FIGURE E


Converting most existing PDF files for your handheld is an inexact science. Roll over picture for a larger image.

There is a good chance the PDF on your handheld won't exactly match the original. However, in my experience, the results you get are good enough to work with, and it sure beats carrying printed documents around or going without the documents altogether.

HanDBase
HanDBase, from DDH Software (at http://www.ddhsoftware.com/handbase.html), is a powerful Palm OS database manager. There is a trial version available. The Office Suite includes the standard version of HanDBase, along with more than two-dozen databases. Among the included databases, you'll find:

• Airline phone numbers;
• A password manager;
• A table for figuring out how much to tip;
• A way to track URLs you want to be able to find again.

In addition, over 1000 free databases are available at the DDH Software Web site (at http://www.ddhsoftware.com/gallery.html).

When you start HanDBase, it displays the screen shown in Figure F, which lists the databases on your handheld, along with five modes you can work in.

FIGURE F

Use HanDBase to work with any Palm database.

The modes are:

• Info mode, which gives basic information about a database;

• Beam mode, which beams a database to another device;

• Properties mode, which lists information like the names of the fields in a database;

• Delete mode, which deletes the database you select;

• Open mode, which opens a database so you can work with it.

You can work with the databases on your device, and any changes you make are automatically transferred to the HanDBase Desktop application the next time you perform a HotSync operation. Likewise, changes you make in HanDBase Desktop get transferred to your handheld during the next HotSync operation.

Note that I said changes get transferred, not synchronized. If you make changes on both your handheld and your desktop, the desktop database overwrites the one on the handheld. If you want to be able to make changes in both places without worrying about losing your handheld database, consider upgrading to HanDBase Plus, which includes a two-way synchronization conduit.

Once you open a database, HanDBase provides all the capabilities you would expect, including the abilities to add new records, search the database, filter the records to be displayed, and sort the records.

HanDBase does everything I could ask of it.

powerOne Personal
I have mixed feelings about the powerOne Personal calculator from Infinity Softworks (at http://www.infinitysw.com). It's not that there's anything wrong with this replacement calculator. It supports color and does everything a basic calculator should do, and it includes a set of math and business functions. Figure G shows the powerOne Personal calculator.

FIGURE G

powerOne Personal adds math and business functions to a basic calculator.

My concern about powerOne Personal is that it's actually far less powerful than the calculator that comes standard on Handspring Visors. If you're a Visor user and you compare it to the included calculator into Advanced mode, you'll see what I mean.