Friday, September 11, 2015

Calling All Old Palm Pilots


****  NOTE - I am no longer taking old Palm Pilots.  Thank you to all who donated.  We have been making great use of them!  If you want to find out what item I am in need of now, click here: What to do with an old tablet? *****

During spring cleaning around the Hackman household yesterday, I came across an old Sony Clie of mine which runs the Palm OS. I charged it up, and it still works... but what do I do with this ancient thing?

As with many items around the house I am about to get rid of, I ask myself "Can I use this in my classroom?"  The answer? "Darn-Tootin I can!" It is the perfect classroom electronic. There are still a myriad of Palm apps that I can use in the classroom, and this thing CAN'T get on the internet. The only programs available to students are what I put on it. :)

The more I thought about it, I realized I could use Palm Pilots as part of my centers rotations. Students could use the Palm Pilots to practice math, spelling, and reading. They can use them to track data. This is starting to have a lot of possibilities.

Here is where you come in dear reader. If you are like me, there is a decent chance that you, a friend, a family member, a co-worker, etc... have an old Palm Pilot, Sony Clie, Handspring (anything running PalmOS) stuffed in a junk drawer at home gathering dust. Look around, ask around, then ship any found here to Utah. Rather than having that Palm Pilot spend even more years gathering dust, re-purpose it!

Would you, could you put them in box?
Send them, send them with their docks?
Happy, happy, will my students be!
Send them, send them 1-2-3!

In addition to Palm Pilots, I can make use of outdated e-readers, digital cameras, tablets... Most school districts won't take them because they don't want to support them... but I am my own IT guy. :)

UPDATE***  Also, if anyone archived their Palm apps, I would love a copy of your freeware.  Finding Palm apps has proven to be more difficult than I anticipated.... the web is littered with broken Palm app links.
Drop me an email at mrhackman@hotmail.com, and I will get you the info to send it to my school.  Thank You!


A little Palm trivia. I have owned about 7 different Palm devices (prior to that I had used 3 different Windows CE clamshells - anyone remember Philips Velo?) I attended monthly Palm user group meetings and my first smartphone was the Palm Centro. I was so proficient with a Palm that occasionally while writing on the chalkboard in my classroom, I would accidentally slip into Graffiti... and my students would laugh.

13 comments:

Micah said...

Andrew,

I too share your preference for Palm, I have had a Palm IIIe for over a decade, and a sad accident claimed the life of the LCD screen recently. I've never found a replacement in all the newer gadgets that covers all the features Palm had. The extreme battery life while using a portable non-powered keyboard and being able to write articles or take notes anywhere at 70 wpm, which is much faster than I can write by hand, the ability to have a calendar with repeating appointments, reminders, a todo list, all addresses and custom fields, productivity apps, games, email... So I resorted to searching Ebay for used devices in good condition, and you can get the Palm IIIxe for around $10 used in good condition on Ebay, and it uses 2 AAA batteries, which is awesome because you'll never have to deal with having an internal rechargeable battery go bad on you. Anyways, mine is coming in the mail in a few days, and I'll have my life back...

Andrew said...

Thanks for commenting Micah. I am finding the easiest of the classroom palms to care for are the AAA kind.... . Some of the Palms I have had donated simply won't hold a charge, but those battery ones could conceivably work forever.

Anonymous said...

I have used many Palms and my last phone was a Palm Centro. Recently it died and I replaced it with some Samsung model. I find it hard to use. The calendar is atrocious. Sometimes when calls come in, I can't answer them. Turning off the ringer requires I go into the program; on the Centro, a handy switch. So I have just bought 2 AT&T locked Palms Centros. I am looking to unlock them. Any advice?

Personally, Andrew, if I did not use my old Palm I would keep it out of respect, set it out to pasture.

Anthony

Andrew said...

Sorry Anthony, I do not know how to unlock phones... but maybe your service provider can help.

Rance said...

Still taking old Palms? I have 5-8 of them around here and would be happy to ship them to you.

JY said...

Hi,

I have a charger, USB cord and case for an old Palm. If you can use them, I'd be happy to send them to you. I hate to just throw them out.

Andrew said...

I appreciate the offer JY. However, I have lots of accessory duplication :) Like you, I hate to throw any of this away... but I have multiple docking stations for each kind of hook up now. :)

Unknown said...

Where do you want us to send it to?

justme said...

Hello, are your still interested in receiving old Palms and where should I send it?

Andrew said...

Drop me an email at mrhackman@hotmail.com and I will get you the details. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Still collecting?

Unknown said...

Still need Palm Pilots? Let me know. ivajanew@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi! We'd be happy to use your unwanted Pilots/PDAs for educational purposes with middle school children. Email me @ pdanut4096 "AT" yahoo.com.

Thanks and God bless!

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