Missing Synch, Palm TX and Powerbook G4 running OS 10.3.9

That's a tough call, for several reasons. You're mixing the very latest - albiet more affordable - Palm technology with older Apple technology: iSync 1.5 and Mac OS X 10.3.9.

You will not receive the benefit of multiple address field synchronization, or the other improvements which accompany the Missing Sync for Palm OS version 5 or later. On the other hand, staying with iSync 1.5 at least provides you with a stable synchronization environment. While there were many improvements that shipped with Mac OS X 10.4, synchronization certainly was not one of them.

In order of best performance, stability and reliability, I would…

1st choice: update to Mac OS X 10.4.4 and the Missing Sync for Palm OS 5.0.3
2nd choice: install the Missing Sync for Palm OS only under Mac OS X 10.3.9
3rd choice: upgrade to Mac OS X 10.4.4 but not install and use the Missing Sync

I wouldn't characterize the Missing Sync for Palm OS version 5 or later useless with Mac OS X 10.3.9, but it is a clearly less capable program than when running under Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

What exactly is the issue with your new Palm T|X and iSync 1.5?

If you are able to synchronize with the Palm Desktop but not with iCal or the Address Book, it is because iSync or the iSync Palm Conduit are not properly installed or configured. When using iSync 1.5 under Mac OS X 10.3.9 or earlier, you need to install the iSync Palm Conduit 1.2. You'll find that software here:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/isyncpalmconduit.html

Once installed, you will need to add your T|X to iSync, which you do by launching the Palm Desktop and using the HotSync menu to 'configure' the iSync Palm Conduit, or by using the HotSync Manager itself. In either event, when the conduit is accessed, you need to check the option Enable iSync for this Palm device. When you quit either of those programs and launch iSync, you'll find your device and HotSync name in the main window. By pressing the icon in that window, you can access a drop-down configuration pane which allows you to select Contact and Calendar synchronization.

Installation of the iSync Palm Conduit - named Apple in the Finder, and iSync Conduit in the HotSync window - should have disabled your standard Palm Conduits by moving them to the Disabled Conduits folder. These conduits should NOT be in your active Conduits folder:

Address Book Conduit
Calendar Conduit
Contacts Conduit
Datebook Conduit
Memo Conduit
Note Pad Conduit
Tasks Conduit
ToDo Conduit

The Memos Conduit should remain in the active Conduits folder if you want to continue to synchronize memos to the Palm Desktop. The earlier Memo Conduit should not remain active. [iSync has no provision for synchronizing memos.]

You active Conduits folder should contain at least:

Apple
Backup Conduit
Install Conduit
Memos Conduit [as explained above]

…and any third-party conduits you intend to use which do not conflict with iSync - that is to say, that do not attempt to synchronize contact, calendaring or task data.

You'll find the active Conduits folder and Disabled Conduits folder both here:

Macintosh HD:Library:Application Support:Palm HotSync:[both folders here]

If you have some data synchronizing but not other data, check first to see that your device pane is configured properly. If you have only one calendar selected in the pane, rather than all, then only the events on that calendar will be synchronized.

If those settings appear appropriate to you - but data is not synchronizing - you should perform a reset to replace the data on your handheld device with data from your computer. You can do that using the Reset Device… option in iSync, or by removing then adding your handheld back to iSync. That action will give the option to Merge or Replace the data on your handheld. Be sure to select Replace, not Merge, if you want this reset to be effective. You will lose all of the data on your handheld which is not already in iSync and the Address Book when you do this, and it will be replaced with data from those applications.

I'm confused. Ideally, you should have a folder heirarchy like that I described above. Inside the Palm HotSync folder, there should be four folders:

Conduits
Disabled Conduits
Notifiers
Transports

The Conduits folder should contain only the conduits that you want active. If you are using iSync, at a minimum, those should be Apple [the iSync Palm Conduit] along with the Palm Backup Conduit and Install Conduit. Other active third party conduits should also be in that folder - AcroConduit, for example, if you are using Adobe Reader for Palm.

All of your other conduits should be in the Disabled Conduits folder. There should be no duplicate conduits - none should reside in more than one folder.

Again, if you are synchronizing iCal and the Address Book with iSync, thse conduits should all be in your Disabled Conduits folder:

Address Conduit
Calendar Conduit
Contacts Conduit
Datebook Conduit
Memo Conduit
Tasks Conduit
To Do Conduit

Other Palm or third-party conduits you have installed but are not using, should also be in the Disabled Conduits folder. For example:

NotePad Conduit
Voice Memo Conduit

There is a procedure you can follow to get the up-to-date data off of your Palm device and into iCal and the Address Book, but I am hesitant to outline it until your conduits are properly organized and configured, because it could result in serious data loss if they are not. You would then be able to overwrite your Palm device will all of the up-to-date data in iCal and the Address Book.

I don't know what to say about your friend's reported experience. It makes no sense to me, and I seriously doubt that installation or use of the Missing Sync could be responsible for any real slowdown. If he meant that installing Mac OS X 10.4 slowed it down, that seems more believable, but it certainly wasn't my experience.

Here's the thing: if you are going to update to Mac OS X 10.4 or later and iSync 2 or later, then you really should purchase and install the Missing Sync for Palm OS. If you don't want to install the Missing Sync, I would stick with Mac OS X 10.3.9 or earlier and iSync 1.5, as it is substantially more reliable and less problematic than iSync 2, which is many ways is a huge step backward.