cravaus

I use the PDA for most of my writing and I leave my nice laptop in the office most of the time. I do a lot of writing. I use TextMaker as my main word processor. I also use PhatNotes Professional with PhatPad for basic note taking. The PhatNotes can organize your notes in databases for each class or project using a variety of catagories that you can define. In addition you can link your notes to files and ink notes (with PhatPad). This all syncronizes to the PC with a PhatNotes utility that will convert your notes to word files or (as I usually do) you can cut and paste as needed. These are not cheep programs but they are excellent and worth the money.

I recommend getting the ThinkOutside Bluetooth Keyboard. It really is the best and worth the money. I have used several of the others and have been very disappointed for various reasons. Not so with ThinkOutside, it has exceeded my expectations.

A good dictionary is WordNetCE (free).

I use HandyCards as my flash card program. This is a great little tool. It is very flexible. It can do multiple choice items. It can import sound and graphic files. I use it all the time. I enter information as I read new books and test my self to keep myself sharp on hot new topics. Worth the money. I have used others and they are just frustrating.

To record lectures in class you can use Notem (free) or there are some others that you can buy. There names are not coming to mind. I use Notem for my short voice notes. I have not tried to record for an hour however. The standard recorder does not have good compression. Notem is MP3. Another benefit to that is being able to play my voice notes cycling through MortPlayer (Free MP3 player) to review my cases for the day.

Then for little nuances, to speed things up, use macros. Calligrapher has PenCommander which is ok. I like that it can launch with gestures. However, the available commands are very limited unless you program in C. MortScript (free) is another program I use for macros and it is very useful regarding the functions and commands that you can program on board. I have made some posts on how to hack the registry to launch macros with key combinations so if you are into that do a search.

Getting a full day of battery life is possible with a Battery Extender that you can find on Ebay for cheep. If I am going to a conference I take one with me loaded up with 4 AA batteries and I have no problem with juice for more than 8 hours. It is cheaper than buying additional batteries for the Axim and lasts much longer. I like it. I also have extra batteries and I use the extended batteries in my Axim but the Battery Extender is still one of my favorite items.

Get a good metal case. It will save you lots of grief and money. I was working out yesterday. I use my Axim as an MP3 player. While jumping rope, the Axim flew off of my strap. I thought everything was secure. No. The metal case saved it. No problems. Get a case.

wreck

that was one of the most helpful replies i've read.
thank you very much for the info. saved me hours of research.
:)