AppMAN! v. 1.2
Mark Scardina has recently released AppMAN!, version 1.2, as copyrighted freeware.
Formerly, ACE Technologies marketed the program as a commercial product. Mark Scardina is a long-time contributor to The HP Palmtop Paper and is the Sysop of the HPHand Forum on CompuServe. His AppMAN! program is designed to enhance the usefulness of Application Manager on both the HP 100/200LX computers.
In brief, AppMAN! lets you build elaborate Path statements in Application Manager's "Add an Application" screen. You use the APPEDIT program from the AppMAN! package to create these statements simply by filling in some blanks and toggling other options on or off (See Screen 1). When you have finished making entries and quit the APPEDIT program you will have a new or updated entry in the App Mgr program. Since APPEDIT modifies the APPMGR.DAT file, the program is smart enough to know that you shouldn't have the APPMGR.DAT file open in both the App Mgr and APPEDIT programs at the same time. APPEDIT automatically turns off the App Mgr program when you run the APPEDIT program. Another program in the AppMAN! package, AR (AppRun), interprets these new commands when you start a DOS application in App Mgr. AR is unusual in that it is a TSR program but you don't need to install it in any of your start up files. You simply highlight the program, once, in Filer, and press Enter. The small program will announce that it has been installed successfully. From then on AR will start every time you start the App Mgr program. AR takes about 1.4K bytes of working memory.
Screen 1: AppEdit lets you set commands easily.
AppMAN! creates Path field commands that will start a DOS program in any of the 8 screen modes built into the HP Palmtop. You can even start a DOS program designed for the HP 95LX (such as ACT!) on the 100/200LX. Beyond this you can also add a command that will start the application in 1.) inverse or normal mode, 2.) with light sleep on or off, 3.) with the serial port set to infrared or wire, 4.) block cursor on or off, and even 5.) force the application to prompt for input before it starts.
If you have ever used Mark Scardina's freeware program, APLOAD, you'll have some idea of the enhancements that can be added to App Mgr. AppMAN! takes APLOAD to the next level both with more features and with an easier to use interface. AppMAN! comes without any printed documentation. However the package contains an Adobe Acrobat file (APPMAN.PDF) which may be viewed or printed with any computer that has the Adobe Acrobat reader. Better still, the documentation for the program is also included in a NoteTaker file (APPMAN.NDB) which you may use on the Palmtop. This lets you have both APPEDIT and APPMAN.NDB running on the Palmtop at the same time. You can switch back and forth between the two thereby gaining "pop-up" help when you're using APPEDIT.
AppMAN! adds a whole new dimension to the built-in Application Manager program. On behalf of the Palmtop community, we would like to thank Mark Scardina for making this program more widely available.
LXPGP, Version 1.0 by Walter Francis
LXPGP is a graphical front-end for the PGP 2.6.x (Pretty Good Privacy) encryption program. LXPGP was written using LXBatch. If you've ever tried to master all the settings in the PGP program you will appreciate the LXPGP interface. It handles all the PGP tasks as if they were built into the HP Palmtop.
Days, v.1.0 by Dr. David J. Bird
Several years ago, a programmer known as Lord Jonin, wrote a program called Clock of Doom that would let you specify any event in the past or the future and get the number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds between the event and the current time. However, the program failed to handle leap years correctly.
Dr. Bird's rendition of this program, written specifically for the HP Palmtop, handles leap years accurately and produces similar results.
LXPic v.6.2
Stephan Peichl has updated LXPic, the fastest GIF/ICN/PCX/JPG/BMP viewer for the 100/200 LX. This new version includes a small converter for Casio QV-10 CAM files and fixes the OmniBook DEL key bug. It also has limited Casio CAM and Kodak IMG support built in. Be sure to try the J, K and L keys in LXPic. They all produce thumbnail versions of all the graphics files in a given directory. This is most useful when you're looking for just the right icon or topcard.
LxPro v.2.2
LxPro gives you complete control over all special HP Palmtop features. In addition, it has an ASCII table window, a memory window, a keycode window, a programmer's calculator and an I/O port window. This version of the program by Stephan Peichl supports EMS if available and exits at power down to prevent problems with password-protected machines.
Edit: An Editor from the Portable Days
In the days of the HP Portable Plus many users favored a shareware text editor called Edit (also called "ED" after the author Ed Gilbert). Ed Gilbert has offered the ED editor as copyrighted freeware. It is available on this issue's The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK and on the Web at www.Palmtop Paper.com/download.htm
For those who never tried ED, it uses a Lotus style menu system and supports most text editing functions. The unique feature of ED is that it never wraps or truncates lines of text. You have to press the Enter key to start a new line. This is sometime very useful when reformatting text for inclusion in a Note field, in a database or for reading email letters that are all on one line. Thanks, Ed, for the editor, from Ed, the Editor, on behalf of myself and the rest of the Palmtop community.
All of the software mentioned in this column is either shareware or freeware. The files will be available on this issue's The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK as well as on the Web at www.PalmtopPaper.com/download.htm (type a key word into the search field and click Fetch! and download the file from the S.U.P.E.R. site. This is the fastest way to get the file you're looking for).