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       Stardate: 20220707.1001 
       Location: The Lab
       Input Device: Palm Treo 680
       Software: DataViz Word To Go v8.002
       Audio: Work conference call
       Visual: My work laptop taken hostage by the vendor.
       Emotional: bleh.  
       
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       Banging this one out on the Treo 680 keyboard.  Default font is hard
       to read.  OK, I enbiggen.  
       
       It has been awhile since I thumb-typed on the 680.  The keys are 
       smaller than my current thumb-typing phone (Unihertz Titan) and it is 
       taking some getting use to.
       
       My preference is a hardware keyboard.  I'm not a fan of typing on a 
       screen.  For me, it feels sloppy.  Pushing buttons feel more precise 
       and the screen doesn't get smudged with my fingerprints.  Using a 
       stylus is ok when the screens are resistive, but I have not tried 
       recent devices that use a stylus.  Maybe the tech is better now and 
       more precise.
       
       The Treo 680 was my daily driver for a couple years when it came out.  
       Before then, I used a second-hand 650.  I usually carried an auxiliary 
       device, whiich was usually a PDA.  I think that was also when I also 
       had a separate work phone that I carried as well.  I stilll usually 
       carry multiple devices these days.
       
       The screen is so small on the 680 in comparison to the Titan.  My 
       typing is mostly done with my thumb nails.  It would be hard to go back 
       to the 680 as my daily driver if I were able to.  The 2.5G radio would 
       not be able to connect to today's cell towers.  At least the device 
       could still run legacy offline applications, which was most of what was 
       developed for this platform.  
       
       With the way today's mobile apps are developed, I'm not sure if I'd be 
       able to run them after the device is discontinued, like this one.  I 
       have already experienced this to some degree and is probably why I am 
       not too fond of today's apps.  I guess that is part of the planned 
       obsolescence of things.  I think we need more options for aging 
       devices.
       
       After I'm done here, I'll beam this over to the AlphaSmart 
       dana.wireless since both have IrDA.  Then I'll open AlphaWord on the 
       dana and have it auto-type out the phost to the gopher hole via the 
       Raspberry Pi 2 that it is attached to via USB.  It's a kludgey way to 
       phost, but it is also part of the fun for me.
       
       UPDATE (from AlphaSmart dana.wireless):  That didn't go over so well.  
       It looks like the IrDA sensor on the Treo 680 is b0rq'd.  Ended up 
       transferring the file from the Treo 680 to the pa1mOne Tungsten E2 via 
       bluetooth and then beaming the file from the E2 to the data.wireless.
       
       UPDATE 2 (from Gemini PDA): Auto-typed the text from the dana to Gemini 
       PDA instead of the pi and will just upload the file to the gopher 
       hole.  Feels like a some kind of Rube Goldberg workflow.
       
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