My Palm Software Collection
a/o March 12, 2005

October 29, 2006 NOTE: I write this with sadness in my heart. I haven't used my Palm T3 much since I moved to a Dell Axim X50v running Windows Mobile 2003SE in beautiful VGA. I haven't even had the T3 outside its cradle in about a year. I doubt that this page will be updated again. Many apps still update although PalmSource has abandoned the old Palm OS 5 development and no new Palm OS is in the works since Access bought PalmSource. If it weren't for Treos, which Palm bought from Handspring a few years back, Palm itself would have folded by now. The core Palm that designed and produced the T3 has been dead long enough to turn to dust. If you are still using Palm OS, I admire your determination, but recommend that you reconsider Windows Mobile. I'm not a huge Microsoft fan, but the future is clear at this point.

March 9, 2008 NOTE: I sold my T3 so the note above has an even greater finality to it.

The original page is preserved below:

Everyone has unique requirements, and you should define yours before searching for software, much less buying. Otherwise, money-eating impulse buying will rule your wallet/purse. I always register shareware that I continue to use past the free trial period, and strongly recommend everyone do the same. That kind of integrity preserves the shareware system and appropriately rewards the authors for their effort. The items listed below are but a tiny fraction of the high quality programs available for the Palm platform. If you don't already have a Palm OS (operating system) device, then this section will give you an idea of the devices' capabilities. Flash ROM (upgradable OS) is only a feature on the Palm III series (except the IIIe), V, Vx, and VII, VIIx, m50X, m125, and some older Sony CLIEs, but not other m1XX or older Palm devices, the various Handspring devices, and newer Sony CLIEs. FlashROM that isn't used by the OS, or has been captured from the OS (see JackSprat below) can be used to store applications and read-only databases, thus freeing up valuable RAM. Execution/access in Flash is indistinguishable from that in RAM. That said, let's take a look at the list of software that I personally find useful, listed in alphabetical order with links to their home pages.

Update 2!

Bad news and good news. First, the bad news: Two weeks after the 32MB update, my T665C has an accident, resulting in a damaged LCD. Providentially, Palm released the Tungsten|T3 just about a week later. Early adopters I had grown to trust over the years wrote of the T3 with enthusiasm. I elected to jump to the T3. As an OS 5 device, that impacted this software page in a big way. I updated this page to reflect OS compatibility as best I can determine it. Of course, OS 5 does not support hacks at all, so they are history. Some DAs also don't work under OS 5 as noted below, but DALauncher5 functions fine. The T3 has 64MB RAM (52MB user accessible), so you won't find much stuff left on the card. The freedom of 52MB user RAM, 512MB SD card, and a 400MHz CPU defies description!

Asterisk system:
*asterisked the items that I run from the memory card
***triple asterisks to denote programs that I like and previously used, but have since replaced for one reason or another. They were still noteworthy enough to leave on my list.
#number sign indicates the software doesn't work under OS 5.2.1 or just on the T3.

Note: I used to note what I have in FlashROM, but I'm still swapping stuff around until I find the "prefect" layout. I'll update for flash contents when that all stabilizes--yeah, right.

From my old T665C
Some stuff from Sony's enhanced ROM--*MS Gate (72K), MS Import (58K), PG Pocket (187K), and most of what is on the Sony CD--*CLIE Paint (250K), CLIE Remote Commander (569K), Sound Utility (20K), and **World Alarm Clock (121K). I won't list their descriptions individually below, but I do want to elaborate on two. CLIE Remote Commander is really cool. It allows you to control the basic functions of most things around the house that have remote controls--TVs, VCRs, DVD, Audio Amps--from a large variety of companies. It will run everything in my house except the cable box. Wow! World Alarm Clock is attractive and has 5 alarms that can have individual sounds assigned, but BigClock has far more overall functionality. PhoneMate seemed like a gimic at first, but it really does a neat job. Just start tapping letters like on a phone, and the program matches them to phone book entries. It rarely takes more than three characters to bring the target entry up, and four nails it close to 100%. Slick. However, after a time I found PopUp Names to be more useful and finally deleted PhoneMate.

The T615C/T665C sport a hi res screen (320x320 pixels). Until more programs support this resolution (and many already do so), Sony had included Hi Res Assist in their OS. This enhances the fonts in non-hi res application to make them smoother and more readable. It has no effect on graphics, and in fact some low res, graphics-intensive programs may not look right on the hi res devices. Some programs may not work well with Hi Res Assist, and Sony covered this by allowing the user to exclude particular programs the have problems with it. Programs on the memory stick cannot be excluded, however. All of the programs below work fine with Hi Res Assist, and as a result, look great on the CLIE. Sony really did their homework on this one! For an even better look, check out FontHack123 version 4.0c below.

On my new Tungsten T3
The T3 has a 320x320 or 320x480 screen, introducing new capabilities and complications for software. Palm also changed the PIM apps and conduits, creating even more challenges. All these will be worked in time. As of 3.0b14 for JackFlash and 3.0b4 for JackSprat, they both support the T3. I removed Documents To Go (replaced with updated Docs To Go Premium), Kinoma (replaced by update), Modem Support, Palm Demo, Phone support, SMS support, Voice Recorder, VersaMail, extra languages, and probably a few things I don't recall at the moment. I started with about 1 MB free flash w/o JackSprat, losing the extra languages upped that to 4 MB, and the rest got me to over 9,216 KB free. So 52 MB user RAM plus 9+ MB usable flash, all cranking at 400 MHz+--the T3 is an awesome device! WARNING: Not so fast. My T3 refused to Hotsync after several successful syncs when I removed Bluetooth support. Upon restoration of the ROM to factory, all worked fine. I then removed everything except Bluetooth and all works fine. Follow-up: To get back some capability now need, I restored my Flash to get back Modem Support, SMS Support, and VersaMail.

1stAid - (128K + *189K database) Freeware from Fernando Villanova. Nifty database of First Aid information. Color, but not hi res. The app doesn't support VFS natively, so I run the database under PiDirect II. Nice reference.

Adobe Palm OS Reader - (415K) Free from Adobe Software. Version 3.0 is current. Works OK for small and large files now, and has more options for conversion. Supports VFS natively, if the documents are put in the /Palm/Launcher/ directory with the program. I converted Datebk5's manual (came out to about 2 Mb on the card) and it works OK if the images are set to fit on the screen. Resultant file sizes are much smaller than version 2.0 files. This version seems more stable and usable than past ones.

***AeroPlayer - (283K w/one skin) Shareware from AerodromeSoftware. Very nice MP3 and Ogg Vorbis player with excellent attention to detail. Includes an excellent base boost, a 5-band equalizer, creative use of the power button, playlists, background play, extensible through plug-ins which can be stored on the card, flexible file locations, left/right balance, and volume boost. However, it has fallen way behind the competition in features.  ***Removed in favor of Pocket Tunes***

***AfterSync - (4K) Freeware by Benc. Nifty utility by Bozidar Benc that executes a user-selected app right after a Hotsync. I used it to launch Soft Reset to compensate for an issue when I removed Bluetooth support with the JackSprat 3.0b3 on the T3. Restored Bluetooth support and the T3 now works fine. Still a neat app. ***Haven't needed it for a while, so archived it on the desktop.***

AIRoboform - (142K) Shareware by Siber Systems. Handy viewer for the login data that your keep in RoboForm on your desktop. Bi-directional syncing keeps data consistent across multiple PCs. Supports DES and 3DES encryption.

***AlwaysOn 1.2 - (3K) Freeware by Rainer Persicke. Nice utility to change your PDA's auto-off time to other than 2 or 3 minutes. Times range from 10 secs to always on. The 'always on' setting sets it apart from ATool! in this category. Very useful when using a modem. ***Replaced by AOCtrlDA***

AsciiChart - (15K) Freeware by John Valdes. Nice chart of ascii and control characters that can be copied and pasted. New version works fine on the T3.

