TamsPalm - the Palm OS Blog

Many of you own or at least have trialed Resco Explorer. One of the more overlooked features of Explorer is the backup function. Yes, it has a backup function: Menu->Options->Backup RAM. Altogether, the backup itself is almost identical to Resco’s similar product, aptly named Resco Backup, though it lacks the major features such as scheduling and the ability to create backup projects. Projects allow you to define special settings for the backups. You could have projects set up for a full nightly backup, a weekly application only backup and a Documents backup on Saturdays, for example. you may want to seek an alternative. (such as RB!)

After rigorous and painstaking research and testing, Resco Explorer outperformed Backup in compression but fell short when the speed of the backups were brought into question. Explorer restored much faster, though.

My first test was a full RAM backup of my T|X(approximately 68MB used) measuring the compression of the backups. The percentage is the backup size compared to the size of my used RAM. Explorer eeked out a win here, but the difference is almost insignificant:
– 38514/68579K for Backup (56.1% of original RAM size)
– 37301/68579K for Explorer (54.3% of original RAM size)

My second test was also a full RAM backup, but this time measuring the rate of compression, in MB per minute.
– 859 seconds/38514KB (2.62MB per minute) for Backup
– 1023 seconds/37301KB (2.31MB per minute) for Explorer

I did a third test, measuring the time for a full restore, after a hard reset. The apps quite nearly restored the device to the original state, except they didn’t delete that pesky Quick Tour. Here are the times and the rate of restore in MB per minute:
– 767 seconds for Backup (2.84MB per minute)
– 605 seconds for Explorer (3.72MB per minute)

As for UI:

Both app’s interfaces are confusing, IMHO(this review focussed on backup v1 - v2 improves the UI considerably). They are mostly in tiny little design ways that can confuse or frustrate a new user. Granted, Explorer isn’t a backup oriented software so I can understand hiding backup away in the menu and will cut it some slack. But I found that Backup’s idea for projects was confusing to a new user and that the new project option was hidden away in either the dropdown on the left or in the menu, which seemed counter-intuitive, given the large button style the rest of the form carried.

I noticed that RB didn’t put itself on the card automatically. That makes things mighty difficult after a hard reset if it isn’t possible to restore! Also, RB had a habit of confusing me when I tried to restore. The concept of filters confused me (don’t laugh please…) and the tips dialog didn’t help much. Explorer, however, was pretty cool about restoring the set without much trouble.

Other than those little nags though, RB is basically a set and forget solution: just schedule it by day, time, and whether to update or rebackup and your off. My suggestions to the folks down at Resco: When RB first starts, help the user create a project with a wizard like Neeews! does for new feeds.

Resco Explorer:

Resco Backup:

I’m starting to run out of things to say, so let’s end it. Altogether they are both stellar backup apps and worth their weight in pie. The folks at Resco did good jobs on these apps, IMHO, and both apps are definitely worth the 15 dollars each it takes to register them. Explorer can do almost anything except my homework (feature request ;-)), but without scheduling, it may not be the one app to rule them all.

Multiple readers recently asked me about Resco’s update policy. Thus, as a “PSA”, here is what Jan Slodicka sent me:

Explorer upgrade will be free for the customers who did the purchase less than 1 year ago. Older customers will get 50% discount on the actual product price.

All customers will need a new unlock code to get the new version running.

Automatic web service http://www.resco.net/support/technical/resend.asp
should solve most cases. The rest (some resellers do not share the customer
data) needs to contact palm@resco-net.com with some proof of the purchase.
(E.g. registration e-mail.)

Backup is free (and will be free; we are considering Pro version), Neeews free as well.

Generally, if any upgrade is paid, it is only when the major version is increased. In such case fresh customers (those that purchased less than 1 year ago) have 50% discount.

Any further questions?

Taking my Palm Treo 600 apart a few months ago took a lot of time, as figuring out all connections wasn’t exactly easy(teardown pictures can be posted if you want them). A “maintenance guide” would have been worth its weight in gold.

Apparently, a few RoHS-crazy individuals at Palm’s have decided to offer us exactly this(a tear-down guide) on their Environmental Programs page. While there still isn’t a PDF for the Treo 680, the takeapart process for all other recent Palm units is covered there in considerable detail:
http://www.palm.com/us/support/contact/environment/instructions.html

Have fun taking your handheld apart - and be careful not to break it!

