Reviewing palmOne Wi-Fi card, part 1
by Volker Weber
Repeat after me: If all else fails, read the manual.
palmOne has sent me a Wi-Fi card to play with. This is good. I like to play with new stuff. And then write about it. :-) However, I was having some problems getting VersaMail to work after installing the palmOne Wi-Fi driver. Connecting to the network was a breeze. The browser was happy. But VersaMail was not. It always tried to establish a PPP connection although the T3 was already connected to my WLAN. Solution:
VersaMail has an “Always connect using” preference setting (Options>Mail Servers) that could cause VersaMail to attempt to connect to a mail server via network services other than Wi-Fi even if Wi-Fi is turned on. Make certain that you either disable the “Always connect using” feature, or set it to Wi-Fi if you encounter this problem.
There is more interesting stuff in the readme:
Wi-Fi channels 12, 13 and 14 are not supported. If you are in a country where these channels are allowed you will need to find an access point set to channels 1-11 to connect to.
Read: The driver was designed with only the US market in mind.
palmOne cannot guarantee interoperability between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so we recommend that you turn off Bluetooth when using the Wi-Fi card.
That is fine with me. I don't need another unused circuit sucking on the battery. Talking about the battery:
Constant use of the Wi-Fi card can deplete the handheld battery quickly. We recommend that you plug the handheld into a charging device or attach an auxilliary battery when using the Wi-Fi card for extended periods.
Hmmh. I wonder whether being tethered to a wall outlet is so much better than being tethered to an ethernet cable.
Comments
The wifi that's built into my Palm Tungsten C does indeed drain the battery faster but I can get about two to three hours of constant use when wifi is on before the unit needs to be recharged. Not great but probably much better than similar devices.
I recall reading you had a T3 and a Treo... There's a hack to get the card working on a Treo now... wonder if you felt like taking the chance and reporting back here on it?
http://blog.treonauts.com/2004/12/treo_650_goes_w.html
Jonathan, if you scroll down one post, you will find that I am perfectly aware of the driver.
However,
a) I have a Treo 600, not a Treo 650
b) my Treo is not a "lab" but a "production" machine
c) the driver certainly has lots of rough edges
d) I have a supported T3
Are these enough reasons to ask you to read somewhere else about this adventure? ;-)
I knew you knew about the driver... there was some rumbling of it working in a 600 as well - though no card here. No worries.
