General Tips and Tricks for DOS based palmtop PCs





These are just some general Tips and Tricks i found out or read over the years.


Using SRAM cards

Using SRAM cards is generally a pain since you obviously can't just put them in your USB port or DVD drive. Anyways, there are a few ways to put data on them. An old laptop with PCMCIA slots and Windows 95/98/ME will be very helpful for that task. And old windows 98 laptop can usually be gotten for like under 20 Dollars on ebay, so before you spend a fortune on adaptors and cables that might be worth a thought.

Microsoft has some instructions on their website, so i just quote them here in case they delete it later on.

SRAM Cards
To install a PCMCIA SRAM card in Windows 95, the following two entries must be placed in the Config.sys file

device=c:\<windows>\system\csmapper.sys
device=c:\<windows>\system\carddrv.exe /slot=<x>

where <windows> is the Windows folder and <x> indicates the number of PCMCIA card slots in the computer.


Flash Cards
To install a PCMCIA Flash memory card in Windows 95, the following entries must be placed in the Config.sys file

device=c:\<windows>\system\csmapper.sys
device=c:\<windows>\system\carddrv.exe /slot=<x>
device=c:\<windows>\ms-flash.sys


where <windows> is the Windows folder and <x> indicates the number of PCMCIA slots in the computer.

NOTE: The Ms-flash.sys file is not included with Windows 95. This file must be provided by the Flash memory card manufacturer.



Usually it's easiest to just put the SRAM card into your palmtop first, format it there and then copy the files onto it with the windows 98 laptop.

On later Systems like Windows 2000 and XP the support is worse. Only SRAM cards with "attribute" are supported which means many of the older cards won't work at all. For the ones with attribute you can just select the "Generic PCMCIA Memory Card" driver from the list when the hardware wizard prompts you.

There are also external PC Card readers that usually work pretty well even with later operating systems, but these are rare and probably cost as much as a half dozen old Windows 95 laptops.

If you have a HP 100LX/200LX then you can also "abuse" it to copy files for other palmtop since these read SRAM and also flash cards. I usually use an old 128MB Compact Flash card in a PCMCIA adaptor and my 100LX reads it fine as well as my Windows XP laptop. So i can copy files to that CF card on my laptop, then insert it into the 100LX, copy it onto the local filesystem and then insert the SRAM card and copy the data onto that. Not the most convenient way, but it works.



Other ways to transfer data

Well obviously there are more ways to transfer data. If you have a parallel/serial/laplink cable for your palmtop you can connect it to your desktop/laptop computer and copy data this way. Most palmtops have "laplink" or a similar file transfer program built in - sometimes hidden in the file manager or in MS Works. Again - an old laptop with Windows 95 or so most probably comes with serial/Parallel ports, modern computers don't have them any more. You could buy a USB to Serial/Parallel adaptor though.



Using Flash cards

Some palmtops can use flash cards out-of-the-box as the HP 100LX and 200LX, but most with PCMCIA 1.0 will not recognize a flash card. To still use one you can install the Sundisk driver which you will find on my Software page. Ways to get the driver onto the palmtop are mentioned above.


Back to the Palmtop List