FPS Utility Pro 4.1 Manual
Copyright © 1996-1999 Fighter Pilot Software, All Rights Reserved.

 

Denotes a feature that is disabled or limited in the demo version.


Denotes items that could result in data loss if used incorrectly. Know what you are doing here.

The steadfast number 1 general utility program for the Palm Computing Platform.

FPS Utility is Palm III Certified*. FPS Utility provides you with quick access to a large number of 'Utility' functions and information on your Palm Computing Platform handheld device. Some of the functionality already exists on your handheld. FPS Utility provides you with 'one stop shopping' for this in formation and is in most cases 'faster' and 'easier' to get at than on the device via the OS.


What's new in this version ?

Version 4.0 continues the progressive upgrade life cycle of this mainstay utility. Since it's release, (version 1.0) in 1996, there have been 5 upgrades. All of which have been FREE upgrades to registered users. Version 4.0 is a significant upgrade in both compatibility, and features. Version 4.0 was a complete rewrite from version 3.5.1. This rewrite reduced the application size by 2k and increased functionality in a number of ways. For information on upgrade pricing and to see if version 4.0 is a free upgrade for you. Jump to the section: Upgrade Information.

As always, please refer to the accompanied file entitled 'ReadMe.txt' for any last minute changed, additions, erata, etc.

Some of the new features include:


Main Screen (The Good Stuff)

The Main Screen gives you quick and dirty vital statistics about your Palm Computing Platform Device. The memory display and battery display are updated about every 2 seconds.

 

 

 

 

 


Memory Free is presented as total K free. Keep in mind we are getting the raw free space from the card statistics. This does not take into account the 46 or so K used by the system which is not available for storage. More card information is available by tapping on the Card Info Button:

At present, all Palm devices only have 1 card, card 0. We query and report information on this card.


The Battery Display shows you the current voltage to 100th of a volt, the Warning level and the Critical voltage level. The Warning Level and the Critical Voltage level are adjustable by taping on the Battery button:

The Warning levels are defined as follows: Low Voltage: When your voltage level reaches this level, the Palm OS will warn you it's time to start thinking about changing the batteries. You can adjust this but it's not recommended ;-) Critical Voltage: If your batteries get this low, the device will refuse to operate. There's just enough juice to keep the memory alive. You can change this too, but it's not recommended or supported ;-0. You are on your own if you mess with this one.


The OS Version string displayed includes all 'parts' Tap the OS Version label for the explanation of the individual parts. (screen shots taken in PalmOS Emulator 2.0b23:


The sleep time of a device is a little more customizable than the preferences application. We've added 4, 5, 10 minutes and Never. Please be careful with *Never*. It will leave your device on and can drain your batteries over a night or two. If you open the standard preferences application the sleep time will be changed back to the default of 2 minutes. Other programs change the setting to but don't restore the original value.


Times: FPS Utility counts and displays 2 timers. Timer 1 is the battery life timer. It's a manually resetable timer that keeps track of the powered on time since you changed your batteries. The display is in Days:Hours:Minutes:Seconds. Tap the Icon to reset the timer to zero. Handy if you want to see track how long your batteries last and how much you used your device during the life of those batteries.

The Power on time since last reset is exactly that. There is a counter in the device that is reset every time you reset the device. Handy if your a general user. Pretty useless if you are a developer or poser user that installs a boat load of poopy applications and/or hacks that force resets all the time (read crash). You can reset this timer with a paper clip (in the back) or by installing something that crashes and forces a reset.


