Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Palm Centro, Bluetooth and Ubuntu.

OK, I received my new Centro and I just finished reviewing what applications to re-install and I make sure it doesn't reset any more, if you want to hear more about my review, you can check this post.

Now, I did all of this in Windows (it was just easier) and now I am trying to work again with Ubuntu, this time with a twist, I want to use bluetooth.

Now bluetooth is something that needs a little more work in Ubuntu, the basic functionality is there but making it work with my centro has not been easy, most people use the networking hotsync, I don't think it should be this difficult, it should be as easy as it is in Windows. My main roadblock right now is the virtual serial port, I am working on this based on some articles I found in the internet, I will update you when I figure it out how to sync my centro with Ubuntu via Bluetooth.

If you have any tips, please post it in the comments!.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

My centro died

I know I was supposed to post my impressions on how to sync my centro with Ubuntu but my centro decided to died while I was working on it, I received today so hopefully I can try again in a couple of days, I decided that I will sync mycentro with Ubuntu using bluetooth, so wish me luck!.

One note on the whole ordeal to get my centro to work again, I couldn't and I decided first to call sprint, sprint told me that my phone was dead, then I contact Palm and after a couple of minutes it was decided my phone was dead, I paid for advance exchange (25usd ) to make the process quick and I got it today! 5 days total, not bad and I need to say that even without all the bad rep from sprint and palm support, everyone was very nice and helpful, I hope this is a trend with this 2 companies.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Palm and Ubuntu

I've been using Ubuntu as my main desktop (at home) for the last 6 months and I need to say, I love it!, here are the reasons why I love it:

Easy to install (well almost easy to install).

For the most part the installation process is very straightforward, just get a CD, put it in your laptop/desktop cdrom drive, select install and click next until it is done! Now, there are occasions where your hardware may not be supported out of the box, if this happens, you have 2 options:

Walk away.

Try to fix the problem, don't even try this option if you don't consider yourself an advanced computer user.

If you just want to see if Ubuntu will work on your computer, try the live CD, if everything works, then go for it, if it doesn't, I'll recommend you to wait.

Tons of applications.

There are a lot of open source applications for Ubuntu, which are easy to install by using the Add/Remove application, just run the application, select what you want to install and you are ready to go!

Bring back to life old computers and low cost computers

I installed Ubuntu in an Acer 5315-2153 which is a very low spec laptop (vista crawled on it) but with Ubuntu is a snappy laptop with a lot of computer power. The only warning is that the wifi and sound are not supported out of the box and it took me at least 4 hours to make them work.

In my next post I'll write my experience connecting my Palm Centro with my Ubuntu Laptop.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Do you want to take your media with you? but it is too much? don't worry I have a solution

Actually I have 2 solutions for you:

ORB

Winamp Mobile.

Both solutions are easy to use and install, they required little work but they require a Windows computer which for 90% of the people out there should be ok, I am looking for similar solutions for Linux or Mac.

This solution is not exclusive for Palm OS, it works with pretty much any device that can stream media.

I used Winamp Mobile and it was the easiest to use, good luck and give me your opinions on the comments!