Our question today comes from John:

[I am] currently running a PC with Windows NT 4.0 SP6a Workstation OS. I need to active sync a Toshiba e740 PDA (PC2002) to establish a "partnership" between PDA & Host PC. For creating a partnership, the only stock PDA to host connection is via USB Cradle. NT does not support USB. Is there a 3rd party host PC to PDA RS-232 serial cable available for the e740?

Your question today brings to light the reality that there are still a lot of people out there using something other than Windows XP, likely much to Microsoft's chagrin. The fact that the Toshiba e740 is to new to the market and has not had time to develop a healthy accessory collection is also a problem. There are, however, no insurmountable problems.

The first thought that came to mind was to use an existing solution, the e570's serial synchronization cable. Toshiba may still be planning to release a serial cable for the e740, but there's no guarantee. The other unknown is driver support. The question that I cannot answer here is if the e740 will use the serial driver for the e570.

My next thought was IrDA. This presents a major problem since IrDA is so painfully slow. If you have small amounts of data to transfer, it will work fine, but anything beyond appointments, contacts, mail, and a trim AvantGo profile will simply take the proverbial forever. You can still use IrDA and synchronize large blocks of data by using an external card reader, but not all PPC applications support that.

My third idea will likely be the optimal choice, but it can be costly; Ethernet. Depending on your needs and budget, you can either go wired or wireless. Wireless Ethernet (802.11b), called Wi-Fi these days, is the most popular, but prices are still a bit high. Access points run about $130 to $200 USD and CompactFlash cards about the same. There are several CF based 802.11b cards available. Just make sure to check whether they are Type I or Type II for you Jornada owners.

Bluetooth is the final option I can think of. There are several Bluetooth access points that connect directly to an Ethernet network. CompUSA carries a $99 USD CF Bluetooth card from AmbiCom, which is the cheapest available at this time. A nice bonus with the AmbiCom card is that it comes with a PCMCIA adapter. The downside is that it may not be 100% compatible with all access points. Bluetooth is still in flux and Not everything that says Bluetooth will play nicely with anything else that says Bluetooth.

The only thing that almost makes this all moot is that ActiveSync requires you connect to the host computer via cable, cradle, or IrDA to create a Partnership. After that, you are free to use any of the other solutions I've covered here.

I hope that helps, John. If anybody else has any questions for the HandyMan, drop us a line. If you have any thoughts or additional ideas, click the TalkBack link at the top of this story.