Adamson@aol.com wrote:
> Laurent,
>
> Glad we agree.
>
> Yes, I talked about synching. Before you can sync, you must connect. The
> devices must "talk" to each other. It is not that I cannot get them to talk
> to each other, it is that I am not able to get them to talk with regularity.
> Or without a workaround. It always seems to happen when I am in a hurry and
> just need to download one more thing, or I am leaving the office and need to
> back up before going home for dinner or on a trip. I have eaten more cold
> meals as a result of being unable to connect the devices than an Eskimo in
> winter! Synching is a whole different issue. I don't use the devices (both
> Visor and Newton) even a fraction of their potential because of connection
> and sync problems. I have heard someone say that they never spent as much
> time managing their time as when they tried to commit to either a PDA or a
> computer. This has been part of my frustration. Intellectually, I
> understand the value of keeping my information at my fingertips.
> Practically, I have spent more time at attempting to do this than I will
> probably save in a lifetime. OK, that is somewhat of an exaggeration but not
> much. I'd be willing to bet I'm far from being alone in this belief.
Yes, I know what you means. The communication stuff breaks very easily. I guess
that with NCU that is getting older and older, it's becoming harder to keep
current and synch to the current versions of the various PIMs and address
groupwares available. There are a few recommendations that can help streamline
the whole process, specifically to backup. You probably know this, but thought it
would be worth mentioning again. The first thing to make a seamless backup, when
using a Macintosh, is to make sure that NCU has a memory allocation set for 4-8
MB over the largest store (internal memory or flash ram card) to be backed up.
So, if you have a 16MB card that you will backup, NCU should have its memory
allocation set to 20MB minimum. Then, make sure that you're performing a *full*
backup everytime you back up. Don't try an incremental backup, as many people
reported that they had problem when trying to restore from an incremental backup.
To make sure that you're doing a full backup, before launching NCU, go the to
folder where NCU resides. If you haven't changed the default, there should be a
"Backup" folder there, right in the same folder than NCU. Open that "Backup"
folder. If you already performed a backup, there should be one file for every
store that was present in your MP when you did this backup. So, if you had 2
flash ram cards that were backup, you should find 3 files there: one having the
MP owner's name, and the others having the name you gave to the cards. What I did
was to create a new folder in the "Backup" folder and renamed it "Previous
Backups". I then dragged all the files that were in the "Backup" folder right
into the "Previous Backups" folder. I then proceeded to open NCU and when I did
initiate the backup, since NCU couldn't find any file directly in the "Backup"
directory, it created a new set of files and did a full backup.
If you're performing a full backup and you still have problem, there might be
some soups on your MP that have corrupted entries. You can easily find if this is
the case by carefully monitoring the backup and take note of what information was
backed up when the error occured. You should then open the application that uses
the soup where the error happened, and browse every single entry to see if they
are all fine. Alternatively, you can use the "Doctor" module from SBM Utilities
to check the soups integrity. The most prone to errors application I found so far
is the notepad, specially the recording notes. I had maybe 3 instances of
corrupted entries at all since I have my MP and started backing it up, and of the
3, 2 were recording notes.
Like I said, synching is very touchy. There are a lot of decision that must be
taken behind the scene to deal with the various issues of synchronizing the same
piece of information of 2 separate devices, where the information has been
modified on both devices and are no longer exactly the same.
But, I believe that a good synching application could still be written. Like I
said in another message posted to the list, if we could have, as a start, access
to the source of the various modules that are supposed to synch with some desktop
softwares, that would be great, but I don't see this happening anytime soon; in
any case, I won't hold my breath.
>
>
> In fact, I have formed a startup business that, if it ever gets off of the
> ground, addresses this problem. The concept is simple. How do you learn
> technology? Most of us stayed up till the wee hours using trial and error.
> Think of how trial and error is a necessary part of the learning pattern as
> we now know it. How many times have you seen on this list people in dismay
> because they had a technical glitch and lost data without a recent back-up?
> Why? If you don't know what something can do, how do you know what you want
> it to do? What is the first question a salesperson asks a potential new
> computer buyer? It has been my experience that the question is: "What do
> you want to do with the computer?" Answer, "ahh, I don't know." The first
> time I asked IBM what a mini-mainframe would do for me, they said, "Whatever
> you want."
I spent countless hours of trials and errors, so I perfectly know what you mean!
>
[...]
>
>
> The point of my prior rant (as opposed to this one), is until and unless
> hardware, software, Internet, and technology in general, developers focus on
> the user, the star may burn bright now, but it will burn out just as fast. A
> firework display instead of a star. The point of this rant is that the basic
> infrastructure must become absolutely rock solid before growth can be
> sustained. Perhaps you are familiar with Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of
> needs? The bottom of the pyramid is foundation, the top is aesthetics.
> Using the hierarchy, for humans, you must first be secure in your fundamental
> needs of shelter, food, water, sex, health, or self-preservation before you
> can truly appreciate Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." In computing, there are
> many fundamentals that must be mastered before one can videoconference with
> family and friends. I hope this analogy makes it clearer. It does to me,
> just by writing it. Sometimes the frustrations get in the way and cloud my
> ability to understand and express what I'm feeling and trying to say.
I understand. Your startup idea looks interesting...
>
>
> Laurent, I must apologize for the length and breadth of my response to your
> two line question. Must have something to do with the millennium, or not.
>
> Regards,
> Bob Adamson
Bob, no need to apologize. I always enjoy sharing point of views on technology.
We still have a long way to go before technology is really overcomed.
-Laurent.
=====================================================================
Laurent Daudelin
Developer, Object Factory, Substrate Fannie Mae
Phone: 703-833-4266 mailto:Laurent_Daudelin@fanniemae.com
Fax: 703-833-7555 Usual disclaimers apply
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