IR compatibility with newer Palm OS models

[thock]

I was setting up a Palm III for a friend of mine, and was trying to IR beam some stuff from my TX to her III, and it failed. I'm wondering if there's a basic incompatibility between the older IR and the newer IR, or if the IR port on her III might be bad.

The III does not have any weird stuff on it, just what came with it and HandyShopper. The TX IR has worked between it and another TX and a T3, so I doubt the TX IR is not working.

Ideas? I did a search, which led me to threads which apparently are no longer available.

Tracy

[raspabalsa]

I've seen similar problems when trying to beam between an old and a new model, say between an m515 and a Tungsten T5. There does seem to be an incompatibility, perhaps a timing error?

If you want to be sure the III's IR port is working fine, aim any digital camera (even a cellphone camera) at the port, then initiate beaming of anything on the III. The viewer on the camera should show the IR port blinking as it tries to establish communication.

Just to make sure, you do have the IR port on the III active? Check in Prefs -> Power -> Set Beam Receive to On.

[jigwashere]

I believe the IR port on the III is stronger than the TX. The IR in the TX is a bit finicky, in my experience.

When you say the send failed, what happened? Did it just time out, or was there some other error?

[thock]

I've seen similar problems when trying to beam between an old and a new model, say between an m515 and a Tungsten T5. There does seem to be an incompatibility, perhaps a timing error?

If you want to be sure the III's IR port is working fine, aim any digital camera (even a cellphone camera) at the port, then initiate beaming of anything on the III. The viewer on the camera should show the IR port blinking as it tries to establish communication.

Just to make sure, you do have the IR port on the III active? Check in Prefs -> Power -> Set Beam Receive to On.

I believe the IR port on the III is stronger than the TX. The IR in the TX is a bit finicky, in my experience.

When you say the send failed, what happened? Did it just time out, or was there some other error?

Ok, beam receive was on, and though I didn't try to send from the III to the TX, I will check the IR send from the III this weekend, using a camera.

When it failed, the III said it couldn't find something to receive (can't remember exact wording) and the TX said it "Could not find a receiving device."

I had them about an inch apart. Perhaps holding them further apart would work better? I have a couple more IIIs at home that I can experiment with between now and Sunday.

Thanks, guys.

[jigwashere]

I have a IIIxe and as I recall was able to send/receive from my TX. Let us know the results of your testing!

[Varjak]

I had a little quirk when I used IR to transfer some files from my Vx to my LifeDrive (a similar but smaller jump than the one you describe). It worked almost perfectly until I got near the end and it stopped working. (In fact, I think I posted here on BH about it). I think someone suggested (or I tried it myself, I don't recall); but I did a soft reset of my Lifedrive (I think I was getting a 'no device detected' error) and everything worked again. You may want to soft-reset both devices before proceeding.

[jigwashere]

thock, what are you beaming from the TX? Are you using the built-in beam function? You might have more luck using FileZ. You can find a link to it in the first post here: Best Free TX Apps

[jamesbennetdotcom]

Dont know about the T|X, but my m500 and my IIIx get along just fine. I think you are right about the III's being "stronger", as I get a much greater range with NoviiRemote etc... under it.

[hal]

thock, welcome to Brighthand!

For one, even if both devices are properly pairing using IrDA, there are contents that one may understand and the other may not. For second, there used to be a compatibility mismatch in several conditions when using a newer Palm device, IIRC from the very beginning of Palm OS v.5 (now called Garnet). Palm published a RAW update for the IrDA.

[jamesbennetdotcom]

I think maybe you may need OS 4 on your III in order to work with newer devices, as thats what I needed to get IR hotsync working.