HotSync Info button, pops us a simple screen that displays: (1) HotSync name of the device, some application authors generate serial numbers on this information. (2) the serial number of 3.0 and newer devices (3) the date and time of the last HotSync operation. Again, all of this information exists on the device now in other areas, FPS Utility just provides easier access to it.
The Reset and Debugger buttons:
Reset button, performs a soft reset on the device. The should cause no data loss, but will reset record attributes so you can delete a left open database or record. The Palm OS has 4 reboot modes: (1
) Simple
  1. Warm Boot (tapping the button):
    Same as pushing a paper clip in the small hole in the back with out pushing any buttons.
  2. (2) HARD Boot
    Reset while holding the green power button down. The pilot will be erased and reset to the out of the box condition.
  3. (3) Extensions Off
    Not it's real name, but close enough. Reboot and hold the "up" button on the front of the unit. The System will load but will not notify any applications or load any patches or updates. Good for disabling hackmaster and other patches for deletion.
  4. (4) Debugger Mode
    Reboot and hold the bottom "down" button. The device will enter the debugger mode (small square will flash in the upper left corner).

The Debugger Button: similar to number 4, but simply opens the serial port (same as writing a shortcut .. 2). You'll only use this if you are a developer. If not, don't use it. The serial port drains the pilot at a higher rate. A clue the serial port is open is that HotSync no longer functions. Reset the device with the reset button to close it.


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Contents

List Screen (The Really Good Stuff)

The List Screen displays the list of items (databases) on the device. Under the Palm OS everything is a database. In the first view they are listed in the order the items were installed or created. That is from item 0 to the number of items. The list is sortable (a much asked for feature, but we'll get to that in a minute). The list is broken down into 3 columns. Column 1, is a check box that represents the status of the 'backup bit'. The backup bit is the bit responsible for telling HotSync to make a backup of this item. Normally this should be off for faster sync times. But if the item changed, you want to create a newer backup on your desktop. Flipping this bit will do that. Column 2 is the name of the item and column 3 is definable. Column (3) can display any of the following about an item: Its Type code, Creator Code, Size rounded up to the nearest K, number of records, Backup Bit status, RAM/ROM location, Backup Date, Creation Date, Copy Bit Status, and Modification Date.

NOTE: Items that are in FLASH or ROM (Read Only Memory) are not changeable in any way by FPS Utility.

On the bottom of the screen is a row of buttons. Specifically in this order: Info (?), Delete, Beam, and Export. Each does one thing in particular. (see below).


Sorting: The list (as displayed) can be sorted any of the following ways: Alphabetically by Name, Type Creator, Ascending by Size, Creation Date, Backup Date, Modification Date. This is useful for locating items. What's really using up all my space ? Sort by Size. How many databases does foo application create ? Sort by Creator. NOTE: Sorting can take time ! When you select a sort order you are warned that this could take a while. Sorting a 130 items has taken upwards of 40 seconds to sort on a Palm III. While sorting the following dialog is presented on the screen:

Please wait... The Iteration: is a count of calls to the compare function. Because we've implemented the scroll bar we've elected not to offer ascending descending selection. Just scroll the top or bottom. The sorting functionality is using the QuickSort algorithm provided in the Palm OS. The algorithm is optimized to fall back to the Insertion sort if it thinks it will be faster. We didn't reinvent the wheel here.

Statistically speaking... Sorting 46 items by size made 138 calls to our compare function which then made 276 calls to Dm routines to retrieve the information about the database and make the compare. The DM routines are the time 'expensive' routines. While I'm here I might as well tell you that the hard coded limit in FPS Utility is 1200 database items at this time. As more memory becomes available and more items are available for devices we'll revise this. (special thanks to rflores, krollin, bebert at Palm for their work on the Profiler version of PalmOSEmulator to provide this information).


Backup Bits: The check box in the list represents the status of the backup bit for that item. Tapping it in the list will toggle the backup bit if the item is not 'busy' or in ROM/Flash. Item for which the backup bit is set are backed up each and every Hotsync. While it's a good idea to back everything up once in a while, doing so for every HotSync would be very time consuming. If you want total control and maximum flexibility with backup bits, we recommend BackupBuddy by Alexander Hinds.

We do offer a few quick and dirty ways to toggle all or some of the bits through menu choices.

