› Forums › Geocaching in Wisconsin › Help › Going Paperless
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10/28/2004 at 1:31 am #1720162
Our first year, we bought the Legend and said that’s the only expense we’d make on this wonderful hobby/sport. The second year we bought the GarminMap76S instead of going to a bed and breakfast. This year as we embark on our third, we’re looking to go paperless. That means…a PDA. (cheap hobby)
We really know nothing about them except that they’re neat little calendar devices that can do many things. We know there are paperless geocachers out there. Can you give us some advice? Carole needs it to be in layman’s terms. We’re looking to possibly buy on ebay and use primarily on geocaching. Then, maybe we can graduate to something more.
What do you think? We appreciate your thoughts!
10/28/2004 at 2:02 am #1740214It sounds like you have the right idea- buy cheap and therefore don’t be afraid to use the thing!
I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I use a 5 year old Handspring Visor. It is basically the same thing as an early Palm Pilot. It uses a Palm OS and has 16 MB of RAM. It has a seperate cradle which hooks to the USB port on my PC for uploading data. I have never used all the memory, and I usually have 800-900 cache pages installed. It was about $150 new. I also use it to store my phone & e-mail address book, and scribble notes at caches.
There are so many options out there now- Windows OS, color screen, mega memory, etc. I can’t see having all that for my abusive purposes.
10/28/2004 at 4:29 am #174021510/29/2004 at 4:34 am #1740216quote:
Originally posted by kbraband:
http://www.geocacher-u.com/resources/paperless.html
That’s very handy! I think I’m going to have to pull out my Palm and give this a try!
Bec
10/29/2004 at 2:01 pm #1740217Thanks for the site. That should get up and running when we have a PDA in hand.
Until then, are there system requirements we’re looking for? Is there a memory amount? Are there models that we should avoid? We know that certain pieces of technology are just not as good.
10/30/2004 at 2:57 am #1740218I personally use a Palm IIIx. Got it used from a guy at work.
Advantages:
Cheap (mine was free)
Compatable (Much software written for the Palm O.S.)
Alkaline Batteries (Replaceable in the field)
Very Very Very Long battery life (more than 2 months typically).
Adequate amount of memory (4 MB, I think?) I have gotten 700 caches in there and still had room left over.
Address book / phone list (more handy than you’d think)
Calendar / alarm (also more handy than you’d think)
Relatively sturdy.Disadvantages:
Somewhat slow.
Downloading data (offically called hot-sync) to it takes considerable time when large cache files are being moved.
Monochrome screen
People laugh at you when they see you with such a dinosour.10/30/2004 at 1:53 pm #1740219Thank you, that’s helpful.
We’re seeing the Palm Pilot IIIxe for a good price, but it doesn’t seem to list our operating system (Windows XP). Would we have a problem?
10/30/2004 at 2:08 pm #1740220quote:
Originally posted by What’s Next?:
Thank you, that’s helpful.We’re seeing the Palm Pilot IIIxe for a good price, but it doesn’t seem to list our operating system (Windows XP). Would we have a problem?
It won’t be a problem for paperless geocaching if you follow the procedure listed in the link that I provided above. I use a Palm IIIxe and have Windows XP as the operating system on my computer. You could also use the GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) program with the Palm and Windows XP. Although I haven’t taken this step, I understand it’s a great program.
10/30/2004 at 2:34 pm #1740221quote:
Originally posted by What’s Next?:
Thank you, that’s helpful.We’re seeing the Palm Pilot IIIxe for a good price, but it doesn’t seem to list our operating system (Windows XP). Would we have a problem?
I also use a Palm IIIxe. Got it on eBay for about $25. It has plenty of memory to store cache pages as well as lots of games, hee hee. My computer runs on Windows XP, and I use Cachemate to convert and store the cache pages in my Palm. It cost me $10 to download, but I love it. I’ve also heard many others speak fondly of GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife), but I haven’t tried it myself.
~Mama Fishcacher, who was originally nervous to go paperless, but loves it now!!!
10/30/2004 at 3:12 pm #1740222Has anyone used GSAK to download to the Palm? I’d be interested in finding out how that’s done.
I got everything set up for my Palm (it’s a VIIx) and ran the pocket query. It spun the query into GSAK, I think (it had the GSAK icon on it) and when I put it into the plucker and hot synced to the Palm, I only got 4 caches. Did I do something wrong there?
Again, not usually one to read directions or anything….
Bec
10/30/2004 at 5:10 pm #1740223We use spiner with plucker program for our Palm Pilot PDA. Works out. I started out using the directions from the Geocaching-U website from above and works well, as long as you go step by step on directions.
I am also looking for input if there is a better or easier way to do this if anyone else has input.
“Be safe and Keep on Searchin”10/30/2004 at 6:13 pm #1740224Drag and drop your pq onto the GSAK icon on your desktop to load the PQ into GSAK.
In GSAK, in the file menu, select Export to html files. Make sure you put the folder being created somewhere that you can find it later.
In Plucker, make sure that your “starting page” address points to the “index.htm” file that GSAK created in the cache folder you just exported.
In this case, GSAK simply replaces spinner. Plucker is still needed to get the file into your PDA.
Hard to explain without all the pretty pictures… Follow the instructions on the web page….after you do it a few times it only takes a couple of minutes.
The advantage of Spinner & Plucker over Cachemate is that the output files can be modified to suit your personal preference and it is also much faster.
[This message has been edited by Cathunter (edited 10-30-2004).]
10/30/2004 at 6:54 pm #1740225I’ve gotten to the point now with GSAK that all I have to do is put the PQ on my desktop and make one click to automate the exports to HTML(for the palm), CSV(Streets & Trips), Upload to GPS, etc…
One Click!!
Then just do a quick HotSync and shazamm!!
We’re off!!
Takes about 2 minutes..
Definately worth learning to use GSAK.
10/30/2004 at 9:02 pm #1740226Hee hee! Yay! Successfully have 49 cache pages on my Palm!
Bec
10/31/2004 at 3:14 am #1740227I do believe a monster has been created here (how appropriate for Halloween!) I should be studying for my midterm and writing a paper, but I’m playing around with pocket queries and sending all sorts of cache pages to my Palm. Much more fun!!!!
Bec
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