***ATool! - (21K) Freeware by Marty Wilber. Another nice utility that sets some/displays some basic PalmOS settings like date/time, last hotsync, voltage and threshold. Will also set a variety of auto-off times from 30 secs to 480 minutes, but not always on. Can also set beam receive status, track battery voltage over time and graph it, do date/time difference calculations, soft reset, and the ever-popular coin flip when you are low on change. ***Replaced by AOCtrlDA, never used this for other than auto-off times***

***Audible Player - (454K) Freeware from Audible. Required to listen to Audible content. They specialize in aubible books but have other things. Part of a system that includes a desktop component that ties tghtly with their sales website. Files are transferred directly through the USB connection w/o using HotSync. The desktop and Palm programs combine to creat the connection. Slick operation. I downloaded it to listen to the testimony at the Congressional 9/11 Commission hearings. However, on checking out the site, I found mostly liberal tomes advertised. No Savage and only one Limbaugh to be found on site, and nothing conservative on the front web pages. Though Sean Hannity and Karen Hughes are in the NY Times top 5, Hannity for weeks, you won't find them listed on Audible's front page. You have to search to find them. I doubt that I'll keep Audible after this. ***It's gone. Never finished the 9/11 hearings, but I seldom have the opportunity to listen.***

***AvantGo - (309K + data) It downloads (configurable) news from the web during HotSync and presents it in a browser-like format. I love this program. I sync it every morning before I leave for work, and catch up on the news during the few small gaps of idle time during the day. I mention it here because the older Palm models don't come with AvantGo, but it can be downloaded. The problem is that the program alone takes up 313K, which combined with the news database can take up a bigger chunk of RAM--over 601K total w/my setup, plus 18K for MobileLink modem application. OTOH, I had a friend with a Palm V that used it daily. If you have a color device, AvantGo will display color logos and pictures.***Replaced by HandStory Suite due to lack of VFS and hi res support***

AV8R - (18.8K + 97K for CASLrt library, added 24.0K for W&B program) Shareware by Kirk Lindberg. Super aviation program that performs all the usual calculations of the E6B flight computer. Also includes a nice weight and balance program. I actually used AV8R in a pinch when delivering a minimally airworthy aircraft. We lost all our electronic navigation aids, and had to rely on dead reckoning to reach our destination and beat hurricane Floyd. Proceeds go to the EAA Young Eagle's program. OS 5 requires the updated CASLrt runtime library here. Thanks go to Chris Shaker for finding the link.

Backlight - (8K) Freeware. Nice utility to turn off the T3 backlight. Uses a dialog box from which you can select screen off, on, or exit the app. Works great but I don't remember where I found it and there is no indication in the app of who wrote it, even in the About dialog. Come with the companion BacklightDA listed below.

BackupBuddyVFSPro - (268K) Commercial from Blue Nomad. New version 3.0 as of Oct 04. Backs up your RAM to your memory card on Virtual File System (VFS)-compatible systems (Palm OS 4.0 and higher). Can be had as part of BackupBuddy which appears below in the PC section. Can select files to backup to the card and/or restore to RAM, do scheduled backups, compress and/or encrypt backups, and keep multiple backups. Works great, with compression cutting my roughly 50 MB backup to about 29 MB but taking no longer than version 2.14 w/o compression thanks to ARM-optimized routines. I recommend disabling programs like PiDirect, MSMount, PowerRun, etc., before running any backup program for the card to prevent conflicts in card use (and a dreaded fatal exception). Full T3 support as of version 2.12.

BatteryGraph - (31K) Freeware by Jeroen Witteman. Nifty utility to track your battery usage. I've been using it to gage the T3's battery use during normal daily use. I originally thought that this required deleting BG's database every day when I take it off the cradle because it doesn't distinguish on-time during charging from on-time on battery power. However, after watching the Statistics page over some time, it turns out that it does separately track the use since last charge to within a reasonable period of time.

BDicty Pro - (112K + *dictionaries) Commercial from Beiks. Very nice dictionary reader that supports Sony hi res and VFS natively. Main dictionary is based on WordNet's database (see my dictionary review for details). Sports a clever feature that increases the relative size of the active window, then automatically swaps the emphasis when appropriate. For example, when looking up a word, the word search window is large and the definition pane small. When the word is found or selected, the definition pane increases in size while the search window shrinks. Also has a resident capability to popup in other programs to look up a word. Well executed, and Beiks' has outstanding support.

***Benchmark - (5.9K) Freeware from Quartus. Nifty way to compare the performance of your Palm when messing with the wait states and/or overclocking with Afterburner or FastCPU. Has built-in database to make comparisons w/standard setups. ***Removed. Available from PC when I need it.***

***Beam Off - (2K) Freeware by NJ. Excellent utility that fixes a Palm OS 4.x bug. The bug turns beam receive on after Hotsyncing, but Beam Off turns it right back off. Must have if you own an OS 4.x device.***Not needed under OS 5***

***Bible+ - (117K + databases) OpenSource primarily by Yih-Chun Hu. Excellent free Bible reader with great foreign language capabilities. Supports full screen on the T3, nice synchronized split screen display, fast display, mixed languages on a common display (for interlinear texts), and lots of free Bible translations and other references that work great from the card. Bible+ works with KDIC DA for Strong's number ties in supporting databases, though I prefer BDicty which has enhanced lexicons available. Very nicely executed and continuously improved. ***Great app, but finally decided I didn't need 4 Bible apps. This is still a great app***

BibleReader+ - (447K + *24MB of references!!!) Shareware/Commercial by Olive Tree Bible Software. Powerful Bible study program with the most powerful reference set on the market as of this writing. Reader supports three open windows, the Palm DIA to make that useful in 320x480, Christ's words in red in selected versions, extensive hyperlinking to cross-references and notes, and lots of customizing features. The Scholar's Tools (commercial package) include the Hebrew Masoretic Text (w/separate parsing module) Hebrew Old Testament, BDB Hebrew Lexicon, GRAMCORD Lite Greek New Testament (parsed), and UBS Greek Dictionary+. Wow! That's unbelievabe language power in your palm/Palm. That makes three Bible readers on my T3. I use MyBible for normal reading in the NKJV w/notes, BibleThumper for Gill's Exposition and the 1599 Geneva Bible notes, BibleReader+ for original language Greek and Hebrew work, including the AMG Complete Word Study Bible and the LXX and Majority Text, as well as JFB and Matthew Henry commentary support. As Olive Tree expands their offerings and improves their reader, BR+ progressively supplants the others. Note: See the What's New page's August 12, 2004, entry for another great update to this reader and August 16, 2004, to see a more detailed discussion of the AMG Complete Word Study Bible.

BibleThumper - (~4Mb basic + over *34Mb of references!!!) Shareware by Pat Double. Great Bible study resource that supports VFS natively. Not generally as refined or as fast as MyBible (see below), but Bible text is hyperlinked to lexicons, a dictionary, and commentaries--elegantly executed. This makes a very powerful study tool. Commentaries include 1599 Geneva Bible notes, John Gill's Exposition, and JFB. Obviously, this isn't practical without storing the bulk (if not all) of this on a memory card, which in turn slows execution considerably. Also, the author only supports KJV, which limits the program's usefulness for me (I prefer the NKJV for accurate study). Still, a worthwhile investment for a powerful, portable Bible study resource, especially as an augmentation to MyBible, which supports multiple translations. Update: I currently have the core program in RAM along with its concordance and Greek and Hebrew lexicons, with the rest of the databases on the card. This sped the program up tremendously over all the basic Bible and references being on the card.

