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TECH SUPPORT INSIDER
Solving common Macintosh problems
By Chris Brown
PalmPilot owners are fanatics. I am sure that I'm speaking for you, too, when I say that if you own a PalmPilot organizer, you've come to absolutely love it. Just pick one up, play with it for a while and you're hooked. Next thing you know, you're bringing it everywhere with you, more than you do your own children. You dote on it with all the cool accessories you can find. You scour the World Wide Web for more.
Best of all, there is a whole community of other PalmPilot owners with whom you instantly have a kinship. You see another PalmPilot user on the train and you start comparing the applications you've loaded up on to your devices. You try out his cool metal stylus, and you give him a spare screen protector.
Well, where I say community, others would call our network of one-million-plus PalmPilot owners a cult. Hey, we're not talking purple shrouds and journeys to another plane of existence aboard alien spacecraft. Frankly, it's a good thing. What other products can you think of that generate such full-blown, giddy enthusiasm among full-grown, mature adults? What other products have such a cult following? Spam (the lunchmeat)?
Raise your hand if you are a Mac owner, because if you are like me, you are as much a nut for your Macintosh as you are crazy about your PalmPilot organizer. (Actually, if you're really like me, then you have a true love for SpamÐ but that's another story.) It's a familiar kind of feeling to be so enamored of a simple, easy-to-use but powerful piece of technology. And, hey, both of them are Windows-free!
PalmPilots with Macs
Using PalmPilot organizers on MacOS systems is a lot different than using it on a Windows machine. The first consideration, of course, is that you need to get yourself the PalmPilot MacPac in order to get the proper software for your desktop computer, as well as an adapter for the HotSync cradle. If you haven't done that yet, you should stop reading and get the MacPac installed on your system.
When installing the MacPac software, it is best to start your Macintosh with your extensions off. When booting-up or restarting your computer, hold down the shift key on your keyboard. This will keep your extensions off until you next restart your Mac.
Also, before you run the PalmPilot installation, you should turn AppleTalk off. This will help avoid a conflict while you're installing the MacPac software. To do this, go to the Apple menu and select Chooser. At the bottom of the dialog box that appears, you will find radio buttons to toggle AppleTalk active or inactive. Make sure that the Inactive button is selected, and close the window. After installing the PalmPilot software, make sure to go back to the Chooser and turn AppleTalk back on, if you need it.
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