onHand - Running PC Software

9. Installing and Running PC software on WinNT 4.0/98

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Having said hello to the watch, it's time to make it more useful by syncing in my Outlook 2K PIM data.

To do so, I had to first install the onHand PC software, reboot my machine, and THEN install the Companion Link software in order to sync with Outlook. Took me a while before I realized that I needed the Companion Link software for syncing with Outlook because there was no clear instructions, and I had sort of expected the onHand software to have that capability built-in instead of relying on a third-party software.

In any case, I hooked up the PC docking station, booted up to WinNT 4.0, and inserted the CDROM. Incidentally, on closer examination, my CDROM is actually a CD-R with a color ink-jet label pasted on it. So, the production run of factory-produced silk-screened CDROMs is not ready yet. I do not have a problem with this, and kind of like the fact that this thing is hot off the press, but some users may experience problems reading blue-dye CD-Rs on older models of CDROM drives.

The autorun process brought up the installer screen, with options to install the onHand Software and Companion Link. There are also other options to do on-line registration at the Matsucom website (which is not ready at the time I tried), install the SDK, and to perform a full restoration of the onHand applications. I had the unfortunate need to try out this full restoration process on my second day of usage (more on this later), and the process requires the onHand PC software to be already installed before you can start it. It will first reformat your onHand flash before reloading the apps.

In general, I have little problems with the running of the onHand PC apps with Outlook 2K in WinNT 4.0 or Windows 98 SE. On Windows 98 SE, I was able to connect my onHand PC to my desktop via IrDA and the docking station. It also worked on my notebook via the IrDA port. The more severe problems are not related to WinNT 4.0. They are:

1. Unable to connect to the onHand PC apps directly without first using the Companion Link software.
It appears that after each reboot of the PC, I am unable to connect to any of the onHand PC apps directly. Further analysis revealed that I needed to first do a connect and sync with the Companion Link software, which has its own connection settings that is apparently different from the standard onHand PC apps communications interface. Subsequent connections and disconnections after the first sync using the onHand PC apps interface works fine. This behavior is true regardless of whether I connected via IrDA or the docking station. I did not manage to fully test out my postulation, but I suspect that if I had not installed the Companion Link software, I would not have this problem.
Updated 1999 Dec 1:
I may have been a little quick in accusing Companion Link of causing this problem. Apparently, you need to keep RupShell running in the Startup folder. I had removed it while cleaning up my startup menu. Apologies.

2. The Companion Link software is quite unusable..
The first time I used the software to sync with my Outlook 2K, the process stopped while reading the Outlook Notes data. On WinNT 4.0, it simply quit without any fuss. On Win98, it crashed. Further examination revealed that if I removed a particular 4K note, I was able to complete the syncing process. I suspect that the Companion Link software is unable to sync Outlook notes greater than a certain size. There has also been another report of the corruption of the onHand schedule.scl after using Companion Link with Outlook 98. In summary, I would advise caution to anyone who wants to use the Companion Link software with Outlook. Install it only if you absolutely need it. Otherwise, the onHand PC PIM software is quite good and usable by themselves.
28 Nov 1999: After much fighting with the CompanionLink software, I have decided to uninstall my onHand PC software and CompanionLink and re-install the onHand software WITHOUT Companion Link.
Reasons:
a. It is unable to sync all of my scheduled tasks with Outlook 2K, regardless of whether they are recurring events or single events, with or without categories assigned, or if it has attached notes.
b. It syncs in address book data with sorted based on firstname - lastname format with no flexibility for me to specify the order. I sort my address book according to last names. Also, you can choose to sync in either business or home addresses only. It is not smart enough to pick the non-empty address by default.
c. It is unable to handle large memo notes.
d. There appears to be a 'professional' version of the CompanionLink software which, amongst other things, allow you to create and manage categories to be used with Outlook. In my opinion, it is ridiculous to expect users to pay extra for a feature that is totally necessary in the first place. Given the state of the 'demo' version, would you expect users to fork out extra money to pay for the software's crippling mistakes, and possibly have to deal with more unrelated problems?
e. The default version that came with the onHand does not even see any of the default categories on my Outlook 2K, even though it was on a fresh installation of Win98 and Outlook 2K with no new user categories or any data. I conclude that the Companion Link software does not work at all and hope that someone can prove me wrong.

To say the least, syncing with Outlook PIM is pretty much my only major gripe with the onHand, to date. It pretty much require me to do manual syncing between my Outlook data and the onHand's PIM software. Hopefully, onHand would do something about this quickly, or face the undesirable results of losing potential customers.

3. Some tips for people using Win98 IrDA
NOTE: The factory-installed IR Link(IrDA) utility that comes pre-installed on the onHand appears to be damaged on some shipped onHandPCs. Unlike the IR Link(XModem) utility which resides on the ROM, the IR Link(IrDA) utility resides on the flash RAM. If you have this problem, you should perform a restoration of the system files from the supplied CDROM.
You can only use the IR Link(IrDA) mode on the onHand PC, NOT the IR Link(Xmodem). Make sure that you turn off the auto-search for IrDA devices option in your Win98 IrDA options, otherwise it will interfere with the initial connection sequence and cause it to connect and disconnect several times. Also, if you have the Companion Link software installed, you should do a sync with the Companion Link software first, after every reboot, before attempting to connect directly to the other onHand PC apps. I find that transfers by IR is about half as slow as if I used the docking station.

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