***BigClock - (65K/106K for HiRes version) Freeware by Jens Rupp. Indispensable clock/world time/alarm/timer program in which you can create your own alarm sounds. One of the first programs I got for my Palm V. Works great from Flash. ***Never use it anymore. Sony World Alarm Clock is my primary alarm, and TikTok my timer.***

Bird - (152K) Freeware by Ph. Guillot. Slick utility to edit Palm resources in apps and databases. Can view but not edit icons.

***Card Export 1.14 - (18K + USB driver on PC) Shareware by Softick. Palm has yet to include a good way of getting data to/from the PC from/to the memory card, although Sony has included the excellent MS Import for some time now. Card Export was recommended to me, and I registered it after just a few days of use. I loaded two SD cards, one with apps and the other with music, using Card Export 1.11, and it performed quickly and flawlessly. Note that on install, WinXP will warn you that the driver isn't M$ certified, but it works fine. Highly recommended for Palm users w/memory cards. Version 1.12 increased the copying speed significantly. Version 2.0 beta 3 is even faster and doesn't require a desktop component as it uses Windows' built-in USB driver. ***Replaced by the upgrade below.***

Card Export 2 - (79K) Shareware by Softick. Update to the above app, but this version uses the native Windows USB capability so doesn't require its own desktop driver. No only so, but it's over twice as fast, almost 2.5 times at times. Very nice update!

CardSpeed - (16K) Freeware from Audacity Audio. Small, quick app that checks the read/write speed of your memory card. Nicely augments VFSMark.

***CfZap - (16K) Freeware by Collin Mulliner. Utility to accept any kind of file by beaming, not just Palm databases. Haven't used it much, but others swear by it. ***Never used it, and as far as I can tell it doesn't do anything that ZLauncher doesn't do.***

***ChangeName - (9K) Freeware by Collin Mulliner. Great utility that displays and allows you to change your UserName, UserID, RomID, and OS version string. It turns out that your UserID isn't some combination of your UserName or user directory on your PC, but a random number between 1 and 65,000 generated by your desktop software. The desktop uses only this number recognize your PDA as the one assigned to a particular profile. Could be handy to have when doing some unique swapping between devices. Version 2.3 works under OS 5. ***Haven't used it in a long time and it started conflicting with something on my T3. Removed until I need it.***

Chem Table - (28K) Freeware by Robert Eng. Nifty periodic table of elements. Tap on an element in the table, and it technical characteristics pop up. Looks good under hi res and color. Very nice reference.

Cleanup v3 - (31K) Shareware from Northglide. Good program for cleaning out orphaned entries from Saved and Unsaved Preferences as well as orphan files. These are left when apps are deleted with file managers or launchers that don't also clean out all entries associated with an app, or whan apps make entries or files with different creator IDs to track trial expirations. Cleanup can use signature files to enhance that identification of the stray parts of applications. Search for matching apps is very thorough, and includes apps on cards as well as Uninstall Manager/Hack databases. In those cases where unidentified IDs remain, a couple of good places to find matches for creator IDs are http://dev.palmos.com/creatorid/ and http://www.geocities.com/palmcreatorid/. The interface has been completely redesigned for this release, and uses color-coded dots to identify where information on particular entries were derived. This simplifies evaluating how expendable particular entries are. Cleanup is an especially good idea if you try and delete a lot of shareware. The developer provides outstanding support, and offers a great deal when purchased with Uninstall Hack/Manager as part of the NeatFreak package. I've used this to great effect in cleaning out the dead wood.

***ClieSounds 2.0 - (979K) Freeware by Jeffrey VanderWal. Not a program, but a replacement for System MIDI Sounds on T- and NR-series CLIEs. Nice collection of popular and well known tunes to use for alarms or just showing off. Very cool, but save your old System MIDI Sounds to restore if you later desire to do so. The package comes with a standard version, but it was different than my original T615C file. Available from FreewarePalm. ***Neat idea, but after a while I went back to the normal system sounds. Sony provides a good selection w/the T665C. Update: This won't work on my new T3, although I with that it would.

ClockFix - (38K) Shareware from Thomas Chapman. Nifty utility that you manually calibrate to an atomic clock twice over a week or so, then ClockFix calculates a correction factor for your device. After that, ClockFix can keep your PDA within 1/2 second of atomic time without intervention. Will also handle DST changes for you on early Palm devices (later devices do this on their own). What a great idea! Available from ZDNet.

ClockPop5 - (28K) Freeware by Steve Millman. One of my dreams come true. I thought I lost ClockPop when I moved to OS 5, but not so! The status bar on the T3 has the time, but the info display only has the battery percentage, not the voltage which I prefer. The popup Palm clock from the select button doesn't have all the extra info I like. There's still a place for ClockPop on my T3.

CodeDiver 1.1Beta6 - (56K) Shareware from H. Imazeki. Always one to push the envelope, I found this beauty in the Sony OS5 boards. The cited beta enables some apps to use the T3's entire screen. So far, I've found it works for BDicty (spotty though), BibleThumper, CleanupV2, HandStory (yea!), HandyShopper 2.8, HRCaptDM, and MS Dict. It works for the color test in LCD Analyzer, but not the other tests, but that's enough to look for bad pixels. Most apps run best on the T3 by tapping on VirtualSilk on the edit page, then selecting Force, Same, Same. Pretty slick! Note: It started conflicting with apps, so I keep it disabled until I need it.

***CradleSnd - (11K) Freeware by Nagamatu. Cute program that allows you to execute a particular program automatically when your handheld is placed in its charging cradle, along with making a sound. I sometimes use it for starting BigClock that way. Available from FreewarePalm. ***Don't use this at the moment.***

***Crash - (32K) Freeware by 79bmedia GmbH. Nice utility to cash Fatal Exceptions and then autoreset your PDA. Won't save hardware some crashes, but does a good job with software exception. May keep you from wearing out your reset pin if you test as much as I do. Version 2.3a compatible w/OS 5. ***Registered the Pro version below, so no longer use the free one.***

CrashPro - (64K + ~20K for an image) Shareware by 79bmedia GmbH. Nice utility to cash Fatal Exceptions and then autoreset your PDA. Won't save hardware some crashes, but does a good job with software exception. May keep you from wearing out your reset pin if you test as much as I do. This Pro version allows the user to set a different image on the crash screen and to freely set the default delay time to reset. Excellent software that I encourage all to register if you find the free version useful.

#CRSImgView - (17K) Freeware by Hiroki Takahashi. Fast image viewer extension for McFile that also works independently. After bringing up an image, taping Edit brings up McJPEG editor--another McFile plug-in (see McFile below). An excellent combination from some very talented developers.***Designed for Sony devices w/DSP***

***CryptInfo - (47K) Shareware by NormSoft. An outstanding program that stores your logins, passwords, etc. in an 168-bit DES3 encrypted database. I store my multitude of login info, all my shareware registrations, etc. in it for ready reference but passworded for security. Storing your key personal data--credit cards, bank accounts, etc.--insecurely could result in disaster if your device is stolen. Now has a Windows program for accessing the database on your PC. Must have for multiply-connected geeks! ***Still a great app, but now replaced by SplashID***

***CSpotRun - (38K) Freeware by Bill Clagett. Great, free Palm doc reader that continues to be updated regularly. Faster than every shareware/commercial reader I've tried (and that's virtually all of them), literally snaps to bookmarks in huge (2.5 Mb) docs, and you can rotate the display. Only downside is that it doesn't support Sony hi res, even with hi res assist. ***Replaced by Weasle Reader, which has since been replaced by HandStory.***

DALauncher5 - (9K) Freeware by YAMADA Tatsushi. Control program for desk accessories (DA). These are something between a regular app and a hack, but without the instability problems of hacks. They pop up over running apps without interference and provide a host of simple but useful capabilities. I'm a recent convert to these, and I listed them below in a separate section like the hacks. Most run fine under PiDirect under OS 4.x, but DALauncher itself goes in RAM. DALauncher itself shows up as a Palm Preference panel. NOTE: DAL5 is OS5 compatible! Works like a charm, but not all DAs will work in OS 5--see below.

