Being a devout Palmist, I went searching for widgets, gadgets and gizmos that only a Palm computer user could love - and I wasn't disappointed.

Among what I found were the GamePad ($19,95) from Worldwide Widget Works, a Half Keyboard ($99.95) from Matias Corp and a USB PDA Adapter ($39) from Keyspan.

The GamePad attaches to the bottom of any Palm III, IV or V (with a Dock V Pro Adapter) and is designed to work like the buttons on a Nintendo GameBoy. It will also work with the new HandEra 330 from TRG.

It was incredibly easy to install. All I did was download the drivers from www.palmgamepad.com and install them, attach the unit to my Palm IIIc and play.

It worked with all of the games I have installed on my Palm and you can download others from the company's Web site.

Using it actually makes games more playable on the Palm, making it seem more like you're using an actually game device.

There is one drawback, which is minor, but deserves mentioning. You can't use your infrared port to transmit anything when the GamePad is installed. Apparently they use the same resources.

The Half Keyboard is an awesome gadget for those of us who spend half our lives on trains and airplanes.

About the size of a scientific calculator, the Half Keyboard can be used just about anywhere (you can even attach it to a special strap and wear it on your wrist).

I found this to be much more convenient to use than other keyboards developed for the Palm. In the past, I've ended up leaving keyboards home, because even those that unfold require much more real estate either on my lap or on an airplane's seat-back tray. Also, they take up a lot more space in my briefcase.

Essentially what you have is the left half of a standard full-size keyboard, which seems odd at first. But that is where their genius comes in.

The other half of the keyboard is accessed by holding down the spacebar. Other functions are available by using the "alt" and "shift" keys. In fact, each letter key can be used to generate up to six different characters, giving you full-keyboard functionality.

The keys are full-size - not the smaller versions that have driven touch-typists and those of us that are all thumbs to insanity.

The USB PDA Adapter allows you to attach your Palm's synchronization cradle to a USB port on your computer, freeing up one of its serial ports for an external modem or other device.

The drivers that came with it were easy to install and create another COM port - on my computer it was COM 3 - which actually provides the USB connection. All I had to do was reset my synchronization software to COM3 and it was ready to go.

The adapter also works with serial versions of Sharp and Wizard organizers, Windows CE-based PDAs and Wacom Intuos and ArtZ II tablets.

Speaking of Keyspan devices, last week I apparently got on the wrong bus when writing about their Mini USB Hub, confusing bus power with self power. The self-powered mode means hooking it up to an external power supply. A lot of today's more sophisticated USB devices won't run well with bus-powered hubs.