the CD seems like a cool tool, too bad I couldn't get it to work.


PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, 2nd Edition Review,  June 26 2000
Submitted by Sean Wood   [Respond | View]

I concur - I looked at a number of different titles relating to the palm before deciding on this one - and I haven't been disappointed. The author is obviously a palm devotee and it shows, consequently the book comes across as having been written by


PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, 2nd Edition Review,  May 20 2000
Submitted by Mark Wilden   [Respond | View]

This is a typical O'Reilly book.

And that's about the highest praise there is!


PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, 2nd Edition Review,  August 05 1999
Submitted by David W. Murphy   [Respond | View]



I bought my first Palm Pilot when they first came
out.I have bought a number of books and some of
them good. This is the best one to date. It is
full of usefull information. The included CD is
great.The catlog program lets you browse the 3100
programs by catagory and then shows screen shots
of the PamlPilot. You can link to the authors page
or add the program to be installed at your next
HotSync. Thanks to David Pogue for a great book.
I highly recommend it.

David W. Murphy
Systems Analyst
Arkansas State University
dmurphy@brook.asumh.edu


PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, 2nd Edition Review,  September 01 1998
Submitted by J. Tormos   [Respond | View]



I wholeheartedly agree with the other glowing review currently on this post. The level of greatness of this work is almost preposterous, made yet greater by the stupendous CD-ROM that is included, with an incredibly user-friendly interface that shows you a screenshot of the program in question, along with a concise but informative blurb about it. This is likely the very best computer book I've ever read on any topic, and on virtually all counts. That's not just lip service -- though I already owned ver. 1 of the book (which had 900 apps on the CD), I couldn't turn away over 2,000 more in the 2nd ver -- in addition to the new data on the Palm V, the VII, etc. The book is a steal at its published price ($25, if I recall).

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