Dataviewer - (134K + databases) Freeware by Town Compass, LLC. Folio-like viewer with fast access to large databases. Natively supports VFS, which is very fast. Some databases are free, others are commercial. The former include the US Constitution and area code directory, the latter includes a handheld version of the World Book Encyclopaedia.

Datebk5 - (560K) Shareware by Pimlico Software. Larger, more powerful upgrade of Datebk4, with all its features and much more, yet even easier to use! This version replaces not only Datebook, but also the built-in ToDo and some aspects of Memopad. It offers six calendar views as well as split views so that you can put addresses or memo list on screen with appointments. It also better integrates floating events and allows more customization of the display. Sports good use of color (including icons), and supports Sony hi res natively in week and list views, plus looks great in other views with Hi Res Assist. For a complete list of features, see their web site. Only downside is its size, but what do you expect for this kind of power. Also comes with dbScan (25K) which checks for problems with the databases, and a basic icon editor. Supports OS 5 high density icons on OS 4 devices. As of version 5.1a, s8, supports T3 full screen.

Devotions - (181K + devotional readings) Shareware by Jeff VanderWal. Very sharp daily devotional program that links to MyBible by Laridian (see below) and tracks your readings. Nicely implemented with a date picker for jumping dates. Quite a few devotional texts available, including Morning and Evening by Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook, The Daily Bread, Woodrow Kroll's Daily Devotion, Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Cowman, Christ Unlimited, and others. Supports VFS natively, so I run the devotional texts off of my memory card, which works great. The T3 changed this app from one of the slowest apps I have to almost instantaneous.

Digi/DigiTest - (4K/3K) Freeware by Vince Swann. Nice combination of utilities to calibrate/test your digitizer. My T3 has an interesting anomoly in the left-center of the screen where it thinks I tapped a tad higher than I actually did. This combination help me keep track of the situation and minimize the error.

Directions on-the-go - (475K + 3.1GB on the card) Commercial from Mobile Digital Media. City map program for your Palm. Locates addresses, points of interest, and provides directions between two points. Works well, making travel around a new city quite easy. Doesn't support hi res+ on the T3.

Discovery - (11K) - Free from PalmSource. A nice Bluetooth device discovery app done as a programming example.

Documents To Go 7.003 Premium - (~3 MB) Shareware by DataViz. Excellent office suite that converts Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, as well as Adobe Acrobat files for use on the Palm. Also reads/edits native Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files and imports the text portion of pdf files. Editing is very capable and does a good job when pictures and tables are done on the PC and imported. Supports and views bmp and jpg graphics directly. Pro version comes in ROM on the T3, but the Premium upgrade adds spell checking, passwording, pdf, charting, picture, and email support. Hotsync support preserves even features that DTG doesn't support directly. Nicely done package. Word To Go has replaced WordSmith as my handheld word processor. In fact, most of my reviews are now written in WTG as I travel around or wait in line during my travels. Highly recommended!

***DockWare - (129K + 200K/hi res image) Freeware by Iliumsoft. Cute program that cycles through pictures on your handheld while it sits in your cradle. Can be set to execute automatically at your autooff time while in the cradle. Quite a few nice pictures on their website. The app on your handheld automatically formats the compressed pictures upon initial loading to your display settings--320x320x16-bit in my case. There is a shareware version which allows more customization. I had 3,015K of pictures loaded under PiDirectII, and it works great. ***Didn't end up using it much, and needed the card space for other stuff.***

***Dorland's Medical Dictionary - (169K + *5.5MB database) Commercial from Skyscape. Very nice abridged version of the big Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. I found the definitions and discussions more detailed and helpful than Taber's, but Taber's has more terms in it. Supports VFS natively and it's pretty quick. Links to other Skyscape products. ***Over time, I found the scope and depth to lag considerably behind its print version. Switched to Stedman's.***

***DTMF Dialer - (11K) Freeware by Hiroyuki Okamoto. For Sony T- and NR-series only. Plays the dialtones through the CLIE speaker. Can import numbers from the address book, set tone duration/gaps, etc. Haven't found a real use for it yet, but it works fine. ***Never used it, so finally took it off.***

***EasyCalc - (217K) Open Source by Ondrej Palkovsky. Neat scientific calculator with much more to offer. It has a built in graphing function and equation solver with customizable search limits and tolerances. 15-digit precision available. Generally algebraic-type setup but with loose parentheses rules. ***Update: Removed because I never used it.***

***eBible for Palm OS - (417K + 21 MB references on card) Commercial from Nelson Bible/Godspeed. New (as of this writing) addition to the Palm Bible Study world. Combines a simple-to-use but effective interface with a number of Nelson's most popular titles. Includes 3 Bible versions, 2 commentaries, Strong's lexicons, 2 dictionaries, a topical reference, and a devotional--all modern, commercial works. Doesn't support work in the original languages. Version 1.0 has a small memory leak that runs about ~250K per execution instance , but I expect that to be fixed quickly. ***Got tired of the memory leak which hasn't been fixed in six months, so removed it.***

***ePocrates 6.1 Rx Pro - (2.7M w/databases) Commercial by ePocrates, Inc. (Standard version still free) Awesome medical database that provides concise dosing, off-label indications, contraindications, interactions, adverse reactions, pregnancy, lactation, and other information on over 2700 monographs, plus a database of alternative medications and an infectious disease database with medication recommendations. Created by physicians for medical professionals, and it is updateable over the web through an AvantGo-type connection. Now includes a feature that allows you to input a regimen and check it for conflicts (including alternate medicines), a medical calculator, clinical tables and guidelines, and formulary listings for major HMOs. Targeted at the medical community and uses standard medical shorthand to save space, but all learnable by laymen. Outstanding reference that is regularly updated! Only downside is that it eats a lot of RAM, and doesn't support databases on the card. ***My annual renewal came up and I decided to look around for another app that supports memory cards. I chose Tarascon (see its write-up on this page). Warning: ePocrates proved very challenging to uninstall from my T3.***

Eponyms - (29K + 257K database) Freeware by Dr. Andrew Yee, MD. Nice and growing database of medical phenomenon named after their founders. Syndromes are sometimes named after their finders or initial diagnosers. The eponyms become obscure over time. Dr. Yee put together this list to help keep the names and underlying phenomenon straight.

***EZKB - (6K) Shareware by Stevens Creek Software. Nifty utility for the Tungsten T|T and T|3 that pops up the onscreen keyboard when pressing the right navigator button. I have it linked to MessagEaseKB to get my beloved MessagEase input until MessagEase Stamp supports the T|3's DIA. ***MessagEase4T3 is here, so no longer need this.***

***FastCPU - (59K) Shareware from MegaSoft2000. CPU accelerator like Afterburner, but supports VFS. Simple interface and very easy to use, but lacks some of the customization that Afterburner supports, like slowing the PDA down when the power remaining drops to a certain point. Net results are comparable to Afterburner, and the VFS support drove me to swap to FastCPU. Another nice touch is that it pops up and asks you how fast you want to set a new program to run the first time you execute a new app. ***Doesn't work well on the T665C, even the new version 3.0.*** Update: After my 32MB RAM upgrade, FastCPU worked much better (up to 92 MHz!). However, it still introduces instability in the system. I suffered three hard resets as a result of trying to Hotsync ePocrates. If I get brave, I may spend more time working with it. Follow-up: gave up on it before my T665C hit the floor.***

filepc2pda - (22K) Free by Christian Ghisler. Used with sertransplg to connect a Palm OS PDA to Total Commander on a Windows PC. Clever implementation using ftp. I've used Total Commander since my early Windows days and still swear by it. It started as a file manager, but has grown to much more while remaining true to its intuitive interface. While I use Card Export as my primary file transfer method to the card, filepc2pda will also transfer files to the Palm's RAM! Very slick!

