...my digital hub on the world wide web.

+ my writings and my work.

Archive for April, 2006

AutoSync Your Palm

Published on April 27, 2006 in Palm

Tam Hanna is a well known Palm blogger and contributor to several Palm based forums and news sites. Under the name of Tamoggemon Software, he has created a product which is inteded to make life easier for a Palm user that docks their handheld on a frequent basis. AutoSync is a multi-functional utility that peforms several functions when it detects your Palm is docked in the cradle or charger. These functions can be individually enabled or disabled. They include:

1. AutoSync will automatically start the Hotsync process when your Palm when is connected to the cradle.
2. AutoSync will allow you to set specific settings with regards to IR (Infrared receiving), sound and screen brightness.

AutoSync is a simple and easy program to run. No frills here, but that is not its purpose. It does what it is supposed to and does it well. If you find yourself always hot syncing your Palm when you dock it (or always forget to hot sync your Palm) and/or would prefer to have different sound and screen settings when the Palm is in the cradle, I would recommend giving AutoSync a try. It just may make your life a little easier.

AutoSync for the Palm

AutoSync will work on newer Palm handhelds. I have tested and ran it fine on my Palm T3. AutoSync is shareware with a 14 day evaluation period. If you decide to register it a copy can be purchased at Palmgear.

Word Monaco for the Palm

Published on April 25, 2006 in Palm

Smart Box Design, makers of such games as Farkle and Word Pop, have announced a new game called Word Monaco. Word Monaco is a combination solitaire and word game. The layout of Word Monaco is a lot like a Klondike solitaire game. You start off with all of the cards, except for the top one on each pile, being face down. You uncover the cards one by one my moving the face up card onto other cards and making words. If you are able to make words from every single card you win the game.

Word Monaco is made of of three different word games with special cards and minimum word lengths added to some to make the game more challenging. Each game has an easy, medium and hard decks of cards making Word Monaco enjoyable for both the novice and the pro.

Like the other games from Smart Box Design, the presentation of Word Monaco on the Palm is outstanding. The graphics are very crisp and clean and the sound effects are not overwhelming, adding nicely to the game’s atmosphere. While Word Pop remaines my favorite Smart Box Design game, Word Monaco is very addicting and entertaining. It is well worth the few dollars you will have to drop to get it. Word Monaco will be available in the beginning of May. If you cannot wait until then, you can download a sneak preview now.

See my Farkle review here.

Word Monaco

Updating ZLauncher Themes

Published on April 24, 2006 in Palm

Over the last few years ZZTechs has made many additions and modifications to the ZLauncher theme structure. As a result, many of the old available themes do not include some of the functionality that a newer theme may include. For example, if you are a Treo user, you will not find the wireless signal indicators in many of the old themes. Fortunately, if you are a Windows user, it is not hard to add the additional functionality you need to an older ZLauncher theme.

Enhancing a old ZLauncher theme requires the use of a free piece of software from Robert Eaton entitled PFCD. Download this piece of software, the newest version of ZLauncher from ZZTech, and the theme you are looking to change. For this example we will use the Plass theme by halamjin available from 1src, adding the ZLauncher wireless signal indicators to the theme. Once we have acquired the necessary software, we can begin creating our modified ZLauncher theme. While the steps below may look imposing at first, give them a try, they are really straight forward. It will not take you long to get the hang of it.

The steps are as follows:

1. Extract PFCD to your computer using a piece of compression software (some good software to unzip files is located at File Hippo). I choose to unzip PFCD to C:\PFCD, you may wish to unzip it into your Program Files directory.

2. In the PFCD directory create two new directories: ZLBuild and ZLDefault.

3. Extract the ZLauncher theme file (ZLT_AquawoodXP_Hi_64K.prc), from the ZLauncher archive you downloaded, into C:\PFCD\ZLDefault.

4. Extract the Plass theme into C:\PFCD\ZLBuild.

5. Open PFCD.

6. Decompile the default ZLauncher Theme, it should be located in C:\PFCD\ZLDefault, changing the following text boxes from their defaults:
Input File: C:\PFCD\ZLDefault\ZLT_AquawoodXP_Hi_64K.prc
Bitmap Output Directory: C:\PFCD\ZLDefault
RCP File Name: ZLDefault

Then click on the ‘Extract’ button.

