Setup to get puzzle of the day?

[livember]

Trying for the first time to get the puzzle of the day loaded on my Palm Zire 31 -- from the main menu I select "Puzzle of the Day", select a level (Fiendish"), and what appears is a box "Server Connection Progress" with message "Error: Incomplete setup. Please check your network settings."
Below that are boxes "ok" and "Change Network". I changed Network to Earthlink, my ISP
The result is a box "Network Error" with message "There has been a problem connecting to the Internet. Please wait and try again later.

I can't find anything on the Astraware site, or in the pdf manual, or on my pda's Sudoku game, with instructions about network setup. Is it something I should already know how to do on my Mac OSX?

Thanks for help.

[Kieren]

Hi livember,

In order to use the "Puzzle of the Day" feature of Sudoku, your PDA needs some form of data connection to the internet. Some PDAs have these built into them, and these are the easiest to get connected, but unfortunately the Zire 31 doesn't have any built-in ability to directly connect to the internet :(

That doesn't mean it's impossible to use the puzzle of the day feature from your device, but it could be a little tricky to set up! If you have a mobile phone with an infra red port, you may be able to set your PDA up to talk to the internet via the infra red port on your phone, and you may find information on how to do that in the manual for the Zire 31 and the manual for your phone.

Unfortunately, we can't easily provide specific instructions for how to do this, because the sheer number of combinations of PDA, mobile phone, and type of data connection could take years to catalogue alone :(

Because the whole process of persuading a Zire 31 or similar PDA to talk to the internet via a mobile phone can be rather complex and unreliable, we have been looking at other ways to make the puzzles of the day available in other forms, such as a puzzle pack which you could download and install each day.

The bad news is that we're still a way away from being able to do this (sorry, it's a lot more complex to perform than it might first sound!), but in the meantime there is one way around it which might help you play with the puzzle (although it won't help you submit times). Using the "Enter Puzzle" feature, you can manually enter the Puzzle of the day into your PDA, without needing to download it.

I apologise that I can only point you in the right direction with regards to trying to access the internet from your Zire 31, but I hope this helps a bit, and we're working on making it easier for everyone in future!

Warmest regards,
Kieren
Technical Support

[livember]

Ah. I'm conncted to my Mac via USB2, and the Mac's connected to the net. I guess that's not sufficient? (The download and install was so straightforward I figured you guys could do anything.)

[Kieren]

Ah. I'm conncted to my Mac via USB2, and the Mac's connected to the net. I guess that's not sufficient? (The download and install was so straightforward I figured you guys could do anything.)


Thanks for the vote of confidence :) To my knowledge, Palm OS devices don't currently offer any form of pass-through internet connection via USB to applications on the device...but I'll admit something keeps tickling the back of my mind here (not strongly enough to grasp anything useful), and it may be worth a quick email to Palm to double check! (the worst they can say is "no" :) ).

Warmest regards,
Kieren