FilePoint Wireless - (518K + 193K databases) OEM release by Bachmann. WiFi file exchanger that comes with Documents To Go Premium 7. Transfers files from RAM as well, but is a bit slow in operation and can only do one file at a time. There is a full version that does more, but it's expensive.

Filez - (136K) Freeware by nosleep software. Nice PDA file manager that works with VFS-based memory cards. Also can change file attributes and a host of useful capabilities. Latest version displays/exports/deletes system preferences. Very handy, but I switched to McFile as my primary file manager for a while. Now I use ZLauncher as my primary file manager, but keep Filez on my Palm to beam to others.

Fitaly Letris - (36K) Freeware from Textware Solutions. Small program to gage your input speed. Also the basis of a periodic contest by Textware. Sentences to match are user-configurable.

***FitalyVirtualT3 - (146K + 165K skin + 84K setup app) Shareware from Textware Solutions. Legendary soft keyboard replacement, and first to support the T3. That was no mean task, as Palm provides virtually no support or documentation to developers on its Dynamic Input Area (DIA). Nicely executed and sports a built-in launch bar, most recently used apps popup, and user-definable slides. Even works in conjunction with Palm's on-screen Graffiti 2 implementation. My only real complaint is that any punctuation other than the five most common requires it to pop up an auxilliary keypad. Only works in portrait mode at this time. I used it as my primary input method for a while. Very nice implementation and well supported! ***With the release of MessagEase4T3, I tested my speed on both. I'm significantly faster with ME4T3 (35.66 WPM in ME4T3 vs. 25.27 WPM peak in Fitaly), so I removed Fitaly. Still a great app.***

***FireViewer Suite - (283K) Commercial by Firepad. Very nice graphics converter/viewer. Supports Sony hi res w/16-bit color, VFS, and images much larger than the screen. Conversion is fast, compression is good, and the images look great on the handheld. Especially useful for keeping maps on your PDA, like the DC Metro system map. Also works great for pictures. If the image is larger than the screen, you can zoom out with one tap, then tap on the area of interest and zoom back in with another tap. Nice touch! The suite comes with the Palm OS viewer and the PC conversion program. Fireviewer stopped working (produces fatal error) when I removed what seemed like unrelated stuff from FlashROM with JackSprat and installed JackFlash to use the Flash to store stuff. I think it was due to my removal of network support. With network suppot back in, it worked fine again. Horray! ***Great program, but replaced by HandStory Suite***

Font Collector - (51K) Shareware by Dr. Alexander Pruss. Excellent tool that "collects" fonts from iSilo (TrueType converted by iSiloX), built-in OS font libraries, Font Bucket, eReader, and others, then convert them to Fonts4OS5 format. An outstanding utility for spicing up your Palm's display.

Fonts4OS5 - (68K + fonts (varies widely)) Shareware by Lubak. Heir to FontHack123 with Lubak's fonts for OS 4, this great app changes your system font with a simple interface. No hacks required and unused fonts can be stored on a card. You can also set fonts for individual programs, even from the command line while in a program, or user-defined groups of programs, and it will correct for extra space in menus if you use a smaller font. Fonts4OS5 comes with a nice selection of attractive hi res fonts in a variety of sizes. Some change their fonts to something smaller so more text will fit on the screen. Me, I just fell in love with Comic Sans 22. Highly recommended! Update: When used with FontSmoother, implements antialias (smooth) fonts. Now I use Comic Sans 18 AA amongst several others.

GrxView - (120K) Shareware from inDev. Small, nice image viewer that does JPG, BMP, PCX, GIF, and PNG files and has optimization for ARM processors. Support for each format comes with a plugin, so you only have to install the ones you need--nice touch. Even with the ARM optimization, it still isn't the fastest displaying viewer, but it is a great value. It also integrates nicely with ZLauncher.

HandStory Suite 3.1 - (578K + PC component and database on card) Commercial from Namo Interactive Inc. Outstanding Internet clip creator/viewer, doc, image, and memo viewer/editor, as well as ebook reader--literally 5 in 1. Full support for VFS and hi res displays. The PC program fully integrates into Internet Explorer, MS Word, and right click menu. Replaces Avantgo by selecting or creating web clip sites (custom or provided), updating manually or user scheduled, then can sync the clips directly to the memory card. Simple to use--I had it up and syncing web content in minutes. It even sets the Hotsync conduits for faster syncing of just the news. Can also capture and convert most web sites or just text and images selected on a site. Image view can view files larger than the screen and does a super job converting and compressing to the handheld. Doc reader supports all standard stuff including bookmarks. Extensive use of categories and file types simplify the display. Options can be set for each document type. This is a super program, and replaced Avantgo, Fireviewer, and Weasel Reader on my Sony within an hour of installation. Full T3 support.

#Hack Broom - (6k) Freeware. Utility to delete hacks with their support and preference files. Deleting hacks from only the hack controlling program or file manager leaves the support files behind. Great concept. My copy came with PopUp Names below. ***Update: Not needed in OS 5.***

***HandyShopper - (212K + 37K for icon file) Freeware by Christopher Antos. Great database program that's much more than just a shopping program. The Yahoo! forum is replete with ideas on how to leverage the program. I used to make my shopping lists in memos. Where HandyShopper shines is in the ability to keep lists by store, track prices and quantity, and reuse items from lists. Lists can include all items or just the ones needed on the current trip. Support is outstanding, better than most commercial software. Can't beat the price. ***Still a great app at a great price, but replaced by SplashShopper***

HandZipper - (156K) Shareware from HandWatch. Indispensable utilitiy to zip/unzip files. One of the few Palm OS compression programs 100% compatible with Winzip files created on the desktop. Simple interface makes it easy to use. If you download files with a WiFi connection, you need HandZipper to unzip and install the contents while you're on the road.

***HRCaptDM - (37K+13K) Freeware from Chime. Utility to capture your hi res Clie's screen to a bmp in RAM or on your memory stick. Great for illustrating reviews and articles. Works like a charm and produces excellent images. Simply use MS Import to copy the images from your memory stick to your PC, then convert to jpg or whatever else you typically use. Comes in two parts: the actual screen capture DA (desk accessory) and the image manager. To use the DA, you need a DA launcher or McPhling (my preference, see below). The website is Japanese, and there are no English docs. However, there is an excellent tutorial on setting this up at Launchplug. I had it up and running in about a minute with Brian's directions. Also, don't use the delay timer for a screen capture with versions prior to 1.77f--it will lock up your device. Update: Version 1.81E won't display screenshots of the full-screen T3 except under CodeDiver 1.1Beta6, and then won't capture the DIA. ***Outlived its usefulness w/o capturing the T3's full screen plus status bar.***

***IconDBSplitter - (7K) Freeware from Pimlico Software. Splits large icon sets up into smaller ones. Comes with Datebk5. ***No longer needed w/new Datebk5c Preview G version, which supports 2000 icons in its database.***

IconManager - (103K) Shareware Freeware by Christopher Antos. Outstanding icon database manager and icon editor. Supports up to 16-bit, high density icons for Datebk5, HandyShopper, and Agendus in OS 4 and OS 5. Will convert icons between color densities and resolutions, rearrange their index numbers, or rearrange them without changing their relative numbers, and copy them between databases. Support is super. Chris even shared his high density icon code for OS 4 with Datebk5 developer CESD to use in his latest version of Datebk5. Latest version can access icon libraries on the card. Chris posted that he can no longer keep up with its popularity, so now it's now free.

