FIGURE A


The The Targus USB Charge-Sync Cable for Palm V series is great for travelers. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Behind the scenes, this product uses the same serial connectivity as the Palm cradle. This means you don't have the immediate plug-and-play functionality of most USB (Universal Serial Bus) devices. However, installing the cable is easy. My only complaint is the awkward software user interface, which I'll discuss in a moment.

Getting started
Your first task is to make your way into the almost impenetrable plastic case. Once you do so, strongly resist the urge to immediately plug the cable into an open USB port on your computer. It's absolutely required that you first install the software from the accompanying CD-ROM before the cable will function. If you try to wheedle your way through the installation without first following the proper installation process, you're going to wind up with a headache-and unable to synchronize via the cable. Fortunately, installing is fairly painless, but be prepared to reboot your computer as part of the process.

How it works
The cable itself weighs less than one ounce and is 24 inches in length. One end of the cable contains a USB connector, which attaches to an open port on your PC. The other end connects easily to the bottom of your Palm handheld. Synchronizing is controlled via a button in the middle of the cable. As long as the cable is connected to both the PC and your Palm handheld, recharging occurs automatically.

Although the hardware element of this product is quite elegant, the accompanying software leaves something to be desired. If the cable is attached properly, a status window, shown in Figure B, appears.

FIGURE B

You're alerted to the COM port assigned when you start your computer.

However, if you booted up without the cable, you're alerted as shown in Figure C.

FIGURE C

Click the Manual button if you forgot to attach the cable before startup.

In either case, the window appears in the lower-right corner of your desktop and also appears as an open application on your Windows Taskbar. This program is dispatched easily enough with a mouse-click to the Hide button shown in the figures, but it's an extra step to perform every time you boot up. Unfortunately, there's not an option to permanently hide this window, so you have to manually hide it each time you start your computer. The good news is that a recent $20 price reduction makes the quirky software a little easier to live with.