ZL Theme Decompile

7. Decompile the Plass theme changing the following text boxes from their defaults:
Input File: C:\PFCD\ZLBuild\ZLT_Plass_OS5_64K.prc
Bitmap Output Directory: C:\PFCD\ZLBuild
RCP File Name: ZLBuild

Then click on the ‘Extract’ button.

8. Copy the wireless bitmaps from the ZLDefault directory to the ZLBuild directory. You will need to copy over bitmaps Tbmp5620-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5621-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5622-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5623-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5624-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5625-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5626-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5627-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5628-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5629-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5630-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5630-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5632-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5633-8-d144.bmp, and Tbmp5634-8-d144.bmp, Tbmp5635-8-d144.bmp.

This will add the ZLauncher default wireless bitmaps to the new theme. This may not always look the best. If you want you can edit any of the images you copied over to better match the theme you are recreating.

9. Using a text editor, such as Notepad, edit the .rcp file in the ZLBuild directory, adding the wirless bitmap entries from the .rcp file in the ZLDefault directory. For this example you will need to use BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5620 through BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5635. Place the necessary entries in their numerical order in the ZLBuild.rcp file.

—————————–
BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5620
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5620-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5621
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5621-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5622
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5622-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5623
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5623-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5624
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5624-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5625
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5625-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5626
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5626-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5627
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5627-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5628
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5628-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5629
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5629-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5630
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5630-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5631
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5631-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5632
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5632-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5633
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5633-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 5635
BEGIN
BITMAP “Tbmp5635-8-d144.bmp” BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENTINDEX 5
END
—————————–

10. Compile the new Plass theme by changing the default RCP filename to C:\PFCD\ZLBuild\ZLBuild.RCP. The Palm database information should automatically be filled in for you.

Then click on the ‘Compile’ button. PFCD will ask you to give the new file a name. For this example choose, ‘ZLT_Plass_OS5_64K.prc’ (without the quotes) and then click on ‘Save’. PFCD will complie the new theme. The PRC file to load onto your Palm should now be availabe in the PFCD directory on your computer.

ZL Theme Decompile

11. Hotsync the new ZLauncher theme to your Palm. A word of warning: if you gave your newly compiled theme the same name as the orginial theme, the new theme will replace the original theme on your Palm. Your modified theme should look like this the screenshot below.

ZL Theme Update

There are probably more elegant ways to modify a exisiting ZLauncher theme. The above method is a free, quick and fast way to update a theme without having to learn the intricaties of an additional piece of software. For additional help, take a look at that ZLauncher theme manual and the generated .rcp files. You will quickly catch on to how to make any necessary changes.

Note: There is nothing wrong with modifying a theme for your own use. Theme authors often spend alot of time and effort to create a theme, espically ones created from scratch. If you plan on redistributing the theme you have created, please get permission from the original author first.

Customizing Mozilla Firefox

Published on April 7, 2006 in Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is by default a lightweight browser does not ship with many extra features. This is one of its best features as Firefox can be expanded with a wide range of optional extensions, search engines, and themes allowing the user to customize the browser to their individual tastes and needs. With hundreds of extensions, themes and other Firefox customizations available it is often hard to figure out where to start? What extensions and themes are worth downloading and installing and what tweaks are useful to make? If you have made the jump to Firefox, or are considering the move, hopefully the article I have written “Mozilla Firefox – Have It Your Way!” will help you fine tune the browser to your liking and allow you to get the most out of this excellent browser.

Mozilla Firefox – Have It Your Way!

Customizing Mozilla Firefox

My Other Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird Resources

Note: In most cases the links in the “Firefox – Have it Your Way!” document point directly to the author’s home page where you can find the latest version and more easily get help then at Mozilla’s add-on site. If you discover problems with anything in the article, please report them to me at lesliefranke at gmail dot com.

Who Am I?

Leslie Franke Profile

Leslie Franke:[les-lee fran-key]; 1. Husband and proud dogowner; 2. Seventh-day Adventist; 3. Web Designer; 4. Atlanta Braves Fan; 5. Northeast Ohio Native; 6. Bottle Caps Lover; 7. Certified 'Freakonomic';