Instant Text Mobile - (171K + glossaries) Shareware from Textware. Instant Text Mobile is a great tool that can simply complete words as you write. Or, you can use your knowledge of what you will write next to leverage Instant Text Mobile's smart search engine to dramatically cut your actual writing time and effort. A very sophisticated search engine powers this revolutionary Palm application. I imported the WordComplete word list into the business glossary to use as my standard glossary.

iSilo - (503K) Shareware by iSilo. Document, HTML, and image viewer with compression. Strength lies in its HTML conversions with preserved hyperlinking and its handling of tables. Documents are compressed, formatted nicely, and with preserved fonts, etc. iSilo can also sync with web sites through iSiloX, its desktop component. I use iSilo to convert and read a number of reference docs in that format which I captured/converted from the web. My crowning achievement was converting Calvin's Commentary to a 25MB file, which was too big for HandStory to handle. Version 4.0 supports the full T3 screen.

JackFlash - (100K) Commercial from Brayder. The last update (3.0b12) made it more compatible with the T3. The T3 has about 1MB free flash out of the box. JackFlash comes with JackSafe to recover the Flash after a hard reset, which works fine so far on the T3 under 3.0b12. FlashEnable will reenable the flash manually after a hard reset, which offers an alternative. FWIW, version 2.7 worked fine with RunPDA's 32MB RAM upgrade. Update: JackFlash3.0b12 seems to have worked around what Brayder called a bug in the T3 Flash chip.

JackSprat - (210K) Commercial from Brayder. It can delete programs and languages in FlashROM, making room for JackFlash to add to your available application storage space. T615C support came in beta 6 and T665C support in beta 7, and all works fine and seems stable. Beta 10 fixed a minor T665C issue that I never encountered. On the T665C, I removed Address Book (replaced by PopUpNames), Calculator (replaced by MathUPro), Card Info, Date Book (replaced by DateBk5), Mail, Memo Pad (replaced by WordSmith), MS Gate (replaced by McFile), To Do (replaced by Datebk5), Web Clipping, Welcome, Clie Demos, gMovie, MS Backup (replaced by BBVFS), PGPocket, Modem Support, Network Support, and PhotoStand. I saved Address Book, Card Info, Date Book, MemoPad, MS Gate, and To Do to RAM and then archived them to the MS in case I need them later for some reason. I saved PGPocket to my hard drive, as ZLauncher reads all the image types I need, including PGP images. I had to use T-Catalog to clear the 'Don't beam' flag to copy some files to the MS. Net Flash available went from 64K to 1,472K in the T665C (from 128K to 2,048K in the T615C with slightly different file list). Recommend you read Brayder's manual and my primer before installing. Very nice! Update: Works fine with RunPDA's 32MB RAM upgrade. I took less our of the Flash after the upgrade because I didn't need all the space. This time I removed ClieDemo, gMovie, Mail, MS Backup, MS Gate, PG Pocket, and Welcome. That gave me 969K of Flash, which I mainly wanted to preserve McFile across hard resets. Update 2: Beta version 3.0b4 supports the T3. I've removed Palm Demo, Dialer, Docs To Go (updated it), Kinoma (updated it), Modem support, Phone support, SMS support, Voice Recorder, VersaMail, and extra languages. I started with about 1 MB free flash w/o JackSprat, losing the extra languages upped that to 4.8 MB, and the rest got me to over 9 MB free. Warning: The T3 will not Hotsync more than once (unless soft reset each time) when Bluetooth support is removed from Flash. Leaving Bluetooth support in ROM resolves the issue. Now I'm operating normally with the Jacks. Thanks Brayder!

***Jot - (143K) Commercial by Communication Intelligence Corporation (CIC). Nice, but not cheap, replacement for the built-in Graffiti writing system. Graffiti is generally based on capital letter forms, usually one form per letter (with a few exceptions). Jot recognizes more letter variations (esp. lower case forms), optionally allows writing on the entire screen, can echo the writing strokes on the screen (but not good on hi res), and simplifies entry of capital letters (don't need upstroke) and common punctuation (no preceding dot required). Has built-in tutorial, which is essential to learning its variety of character strokes. Overall recognition is noticeably better and more flexible than Graffiti, but "non-common" punctuation takes more strokes to enter. Non-common punctuation requires 2 upstrokes, one on either "side" of the symbol, plus the symbol itself. To be fair, the symbols are more straight forward and don't require a reference card like the Graffiti symbols do. But, you cannot "teach" it your strokes. Speed is indistinguishable from the built-in Graffiti, which is very good. Overall positive experience so far (though the letters 'p' and 'k' are troublesome at times), but not sure it's flexible enough to be worth the high price by itself. Best bought as part of the 3-product bundle offer. But after all is said, I'd hate to give it up and go back to straight graffiti. Hi res note: Jot 1.3 works fine on the T665C. Version 2.0 and up supports OS 5. Was totally replaced by MessagEast Stamp described under the hack section below until my T3 came along. Now I'm back to it. Graffiti 2 is a subset of Jot, but I prefer the full system. Update: Jot 2.1 has been released and works with the T3 on the full screen. It does not work in the graffiti area in the DIA, and it is always on (i.e., the icon on the status bar does't disable full-screen writing). Since I use MessagEase4T3 in the DIA, this works great for me. CIC solved the problem in G2 causing delays on simple taps because G2 tries to make all taps into periods. Jot 2.1 uses a forward slash for the period and passes all simple taps straight to the OS for instant response. Brilliant! ***Update 2: Jot 2.1 routinely crashed my T3 after several consectively days of use. I finally gave it up for MEKB discussed below and G2. Not ideal, but I grew tired of the crashes with no sign of an update. I wrote to CIC tech support, but they couldn't provide a solution.***

***K-Reader - (23K) Freeware by Keith Skapinski. Still in beta, but this is a very fast, very nice doc reader with fast VFS support. Looks great with hi res assist as well. Only shortfall is lack of support for bookmarks. The author promptly answered my email query, indicating that bookmark support is coming soon in the next beta release. ***Was expecting good things, but it was never updated. Now removed.***

Kinoma Player 3 EX - (141K) Shareware by Kinoma. Awesome hi res movie player that supports the MP4 container. You can make/convert your own stuff with Kinoma Producer, which is also shareware, and also find many clips on the web. Movie trailers are on the order of 6.5 Mb in hi res, but play very well from the memory card. Sound quality of MP4 files is outstanding. The free version of 2.0 comes in Flash with the T3.

***LCD Analyzer - (93K) Freeware by Palmary. Nifty test program for PDA screens. Checks out color palettes, brightness, readability, geometry, and more. ***Update: Removed for lack of use. Still on PC if I need it.***

***LChars - (6K) Freeware by Laurent Thaler. Tiny app that offers the extended ASCII character set for copy to the clipboard. ***Removed when Ascii Chart supported OS 5***

***List - (26K) Freeware by Andrew Low. Older program for which some folks have created databases. I only use it for a medical abbreviation database. ***Removed. Found a good med abbreviation database for BDicty.***

MathUPro - (204K + 56K for program editor--MathUEdit) Shareware by Creative Creek. Outstanding programmable, scientific, RPN calculator patterned after the classic Hewlett-Packard lines which I've used for decades. The screen is such that you can actually use it by "pressing" the individual keys. Programming is just like the old HPs, based on the keys w/o a complicated language or script to learn. Creative Creek also makes a non-programmable version for less money. The latest version supports Sony and OS 5 hi res and looks great, and version 3.0 also has a built-in Solver function that solves algegraic equations. Works great on my T3.

