Palm Pilots are eminently programmable. But they only have a few (2-8) meg of RAM depending on the model. So, they'll never hold a very large data set. There are a few options- upload an appropriate portion of the dataset to the device, carry the data with you in a format that can be easily loaded into the Palm Pilot, or provide the device with a connection to another device that stores enough data. There are several wireless solutions available, with transmission ranges from a hundred or so feet to a few miles, to global (cellular or satellite). A custom solution (custom software, off-the-shelf components) could probably be worked out with a laptop as base station, radio modem for connectivity, and a happy Palm Pilot/ windows CE user in the field. Add a GPS, a database back in the base station, and a bunch of field observations could be collected quickly and easily, with one point of data entry. Add in a couple more data collection devices- and capture quantitative information at the same time- temperature, humidity, canopy gap fraction, even fish-eye photos (if you're into that sort of thing)...

Sounds like a fun project to me. The real key is datasets that are readily interoperable- that's what XML can provide.

Dave V.

*snip* I've got to catch up on my back reading ...

But I saw this and *had* to respond!

...

Example 2: Say I want to run NaviKey on my Palm Pilot*.

The device has

...

limited resources and I would prefer to use very small files

if at all

...

possible.

As you say, these problems will all go away someday.

Best,

-Noel Cross

*I only wish it were possible -- A few people have actually

asked for this

...

capability, as it would be handy to use such as program in the field.

It's probably not that far off. I found the program that Larry Morse first did for interactive specimen identification before I entered Grad School. It takes 64K to run. (At the time it probably had a limit of 64K for data too -- and that stretched the limits of the computer.) Most of your hand-help calculators have a memory of at least 64K now. How programmable *is* a Palm Pilot?

Susan Farmer sfarmer@goldsword.com Botany Department, University of Tennessee http://www.goldsword.com/sfarmer/Trillium