Just in case: we are not responsible for whatever you do with these files!

One of the worst horrors of every developer is the leakage of a almost-done but unprotected beta version of a new application… . The program makes it onto the internet…and once it is there, removing it becomes impossible. So far so good..but please look at the code below:

static void
mainFormInit (FormPtr pForm)
{
gY = 20;
if(OpenNetworkLibrary()!=errNone)
{ // On any error!
CloseNetworkLibrary();
FrmCustomAlert(AltError,"Failure to open network library! ","Tapping 'OK' will Quit appl.", "");
EventType event;
event.eType = appStopEvent;
EvtAddEventToQueue(&event);
return;
}
// On success:
FrmSetGadgetHandler(pForm,FrmGetObjectIndex(pForm, GdgChanList),chanBarHandler);
}


This bit of code comes from a new, soon-to-be-released network application for the Palm OS. It terminates application start-up if the net library doesn’t come up…and wreaked havoc in the testing department of the developer!

Testers were used to ‘blind-test’ non-network parts of the UI on the go/on non-connected Palms…and failed miserably because of the ‘booby trap’ above.

Avoiding this development disaster is easy - do not insert code that harms testing operations unless you absolutely have to. The code above belongs into a release candidate…but not into an UI test build…

What do you think?

TamsPalm recently received a software store called the TamsShop, where applications reviewed on TamsPalm are made available with significant discounts(usually 20%). Due to our long-running cooperation with Proporta, I can now present you the TamsShop raffle:

Everyone who purchases a software product in the TamsShop from now on until the 1st of May will get 20% off the purchase price if the discount code PROPORTAROCKS is used. In addition, all customers purchasing software in that period get entered into a raffle to win the following gadgets from Proporta:

• 1x Mobile Device charger
• 1x Gadget Bag

The TamsPalm team wishes you all happy hunting and good luck!

P.s. Out of ideas for new software? Check our Software Reviews section for further info and ideas!

Hotsync…To some it is a glorious process filled with love and happiness and pink flowers. Others cringe at hearing the word, thinking of the slow transfer speeds and various hotsync oddnesses, and blood comes out of their eyes when they are forced to do it. For that second group a nice backup utility is a must have, since we all know the pains of a hard reset with an old backup on the PC.

There are many backup titles out on the market, and today we’ll look at Resco Backup. If you have never heard of the company before, be sure to check out their products! Resco creates a variety of other quality Palm OS titles that scored rave reviews on TamsPalm(Resco Explorer, Resco PhotoView, Resco Neews)!

This review is based on a preview release of the just-released version 2.01, which adds a number of new features including:

• Basic interface for novice users
• New options in Restore
• Easy predefined projects (Images, Contacts, phone, preferences)
• More possibilities in the scheduler

When you fire it up you have the choice between two interfaces: advanced mode (the default mode), and the new Basic Mode, which is designed for ease of use. Below are advanced mode (Left) and Basic Mode (Right)

The restore interface has also received a nice facelift. One of the cooler features is a new per app restoration, useful for rolling back to an old version in case of a bad installation. The main restore screen allows you to choose how you would like to restore (all databases, per app, or by choosing exactly which databases to restore)

There are also new scheduling options. A nice one is the option to backup on power-off. You could use this to keep your preferences up to date or save important documents just by turning off your device for a moment.

Another new feature is the option to create Template backups. These are predefined projects that can allow a new user to easily set up new projects.

Resco Backup was designed with the new NVFS devices in mind. It has many options to keep your device from crashing. During the backup or restore it is likely that your DbCache can become fragmented. This absolutely kills your device’s performance, but Resco Backup can keep this fragmentation to a minimum and can completely clear your DbCache. However, this can lead to other icky problems when apps that were coded before NVFS’s release was put into use get cleared from the cache. RB solves this by allowing you to lock apps that could cause trouble into the DbCache.

The backup and restore themselves are hard to beat. They have superior speed, and great compression rates to boot. A detailed review of the speed is coming soon…

So, to wrap it up, Resco Backup is no longer an app just for freaks anymore: now it can easily picked up by someone new to the Palm and easily used. And it’s a must have at just $15!

The TamsShop runs a promotion on popular Resco titles. Use the discount code RESCO4ME to get 20% off Explorer, PhotoView, Neews and Backup for the next week or so…

The Register recently posted an editorial on why Palm is moving away from Windows Mobile. While the Register is right about the direction of Palm(IMHO), I think that the reasons given for the move are wrong.

