Install PocketTweak, which is a freeware program that lets you play with a number of settings, including the input panel. The Web page doesn't say that it supports the Axim, but I haven't had any problems with it.
I'm glad it worked for you, but when I soft rebooted all I got was a black screen and ended up having to do a hard reboot :( does anyone know what this program edits in the registry to do this?
Everyone Please be aware: If you set the transcriber as default you will need to do a hard reset! All other settings are OK, but transcriber will kill your PDA... I'm not sure why, but this site confirms it: http://www.phm.lu/PocketPC/RegTweaks/Tweak.asp?ref=13