HP-100, 200, 300LX & others + Macintosh

[Matt Agajanian]

Hi all.

Has anyone ever had an HP Palmtop connected with a Mac? If so, how can I do this? I'd like to get a Palmtop but, if it can connect with a Mac, that'll be even better than using it standalone.

Edited: 13 July 2012, 2:14 a.m.

[Mike (Stgt)]

IMHO Kermit should do, not tested.

Ciao.....Mike

PS: I just looked at Kermits origin and found only C-Kermit for OS-9. On OS-X you may need some emulator. ;)

[Tony Duell]

Be careful... OS-9 might well refer to the Microware operating system of that name (orginally for the 6809, then for the 68000, but not, in general, on the Mac) rather than a particular version of MacOS

[Bill (Smithville, NJ)]

Matt,

There's really no reason to directly connect any of these to a desktop computer. They all can use Compact Flash Cards and with a reader, you can easily, and much faster, transfer files using the CF cards.

One note: The 100LX and 200LX are DOS machines while the 300LX (and higher) are Windows CE, which is a totally different animal. While I have used the WinCE units, I much perfer the 200LX. (but then I'm an old time DOS user).

Bill

[David Ramsey]

Quote:

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Matt,

There's really no reason to directly connect any of these to a desktop computer. They all can use Compact Flash Cards and with a reader, you can easily, and much faster, transfer files using the CF reader.

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I suppose that is technically correct, but good luck finding the PCMCIA to CF adapter you'd need for the HP machines...

Wait, never mind. They're widely available on eBay.

[Dave Britten]

If it's a Mac with a serial port, then it's probably too old for a compact flash reader. Just get an adapter for the palmtop's serial cable, and use ZTerm to transfer files.

If it's a newer Mac, a CF reader and smallish (256MB and under) card is the easiest (and fastest) option. Larger cards require a special driver, and can be quite slow while DOS scans the larger allocation map.

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

Did you know that the internal modem was connected via serial port, I think to at least the G5s? There were adapters available.

Somewhat cheaper might be a beige G3, which has external serial ports plus the possibility to add a USB card (needs to have a NEC chipset, or it won't work).

I attached a 95LX and 48GX to my beige G3 back then, had an USB card reader too - so it certainly is possibly, but would be called a hack today. Actually you have to make your own serial cable - or might be lucky enough to have a a mac RS422(?) cable, and adapter plus the HP serial cable at hand. I think I used Zterm as well back then.

[Dave Britten]

You know, I vaguely remember those serial port breakout adapters for the older G3/G4 towers. I think I might have considered getting one for mine at some point.

I also remember that USB support under OS 8 and OS 9 was pretty flaky, and not something I would want to subject myself to on a regular basis. :) I used to synchronize a Palm III with my iMac, courtesy of a Belkin USB/serial adapter. It was unpleasant, to say the least. It was always great fun to plug in a USB device and have the system completely freeze.

[Matt Agajanian]

As a Palm T|X user myself, I too remember the aggravation brought on by any element of the connection. Between Palm Desktop issues, the cable, whichever Palm I had at the time, the Mac itself, it was irritating and annoying. But, since OS/X Tiger, the T|X and Mark/Space MissingSync, the cooperation is just that, cooperating.

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

USB1.0 drivers has been available for OS 9.2 and up I think; USB2.0 needed 10.1.5 (?) and a commercial driver; 10.2 brought general USB2.0 support

[Bill (Smithville, NJ)]

Quote:

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If it's a Mac with a serial port, then it's probably too old for a compact flash reader.

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I just thought of a way to do it without a reader directly connected to the MAC. If the MAC is on your network, and the router has a USB port, you might be able to use a CF/USB adapter to plug the CF into the router, copy the files and then put the CF in the HP-200LX. I'll have to test that with my router this weeked to see if it would work.

Bill

[Bill (Smithville, NJ)]

After posting using the router's USB post, I thought it might not work afterall.

So did a test this weekened. Used a 128MB CF card, formated Fat16. Router would not reconigize it.

Reformated as Fat32 and card worked fine plugged into the router.

I forgot to test a Fat32 card in the HP-200LX, but I'm assuming that the 200LX would not reconigize a Fat32?

Bill

[Marcus von Cube, Germany]

It won't. :-(

OTH, a USB card reader connected to your Mac should do the trick.