Message
> This
may sound like a really stupid question but here goes!! What exactly is
a PDA and how do you use it to go to paperless caching? I have
> paper
caches all over the house and would really like a new way of caching!!
PDA stands for "Personal Digital Assistant". It's
a catch-all term that's used to describe the hand-held organizers that
are made by several manufacturers. If you've heard of "Palm Pilot",
that's one brand of PDA (although Palm doesn't use that brand name
anymore). At one time Palm Pilots held so much of the market that's
what everyone called them. But PDA is more generic and accepted now.
They all keep track of addresses and phone numbers, appointments, to-do
lists, etc.
One thing all PDA's have in common is the ability
to move information to and from a computer, usually just by plugging
the PDA into a cable and pressing a button. This process is often
referred to as "synching". To use a PDA for paperless caching, you
download the caches you want to hunt onto your computer, and from there
you sync them on to your PDA. Then instead of carrying sheets of paper
about the caches with you, you just carry your PDA out on the trail,
and you have all the information you need.
Depending on the type of PDA you buy and
how much caching you do, you may need to buy other software for either
your PDA or your computer (or both) to make it all work right, but
that's a whole other discussion. I hope this is the information you
were looking for.
Steve
Team Tierra Buena
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