Select All turns the all 'On'
Select All type 'appl' selects all applications.
Select All type non 'appl' attempts to select data objects but will also get system updates, hacks, etc.
Select None turns them all 'Off'


 Button Bar: The buttons at the bottom act on the currently selected item in the list. The work as follows:

Info Button: Displays the current selected item information in the Detail Screen.

Trash Button: Deletes the current selected item and/or its associated databases (see Deleting Stuff).

Beam Button: Beams the current selected item IF it is not Copy Protected.

Export Button: Exports the current selected items detail information to an 'Unfilled' MemoPad Record. If no item is selected, you are taken to the export Screen. (See Exporting Lists).


Deleting Stuff

If the current selected item is an application (type 'appl'). You'll be prompted for which part or parts to delete:

You may choose to delete just the application, its preferences from BOTH the saved and unsaved preferences databases and any other items that have a matching creator. If you want to play with this feature there is an application that is distributed with FPS Utility Pro called 'DataMaker' This simple application creates a preference record in both the saved and unsaved preferences and creates a couple of empty databases using the creator 'FPDM' When you run it tells you everything it couldn't find and that it created.


Beaming Stuff
Tapping the beam button will queue up the current database to be beamed to another device. FPS Utility transmits the database item (application, or database) to the Application launcher of the other device. If the author of the program has set the copy protect flag on his application or database we honor that setting.
Exporting Stuff
If an item is selected, its detail information is exported to a MemoPad record in the 'unfilled' category: Sample Export of single item:

If nothing is selected, FPS Utility will export a list of all items on the device detailing the attributes you select:

Note: Exporting full detail information will result in multiple MemoPad Records. Name is not an option it is always exported. The item number and progress of the export is displayed at the bottom.


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Contents

Detail Screen (The Fun Stuff)

The Detail Screen displays most of the detail items about a database. Name, Icon, Creator, Type, Creation Date, Modification Date, Backup Date (if any), Total size, Data size, Number of records, Version, Database ID number, Record/Resource database type, Read Only Status, Backup Bit, Memory Location (ROM/RAM), CopyBit status (beamable or not).

Editable items include () Name, Type, Creator. If the item is not editable (that is it's locked, busy, or in ROM/Flash the fields won't be editable. Changes made to the name, type and/or creator are not saved until you tap the save button. Changing the name, type or creator can be handy, but costly if care is not taken. Most applications locate their databases by type/creator or by name. Changing these generally breaks the relationship between the data and the application. Some applications are self modifying and will also locate themselves in the same way. Be careful with this.

The Res DB, indicate that the database item is a resource database. Applications are resource databases. Most databases are record based databases.


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Contents

Preferences Screen

The preferences screen allows you to control some of the functionality of FPS Utility Pro.

Checking the Disable Debugger Button checkbox will disable the debugger button on the main screen so you don't accidentally open the serial port and cause unessecary battery drain. Most individuals won't use the debugger button anyway and should probably turn this on.

Battery Refresh Interval sets the amount of time the battery display rotates between percent and voltage on the main screen.

Disable warnings... Turns off nearly all non-error warnings. If you are comfortable with all FPS Utility functionality and don't want to be warned you should turn this on.


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Contents

Registration Information
FPS Utility Pro is Shareware.

If you use it you should pay for it. The cost is $15.00 (US).

FPS Utility may be purchased/registered directly through (in order of preference):

Infinity Softworks, Inc
sales@infinitysw.com on thier site: www.infinitysw.com

PalmPilot Gear HQ
www.pilotgear.com

or with Fighter Pilot Software, LLC (FPS) via our web site:
www.fps.com/pilot/

or through any of the online resellers that carry our products.

For the latest registration information, see the file titled: README.TXT with this distribution.

Currently FPS Utility is available in (2) flavors. The demo version and the registered version. The registered version includes all of the functionality listed in the documentation. The demo version has the items flagged as:disabled. Upon registration, you'll either be sent the registered product or given a location on the web to download the registered version. You should always delete any prior demo version before installing the registered version. For information on installing 3rd party products, see your Palm Desktop documentation.


