Windows Mobile/PocketPC

[wibbble]

I'm going to go and pick-up (or at least order) a Windows Mobile phone this week. I've not used Windows Mobile/PocketPC before, so I've been searching around for what software's available and suchlike. I've been using a Sony-Ericsson P910i until now, and I've previously used PalmOS PDAs years ago - oh, and my day job is tech support for a major

Comments

[pope_guilty]

I used to run Pocket NES and use Tetris as an aid for trancing out.

Though really this isn't so much PDA specific as much as it is making what I did at home mobile.

[wibbble]

Interesting idea: although I'd probably use my DS Lite + a flashcard + NES DS for that.

[lyssabard]

Ok, so I am not the only one who finds simply pattern recognition games the best tools for meditating.

Lys - JT's Blocks addict. :)

[lyssabard]

er s/simply/simple ;)

[vaxjedi]

Well, I've used a cell phone instead of a dagger in ritual (cell phone is the technopagan weapon of the element 'communication' which I see as the urban extension of air).

Other ideas are to use it as a PDA of Shadows. Put rituals on it, jot down notes, etc.

Doodle programs are good for drawing sigils and symbols as needed.

If there is a Flash player for your PDA, you can learn Flash and do all sorts of things (though that does require Flash Pro, which is $$).

Divination - tarot programs, rune programs, I-Ching casters, etc. If yer gonna roll yer own, you can make it yourself - like crafting your own magickal tool.

Name your PDA. No, really. Make it into a sort of cyber-familiar. Come up with a sigil that means it's name, or write its name on it in Enochian or something. This works especially well with the divination and PDA of Shadows concepts.

[wibbble]

I do need to actually check if it has Flash player (or possibly Flash Lite) - although for that purpose I could just grab one of the handsets from work, most of which have Flash Lite. (I actually have 'Badger Badger Badger' as the wallpaper on the external screen of my current borrowed handset.)

As for naming: that gets done as a matter of course. Any device on the network needs a name, as does anything using bluetooth, so everything gets named anyway. This isn't really a technopagan thing: everyone in the office names their devices so they can be used over BT, and they're pretty much a non-geeky lot.

[vaxjedi]

*shrug* I didn't know if you were necessarily going to use it on a network or not - my workplace won't let personal PDAs on the company wireless yet, for example. The point of the name is to consciously invest identity in it. You may already do this, of course. ;) But things like sigilization of the device or even inscribing the name on the device simply adds to the effect. It's always nice to have a magical co-processor ;)

[wibbble]

Well, the device has WiFi, and while I wouldn't be able to use that at work (we do have an access point, but we can't connect our own devices to it) I do have wifi at home. (I'm typing this from a laptop on the sofa.)

I've been quite deliberately naming devices for a long time. :o)

[sorceress_jade]

You can get a moon phase display for your today screen. That's about as much magic as I use my Ipaq for I think.

But as for other useful programs. Magic Button. I couldn't live without it.

[wibbble]

I used to use a moon phase display on my Palm, but it's not really something important to me now.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[heldc]

As above, Magic Button is the WIN. From the POV of using a windows mobile PDA with non-windows OSes? Unless you're running a Mac, (cos there's activesync for mac) installing program will be a problem. I run linux at home, various flavors, and only use a windows box at work, and from linux, it is, as far as I've been able to tell, impossible to install programs distributed in exe, unless the exe is a self extracting archive. So I have to search out cabs to install progams, or install them from work. I actually broke down and found the windows install disc for my laptop and set my laptop up to dual boot just so I'd have access to a windows computer with activesync so I could install programs I couldn't get in cab form without having to wait until I was next at work.
I've got nothing to contribute from the pagan side of things, just thought I'd share that bit of the techy side of things. And, with the above inconvenience mentioned, I still prefer my axim x50v to a comparably specced palm I borrowed from a friend.

[heldc]

Oh, also, the tech toys forum at dslreports.com has lots of good suggestions for software, and if you search, there's even posts of 'what is the must have software for X PDA?' DSLR requires registration, but it's free, and an awesome techy resource.

[wibbble]

Actually, I am on Mac OS X. (I save Linux for servers.) And while there's no ActiveSync, there are third-party tools that integrate it into iSync (although only Missing Sync works with WM5). Even with those, AFAIK, exe installers are going to be a problem. Thankfully, I can abuse the work laptops the few times I'll need those - most things I've seen have cab files.

I'm actually going to be getting a T-Mobile MDA Vario II - a network branded version of the HTC TyTN. Should be interesting, especially since I'll be going from a £4/meg data connection to one that includes 3GB of transfer per month as part of the contract...

[heldc]

oooo, I JUST got a MDA. It's awesome. I love it more than I have words for. A site I've found VERY useful is www.surrealnetworks.com/mpx/ They've got a bunch of software in cab form, including magic button, and some common and useful reg hacks.

[ziggysinamerica]

How does one go about having a prayer wheel on a PDA? I've never had one so I don't really know how they work.

[wibbble]

It actually runs on my server, although I've run it on my Mac OS X laptop and desktop too:

http://urbanpaganism.info/PrayerWheel

(Ignore all the spam in the comments, I just noticed it...)