Downloading and installing software for your Palm OS handheld is really quite simple once you know how.
This document is split into the following topics:
1. How to download files
2. How to decompress or "unzip" the downloaded file
3. How to install the software to your handheld
1. How to download files
After you have located the software you would like to install you will see one of the following icons, or a combination thereof:
File is in ZIP compressed format. Primarily associated to Windows PC's.
File is in SIT compressed format. Primarily associated to the Macintosh
Click on the zip or sit icon which will start the download. Your browser will then present a message asking if you want to open or save to disk. Choose Save to disk. You will then be asked where you want to save the download to on your local PC/Macintosh. For Windows users it is best to download to your C: drive in a folder you will easily remember. Remembering where you saved it to is the most important part!
2. How to decompress or "unzip" the downloaded file
ZIP and SIT files are basically a way that files are compressed so that they can contain multiple files as well as decrease the size of the files for download. Therefore you will need a utility to decompress the zip/sit files. There are many utilities to decompress files, we suggest StuffIt Expander by Aladdin Systems which is free for Windows users and shareware for Mac users. For the Mac it will also decompress ZIP files. You may get StuffIt Expander here.
Once you have installed the decompression utility, you will need to go into your C: drive and locate the file you downloaded in step one above. Double click on the file you downloaded which will then cause the decompression utility to extract/unzip the files to a new folder, typically with a name similar to or the same as the name of the file that was decompressed.
Note to Macintosh users: More often than not files that do not have a SIT file download can still be used since there are not usually and applications that are ran on the desktop, i.e. they are installed to the handheld only. This means you can in most instances download the ZIP file and decompress with StuffIt Expander!
3. How to install the software to your handheld
Open the folder where the files were unzipped to in step two above and double click on any file with a .prc or .pdb extension. This will tell the Palm Install tool to install those files on your next HotSync. Simply place your handheld in the cradle and press the HotSync button and you are done!
Note: Most software developers will include documentation within the ZIP/SIT file that details how to use the software as well as what devices they work with. It is a good idea to check this documentation prior to installation to make sure that the software is compatible with your handheld. Additionally many software titles will have multiple PRC files due their being specific versions for specific hardware which will be noted in the documentation as well.
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