IMHO, Palm’s move to Windows Mobile was more-less a trial shot “into the dark” - as TamsPalm already stated years ago(anyone still remembers Tam the sucker?). Getting a Windows Mobile operating system running is easy nowadays - platform builder, ARM box and off we go. So, Palm’s Windows Mobile launch didn’t cost them much R&D money…and was the right thing to do back then, as the future of the Palm OS was unsafe and risky.

When looking back at the history of Palm, the company essentially lived off its great UI and the installed user base. A person who owns hundreds of dollars in software will not change OS unless he absolutely must do so…and slightly weaker hardware is not a reason for most. Basically, Palm had a “Freijagdschein” to deliver sub-par hardware; their software saved their hide.

Thus, Palm never really embraced the idea of sharing their OS with anyone else - having licensees like Sony and Handera force Palm to invest money into hardware development instead of allowing them to tug along at their own pace probably wasn’t very comfortable for Palm. If seen under this light, Access is Palm’s worst horror - while good ol’PalmSource wasn’t very active pursuing licensees; Access always made clear that they want ALP to be everywhere and with everybody…thus contradicting Palm’s innerest survival method and business plan. The breakup had to happen…

Now, Palm has the opportunity to go back to their “roots” that kept them alive for years - so why not go back? Companies like HP put pressure on the Windows Mobile market with machines like the (IMHO) excellent HP rx4240…and Palm could run off into its own “world” once again with their Linux Palm OS platform… .

IMHO; the decision about Palm’s future lays in the hands of developers and users. If they adopt Palm’s Linux like they adopted Garnet, Palm will continue to be Palm for the next few years. If developers don’t lock their apps to Palm’s Linux platform(I wont); users will be able to “defect” to ALP if the devices are good enough and available in numbers. If this happens, funny times are ahead for Palm…funny times including bankruptcy or a sellout!

What do you think?

Engadget just posted a spreadsheet showing Sprint’s roadmap for the next three months. The Treo 755 is said to be coming in May, whereas the 700p will be EOL by that time, with remaining stock being depleted in June(WSL probably means while stock left).

Other interesting items are the Motorola Q and the Palm Treo 700w - these machines are not planned to go EOL in the next three month. So, Palm does not plan to create a slimmer CDMA Treo with Windows Mobile…but more on that later.

Get the full scoop here:
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/04/23/a-look-at-sprints-summer-fashions/

When one hears Digital Photography - expert techniques, one first thinks about composition and such stuff. But if this is what you expect, there may be better books…Ken Milburn’s tome is very focussed on Photoshop! But is the selection of topics interesting…read on to find out!

The book starts off by looking at what a workflow is, why you should have one and how it should look. After that, it moves on to digital camera techniques for stuff like steady shooting and other things. A look at monitor calibration ends this (well-done) segment.

After that, the book moves on to Photoshop techniques for ‘technically’ better images. You learn how to apply filters(selectively) to enhance contrast and other parameters. A chapter on RAW files is there, too - useful for everyone who has a camera that dumps RAW files. Chapters on repairing and montaging pictures are in the book’s repertoire too.

The last chapter of the book is very interesting - it presents ways to make money with your images…interesting and maybe even lucrative!

Digital Photography Expert Techniques is well-written and contains many color illustrations. Paper quality is very high - no blotting with the Parker 45 x-nib.

Overall, if you use Photoshop for image post-processing, purchase this book by all means. The hints given inside are really worthwile, and the price of 30$ on Amazon is o.k.. If you, on the other hand, use an alternative image processor(read: GIMP) or none, this book will not help you very much. While many of the workflows can also be applied to GIMP, the ‘wisdom’ transported here can probably be had cheaper elsewhere.

There’s some more news from the Hack&Dev folks:

Yes, open chanpaigne! Thanx to z72ka who stfned this thread https://lists.openezx.org/pipermail/openezx-devel/2007-April/001144.html and Daniel Ribeiro who wrote that app, we now have bluetooth working (at least it works on LD, Z72 and TX for now)! Use script below to init bluetooth (kill it and rerun again if it hangs)…

The Linux ports for LifeDrive (tested), TX (tested), Z72 (tested) and T5 (UNTESTED YET) now support Bluetooth via a script published at Hack&Dev - get the full scoop here:

http://hackndev.com/node/703

Programming network applications for the Palm OS essentially comes down to using “Berkeley sockets”, the standard Unix application programming interface for networking. Many books exist on the topic; MorganKaufman sent us the C# edition of their book for review. C# is very different from C - is the book still useful?

