Is Palm's Graffiti 2 really better for novices?

In My Humble Opinion
1

The uber-babe has asked me to get her a Palm Pilot for her birthday, since I am usually wise in the ways of technology.
I have the little bugger in my hands now, and I was setting it up. As an experienced Graffiti user, I found Graffiti 2 to be really frustrating.

The main reason that Palm switched was due to a law suit from Xerox over the Xerox Unistroke patent. But Palm also claims that the new system, based on CIC’s Jot is easier for new people to learn.
There are some hacks out there which will let me put Graffiti 1 onto the new machine, which I would do in an instant if it was my PDA.

But since it is actually intended for a novice user, I was wondering if it makes sense to leave it alone.
Do any of you have anectdotal experience of people new to Palms feeling particularly comfortable with Graffiti 2?

2

I never used Graffiti 1, but Graffiti 2 is relatively easy to use. I don’t know if this was a problem on 1, but I have a hard time writing on the screen, but the silk screen is no problem.

I found that there are also multiple ways of writing letters that don’t piss you off as much as using the recommended methods: ^ for a, R for r, N for n, B for b, D for d, etc. (of course, this was probably explained in a manual somewhere and I missed it). The only thing that really pisses me off is that occasionally (about 75% of the time), an “l” at the end of a word turns into a “t.” Supposedly this can be corrected by writing the space away from the l, but I don’t believe them.

Took me some practice, but I got a handle on it.

3

[FYI]
The PalmOne-Xerox lawsuit got overturned. [/FYI]

With regard to the OP,

My experience with G2 is that if the user grew up with G1, then they have a hard time adapting to G2. If the user never used G1 before, then they adapt to G2 pretty quick.

4

I never used G1, had no trouble learning G2, although some of the special characters just simply won’t work for me. Dunno what I’m doing wrong, and don’t have the incentive to figure it out, with the little keyboard option for the oddballs.

5

How do I find out which edition of Graffiti I have on mine?

It’s a Palm m100. I can find the “versions” menu which tells me that I’m running Palm OS v. 3.5.1. The version number listed for Graffiti is 3.5.

Would that mean Graffiti (I) v. 3.5?

6

I have never used Grafitti 1, I’m not having any problems with Grafitti 2. I was new to it, it’s not that hard to figure out.

7

I believe M100s are old enough to have the Graf 1. If you have two-stroke letters (such at K, T, I), then it’s two. If not, it’s one.

I also understand that there are multiple freeware programs out there that will allow you to use G1 strokes on your G2 machine.

8

From my experience, G2 (on a Palm Tungsten|E) was not hard to learn, and its strokes are closer to common handprinting – which I recognize is really not saying too darn much.

9

Same here. Just got a Palm Tungsten E–new user–and have had very little trouble using the G2. A few little quirks and adaptations on letter strokes were needed, but nothing far removed at all from ingrained printing habits. I haven’t the faintest idea whether earlier versions were better. Coming to it cold, I didn’t have to unlearn anything, so possibly the experience was made easier right there.
Lacking the least perspective on fine distinctions, just settling in and adapting my habits to the Palm are sufficient challenges. None of 'em have been hard–remarkably fun, in fact–but I wouldn’t exactly welcome complications right now, no matter how soundly based in experience.

Veb

10

Drag your stylus straight up from the bottom of your graffit input area to the top of your screen and your graffiti help screen will appear. If it says, “Graffiti” at the top then it is G1.

11

Chairman Pow, Dragwyr - Thanks. I seem to have Graffiti 1.

I have had my head in the sand, and until reading this thread had not been aware of the change. Of course, using something as old as an m100 may have something to do with it. :wink:

12

A nice program that I use all the time is TealScript. If you have G2, it will let you input text using G1 strokes. If you are having a hard time with either G1 or G2, it will let you customize your strokes to your own writing style. The program does have a little bit of a learning curve, but once it is tuned up you can really fly on your text input into your palm device.

13

That may be worth looking into, since there are some characters that my Palm just cannot recognize unless I bring up the keyboard.

14

I started out with a Handspring Visor. I used Graffiti I a lot, to the point that when I sat down to use pencil and paper, if I didn’t pay attention, I’d write letters using Graffiti penstrokes.

I got a Zire 71 for Christmas (uses Graffiti II). It did take a certain amount of cussing and aggravation for me to get used to the new system. But I do think it’s a little more like “normal” printing, and I’m doing pretty good with it now. Sometimes I still miss the old Graffiti, but I’m getting over it.

I loves my Zire, though. Love, love, love, love it.