What do I need to get and do?

[karishbhr]

I recently got a Dell Axim. But as of right now it seems pretty incomplete, in all honesty I dont really know what I should be doing with it (mainly because the things I mainly wanna do with it need extra purchases). Let me explain to you what I wanna do and it would help me alot if you could explain to me what I need in order to do it (hardware, software, both, exc.)... so here we go:

-Use it as a semi-laptop for school (Writing papers, keeping grades, schedules, homework, exc.)

-Watch movies on it

-Play games on it

-Emulate older systems on it (mainly Genesis, SNES, Nintendo)

-Listen to music on it

-Customize it to make it my "own"

-Maximize it's performance for the afformentioned

-Let it be a main part of my everyday life

*I have a Dell Axim X5 Basic with MS Pocket 2003 and rom A05, as of right now the only "accessory" I have is a 16 mb compact flash card. I know some of these questions have been scattered throughout my previous posts, but I wanted to centralize them in order to help me the best way possible. THE MORE FREEWARE THE BETTER

[Thinkingmandavid]

Howdy, in actuality I think you have answered your own question. YOu werent sure what to be doing with it, but yet you said what you want to be doing with it. If you want it to be a part of your everyday life, then do that by making it your schedular, addresses for your friends. a reminder to get you up for something, down load music on it. To make it your own is a matter of how you set it up, and what you use it for. There is free software for it so look for it on the net. Maybe you should first list what are you top three priorities with it and then take it from there. After you have finished with that part of it then move to the next three and so on.

[karishbhr]

IMO the most important thing I could use it for is school (im in there half the day, plus hw)... whats the best (and cheapest) keyboard, best student software. Please answer these q's along with the others : )

[JustinGTP]

Thats the problem with my ipaq, all the keyboards are really expensive. I would recommend a refurbished one, no one knows and it performs the same and it is deathly cheaper. I like to take notes on mine in school and then look at the internet wirelessly when I get home via bluetooth :D

Transriber is excellent for me, and you can sync outlook and everything. Also, you go onto the internet and download games straight onto your pc, or you hit Windows + E and then move music to your axim.

-Justin.

[karishbhr]

Thats the problem with my ipaq, all the keyboards are really expensive. I would recommend a refurbished one, no one knows and it performs the same and it is deathly cheaper. I like to take notes on mine in school and then look at the internet wirelessly when I get home via bluetooth :D

Transriber is excellent for me, and you can sync outlook and everything. Also, you go onto the internet and download games straight onto your pc, or you hit Windows + E and then move music to your axim.

-Justin.

The dell outlet doesnt sell refurbished accessories (at least I dont think they do), where can I get a refurbished Keyboard for the AXIM (universal or specific)

[JustinGTP]

hmm....well since I am an Ipaq user I am afraid I am of no help to you in regards of Dell but I have heard that Pocket top, Belkin, and targus produce nice accesssries for the keyboard aspect (IR keyboards and such)

-Justin

[ctmagnus]

Also, you go onto the internet and... hit Windows + E and then move music to your axim.

-Justin.

Isn't that kinda slow? I'd recommend getting a good card reader for this purpose.

[JustinGTP]

It is, I use bluetooth file transfer, but Im waiting for a USB 2.0 Card reader right now....


-Justin.

[JustinGTP]

And anyways, he will get the same file doing it the slow way or the fast way, the slow way you dont have to spend more money. The only thing is speed and if you transfer files when you are out then you wont notice it!

-Justin :D :D :D

[PetiteFlower]

The Axim has a known issue though with transferring large files to an SD card through the Axim, so it's much better to spend the extra money on a card reader, if you have an Axim. It's only $20.

You may be able to find a keyboard on ebay for it; I think the Dell keyboard is your best choice right now though. There are occasionally good specials on the Pocketop IR keyboard but you'd have to deal with the IR connection which can be kind of a pain, and the number of keys on it has been condensed to 3 rows which I personally wouldn't like.

There was a review a couple of days ago about a program called The Dog Ate It.....scroll down to the bottom section of the forum index and look in the SOFTWARE forum(not the same as the Software forum).

But of the things you want to do with it, some you can do and some you can't. I wouldn't try to write a paper on it. But you CAN very much keep your grades and schedules on it, that's exactly the kind of thing it was designed for! Watching movies and playing games can both be accomplished with little or no expenditure, you will need a bigger memory card for the movies though. Check the Multimedia forum for more info about encoding movies for play on PPC. There is a great Nintendo emulator called Pocket Nester at www.jetech.org.....but currently more complex systems can not be playably emulated on PPC.

As for making it a part of your everyday life....that's easy. Just take it with you everywhere. You'll use it, trust me!

[karishbhr]

When I said type papers, I meant that seperatley, like what keyboards should I get and whats the best word processor

[PetiteFlower]

Well I talked about keyboards, if you want something more robust then Pocket Word, I'm told Textmaker is a very good product.