• A Palm unit capable of TCP/IP (I would suggest Palm III or newer)
  
• A Palm Modem [3 Com's Part Number: 10201U] (The package contains the modem, a handbook, 10' of phone cord and 2 AAA batteries)
  
• An AC adapter [Part Number 10202U](Recommended if you plan on doing a LOT of online surfing)
  
• Software capable of retrieving e-mail through an ISP (Internet Service Provider)
  

Why Go Online?
Of course, one of the first things I wanted to be able to do when I got my new Palm III was retrieve e-mail directly from my ISP. None of this, call-your-own-computer-and-HotSync stuff for me! I wanted to use my Palm to get my e-mail messages without having to set up my home computer on some kind of upload/download schedule. I mean, who wants to set their desktop computer to dial up their ISP every 2 hours and then call home every 2 hours to check their e-mail? What if your home computer is like mine and it locks up at very inopportune times? I would MUCH rather call my ISP directly, at any time of the day (or night) and get my e-mail "straight from the horse's mouth" so-to-speak. Here's what I did to make it work!

The Software
I began this exciting endeaver by trying out a software called HandMail 2.0 from Smartcode Software. Of course, after much effort and "tweaking" all I was able to do was GET messages off my server. No matter what I did I couldn't seem to send a message without some sort of error. Finally, I gave up, deleted HandMail 2.0, and went to another software called One-Touch Mail (ver 1.9 from JP Systems. (I found out later that it wasn't the software that was the problem, it was my ISP.) So, to be fair, I'm not going to review or say too much about the software in this article. Both of these mentioned will do the trick. However, check back in the near future for a software comparison review.

Setting Up Your Palm to Go Online
There are several things you MUST set before your software will work. First, you have to set up your modem. To do this, go to Preferences and choose 'Modem' from the dropdown list. If you have purchased a PalmPilot Modem the settings should be as follows:

You can change the speaker volume [Off:Low:Medium:High] and the connect speed (57,600 bps is best) from this screen. Also, you can change the AT commands. (I highly recommend leaving those AT commands alone unless you really know what you're doing.)

Next, while you are still in Preferences, you should click on the dropdown list in the upper right corner and choose Network. (By the way, both One-Touch Mail™ and HandMail 2.0 allow you to edit Network Preferences from within the program. However, only HandMail 2.0 allows you to edit the Modem Preferences while running.) Note that there are several preset configurations for service providers already in the dropdown box labeled Service. Here's what a preset for AT&T WorldNet looks like:

However, since there are no local service providers listed, you will probably have to create your own. It's not hard. Here's how: While your still in Preferences:Network, click on the menu button and choose Service:New from the menu bar.

Now you can fill in information such as:

• Service {what you want to call your service provider, i.e. nyis.net or latimes.net}
• User Name {the name your service provider assigned you as a logon name, i.e., fatcat7 or threedognight, or maybe WildBill7}
• Password {the password or phrase that you chose to logon with}
• Phone {your ISP's dialup number}

Your Palm will save all of this in memory. It's only painful the first time you have to enter all this. After you're done, it will be totally automatic.

There's a possibility that you MAY need to enter DNS numbers and your IP Address manually under Details..., but most ISP's will be OK if you check the boxes allowing the server to determine these settings.

Setting Up Your SMTP and POP3 Servers
I'll be honest, this is the area that tripped me up a bit. As is the case with many of these types of settings, it is VERY important that you get all of your I's dotted and your T's crossed. A period in the wrong place will mean failure when it comes time to try out your service. So, let this be a warning to you. DOUBLE CHECK AND TRIPLE CHECK THESE SETTINGS! I think it's safe to assume that this is the area where most people will make a mistake. Now, to the task!

Both One-Touch Mail™ (ver 1.9) and HandMail 2.0 have drop down lists on their menu bar for SMTP and POP3 information entry. One-Touch Mail™ has SMTP/POP3 entry combined on the same screen, allowing the user to toggle between both server settings:

HandMail 2.0 has two different screens allowing these entries:

Also, as you can see from these screenshots, both of these e-mail programs allow for up to 5 different ISP entries. I'll deal with setting up for one ISP and you can figure out how to do more than one by copying these directions. (I guess you'd need 5 ISP's if you were a V.I.P., or a spy or something??) Also, realize that not everybody's SMTP and POP3 servers are going to be the same [obviously]. So, DON'T copy these examples into your program and expect them to work! [Seems elementary, but I KNOW that somebody out there is going to try it.]

I think the main thing to remember when setting up your SMTP and POP3 settings is that different e-mail programs need different information. What I mean is, different programs may force you to be more (or less) precise in settings dealing with "your name", or "your e-mail address". When a program asks you for your name, you may be able to put anything in that field that you'd like to show up on your "sent" e-mail. For example, maybe you want to be known as Billy The Kid to your friends. Some programs may allow for this. Other programs may force you to use your signup name, or something directly related to the sign-on process of your ISP. Make sure you read the program's README file or other documentation to be sure. Also, some programs may allow you to set your e-mail address to the service you check your mail at, i.e. bigfoot.com or yahoo.com. For example, maybe you want all of your mail sent to (in reply)billythekid@bigfoot.com. Again, some programs may allow for that, while others may force you to use your ISP's e-mail address, i.e. johnsmith@happycat.net. To be sure, you'd better check the program's documentation.

The SMTP and POP3 server settings, on the other hand, should be the same across the board and should look something like this:

smtp.happycat.net or smtp.email.happycat.net
SMTP is the outgoing mail server. If you get these wrong you won't be able to send mail.

pop.happycat.net or pop3.happycat.net or even pop3.email.happycat.net
The POP3 setting is your incoming mail server. If you get these settings wrong you won't be able to receive mail.

Other settings on the SMTP and POP3 screens include such things as:

• Username (PROBABLY the same as what you put under your Network username)
• Your Name (USUALLY the name you want to appear in your e-mail in the FROM: field)
• E-Mail Address (USUALLY your username followed by your server name, i.e. fatdog3@happycat.net)
• Password (some software will allow you to leave this field blank, allowing your ISP to prompt you for your password at signup.)
• Leave Mail On Server (both software I tested had a checkbox allowing you to leave your mail on the server so that you could download a copy of it now, and retrieve the full message on your desktop or office computer. This would be nice if the message was too long to download in it's entirety.)

Dialing Up: Sending/Receiving Your E-mail
Once you have all of these settings in place, you'll be ready to send and receive e-mail. You may run into a few snags along the way, but don't be discouraged. I'm here to tell you that it CAN be done, and done rather well for such a tiny computer, I might add. I'll be spending some time with some different software from several different companies over the next few weeks, trying out their various features. I hope to have a review posted on several different software titles dealing with both e-mail and web browsing in the next week or two.