PDA / Handheld Computer Page
Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

1. How are these pages organized?
2. How often are updates made?
   1. To the big table?
   2. To the comments?
   3. To the top five lists?
   4. To this FAQ?
3. Can my browser view the big table?
   1. I'm using Netscape
   2. I'm using MSIE
   3. I'm using Lynx
   4. I'm using HotJava
   5. I'm using Cyberdog
   6. I'm using Mosaic
   7. I'm using Amaya
   8. I'm using Opera
   9. I'm using Arena
   10. I'm using Chimera
   11. I'm using Voyager
   12. I'm using IBrowse
   13. I'm using NetHopper
   14. I'm using something else
4. How can I print the big table?
   1. Using Cyberdog
   2. Using something else
5. How can the big table be exported?
   1. To application X running on Y?
   2. To a simple textual format?
   3. Why can't you put the big table in application X format?
6. Why don't you include product X in the table?
7. Do you use a PC or a Mac?
8. Do you get paid for this?
9. Do you get any manufacturer support?
10. Do you accept bribes?
11. What's your ideal PDA?
12. Which PDA should I buy?
13. What about sub-notebooks like the eMate, GeoBook, or AlphaSmart 2000?
14. Which PDA did I see in movie X?
15. What's a SID? or What's a sidtune? or What's an x-psid?

Questions and Answers

1. How are these pages organized?

   This one should hopefully be pretty obvious. What was once a single flat HTML file has now been broken up into five pieces, and an additional new one (this FAQ) added.

   Basically, there is now a top level and a FAQ, and the big table, comments, top 5 lists, and related links list have each been placed onto their own page.

2. How often are updates made?

   Note: updates are no longer being made to this site; it should only be treated as current through February 2000 or so. No further updates are planned; see above. Thus the following answer is no longer true:
   On the whole everything should always be more or less up-to-date (certainly within a couple of months). It's been running for well over a year now and keeps a fairly regular schedule, and the last modified dates are posted for everything. Still, the actual update rates vary from page to page, so the quick rundown follows:

   1. To the big table?

      This is the most frequently changed. Minor updates typically occur weekly; major updates every couple of months or so (or as needed).

   2. To the comments?

      Minor updates are made every couple of weeks. Major updates every few months or so.

   3. To the top five lists?

      Fairly infrequently; usually only after major updates to the big table, but with a lag time of a few weeks.

   4. To this FAQ?

      As needed; initially minor updates will be happening all the time, but it should settle down fairly quickly.

3. Can my browser view the big table?

   Different browsers have different difficulties with viewing the table. They are considered individually below:

   1. I'm using Netscape

      Netscape versions 3.0 and later should be able to view the table properly without too much trouble. The table (as the name implies) is big though, as are both Netscape and Windows '95. Some people have had trouble displaying the table using Netscape on Windows '95 machines with limited memory. The problem has not been reported for Netscape on other platforms. The solution for this problem seems to be either to get more memory, run a more lightweight OS, or run a more lightweight browser. If you encounter this problem and do not feel like shelling out money for more memory, I would recommend trying out Linux. It is essentially free, will run on PCs with limited memory, and there is a downloadable current version of Netscape for it.

   2. I'm using MSIE

      Any MSIE version that mimics a version of Netscape later than 3.0 should be able to view the table properly without too much trouble. The table (as the name implies) is big though, as are both MSIE and Windows '95. Some people have had trouble displaying the table using MSIE on Windows '95 machines with limited memory. The problem has not been reported for MSIE on other platforms. The solution for this problem seems to be either to get more memory, run a more lightweight OS, or run a more lightweight browser. It also has one known quirk that the table had to be slightly modified to avoid: it does not properly display transparent X-Bitmaps. All that the table originally used were converted to GIFs to get around this problem.