***McFile - (223K) Shareware from H. Imazeki (older version 1.13 is freeware). Very nice VFS file manager that uses visual trees for the card directories when copying/moving, views text files, and also has a built-in backup capability. Has context menus on holding the stylus on files, and will also beam files directly from the memory card. Used to be my primary file manager until ZZTechs built a great one into ZLauncher. McFile's strenghts include plug-ins to view jpegs (McJPEG and CRSImgView) and text files (McText). It will also execute apps with the selected database if the app supports arguements. UPDATE: I now use ZLauncher's built-in file manager primarily. Version 2.2Beta3 supports the full T3 screen, but not small fonts on the T3. ***Gone from my T3. Still a nice app, but Palm Insider Pro is a more capable file manager.***

***McPhling - (K) Shareware by Michael J. McCollister. Great hack for quickly swapping between most recent programs used, with ability to include favorite programs as well. Similar to SwitchHack, but with full VFS support and can also display icons for faster recognition. Its speed comes from keeping apps names/IDs that are on the card in a cache in RAM. This requires going into X-Master to "configure" McPhling when you add new programs to the card so that it scans the card and updates the cache. The speed trade is definitely worth the effort. SwitchHack preserves the previous program's state better when swapping, but has become less useful to me with all the apps I keep on my Memory Stick. Note: There is an OS 5 app version of this which works great. ***Still works great, but don't need it with ZLauncher's Quick Launch and the recent apps on the T3's home icon on its status bar. Removed***

MedCalc - (247K) Freeware by Mathias Tschopp. Very powerful medical calculator. More complete than the one built in to ePocrates 6.0, which is no slouch. Calculations are categorized for easy access.

MegaClock - (332K + 277K for optional skin) Shareware by MegaSoft2000. Nice clock program with lots of features like digital/analog/calendar display, 20 alarms, 4 timers, a stopwatch, events, world time, moon phases, sun rise/set, city time, Internet time, and a time calculator. My only gripe is that it doesn't use the fancier Palm T3 alarm sounds. Some of the skins look really great in 16-bit color.

***MegaLauncher 4 - (385K + 456K for background, icons, data, etc.) Shareware by MegaSoft2000. Powerful launcher that fully supports OS 5, 16-bit color, backgrounds, skins, replacement icon sets, Sony hi res, and VFS cards, including moving or copying programs to/from memory cards. Upon executing programs from a memory card, ML copies them very quickly to RAM. It has a number of useful tools and file displays, and is able to not only tailor the icon sizes, but also the icon label font. I evaluated MegaLauncher against ZLauncher recently and found it wanting. Backgrounds are prc file format, so are not easy to make. The tool icons are still very large and block too much of the background picture. Backgrounds (200K for 320x320x16-bit), icon files (~45K), and skins do not support VFS, so your library of such must either be in RAM or you must manually move them to RAM to use them. Archiving was removed since 3.2.2. In the end, ML4 is just ML3 with some display tweaks--far too little after a year without an update. I have a complete review of ML4 coming on PDABuyersGuide. ***Replaced by ZLauncher***

***MessagEase - (48K) Freeware from EXideas, Inc. Practice program for MessageEaseKB under hacks below. Scientifically designed to minimize stylus movement, and uses only 11 keys! Takes a bit of learning to get the character locations down, but it's definitely faster than grafitti or the default keyboard. Also includes a game that helps you learn the keyboard layout. All writing in this program can be copied to the clipboard upon exit, in case you were practicing for real. I am back to this until ME virtual graffiti skin is updated for the T3. ***Update: ME4T3 is out and works great. No longer need this app.***

MessagEaseKB - (32K) Freeware from EXideas, Inc. Very interesting replacement for the built-in Palm OS soft keyboard. Scientifically designed to minimize stylus movement, and uses only 11 keys! Takes a bit of learning to get the character locations down, but it's definitely faster than grafitti or the default keyboard. The speed and accuracy are great.

MessagEase for the T3 - (155K incl keyboard) Shareware from EXideas, Inc. Excellent soft keyboard replacement for the Tungsten|T3 Dynamic Input Area (DIA). Supports macros and the full spectrum of Palm OS custom command codes input as custom macros. The command button provides the most-used OS functions (copy, cut, paste, command, shortcut, undo) at your stylus tip. Concentrated, well planned keyboard enables minimal hand movement, and tons of punctuation and symbols are readily accessible. Works perfectly in portrait mode AND landscape--the first soft keyboard to do landscape! Installation is now automatic. ME4T3 is back to being my primary input method!

MetrO - (52K + data files) Freeware by F. Van Caenegem & P. Bernard. Slick program that provides directions to get from one location to another using public transportation in a host of the world's cities. Very nicely excuted interface, quick searching, good use of color, and accurate directions make it a snap to use. Databases are updated regularly. Good program for travelers. Version 5.1.1 supports the T3 DIA!

***Mi:D 5.3.3 - (52K + dictionaries) Shareware from ThaiPalm. Nice popup dictionary with a number of free databases. Doesn't support a progressive search box. Originally a hack before OS 5, but ported nicely. This version supports the T3 DIA. I keep it for its 1913 Unabridged Webster's database for now. ***I have the 1828 Unabridged Webster's under BibleThumper, so don't need Mi:D anymore.***

MiniCalc - (129K) Shareware from Solutions in Hand. An excellent and capable spreadsheet. Imports/exports Excel worksheets natively, includes 103 built-in functions, cell formatting, 15 significant figure accuracy, 256 columns x 9999 rows, familiar GUI interface, Excel compatible chart module (46K), Palm OS Find function, and many other features. I compared features and prices of a variety of Palm OS spreadsheets, and found MiniCalc to provide the most bang for the buck. It supports Sony's hi res screens, VFS, and Palm hi res+. Update: After all the years that I've used this, it still outshines its competition and remains my primary spreadsheet.

MMPlayer - (121K core + 900K support files) Shareware by David Janssens and Magnus Berg. Nice video/audio player with lots of geek tweaks available in the preferences. It's skinable, has great sound, and the only Palm OS player that can play native AVI files. Kinoma EX 3 is my primary player, but I keep MMPlayer available to handle the AVIs when I can't convert them to MP4 while I'm on the road.

***Mobile Paint - (1,764K) Shareware from Mobile Systems. Unbelievable image and drawing program, absolutely equivalent to MS Paint on the desktop. Works with JPEG and bitmap images as well as its own format. Crop, scale, flip, recolor, set transparency, hue, saturation, brightness, contrast, etc. on images. Drawing tools include complex poligons and Bezier curves. A new version includes screen capture capability, but it won't capture the T3's Graffiti area or status bar. It's images can be inserted directly into documents in MobiSystems Word. Paint also manages the TrueType fonts for MobiSystems Word. Together, they make a great team. Just be warned--on initial load, Paint takes a very long time to search and catalog your PDA's images if you have more than a few. After that, loads are fine but thumbnails are stored in RAM. Overall an amazing program. ***Removed because I don't use it anymore. See discussion on MS Word next.***

***MobiSystems Word - (1,000K + 626K support data) Shareware from Mobile Systems. A rising star in the Palm word processor market. Great MS Word-like interface with real-time spell checking, autosave, TrueType font support, tables in tables, image insertion, etc., all on the Palm. Nicely implemented. Still a few missing features like bookmarks, hyperlinks, and indenting, but continues to grow in capability. Syncs flawlessly with MS Word through a dedicated conduit. Also interfaces directly with MobiSystems Paint included in the package. May become my primary word processor once it supports the mentioned features. ***Over the long haul, HotSyncing proved problematic at times. The worst problem is that Mobi Word deletes all formatting that it doesn't support from the source document--totally unacceptable! I decided to stick with DocsToGo, which preserves all formatting, whether supported on the handheld or not. MobiWord also had an annoying delay during text input.***

