PDA Glossary

See also: PDA Glossary

Backlight

A light integrated into the PDA to make viewing information in the dark possible.

Beaming

"Term coined by Palm to descibe the way to transmit data from one PDA to another via infrared ports." --About.com

Cradle (USB/Serial)

This holds the PDA and acts as a communication conduit between the PDA and the computer. You can synchronize data and download programs from the PC. Some cradles double as battery chargers. USB and Serial are the types of ports on the computer to which you attach the cradle.

Expansion Slot

"A physical slot found on some handheld PCs or available via an accessory that can accept certain types of media such as CompactFlash, MultiMedia Card, Sony's Memory Stick, and Handspring's Springboard modules. Depending on the manufacturer, these cards may be be used for add-ons, including MP3 players, modems, pagers, games, digital cameras, removable storage, and global positioning systems." --About.com

Graffiti

"Graffiti is a the character recognition software utilized by PalmOS that enables users to quickly input data into the Palm units. Graffiti is closely related to the ASCII character set which allows users to learn the input system relatively easily." --NearlyMobile

Hotsync

"HotSync(TM) is the technology utilized by the Palm Computing Platform that enables the data transfer between the Palm units and the PC or Mac. The HotSync application provides data synchronization for the built-in applications and the automatic backup of 3rd-party application databases. Therefore, as long as your applications are correctly configured to backup the data during HotSync, you will always have a fairly current backup of your Palm data on your PC or Mac. OS (Operating System)" --NearlyMobile

IR Port

An infrared port that facilitates the beaming of information between PDAs and other electronic devices such as printers, computers and televisions.

Jog Dial

A dial located on the upper left quadrant on the Sony Clie. You can use it to scroll though the menus on the Clie.

Memory Stick

"Memory Stick designed by Sony for Sony products acts as an off-line connection transfer and exchange media for connecting many types of digital devices. It acts as a temporary storage space for pictures, music, words, sounds, movies, ideas, photographs, or anything else that can be converted into digital data. Memory Stick is currently available in 32 and 64MB sizes" --About.com

PDA

Personal Digital Assistant, a handheld device used to manage datebooks, to do lists and other data.

.PDB File

Palm database software file that stores and organizes Palm data.

.PQA

Palm Query Application software used on Palms with wireless or dial-up connection modems. This software connects to Web sites and displays selected information on your PDA.

.PRC File

Palm application software file that is uncompressed and can be installed directly from your PC to your Palm during synchronization.

Jenny Lynne Semenza semejenn@isu.edu Reference Librarian Eli M. Oboler Library Idaho State University

Marcia Francis franmarc@isu.edu Idaho Health Sciences Librarian Eli M. Oboler Library Idaho State University

Kristin Haderlie Former Reference Librarian Eli M. Oboler Library Idaho State University

Last updated December 4, 2002