A Lab employee recently contacted the Computing Infrastructure Support (CIS) Department with a question about buying a personal digital assistant, or PDA. The catch was, the employee’s manager wanted a guarantee that the PDA would work with the Lab’s calendar application, Oracle Calendar. And, the manager added, if the PDA didn’t work with the calendar, they wanted to be able to return the PDA if it wasn’t compatible.

“While we cannot guarantee any device a user wishes to purchase, we can offer our expert advice for recommending such a device,” said Calendar Master Curtis McDonald. “I would recommend the Palm M500 and M515 models first and foremost for anyone considering a Palm device.”

“Oracle currently supports all Palm devices OS3.3-OS4.1 for Windows 98-XP and Palm devices OS3.3-3.5x for Mac OS 7.1.2-9.x,” McDonald said. “The only devices not currently supported by the current synch conduit are those running the new Palm OS5 (Tungsten), but we expect support for the new OS in June or July of this year. Tungsten devices can use the older Steltor conduit for Windows until the updated software is released.”

Contact McDonald at calmaster@lbl.gov if you need additional information.

Read more about synching Palm devices to Oracle calendar.