If you're looking for a text-based program that will run on both the HP Palmtop and a desktop computer and you want a PM tool that is simple to learn and use, then Mainline may be just what you're looking for.
Mainline is shareware, $29.95, and is available from
Minuteman Systems P.O. Box 152 Belmont, MA. 02178 Service Telephone (617)489-5639
As you can see from the above screen shot, Mainline uses a Gantt chart paradigm. The time scales across the top of the worksheet can be toggled between a weekly and daily format. You can scroll the screen down for more activities. There's also a way to change the text and background colors.
As the screen shot above shows, Mainline can create a few reports. The reports, by default, are sent to disk files. The files turn out to be ASCII text files of what you would see on the screen if you scrolled through the project's activities. Mainline apparently figures out the critical path from the start and finish times and will let you move from one activity to another along the critical path by pressing the + or - keys . There's not much else that Mainline can do. It works fairly well on a high-speed desktop but, on the HP Palmtop, the performance is sluggish.
Warning: Do not attempt to compress the executable file, ML.EXE, and then try to run it. On both the desktop and the HP Palmtop, doing so will force you to reset the computer.
Note: the shareware version of Mainline is crippled. It supports only 20 tasks per project. The registered version will let you have up to 150. Also, in the shareware version, the search menu option is disabled.
All in all, Mainline may be what you're looking for in a PM tool. However, if you're able to use the shareware version of Mainline, but need more than the maximum of 20 tasks per project, save the registration fee, add a few more dollars and get ProTracs Professional.