How to Hotsync Your PDA with Bluetooth

Hotsyncing your Palm device (now referred to as PDA) has always been a hassle of wires and confusion. But if your computer is Bluetooth enabled (or if you want to buy a USB Bluetooth Adaptor) and your PDA has Bluetooth on it, you can probably Hotsync wirelessly!

First, check both the computer and your PDA. Go to the Control Panel and click on Classic View (if you're not already) and see if there's a Bluetooth Devices icon. If so, then you can continue. If not, you'll need a Bluetooth adaptor which can be bought for about 20 dollars. Now check your PDA, if it has a Bluetooth icon under "All" icons, then you're fine. If it doesn't have it, then you're out of luck since you can't buy an Bluetooth adaptor for a PDA.

Now that you know you can actually do this, do it! Double click on "Bluetooth Devices" on your computer. Under "Devices", click on Add to have your PDA and Computer be "friendly" meaning they'll actually communicate with each other. Make sure your PDA is discoverable; this can be toggled in the Bluetooth settings of your PDA. Follow the directions on the computer and you'll have them linked. Under "COM Ports", add a new Port. Have it set as "Incoming"; after the computer creates a new COM Port (which is just a way for the computer to handle incoming or outgoing transmissions), it'll give that port a number. Remember that number (it'll usually be a single digit so it's easy to remember).

Go to your Hotsync manager and enable "Local" by right clicking on the icon in the task tray and giving it a check mark. If you want to, you can disable the USB option because you probably won't be needing it anymore. Right click again and go to Setup, then under the Local tab, select the same COM Port you chose earlier. Click OK and you'll be ready to Hotsync!

Go to your PDA's Bluetooth setting and click on "Setup Devices". Under here, it'll differ depending on what PDA you have but you'll want to find "Hotsync Setup", usually under the Computer setting if it's not in the main menu. Have it locate your computer and pair it again. This will automatically add the computer to your "trusted devices" (if you didn't already); now just scroll through next and the hotsyncing will begin.

Congratulations, you've hotsynced wirelessly! Just know that using this method is slower than using a USB because of the built-in limitations in the PDA. This won't matter much if you're simply synching but if you want to install 10 megabyte games, it could take much longer than using a USB. If you get an error saying the COM Port is already in use, you'll probably need to restart the computer. If it keeps saying that, create a new COM Port and make sure to change the number in the Hotsync Manager's Local tab; then try again.