LaunchPad 1.1 - "Final Release" (C)1997, by D. Eric Kenslow *** GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS DOCUMENT FOR A LIST OF CURRENT AND *** *** FIXED BUGS, AS WELL AS A LIST OF NEW FEATURES FOR THIS RELEASE. *** Foreign-language translations by: Darrin S. Altman - Spanish Peter Csurgay - Hungarian Pim Holtz - Dutch Michael Kiesel - German Alain Nicalek - French Thank you all! What is LaunchPad? ------------------ A replacement for the built-in Pilot applications launcher. How much memory does it use? ---------------------------- Depends on how many apps you have. The LaunchPad program itself is around 22K, and each application you have installed on your Pilot adds a little less than 200 bytes to the total size. Each tab adds 12 bytes to the total size. How did you make this amazing program? -------------------------------------- I used the ASDK (http://www.massena.com/darrin/pilot/asdk/asdknews.htm) and gcc for Pilot (http://www.ftpx.com/pilotgcc/gccwin32.html)- both are solid, free packages that I recommend without reservation. How much does LaunchPad cost? ----------------------------- Nothing, it's absolutely free. It's not released into the public domain, however- I retain copyright on it. If somebody charged you for LaunchPad, please let me know. A lot of people have been telling me that people would be willing to pay for LaunchPad. Heck, I've got nothing against getting paid :), so here's an address to send your contributions to. Send checks, cash and/or cigarettes to: Eric Kenslow 1122 N. 115th B116 Seattle, WA 98133 Standard Legal Disclaimer ------------------------- LaunchPad is provided as-is with no warranties expressed or implied. You use this software at your own risk. This release of LaunchPad has ONLY been tested on a Pilot 5000 running PalmOS 1.0.6. Previous releases have been tested on PalmPilots and Pilots running PalmOS 2.0 and have been stable. Your mileage may vary. How can I get ahold of you to complain? --------------------------------------- Well, you can't, but if you want to drop me a line and tell me how great my program is ;) you can send e-mail to erick@metainfo.com. Seriously, though, if you have a comment, question, or a bug report please drop me a line! I will definitely make the source code available online. Enjoy! Planned Enhancements for Later Versions --------------------------------------- These are good ideas that didn't get into this version, but that I'm still thinking about. - Gadget for turning the backlight on/off on a PalmPilot. I'd love to do this one, but I don't have a PalmPilot! - Security suggestions have been tossed around- the ability to assign a password on a per-app or a per-tab basis. Send me your comments if that would be useful to you. - - Send it to EricK@MetaInfo.com with 'LaunchPad' somewhere in the subject line. Release History --------------- 5/18/1997 Final Release - Official Version 1.1 Release notes: Although it's technically not necessary, I strongly recommend that you delete your old version of LaunchPad before installing. Thanks to everybody who stuck around through all those upgrades, and who sent me all the great ideas! Bugs in this release: - Application icons are not updated if the application's database does not move as a result of the install. Workaround: Perform a warm reset, which will cause LaunchPad to re-scan all app data at the next startup. Bugs fixed in this release: - The security (off & lock) gadget did not work on OS 2.0 or higher. FIXED! New features in this release: - Yet another adjustment for the voltage calculations. - Foreign language support. - Shortcut to HotSync on the Pilot menu. - Slight tweaks in the UI. - With LaunchPad set as the default launcher, a second tap on the Applications button will re-launch the previous app. This is not nearly as seamless as the built-in launcher, but then LaunchPad is a lot bigger than the built-in launcher! 5/03/1997 Release 6 Release notes: Although it's technically not necessary, I strongly recommend that you delete your old version of LaunchPad before installing. Bugs in this release: - The security (off & lock) gadget does not work consistently on OS 2.0 or higher. I'm researching this. - Application icons are not updated if the application's database does not move as a result of the install. Workaround: delete & re-install the app. This version will automatically re-scan all apps the first time you run it. Bugs fixed in this release: - Tab hilights were not drawn correctly. Fixed. - Tab scroll was reset when you exited & restarted LaunchPad. Fixed. New features in this release: - Now auto-shifts the input area for a new tab name. - Got rid of the black tabs (boy, what was I thinking there!). Now all the tabs are the same color, but the active tab is drawn wider to make it appear to be above the inactive tabs. 4/28/1997 Release 5 Release notes: Although it's technically not necessary, I