The book starts out with a quick look at sockets and TCP/IP. It explains what a socket is, how one uses it and where the whole socket thingy ties in with the rest of the TCP/IP ‘world’.

After that, the book moves over to the various kinds of socket classes available in .net(TCP, UDP and raw). While the information given herein cannot be directly applied to the Palm OS, the information on how protocols and sockets interact with one another is very helpful.

TCP/IP sockets in C# then digs into various gotchas and specialties of network programming. The information given herein alone is worth the price of the book for everyone who is interested(and plans to develop some kind of network software)…

The book is well-written and easy to understand even for a non-C# programmer. Of course, copying and pasting code is a no-go; but the concepts still come over clearly.

Overall, this book makes a great read for everyone who has a (very basic) understanding of how TCP/IP works. While it doesn’t contain any directly copyable code and covers many things not found on the Palm OS, the explanation given in this handy booklet makes understanding the concepts behind network programming much easier. The price of 21$ at Amazon’s is o.k….

First of all, this time, there’s no need for any power tools. The Tungsten E2 cradle mod definitely was cool, but this time, the cradle fits the Treo out of the box.

Palm’s latest GSM Treo’s have the same form factor and use the so-called Athena Multiconnector for data exchange - so, a cradle for the Treo 750v should theoretically also work on the Palm Treo 680. Brando gladly provided TamsPalm with a free sample - let’s get reviewing!

Brando’s products ship in envelopes via standard mail. So far, customs always left the envelopes alone, and the contents always arrived in good condition:

The cradle itself ships in a small white box:

One of the first things one notices about the docking station is its size - it is much bigger than the docking stations for other handhelds. Here are a few pictures next to a Treo 680 and a Palm TX:

A small blue LED is integrated into the otherwise-plain(no hotsync button) front of the docking station. The LED is very bright and always lights up when power is available to the cradle:

Putting the Treo into the cradle requires a bit of fidgeting - it takes a bit of practice to find the point where the Treo gets charged. Also, the angle of the Treo to the desk is unusually straight - Palm’s own cradles usually stand less upright. However, the docking station didn’t topple over in my tests:

Brando finally made the USB cable removable - the back of the cradle now has a mini USB port, where the supplied cable(about 1m long, which is still a bit too short) gets plugged in to establish a connection to the computer. The Treo charges decently fast via USB, altough the cradle also seems to be able to accept a mystery power supply unit that isn’t available anywhere:

The Treo 680 recognizes Brando’s cradle as a power supply - if no PC is connected, the cradle wasn’t identified by a in-house build of AutoSync that works on a Treo 680 and is available on request.

Overall, Brando created a solid cradle for Palm’s Treo 680 and 750v smartphones. If you can live with the slightly fidgety connection process, the lack of a hotsync button and the bulky size, this 20$ cradle will satisfy your Treo’s cradling needs fully.

In Austria, retailers are starting to press 2GB memory cards into the market with force(stay tuned for a review of the ‘volksspeicherkarte’). While walking past one of the stacks, I decided to gobble one up….and test it on all handhelds I own. Here we go:

Palm m500 vs 2GB card
The m500 had no problems reading a small PRC file from the card. However, writing data onto the card failed with an error message.

Palm Tungsten T3 vs 2GB card
The T3 read data from the card easily, but could not write data to it.

Palm Tungsten E2 vs 2GB card
The Tungsten E2 failed to see the memory card. Total failure.

Palm TX vs 2GB card
No problems, read/write works.

Palm Treo 600 vs 2GB card
No problems, read/write works.

Palm Treo 680 vs 2GB card
No problems, read/write works.

To cut a long story short, here’s a little table of the results:

What about sharing your handheld experiences? Share some data and it’ll get posted here for your fellow readers!

You can find the details at PDA Performance’s website, but im posting a blurry screenshot for you to view. You can download the preview app from their website, and it will run on most newer Palm devices. The preview app simply shows the desktop with the CNN and Weather widgets running. Although there is not much that you can see, there is full multi-layer alpha blending on the widgets (think Konfabulator), and it is very cool to see.