Palm Buddy Update Adds Converters

PalmPilot or Palm III owners who use Macs can download version 1.1 of Palm Buddy, Florent Pillet’s invaluable utility for backing up and installing PalmPilot files (see "A New Buddy for PalmPilot Users" in TidBITS 436). The new version adds plug-ins for two Palm-based database programs, JFile and MobileDB, which enable you to install tab-delimited text files by dropping them onto Palm Buddy’s window in the Mac OS. Version 1.1 also adds the capability to drop folders (instead of just files) onto Palm Buddy, enabling users to restore a previous backup in a single step. Numerous bug fixes, support for faster serial connections, and plug-ins for non-Roman languages (such as Japanese or Chinese) round out the update. The $20 shareware program is a 1.2 MB download; upgrades are free to registered owners.

In related PalmPilot/Macintosh news, a public beta of the new Macintosh Palm Desktop 2.0v2 will be made available in early November, according to Doug Wirnowski, the Mac product manager at Palm Computing/3Com. The new software is built upon Claris Organizer, which 3Com bought from Apple earlier this year (see "Palm Organizer for Macintosh: Details Emerge" in TidBITS 432).