GConsole Manul

GConsoleContents What'S New Description UnInstall Order Update Links Background Tested Hardware Known Issues Version History Legal Disclaimer

MsgBoard

V1.5.0

GConsole

Copyright (c)2001 Ji,Wendi. All rights reserved.
email:wendiji@yahoo.com

WARNING
READ THIS FILE CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU INSTALL AND USE THIS PROGRAM!

Contents

This ZIP archive contains the following files:

GConsole.prc or GConsoleDemo.prc

console.html

What's New

Graphic Battery Usage
Add Hide/ReadOnly attributes to file view
Fixed the bug when defrag m505 memory

Description

GConsole is mainly developed to let you control features of your organizer which are not available from 'Prefs'. Currently it supports the following features:

Battery

You can change your battery type here. In Palm OS prior to 4.0, system will not check the battery type which means if you change your battery to wrong type, your organizer may turn off immediately. For example, if you set battery type to lion in Palm IIIxe. If this happens, don't worry, just soft reset your organizer.

Live time of battery is recorded (needs OS 3.5 or above) and drawn as two curves - percent curve and voltage curve. You can toggle between them by press "%" or "V".

When showing percent curve, the following usage data are reported:

OnTimes: how many times you turn on/off your device
OnDays: how many days last since you replace the battery
OnTime: total power on time of your device
Average: average use time

When showing voltage curve, the following voltages are reported:

V now: current voltage
V Warn: If voltage is below this value, system shows a warning message.
V Critical: If voltage is below this value, system is turned off immediately. Now you MUST replace your battery.

Note:

I use the following condition to judge if your battery is replaced: the battery usage jumps from less than 20% to above 90% again
After you replace the battery, system needs several seconds to measure the battery usage.

You can also change auto-off timer here which is from 1 second to 18 hours or turn off auto-off feature by setting it to 0. And this timer value is restored after reset.

Note:

demon version can only set auto-off time from 1s to 99s and not restore it after reset.
demon version only shows how many days your battery lives and no log function.

Memory

It shows some information of main memory card.

It also shows the detailed usage of your memory:

Rom/Flash total size and free size. Please note that free size is for information only. To use it, you must have flash writable program.
Ram size: this value means the physical capabilities of your ram. Ram is not used directly, instead, it's devided into two parts:
- File Ram: used to store you data and program. This part is anlogue to hard disk in desktop computer.
- App Ram: used to run application. If this part is lack, your program can not run.

NOTE:

As far as I know that all flash writable programs use their own way to manage the free size, this number will remain unchanged even if it's used by these programs.
I only tested Memory function on my Palm IIIxe.

File

It shows list of files in main board RAM and ROM. You can select multiple files from list at same time. If you want to select one application and all it's associated data, just select the application and then press the question mark button.

File can be sort by it's name/size/creator/type. To sort files by name, simply tap the 'Name' button. If you tap it again, files will be sort in opposite direction.

You can also search file by typing it's name. For example, if you want to find a file starts with 'g' or 'G', just type 'g' (search is caseless) then list will scroll down to show the first file start with 'g' or 'G'. Type '/' or return will search again to next page. If you know the exact file name, then type it directly and file will automatically pop up. For example, type 'gconsole' will bring you to 'GConsole' or 'GConsole-Data'. Typing '-' or delete to remove last character from match pattern.

After you select the files, you can delete/beam them or change the attributes of them. For safe reasons, files created by 'psys' can not be deleted. GConsole and it's data can not be deleted too.

Five attributes are showed at the first column: 'Database Type', 'Backup', 'Copy Protection', 'Read Only' and 'Hide':

'Database Type' is for information only and currently shows three types of databases:
- 'p': program with extension '.prc'
- 'd': data with extension '.pdb'
- 'q': web page with type '.pqa'
'Backup': if set then the file can NOT be backed up to desktop when HotSync
'Copy Protection': if set then the file can NOT can be copied to other Palm Device by means of IR beaming
'Read Only': if set then the file can not be deleted
'Hide': if set then the file will not be shown in launcher

NOTE:

Files in ROM can not be deleted in this version.
Multi selection/search/sort has no effect in Demo version.

System

It shows the OS version, HotSync name and user id of your organizer, date when last HotSync was done, the model of CPU, system frequence.

Be careful. Since the system frequence influences the whole system, not only the CPU, change it may cause your organizer works unstable. So save your data before doing so.

In 1.4.2 or above, add support of auto-locking device. If the checkbox is checked, system will ask for password every time the device turns on.

Note:

demon version can only set frequence to 16MHz or 20MHz or 33MHz.
demon version can not auto-lock device

LCD

You can change LCD's brightness/contrast here if your organizer supports this feature and OS is not prior to 3.5. You can also change display mode here. If your device has backlight, then you can switch between 'Normal' and 'Inverting' backlight (since emulator has only 'Normal' backlight display, I test this function on my Palm IIIxe only).

Backlight state is remembered when turn off deivce and will be restored when power on or reset automatically. Well, this is just a bonus for m505 users.