   3. I'm using Lynx

      Lynx versions 2.7.1 and later will navigate through all of these pages without too much trouble, but will not do a good job of displaying the Big Table on screen since Lynx doesn't line up rows and columns properly. It does insert separations, though, so downloading the table with Lynx for offline viewing / processing may be a good option for some.

   4. I'm using HotJava

      HotJava (versions 1.1 and later) will process the table more slowly than Netscape, but produces better quality images and should be able to view the whole thing overall without too many problems. It has at least one known quirk, though. Although it handles table color, it does not handle font color well and the subtitles on all of the PDA Comparison pages will end up being invisible. All of the information in the table should be properly displayed, though. Note though that the table (as the name implies) is big, as are both HotJava and Windows '95. Some people have had trouble displaying the table using HotJava on Windows '95 machines with limited memory. The problem has not been reported for HotJava on other platforms. The solution for this problem seems to be either to get more memory, run a more lightweight OS, or run a more lightweight browser.

   5. I'm using Cyberdog

      Cyberdog version 2.0 has an odd behavior that makes it less than ideal for viewing the Big Table on ordinary monitors (but works out alright when it comes to printing). It forces the entire width of the table to fit on the current display, even (as needed) resizing the images down to tiny little thumbnails and forcing the alignment of most of the words to be vertical in the process. This might be fine if you have one of those new HDTV monitors, but can be really annoying otherwise. Aside from this problem, Cyberdog reads and displays the table properly.

   6. I'm using Mosaic

      There are many different versions of Mosaic all with different behaviors, but generally Mosaic seems to have trouble with tables. In particular, some versions of Mosaic will completely ignore pictures contained within tables. Mosaic also fails to recognize quite a few HTML tags in the recent standards. All in all, use of Mosaic is not recommended for viewing the Big Table, although your mileage may vary. If you have some success stories with a particular version of Mosaic and care to share your experiences with the world, send me e-mail and I'll post your thoughts here with appropriate credit.

   7. I'm using Amaya

      Amaya version 1.2 will process the table more slowly than Netscape, but produces better quality images. It processes table colors a bit strangely, but does a good job at most other things. It does however have one fatal flaw that makes it a bad choice for viewing the table -- it will not allow sideways scrolling. Its "Alternate View" option might be useful to some, though. In this mode, it displays the table textually with no frills but still manages to get the rows and columns to all line up properly. Later versions will probably work better. Though it doesn't particularly help with these pages, it should probably be mentioned that Amaya (like Arena) can actually handle math in web pages.

   8. I'm using Opera

      As far as I know, Opera has no problems viewing the Big Table. I don't actually have access of a copy of Opera to test it with, though, and it hasn't yet even been ported to any of my computers so it's not even an option. If you've used Opera to view the table and care to share your experiences with the world, send me e-mail and I'll post your thoughts here with appropriate credit.

      Matthiew Takeda writes:

      I'm using Opera 3.21 to view the big table. It loads in just fine and is easy to scroll around in.

   9. I'm using Arena

      Arena is an interesting browser with a few interesting capabilities that most other browsers lack, chief among them being the ability to zoom in and out. It's fairly quick and produces good quality images, but often does odd things to tables. Though it doesn't particularly help with these pages, it should probably be mentioned that Arena (like Amaya) can actually handle math in web pages. More soon to be added...

   10. I'm using Chimera

       Chimera does not acknowledge background color settings or table color settings, but otherwise has no trouble viewing the table properly. It should also be mentioned that it is quite a bit faster than Netscape.

   11. I'm using Voyager

       As far as I know, Voyager has no problems viewing the Big Table. I don't actually have access of a copy of Voyager to test it with, though, and it doesn't run on any of my hardware so it's not even an option. If you've used Voyager to view the table and care to share your experiences with the world, send me e-mail and I'll post your thoughts here with appropriate credit.

