i showed off the rex to a collegue who was intruigued by the device. we both commented on how we liked it, but he remarked - how i have one more device to sync up with... & the added hassle.
yep. here is what i have to do, to sync up all my devices.
outlook is the main data store. i propagate data from there, to the other devices.
outlook to palm/visor : run the chapura plug-in for outlook. it's set to overwrite all palm data. works like a dream, lots of options. rarely has a problem. has the odd side effect of creating 'phantom', or empty contact, calendar and task subfolders in my personal folder ~ which i then just delete. could be outlooks fault, dunno. otherwise no issues here.
outlook contacts to ericsson T39 : manually export phone numbers from outlook, to a csv file. select numbers to filter out, and trim columns, from the file. process the remaining csv file with perl script - which creates the commands to re-program the t39. delete current phone book, and drop the command file into a bluetooth serial session to load up the phonebook (tech note: requires setting line delay in hyperterminal, to 2 seconds).
ok, this is a manual -but precise- process, with no risk to my outlook data, and let's me fine tune the list. doesn't take as long as it sounds.
outlook calendar to T39 : xtndconnect works well here. i'm prone to just deleting everything in the phone first. xtndconnect *will* update records that have changed on the phone without warning. this process also creates phantom calendars, as with chapura & intellisync. pretty simple click of the button process here. software take a few seconds to find the phone. (tech note: i typically have enable or reserve the com port used by the bluetooth session in the mobile phone monitor software, to get connected here).
outlook to rex6000 : create outlook97-2002 formatted pst files (personal folder) and copy current personal data into appropriate subfolders (calendar, contacts, tasks, notes). this is an easy copy-paste operation in outlook. point intellisync to the these folders (note: this is all a one time setup - if you keep the same pst files around). i could probably avoid all this step if i had started/or would rebuild outlook using the "old" format rather the new outlook 2003 format (unicode file). anyway, then i just intellisync to sync up. it's smart enough to prompt on changes/deletes, but not as granular as the intellisync for yahoo -- likely due to the fact it's older software. i've never tried the trusync software that came with it, i think that's even older.
update: appears deleting and copy records into the personal folder causes the rex to dump / reload all the records - even if there are not changes in content. that means it matches up records based on a record identifier, not just the content. i may have to rethink my approach here. i don't really want to delete and recreate items on the rex all the time. takes much longer, and the flash memory does have a upper limit on changes.
[see later posts for changes on this topic]
one advantage of using a different personal folder, from my main folder, is i will never worry if intellisync will totally screw up my data. downside is i have duplicate folders, unless i take the extra step to clean up when done. also if i want to import changes made on my rex, i have to evaluate the data and manually copy-paste any updated records. upside here is i can easily filter out whatever i want on the rex to my hearts content (don't do that now -but maybe i'll run out of memory, and this would help). i can also filter changes that need to migrate to outlook. downside, more steps to sync things up. again, i really don't sync that often.
by the way -- kudo's to outlook for making created/modified record dates easy to see & sort through. that makes updating records in this manner not only possible, but pretty quick and relatively painless!
outlook to yahoo : for the addressbook/calendar i delete everything in yahoo, then import csv files. it's the fastest, and there's no risk to my outlook data. notes don't have an import process, so i use intellisync for yahoo (specifying to "import" or overwrite yahoo, that's yahoo-centric). using intellisync to import calendar does work but takes a while, and for my addressbook it frequently chokes up, probably just taking too long to compare all the records. sure, the csv file option takes a few extra steps, but works pretty quickly making short order of the work.
in summary
it would be nice to have the devices sync with a single push of a button, or moreover just automatically -- but the logic isn't there to handle all the unique issues or complications with each device. the software needs a lot more options, all explicitly configured ahead of time, with the ability to prompt the user at each step if desired, and protection modes that prevent any changes should the user choose so.
it could be a lot worse -- for the most part my data is preserved and updates are handled in the proper manner. the software i have is old and buggy, but once installed works pretty well. in a way it's a marvel it works at all, let alone as well as it does. i'm not sure if i should be upset at all the shortcomings in the industry here, or thankful for what works -- we're talking 5 different platforms here.
hey, the rex is a pretty wicked pda -- i like it. why didn't it do better in the market, and why did intel purchase production rights - only bury it (and take out the competition). is there a patent on it, preventing other from making a similar device? (well, there is an oregon scientific device out now, rather similar in size). i think the fact it's still in demand, 5 years after being discontinued is a testimonial to it's appeal. size does matter.
another winning feature about the rex are the plug-ins. this is reminder to other companies - extending your hardware or software platform to the user domain is always a good thing, you gain way more market and mindshare, than you ever lose, in control.