Features:
- Wirelessly connect your Handspring Visor to IEEE 802.11b wireless local area network (LAN)
- Browse the Internet, receive e-mail messages, chat, and share applications while roaming about the office
- Secure wireless transmission for your office or home
- High speed 11 Mbps transmission
- Compatible with most Handspring Visor handhelds
Description:
Wireless networks have become ubiquitous: they're in offices, homes, and public places like airports and coffee shops. Ditto for handheld organizers, like the Handspring Visor. The two together, like chocolate and peanut butter, form an even greater whole. The missing gap binding these two ingredients has finally arrived in the form of the Xircom SpringPort Wireless Ethernet Module. It's got a hefty price tag but superb performance and features. The Xircom module supports the most popular wireless networking standard, known by the technical moniker IEEE 802.11b, but more familiarly by an industry trade name, Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity). Apple users also know it as AirPort. Whatever you know it by, it's all compatible; you can use pretty much any Wi-Fi device with any other, regardless of operating system. Our first concern on opening the module was, "Where's the software?" But, as with many Springboard modules, the unit comes with its own internal memory, on which several applications and settings are stored. The module comes with three main applications: the SpringPort Xircom Wireless application for configuring the module; Blazer, a Web browser; and MM Wizard/MultiMail for handling e-mail. You can also install any Internet software that uses the Visor's network settings for connecting out, such as Eudora for Palm. The module's internal lithium battery comes charged, and can only be recharged through the Visor's serial port power connector. Xircom includes an AC adapter that can charge the module even if your Visor doesn't use rechargeable batteries. A full charge lasts about two hours of continuous use, which could equate to several hours or days of intermittent access. A power management control allows you to sacrifice speed for longevity. Xircom allows you to set up three network profiles, which you access by unintuitively clicking the Client Settings button in the SpringPort application's main screen. To connect to a network, you may need to know some or all of the following: the network's exact name (its SSID), an encryption key, the network type, and whether Internet addresses are dynamic or static. The simplest open networks, unsecured by passwords or other restrictions, will work with unmodified default settings. Fortunately, although the setup seems complex, you only have to do it once for each separately configured network. If you spend most of your time on open networks, you can generally maintain a default setup and connect easily. The module also supports peer-to-peer networking. Typically, you use Wi-Fi to connect via a specialized central access point out to the Internet. But you can also connect directly to another computer. Of course, one of the greatest combinations of wireless networking and a Visor is hotsyncing over the network. The Macintosh Palm Desktop software doesn't yet support this, but the Windows version has a Network option in its HotSync menu. Select that, and the Xircom module can now act as a conduit to sync. And, wow, is it fast! The Xircom module offers a powerful glimpse into the future: holding the whole world, quickly, in your hands. As public infrastructure grows, the Xircom module turns a Visor into a next-generation information appliance, able to send and receive data with great ease practically anywhere. --Charles Kinbote
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