I know, I know! It’s about time I sat down and wrote this thing. The second meeting for Canada’s Premier PUG was held nearly 3 weeks ago and I’m only getting the synopsis written now. In the meantime, however, we have our own web domain (www.CanadaPUG.com) and a new Web Site! So that has been keeping me busy. So, on with the Meeting Synopsis!

This meeting consisted mostly of everyone talking about numerous topics regarding our favourite hand-held. Because of this, the synopsis will not be as detailed as it was last month. These topics consisted of items from carrying cases to what PIM (Personal Information Manager) we use on our PC to HotSync with our PalmPilot. Some of the topics will be dealt with in more detail in future meetings.

While Jot for PalmOS seems to be what everyone is looking for, I found it quite difficult to learn after memorizing Graffiti script. I have become so used to writing in Graffiti that to use Jot seamed unnatural. While the product advertises that it is faster and more natural that Graffiti, there are way too many strokes to learn. Every possible character has a unique stroke associated with it. That means there are over 100 different strokes that you must memorize in order to use Jot for PalmOS. You can, however, set Jot to use Graffiti instead of it’s own characters. But what’s the point?

Jot has the ability to display your strokes on the screen as you type them so you can see if you’re doing anything wrong. This can be accomplished with a copy of TealScript, which is much cheaper than the US$39 that Jot for PalmOS costs.

Overall, Jot for PalmOS did not receive any high praises from Canada's Premier PUG. Two thumbs down. (And besides, they wouldn’t give us any free copies to give away!) :)

This was another keyboard replacement that has been getting high praises over the Internet so I decided to try it out. It is basically the same as the nine keys of a telephone. There are three or four letters on each key and you press the key a number of times to get the letter you want. As you are typing, the program is trying to guess the word you are spelling. If the word you want is displayed, press space and move on to the next word. Sound simple? Well, it’s not. It took longer for me to type my own name with T9 than it does with good old-fashioned Graffiti.

My PalmPilot was passed around the table for everyone to try T9 (and Jot) and it was unanimous that it was definitely not the choice of tools for text input. Another two thumbs down.

The Fitaly Keyboard is a new design of keyboard that places the most used letters of the English language at the center of the board and moved out to the least used keys. The reports were similar in nature as those regarding T9. Why should we have to learn a whole new keyboard layout? How long did it take us to type with the QWERTY keyboard? Now we should forget that and type on something new?

Canada's Premier PUG gave this alternate keyboard yet another two thumbs down.

The only alternate input device that was given any praise was TealScript by TealPoint Software. The following is the description of the software:

"TealScript is an improved graffiti text recognition system. Unlike the system that comes standard on all Palm organizers, TealScript is configurable, allowing fine-tuning for better recognition specially-tailored for each user. It comes complete with a default ready-to-use profile designed to recognize strokes that might confuse the built-in recognition, and offers additional alternate strokes for many characters. It can be trained to recognize your own distinct handwriting for better recognition, and with a little practice, you can tweak it to add your own alternative strokes or even replace graffiti altogether with a stroke-set of your own design. " – as printed on the TealPoint Software Web Site.

I downloaded the demo and took it for a test drive and it is everything it says it is. You can actually train the Pilot to recognize the strokes that YOU want to use for each letter. You can even have multiple defined keystrokes for each character. Is that not what everyone really wants? A PalmPilot that recognizes our own handwriting? Nothing to learn, nothing to memorize. It’s trainable. And it’s cheap. Only US$16.95.

TealScript definitely received two thumbs UP from Canada's Premier PUG!!

Chris Tychansky of HandHeld Interfaces generously donated the Hi-5 software package, the Pen/Pencil/Stylus and the FlipCase! Thank you Chris!

When should the meetings be held?

Weekend: 60%
Weeknight: 40%

Should there be required fees?

Yes: 80%
No: 20%

How often should fees be collected:

Annually: 60%
Each Meeting: 40%

How often should the group meet?

Once a month: 60%
Every other month: 26.7 %
Once a quarter: 6.7%
Twice a quarter 6.7%

It was also unanimous that the meetings should be casual with an agenda. That is how I first planned the meetings, and it seems everyone agrees, so nothing will change in that regard.

Everyone present agreed that the meetings should be held once a month. We also decided that there should be required fees for the group and an annual fee of $20.00 was agreed upon. These fees will go towards the costs of our Web Domain, Web Hosting and any costs incurred by receiving prizes from across the US/Canada border. The fee is only required by participating members (i.e. those who attend the meetings). If you have signed up as a Newsletter Member, there is no fee involved. Unfortunately, at this time, Newsletter Members can not win prizes. So there is an advantage to becoming a Participating Member!

Sean Evans, the group Co-ordinator, will record all expenses for the group. If anyone would like a report of our finances, just ask and I will give you one.

Because of our membership fees, I was able to register our domain name and get our new Web Site up and running. I have received several positive comments regarding the site and I thank you all for them. I will constantly be trying to improve the sight for you, the members. If there is anything you would like to see on the site, please let me know. Those of you who are proficient in the graphic arts, please feel free to create some graphics for our site.