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-
- 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.
- - <Your Idea Here> - 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
-
-