Note:

if a feature is not supported by the device, the related control is disabled. For example, m505 does not support software adjustment of contrast and brightness, so the two sliders are disabled.
demon version can not change display mode.
brightness/contrast value of demon version is from 0 to 160.
some users want to adjust contrast of m505. It seems that this model's hardware does not support software adjustment of contrast.
The followings are the models I've tested:

model	brightness	contrast
III	NO	NO
IIIxe	NO	NO
IIIc	YES	NO
V	NO	YES
Vx	NO	YES
M100	NO	YES
M505	NO	NO
Visor	NA	NA
TRGpro	NO	NO
Clie710c	YES	NO
HandEra 330	NO	YES

Currently, there are three menu items:

'Start Log' or 'Stop Log'. When you select 'Start Log', some operation will be logged to memo pad with name 'GConsole Log'. If you do not want to log anything, select 'Stop Log'.

Note:
- menu text will be automatically changed according to current log state
- if you leave the log file open or selected then no info logged because the log file is locked by system
- IIIc with OS 3.5 will erase old log file
- Demo version does not support log

'CleanUp'. This command is used to reset all value to default and unhook from system notification chain.
Note:
Registered version of GConsole will restore itself after a reset. So, if you meet problems, do a 'CleanUp'.
'About...'. Show some copyright and contact info.

General(new)

Add recovery mechanism:

if something wrong with one feature, then next time GConsole will show next feature. For example, if 'Memory' goes dead, 'File' will be shown after reset and re-start GConsole
leave system alone when hard reset
reset to default config after soft reset (with page up button holding down)

Also make GConsole runnable in flash, i.e. it can be put into flash now.

Note:

Demo version has not these two features

UnInstall

Before uninstall GConsole, please select 'CleanUp' from menu. If you meet problems when HotSync, also do a 'CleanUp'.

Order Info

If you want an full functional version, please go to:
http://store.yahoo.com/pilotgearsw/jiwendi.html
Or you can order via phone or fax:
tel: 817.640.6558
fax: 817.640.6614

Update Info

The registered version will be emailed to PalmGear. Please go to the order info to get the updated version.

Once the registered version is updated by PalmGear, I'll update demo version in PalmGear's shareware list page by myself.

IT'S BETTER FOR YOU TO RESTORE CPU FREQUENCE AND DELETE OLD VERSION (PRIOR TO 1.10) BEFORE INSTALL NEW VERSION.

Links

PalmGear
Palm Boulevard
G+J Computer Channel
Palmpie.com

Background

When I bought a Palm IIIxe, I use NiMH battery and found it works for a really short time. I read the SDK and found the organizer has different settings for different battery type. I decided to write a little program to show and set battery type. After that, I found there are some other interesting features of Palm OS. I added them to this program that becomes GConsole. I'll keep adding new features to it until it becomes too big, lets' say, more than 40KB.

Tested Hardware

OS Version	Devices Tested
3.1	Visor
3.5	IIIx, IIIxe, IIIc, V, Vx, M100, Clie710c, TRGPro, HandEra 330
4.0	III, IIIx, IIIc, V, Vx, M505

Known Issues

Version History

1.5.0 (11/02/2001)

Graphic Battery Usage
Add Hide/ReadOnly attributes to file view
Fixed the bug when defrag m505 memory

1.4.3 (10/18/2001)

Graphic memory usage report
Can Change OS Version

1.4.2 (10/16/2001)

Add recovery mechanism
Auto remember/restore backlight state
Auto lock device
Can move into flash
Fixed bug on showing memory info on m505
Fixed some minor bugs

1.4.0 (10/03/2001)

File display in color
Quick search file
Add new database type attribute
Show additional file creator/type info
Remember last file state

1.3.1 (09/11/2001)

Show wait icon when defrag memory
Disable contrast/brightness slider if it's not supported by device
Restore auto-off timer after reset
Fixed bug on beam

1.3.0 (08/01/2001)

Add 'File' Tag
Delete/Beam Multiple files
Change Files' attributes
Sort file according to file name or size
Select files by creator
Fixed the bug of erasing HotSync log after changing User Name

1.2.0 (07/07/2001)

Rename to "GConsole"
Will not crash when JackFlash is used
Supports of changing CPU frequence in color devices.
Show ROM/FLASH total/free size more accurately
Fixed bug that CPU frequence is restored after HotSync.

1.1.0 (06/11/2001)

Record battery life time.
Add 'CleanUp' menu which is used to release application data before delete this program.
Shows CPU frequence in all kinds of devices.
Change backlight type and turn on backlight automatically.
Battery usage and CPU frequence is logged to memo pad with name "GConsole Log".

1.0.4 (06/02/2001)

Shows if device supports backlight or not.
Make icon colorful

1.0.3 (06/01/2001)

Corrected the crash problem in color devices
Merge 'CPU' and 'IDs' tags to 'SYS' tag.
Hide CPU frequence control in color devices.

1.0.2 (06/01/2001)

Make a workaround so program will not crash if 'CPU' tag is NOT selected on color machines.
Also add a '20MHz' item for CPU frequence.

This version only works on monochromic device.

1.0.1 (05/31/2001)

Make it run at OS 3.0 or above.
LCD brightness/contrast adjustment controls are hide in OS prior to 3.5
Fix a bug in LCD display when HotSync in Visor.

This version only works on monochromic device.

1.0.0 (05/30/2001)

Initial Release

Legal Disclaimer

THE AUTHOR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY FOR THIS SOFTWARE. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE REMAINS WITH YOU.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

THE AUTHOR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN THE CONTENT OF THIS SOFTWARE.