Note to self: Read the last page of the thread first! I would have tried the Aceeca third-party driver first. But instead, I spent a good couple of hours executing the Windows XP virtual environment trick. And in the end, IT WORKED!!! I needed to sync my Palm Centro to my office computer (Windows 7 64-bit), in order to get the contacts onto MS Outlook, from which I could sync over the cell network/MS Outlook Exchange to my new iPhone 3GS. (I don't have time to go to the AT&T store, plus an AT&T rep said that Palms were "really hard to work with" for transferring contacts between phones. No kidding! And shouldn't it just be easy to sync both to the computer? Ha!)
To use the Windows XP virtual environment trick, follow jlight's 8/2008 instructions (page 2 of this thread) exactly. A couple of hints: (1) Get the computer name right. Pull up the start menu, right click on "computer" and choose "properties". You don't need the "full computer name" which includes the domain, just the regular computer name. (2) Finding your IP address if you're a computer moron like me: instructions at http://kb.iu.edu/data/aapa.html. (3) Make SURE you start the hotsync process (step 8) BEFORE you "attach" the palm in Windows XP environment (step 9). (4) After the device begins to connect, you may get a message stating that the primary PC you specified is different than the PC you're connected to, and do you want to use a different PC - or something like that (I didn't write it down.) CLICK NO!! This messed me up the first time. I think what's happening is that it's seeing the Windows XP virtual environment as one PC, and your actual Windows 7 PC as another PC. It "wants" to sync to the Windows XP environment. But you want it to actually sync to Windows 7, because that's were your Outlook contacts, etc. reside. (5) If you have problems, recheck your hotsync settings on your Palm. If you clicked "yes" to let the hotsync manager choose a "different" PC (see my previous hint 4), you may find that your computer name & IP (PC) address have been changed on your hotsync setup, and a subnet mask (which you don't want or need) inserted. Correct them back. Also make SURE that in the Windows XP "virtual" environment, under the connections settings, Network and USB are checked. Somehow "network" got unchecked at some point for me.
By the way, if you can't figure out where on your Palm to configure your LAN sync settings, computer name, etc. - Iin the HotSync application, tap the "Hotsync" tab on the top left of the screen. All the prefs are there and it's pretty self-explanatory from there.
As I said, I'm a computer moron, relatively speaking. I'm pretty good at figuring things out intuitively, but have very little technical knowledge. If I can make this work, anyone can.
