PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, Second Edition

HotSync by Modem

So far in this chapter, you’ve read about plugging your PalmPilot directly into your PC. But you can also HotSync from the road, dialing into your home PC via modem. This feature opens up some interesting possibilities. For example, an assistant at your home office can update your calendar software while you’re traveling to a business meeting in a distant city; by performing a modem HotSync, you neatly update your Date Book so that you’re ready for the week’s events.

This method doesn’t involve the HotSync cradle. It does, however, require two modems—one for your PalmPilot and one for your PC. Any modem will do for your PC; the PalmPilot requires either the Palm snap-on modem or a Hayes-compatible external modem with a $15 Palm modem cable. (See Chapter 13 for details on modems.) Moreover, your home PC must be attached to its own private phone line, because it’s going to answer every call that comes in. You don’t want Aunt Ethel getting the shriek of a 56K modem in her ear when she calls to see if you got her birthday card.

Warning

You can’t do a modem HotSync on a computer with which you’ve never yet done a local HotSync. The initial HotSync must be performed via direct connection to your PC; it sets up the user-named folders on your PC hard drive, as described earlier in this chapter, which the modem HotSync will require.

How to Prepare the Desktop PC

Before leaving on your trip, you must prepare your desktop PC for the excitement to come. As mentioned above, ...