   12. I'm using IBrowse

       As far as I know, IBrowse has no problems viewing the Big Table. I don't actually have access of a copy of IBrowse to test it with, though, and it doesn't run on any of my hardware, so it's not even an option. If you've used IBrowse to view the table and care to share your experiences with the world, send me e-mail and I'll post your thoughts here with appropriate credit.

   13. I'm using NetHopper

       NetHopper has one key flaw that makes it a poor choice for viewing the Big Table: it cannot view tables at all. It will properly load all the images and information, but the resulting display will be chaos. One other annoyance of NetHopper is that it is completely incapable of displaying X-Bitmaps. This no longer matters for these pages, as all X-Bitmaps here have been deliberately converted to GIFs to avoid the problem.

   14. I'm using something else

       If you're using another browser to view the table and care to share your experiences with the world, send me e-mail and I'll post your thoughts here with appropriate credit.

4. How can I print the big table?

   The majority of people don't find it necessary to print the big table, but if you're one of the minority who do, you might be facing some problems. Different browsers have different difficulties with printing the table. They are considered individually below:

   1. Using Cyberdog

      This one is actually known to be able to print the table without too much difficulty. Ensure you're printing in landscape mode and let it rip. Cyberdog has the interesting behavior of resizing columns and forcing them to fit on the target paper. The resulting print-out is fairly ugly and only just barely useable on standard U.S. letter paper, but isn't too bad on standard U.S. legal (or larger) paper.

   2. Using something else

      Other browsers are often quite incapable of directly printing the entire table. This is actually a bug in the implementation of the browsers, but because there is so little material on the Web that tests them this way it probably will not be fixed anytime soon. One common approach (if you're using one of these less other browsers) is to download the source HTML file and manually remove some columns before printing. It's also possible to split the file into several pieces and print each one individually; note that most browsers are capable of dealing with the number of rows in the big table -- the common place to choke is on the number of columns.

      If you have a particular success story for a particular browser / OS / hardware setup, send me e-mail telling your tale and I'll post your solution here with appropriate credit.

      Printing Stories

      Jay Stewart of Tangible Business Solutions writes:

      I run Netscape on a Wintel Box and wanted to print the Big Table. I had pretty good luck downloading the table in HTML format and then importing the table into an Excel spreadsheet. With some reasonable amount of cleanup, cell combining, etc. I got something that prints up well. This seems like a much better approach than trying to print the table directly with a browser...

      Matthiew Takeda writes:

      Opera allows you to set the scale when printing. At 20%, I can fit the whole thing on a page, but I'd need a magnifying glass to read it. At 50%, it prints the leftmost 1/3 or so (through HP OmniGo 700L) on two pages, but the right 2/3 of the table is lost.

      If I really needed to print it for some reason, I suppose I would save the HTML file, run it through one of my HTML strippers, and load it into a word processor or a spreadsheet. On further reflection, the spreadsheet would probably be best, since I could print it out in pieces and paste them together to recreate to whole table with a minimum of manual reformatting.

      Peter Rymshaw writes:

      I saved the HTML file, then "Opened With..." Microsoft Excell. It viewed and printed as a spreadsheet.

      Only problem was that the pictures didn't print (and that I had to tape together 15 pieces of paper).

5. How can the big table be exported?

   People often want to export the big table into other formats or other programs, most commonly just to get more control in printing it out. I've been asked on numerous occasions to provide alternate formats. Two different answers are provided below:

   1. To application X running on Y?

      I probably have no idea as the likelihood of me having application X running on platform Y is fairly unlikely. The HTML form is the original format.

   2. To a simple textual format?

      This one I'm currently looking into; I might be able to provide a fairly easy solution here.

   3. Why can't you put the big table in application X format?

      The likelihood of me having application X is fairly low and I'm extremely unlikely to spend the time forcing the table into an alien proprietary format that I couldn't even test.

6. Why don't you include product X in the table?

   The table is primarily concerned with tracking the latest models within lines; thus sometimes discontinued units get preference over outdated units if they didn't produce a true successor. I do try to keep the width of the table somewhat limited; if it gets much larger, it won't even be able to be printed in landscape mode on U.S. legal paper!

