Notetaking in the 21st century

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Back in the day I never went anywhere without a 3x5 green “Memoranda” book and pen in my uniform pocket (NSN 7530-00-222-0078 by the way.)  In fact, I still have all my old ones collecting dust in a box in my closet somewhere, waiting for that day that I have nothing better to do than go through them all to decide what phone numbers to keep and which to burn.

Well, just recently, a couple of things happened, which caused me to rethink my little green notebook and upgrade to something different.  First, the ACUs came out, and as fortune would have it, the breast pockets are just large enough to accommodate the notebook if I stuff nothing in it, which is certainly not the case with mine (“pregnant” would probably be the best description I could give my current notebook) so squeezing that sucker in and out of that dinky pocket has rapidly become a chore.  Second, my wife came home one day sporting a shiny new Palm E2 PDA.  Now I’ve never been into organizers, day planners, or portable filing cabinets in general (this is probably due to the mental scaring I received while being pushed, kicking and screaming, through all those SGT Morales boards in Germany) but I had to admit, with the advent of micro processors and portable memory chips, a device like that E2 would certainly make my life easier.

So I am officially now a PDA convert.  I have no idea if the Palm E2 is the best out there or the cheapest (at $199.00 I can guarantee that it isn’t the cheapest, and it most definitely does not have all the bells and whistles) but it does everything I ask of it.  Roster information, classroom PPT presentations, photos, you name it, I can load it up on that thing.  The E2 has an internal lithium-ion battery that can be charged either through an AC wall unit or by plugging into your computer.  The memory chip is also removable, so you can swap them out with other chip using devices such as digital cameras or cell phones, or use a data cable to link the two devices and transfer data that way.

If only they came in green…

Get the Palm E2 here

Comments

[Nolan]

Just wait until you get a BlackBerry.

[Nico D.]

The only downside with pda's is that the batteries tends to not last very long... after a year the power will last only a very short time.The good thing is that with the memory stick (aka SD or Flash cards) you are able to backup your data's and system. But if you forget to do it on regular basis and run out of power you are basically screwed because the loss of power means loss of everything in the pda.
So in a conclusion i would say that i do agree with you on a point, it's a great tool but only in garison.On another note, there is new cellular phone that are out lately and does all those tricks , their advantage is that the battery last longer, and you can use them as a phone. I am thinking of the Nokia N95 serie for exemple.

[ssg brisco ret]

what unit were you in for the cat shoot ? i was in 4/8 cav the first us unit to win cat. we did it with m1ips.four mustangs,and bill the cat. m37escort@att.net

[Eric Daniel]

I was with D/1-37 AR out of Vilseck (1AD.) If memory serves we had a couple of 4/8 Cav. vets on the team as well. I’d have to dig the old “class Photo” up though to go over the names and faces. Congratulations on taking the trophy that year by the way. Unfortunately we never did get to shoot since the roster had to be submitted by 01JAN91 and we were in Saudi Arabia by then.

[Jon Acheson]

The Tungsten E2 has non-volatile memory, unlike previous Palm PDAs, so that if your battery runs out you won't lose your data. And there is a third party software package called Backup Buddy that will back up everything to an SD card for you, in case things really go south.

[Eric Daniel]

Jon,

Thanks for the info on the E2’s memory. If you have a source for that software, send it my way and I’ll throw it up on the site.

ED

[Jon Acheson]

Backup Buddy is made by Blue Nomad:

http://www.bluenomad.com/

[rj]

If you hunt around, you can find replacement batteries. install isnt a too hard. two solder points and about a 20minute take apart. The TX is harder since it slides apart, maybe an hour, but that battery has a plug. Definitely easier that a say a cellphone. There is a Titanium case as well. I know from first hand experience that it isn't water anything, so a ziplock is your friend if you take it in theater. The upside is that you can use it though the bag.