strongly recommend that you delete your old version of LaunchPad before installing. This release incorporates some relatively radical features and bug fixes. If you have any problems with LaunchPad, definitely try deleting & re-installing it as the first troubleshooting step. Bugs in this release: - The security (off & lock) gadget does not work consistently on OS 2.0 or higher. I'm researching this. Bugs fixed in this release: - Doing a command shift graffiti stroke (lower left to upper right) caused 'Saturday' to be displayed where the 'Command:' text is normally. Fixed. - If 'use shortcut gadgets' was unchecked, memory icon was erased but could still be pressed. Fixed. - If an app was reinstalled, sometimes trying to launch that app from LaunchPad would cause a fatal exception (soft reset). Fixed. - If an alarm went off while LaunchPad is up, the Pilot would freeze or get a 'fatal exception' box. FIXED!!!! New features in this release: - Revamped UI (thanks to Jim McCarthy at Webscapes Corporation for the inspiration). - The lock gadget now also hides secret records. - Stays as default launcher through warm resets. - Battery bar now shows how much juice you have left before the system refuses to start up because of low voltage. - Shortcut gadgets can now be enabled and disabled individually. 4/27/1997 Release 4 Release notes: OK, you should be able to install this one without deleting 1.00.3. Remember to deselect 'Always Use LaunchPad' in the preferences, or you will have to WARM RESET your pilot. Note that there is a known issue with this release- I'm putting it out to get final user comments on this 'feature complete' version. Bugs in this release: - If an alarm goes off while LaunchPad is up, your system will freeze or get a 'fatal exception' box. Workaround: switch to a different app before turning your Pilot off. I'm working on a fix for this. New features in this release: - Shortcut gadget to the memory applet (thanks to Jim McCarthy at Webscapes Corporation for the great icon!) - The lock gadget now actually locks & powers off your pilot. - 5 column mode (!). - Shortcut keys for menu commands. - Allows scrolling of tabs. 4/22/1997 Release 3 Release notes: Well, bad news again- you'll have to delete the current version of LaunchPad before installing this one. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I had to change the database and preferences format yet again to accomodate feature requests. Bugs fixed in this release: - Tapping the time or voltage to switch views took up to a second. Fixed. New features in this release: - If you're using LaunchPad for your default launcher, repeatedly pressing the applications button will cycle through your tabs. - Cute little buttons for turning off & locking your Pilot. For now, the 'lock' button just brings up the security application. - Finally completely conquered the startup speed issue- now, there's no need to manually refresh your apps, because it's just as fast to rescan them all every time! Don't believe me? Try it! - Visual feedback while dragging apps (full drag- almost :]). - Variable number of columns for icons, so you can cram 'em in like sardines or leave them loose and relaxed, for easy tapping. - Added 2 new info modes, 1 each for time and voltage: day of week and percentage, respectively. - Tabs can now be moved. - Warm reset menu option. - Option to cycle time/voltage displays every n seconds. 4/17/1997 Release 2 Release notes: You'll have to delete the current version of LaunchPad before installing this one. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I had to change the database and preferences format to accomodate feature requests. The good news is that this release is a major feature upgrade from release 1, thanks primarily to the great feedback I got from users! Keep it up! Bugs fixed in this release: - If an app was deleted, LaunchPad would leave a 'hole' in the apps list where that app used to be. Fixed. New features in this release: - The much-requested apps button hack so that LaunchPad can completely replace the default launcher. IMPORTANT: If you use LaunchPad as your default launcher but then decide to delete it later, uncheck the 'use as default' preference BEFORE deleting LaunchPad. Not doing so will require a SOFT reset before your Pilot is usable again. - Equally requested speed improvements- you now have the option to turn off LaunchPad's new apps scan at startup. To go along with this feature, I've added a 'Refresh apps' option under the Apps menu. - Tab names can now be up to 11 characters in length - Option to scroll a page at a time, rather than a line at a time. - Option to not switch tabs when moving apps. - Option to always start on tab 0. - Date/time display is now toggled in-place, rather than showing an alert with the current date and time. - Battery power can be toggled between voltage and a power bar. 4/15/1997 Initial public release