AOL & Your Palm Pilot - Pocket Press

A FEW TIPS & TRICKS FOR USING
YOUR PALM WITH AOL

THE PALM EMULATOR

The first Palm emulator, like so many other PDA apps and utilities, was the creation of a PDA enthusiast. Greg Hewgill's original emulator was called CoPilot. It was

so popular and so useful that Palm quickly assumed its development and support (and changed its name from the clever and evocative CoPilot to the pedestrian POSE - Palm OS Emulator; at least Palm has retained CoPilot's jaunty icon.)

The emulator is a desktop image of a Palm, without the operating system (which is usually referred to as a ROM). To download ROM images, you must first register with Palm as a developer. However, if you own a Palm OS PDA, you also own a licensed ROM image. Every copy of the Palm emulator comes with a utility for transferring a copy of your own Palm's ROM to the POSE. Once you upload your ROM, the POSE is fully functional.

Although Palm promotes the emulator as a developer's tool, anyone can download it. The most recent version of POSE (which is free) for both the Macintosh and Windows is always posted on the Palm Developer Zone page at :

http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/tools/emulator/

Why would a non-programmer want a desktop version of the Palm? It actually has practical, everyday uses. Plus it is fun to play with.

For instance, if you are addicted to shareware, you can try running it first on the Palm Emulator. If it doesn't crash there, it probably won't crash your Palm.

Anyone can use the screen capture capabilities of POSE to obtain images of applications running on the Palm. With an image editor, you can also capture pictures of the Palm (case, hardware buttons and all - not just the screen) as well as the application. POSE Skins make it possible to change the look from a generic Palm to a Palm V to a Palm IIIC to a Palm VII to a Handspring Visor, as long as you have compatible ROMs. This is a real boon to Palm web site owners.

Who knows? You might even use the POSE to test simple apps you've created yourself with the PDA Toolkit or Satellite forms.


Three Emulator Screen Grabs
WITH GRAYSCALE BACKGROUND	A IIIC SCREEN GRAB	WITH WHITE BACKGROUND OPTION

GENERIC PALM EMULATOR (BACK LIGHT OFF)	EMULATOR WITH PALM IIIC SKIN	EMULATOR WITH PALM Vx SKIN (BACK LIGHT ON)
Three Views of the Palm Emulator

USING THE PALM EMULATOR

Using the Palm Emulator is almost as intuitive as using the Palm itself. After you download and install the software on your PC, you HotSync a small, included file called "ROM Transfer.prc" to your Palm (not the emulator). This will allow you to upload a ROM image (that's the Palm's operating system) to the POSE. Leave your Palm in the HotSync cradle, and go back to your PC. Start the emulator. You will get a StartUp dialog box asking whether you want to start a new session, open a previous session, download a ROM, or exit. Click on the "Download a ROM image from a Palm OS device" button and follow the on screen instructions.

On your desktop, the POSE works just like a real Palm. You can click on the silkscreen or the hardware buttons (including contrast and power buttons) with your mouse. Use your mouse to drag the cursor around the Graffiti area and you're writing. (Graffiti haters can use the PC keyboard for text entry instead.)

There are also some desktop only tricks. (I have only used the Windows version of the emulator. All desktop information is PC specific. Although I assume Mac users can achieve the same effects and results, I can't tell you how to do it.) Right click anywhere on the emulator screen. A pop up context menu will allow you to install applications, change the size of the emulator or the appearance of its screen, capture screen shots, even hot sync it with your own Palm's data.

CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE

To install an application, right click on the screen. From the context menu, click on "Install Application/Database." Another window will open. Click on "Other" and navigate to wherever the PRC file is stored on your PC's hard drive. If you install an app while the Launcher is open, you may find that the new application doesn't
show up on the Launcher's App screen. You can cycle through the screens (All, Main, System, etc) or do a soft reset (right click, "Reset").

To change the size of the emulator as it appears on your monitor, right click anywhere on the POSE screen. Click on "Settings," then "Skins." Check or uncheck the "Double Scale" box. If you are using a gray scale ROM and find it difficult to read on your PC, you can change the screen to black and white here as well. Check the "White Background" checkbox for a plain black and white screen on the emulator.

CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE

Two other commands on the context menu might be useful to non-developers: "Export Database..." and "HotSync." Say, as an example, that you've installed HanDBase and a HanDBase database on your emulator. You intended to use the database just to test out the POSE, but in the course of playing with it, you added information. Now you realize you want to preserve that version of the database, rather than re-entering the same information on your Palm. Right click on the POSE screen. Click on "Export database..." You'll see a list of all PDB files on the

CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE

emulator. Find your HanDBase database, click on it, and click "OK." For safety's sake, you might want to save it in a separate location from the original and make a back up copy of the original file. HotSync it to your Palm, open it with HanDBase and make sure the information is correct. If something has gone wrong (unlikely, but not impossible), you'll still have the back up of the original database in your C:/Palm/username/Backup folder.

HotSyncing the POSE involves a few more steps than a normal HotSync, but it is the simplest way to transfer your Datebook, AddressBook, ToDo, and MemoPad information to the emulator, should you ever wish to do so. Before you begin, make a backup copy of your Palm data!!! If, for some reason, your PC or the POSE crashes during this process, you could corrupt your data. Save a copy of your C:\Palm\username folder elsewhere on your PC (or a zip drive) in case disaster strikes.

A POSE HotSync requires the Palm Emulator v 3.0a6 or higher and the Palm IIIX ROM or higher.

1. First, tap on the HotSync icon on the Emulator.
2. Tap "Modem" (above HotSync Button)
3. Click on the silkscreen Menu button (bottom left of Palm)
4. From the menu, click on "Modem Sync Prefs..."
5. Select "Network" and then "OK"
6. Click on "LanSync Prefs..."
7. Click "LANSync" then "OK"
8. Click on "Primary PC Setup"
9. For Primary PC Address, enter '127.0.0.1' (without quotes)
10. Leave the other two fields blank
11. Click On "Select Service" (below HotSync Button)
12. Click on any of the Services - you shouldn't need to enter or change any information.
     - 'User Name' - leave blank
     - 'Password' - leave on 'Prompt'
     - 'Connection' = 'Current'
     - 'Phone' - leave blank
13. Click on 'Details' Button
     - 'Connection Type' = 'PPP'
     - 'Idle Timeout' = 'Power Off'
     - 'Query DNS' = checked
     - 'IP Address' = checked - 'Automatic'
14. Right click on the emulator screen
15. Select "Settings", then click on "Properties"
     - 'Serial Port' = None
     - Check 'Redirect NetLib calls to Host TCP/IP'
16. Fill in the Hot Sync user name - use anything you want, it doesn't need to match your user name
17. Right click on the HotSync Logo in the task bar on your PC.
18. Click on "Network." A check mark should now appear next to Network and next to Local.
19. Click on "Setup..." and then click on the Network tab.
20. Check your user name as the Primary PC for performing a Network HotSync.
21. Go back to the Palm Emulator and click on the silkscreen menu button.
22. Click on "Conduit Setup..."
23. Uncheck any databases that you don't want transferred to the POSE.
24. Click on button in HotSync program on the emulator to initiate the sync.

Click for larger images

That's it. You can save this (or any) emulator session and all the data by right clicking and choosing "Save" or "Save as..." If you exit the emulator without saving, the next time you open an emulator session, it will be as though you've performed a Hard Reset, but without the angst.

This article first appeared in Pocket Press, a weekly newsletter for PDA users.

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A FEW TIPS & TRICKS FOR USING YOUR PALM WITH AOL

A FEW TIPS & TRICKS FOR USING
YOUR PALM WITH AOL