Upgrade Information.
Fighter Pilot Software, LLC prides itself on customer support and satisfaction. We work very hard to make sure you're satisfied. For the most part, our upgrade policy is industry standard:

    Fighter Pilot Software provides minor upgrades (1.0 to 1.1, 1.2 to 1.5, etc) for free for a period of one year from the date of purchase. We provide any major upgrades (1.0 to 2.0), for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase.

Even though that is our written policy, we've never enforced it or taken advantage of it. To date all upgrade to FPS Utility Pro (since version 1.0 January 1997) have been FREE to all users. Versions release have been 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and now 3.5.x)

Starting with version 4 we'll get a little closer the the real world. Version 4.0 will be a FREE upgrade for all users who registered FPS Utility (any version) on or after June 1, 1998. The current shipping version at that time was version 2.5.1

The upgrade price for users who fall before that date is $7.50 about the cost of a movie ticket. Upgrades must be handled through Fighter Pilot Software, LLC. Our distributors don't have a reliable method of tracking when you bought especially if you bought direct from FPS, LLC. or another distributor, and quite frankly, the overhead in processing simply isn't worth the hassle for either of us.

If you're not sure you qualify for the upgrade simply send us a note and we'll let you know.

Support Information:

We worked pretty hard to make sure this version was the best to date. We're fairly confident that it is bug free. If you do run into a problem with FPS Utility Pro we'd like to hear about it. If you have ideas or suggestions, we'd like to hear about those too.

For bugs, please fill out the bug report form on the fps web site and/or send an e-mail to: bugs@fps.com.
Please keep in mind that FPS Utility is shareware. While we'd love to, we simply can't support it over the phone at this time. If you have an urgent need please send an e-mail and follow up with a fax to: (513) 583-0303.

Upgrade Policy: Since its creation, FPS Utility has undergone many revisions and changes. To date we have not charged for any of these upgrades (1.0 through 3.5.1). FPS Utility 4 is the first to break that tradition. If you've purchased version 3.x in the last 4 months (120 Days), we'll provide this version for free. Upgrades from prior version or purchases made prior to 120 days before the release are $7.95 (US) and can only be placed through Fighter Pilot Software at this time. You may use our web site, and/or fax your order. As with version 3.5.x FPS Utility no longer requires a serial number. The registered version is self modifying, though it is compatible with Flash installations.

 

Redistribution Information:

FPS Utility Pro (Demo) may be redistributed at will with the following restrictions:
(1) It must travel with the current html documentation and all artwork (what you are reading now)
(2) The README.TXT document must also travel.
(3) You may not charge for the redistribution of FPS Utility Pro beyond a reasonable media fee.
(4) If you plan to include FPS Utility Pro on any 'Shareware collection', Book, or Archive CD, you must obtain written permission from FPS, LLC. The normal and customary charge for this service is 3 copies of the material for our records and enjoyment. You must also clearly state on the package that FPS Utility Pro is a demo version, and that the user must pay the shareware fee in order to obtain the full registered version.

 

Version Information

Version 4.0 to 4.1
+ Additions:
+ Added Preferences Screen:
+ Disable Debugger Button (the average user just doesn't need this)
+ Made battery flash volts/percent user definable
+ Added preference to disable extra warnings (sort time warning, etc.)

- Bugs Fixed:
- Battery voltage/percentage flash rate. Extra attention is paid to the nil events we key off of. There are hacks out there that generate nil events at a rate that killed our timing. We've now worked around these.
- HotSync info will not crash pre S 3.0 devices any more.
- List selection, list position and sort order is now remembered after visiting the info screen.:
- Scrollbar in list form now actively scrolls the list.
- Other misc. fixes.

Copyright 1996-1999 Fighter Pilot Software, LLC (FPS) All Rights Reserved.
Fighter Pilot Software, LLC
3116-C W. Montgomery Rd #222
Maineville, OH 45039
Voice: 513.583.0707 Fax: 513.583.0303
e-mail: info@fps.com
www.fps.com/pilot/