   Also, newly announced models will not immediately make the chart; typically they will make it prior to their release.

   You know of a new, real unit that isn't on the chart? Feel free to let me know.

7. Do you use a PC or a Mac?

   Neither. My home machine is a SPARC workstation running Solaris. I have easy access to machines running SunOS and HP-UX, and occasional access to machines running SPARC Linux. Note that all of these machines are running some flavor of UNIX. I also have two good ol' Commodore 128 machines that run GEOS 2.0 (Fun fact: GEOS was available on various desktop systems prior to its move to the hand-held world).

   If you have some weird PC-specific problem (and many people do, I get these questions frequently) I probably won't be of much help.

   My parents own a Mac, but I don't get too much opportunity to play with it. I probably won't be of much help with Mac-specific problems either (though I have to admit none have asked me about any of these yet, in spite of the fact that they account for between 15% and 20% of the visitors to the site).

8. Do you get paid for this?

   No, not really. The topic interests me so I continue to keep this page up to date. The banner ads attempt to pay for the considerable bandwidth this site eats up.

9. Do you get any manufacturer support?

   No. I rely on the manufacturer's public specifications and whatever hands-on time I can get on the individual units. If you are a manufacturer and are interested in sending me a loaned demo unit, contact me and we'll talk. Be aware though that while loaning me a demo unit guarantees that its good features will be listed, it also guarantees that its quirks and problems will be listed.

   In terms of monetary support, this page gets by solely on the support of the banner advertisements. It is not expected to make money; it's just hoped that it will not lose money. Please occasionally click on one of the ads to help keep this page afloat.

10. Do you accept bribes?

    Of course not. Just make a better product, and remember that not everyone in the world is using a WinTel box or a Mac!

11. What's your ideal PDA?

    It doesn't yet exist, but for starters will combine all the best features of the Newton MP2100 and the Palm Pilot Pro, and include a few things here and there from the others.

    It wouldn't need color (I don't use PDAs for breaking concrete on the sidewalk, and I don't use PDAs for heavy graphics work or final layout) but I do need good battery life and processor performance. Direct printing is essential, as is infrared communications (and I currently have to deal with both IrDA and ASK flavors). E-mail is required, web browsing less so.

    I personally don't need synchronization abilities beyond data back-ups and text transfers; I realize that this feature is vital to many other users, though.

12. Which PDA should I buy?

    This is not an easy question to answer, because PDAs are one of the most personal of things and the best PDA for one person will be different from the best PDA for another. If you want to hear my opinions on the different models, read my comments and see if that helps.

13. What about sub-notebooks like the eMate, GeoBook, or AlphaSmart 2000?

    I have no plans to include these creatures at this time. They don't really interest me too much. It is true though that the distinction is getting blurred as some of the WinCE 2.0 machines are actually the same size (or even larger?) than the eMate, GeoBook, and AlphaSmart 2000.

14. Which PDA did I see in movie X?

    Strangely enough I occasionally get this sort of question. Usually I don't know (although if you want best guesses, it's usually a Newton of some sort if it's a slab device and a Nokia 9000 if it's a phone device). Perhaps I'll collect some listings here if anyone wants to send some.

15. What's a SID? or What's a sidtune? or What's an x-psid?

    For the fun of it I included some background song to the page about a year ago. It can be played with a SID player (or will automatically play with a SID player plug-in).

    SID files are compact, quick downloading files that were first released on the Commodore 8-bit line of computers but will now play on just about anything. Free players are available for various flavors of UNIX, Windows-NT, Windows '95, Windows 3.1, MacOS, Amiga, BeOS and more.

    The standard SID MIME type is "audio/x-sidtune" and the standard SID extension is ".sid". (audio/x-psid and .dat have been deprecated.)