MSDict Professional Dictionary Bundle - (210K app, 5K hack, plus 9,591K for databases) Shareware from Mobile Systems. Great English dictionary, thesaurus, phrase list, and acronym reference. It has excellent VFS support, sports a very attractive interface that supports Sony hi res and is simple to use. The hack enables popup capability from within other apps. The dictionary has concise, informative definitions, and the thesaurus is very helpful in discerning the nuances between similar words. As good as these are, the real star of this collection may be the English phrase database. Don't be fooled by the name--it explains a number of common latin phrases and formal names, as well as colloquial expressions. Almost all other PDA dictionaries use a reduced version of Princeton's WorldNet lexicon, which is really a sophisticated thesaurus-like psychological language learning project and makes a less than exemplary dictionary even in full PC form. See my more detailed comments on this database here. I compared a number of popular dictionary programs before settling on MSDict, whose demo is time-limited, full function software. Mobile Systems' support proved very helpful, promptly answering questions and concerns before I registered. I have a review of MSDict and the major dictionaries on the market here. Update: I moved the main dictionary, synonym, and English phrase databases to RAM, which made MS Dict virtually instantaneous. Latest reader supports Palm OS DIA.

MyBible - (533K + ~1.8MB per Bible loaded) Commercial by Laridian. A great general Bible reading program for the Palm, with a nice interface, extremely fast searching, and a host of features normally seen in desktop Scripture programs. The entire Bible takes about 1.8Mb, but it is broken up into four modules so you don't have to load it all if memory is a problem. The newer versions include the translators' notes as well, previously only available in printed Bibles. Searches are lightening fast, and can use wildcards. Bible versions and new references are regularly added, so check back if your favored version isn't available yet. Excellent VFS support. Newest version 4.0 supports supports sychronized windowing and references in addition to Christ's words in red, personal notes on verses, added versions, and full Palm DIA support for the T3. My primary prograrm for daily Bible reading in the NKJV using the NIV Study Bible notes in the new windowing system, but I use BibleReader+ with its incredibly powerful language resources for daily study.

#MyPalm - (3K) Freeware by Scott Dreslinski. Generates a list of all programs and hacks on your device and puts that list in a memo. Handy to help recover your configuration if you don't use BackupBuddy, or to provide a list of your software to others on the web. ***Doesn't work on the T3, causing a fatal exception.***

NeckTie - (45K) Freeware by FroggySoft. Handy little app that has simple B&W graphics on tying various tie knots. There is a newer shareware version out, but it doesn't add any value to the free version in my opinion.

NoviiRemote - (1319K + 366K+ data files) Shareware from NoviiMedia. Nice program that uses the Palm's IR port as a remote controller for your TV, VCR, DVD, cable box, etc. Comes with a set of preprogrammed profiles for various devices, but can also be taught your specific device. Uses preprogrammed templates for the different remotes. It provides a colorful screen of controls (2 screens per device) plus a quick selection bar on the right. I'm testing this one to see if I can use it to replace the old Clie RMC from my T665C. NoviiMedia will offer NoviiRemote with a TV schedule service this spring.

Oxford Dictionary of Idioms - (879K database) Shareware from Mobile Systems. Very nice collection of English idioms searchable on key works in each idiom. Works with the updated 4.0 MS Dict viewer. Excellent reference if you want to get it just right. Also available as part of an Oxford Reference Suite. See my review here.

PalmEKG - (19K) Freeware from PalmEMS. Graphic displays of normal and abnormal EKG traces with brief explanations. Website seems defunct now, though. Also causes a fatal exception upon exiting on my T615C/T665C by not being able to reset the color depth. Ironically, it works fine on my T3!

Palm Insider Pro - (144K) Shareware from Li Xiangming. Great, powerful program that opens up the Palm OS system and apps to examination/changing. Accesses system features, error codes, and files, plus has a key watcher function. Allows you to change virtually everything--very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. It replaced a number of other utilities like RscrEdit, Preference Editor, and ChangeName on my T3. Although Li created this program on his own time, it is now sold under the auspices of ZZTech. In case his name sounds familiar, Li is one of the amazing team members (and I think the only English-speaking member) at ZZTech, creators of the incredible ZLauncher. Works full screen on my T3--sweet!

PalmInternals - (20K) Freeware by Igor Nesterov. Used to be called Alarm List. Slick little utility to help you sort out alarm and notification conflicts between apps. Version 1.5 and up work under OS 5.

Palm Reader - (222K) Commercial from Palm Digital Media. eBook reader that came with my T3. I have a few references for it from memoware. Just another option available.

***PenPenCol - (38K) Freeware by Shigeyuki Seko. Nice little tool that records handwritten notes quickly--basically a paint-like program. You can even draw little maps for directions, and it supports multiple pages of notes. Nifty tool if you're in a hurry and don't have much to write. In color and supports Sony hi res! ***Now that I'm back to Palm, the T3 comes with hi res Notepad which serves my purposes. Although it works fine on the T3, I no longer need this app.***

#PiDirect II - (125K) Shareware by Portable Innovation Technology. Nifty program for VFS-compliant cards (Palm OS 4.0 and greater). Turns a directory on your memory card into virtual memory, allowing your programs and databases to load in pieces as necessary rather than copying the entire database into RAM first. PiDirect is meant only for read-only databases/documents, just as if they were in FlashROM. It makes access to very large databases on your memory card very fast. Works great, and the new version even has a nice file manager built in. Also allows you to automatically turn off PiDirect off for programs with which it conflicts, such as programs that backup your RAM to the memory card. This is one of those must-haves if you keep and use large databases, read-only documents, and/or ebooks on your memory cards. Installs as an addition to your Preference list as well as an app w/an icon. Documentations recommends a max of 50 files, but I'm running 72 files under it w/no problems. Version 2.2 does have a problem interacting with SwitchDash, where in it disables the hi res library and requires a soft reset to get hi res back. I wrote to PIT, but have not received an answer. SwitchDash's author found the problem--a system call changed by PIT--and provided an interim fix. Bad on PIT, good on Hiroaki Imazeki. UPDATE: Finally received an answer from PIT, but they don't really acknowledge the problem. I've reverted to the previous version of PiDirect for now. ***Doesn't work under OS 5 and never will, which is one reason (of many) I waited so long to jump to an OS 5 device. However, with 52MB of usable RAM on the T3, I no longer need PiD anyway.***

***Pocket Codes 3.0 - (188K) Shareware by neohand. Interesting app that provides US and Canadian area codes, international country codes, and international Internet domain extension listings in a simple interface. I got it free through one of PalmGear's summer specials. It seems to crash my T3 regularly on exit, so I'm not sure how long it will last on my device. ***Fatal exceptions on my T3 were the norm on exit. Finally deleted it.***

Pocket Oxford English Dictionary - (2,784K database) Shareware from Mobile Systems. Great implementation of the standard English dictionary. Includes etymology, pronunciation, deriviatives, usage, and even related concepts for some words. Works with the updated 4.0 MSDict viewer. Also available as part of an Oxford Reference Suite. See my review here.

Pocket Tunes - (536K + 835K support files) Shareware from NormSoft. Great audio player with many attributes of full-up desktop players. Supports MP3, Ogg, WAV, and WMA files, uses plugins to save space, and links with Windows Media Player to transfer music back and forth.  It reads the embedded information in music files and displays the songs by title, artist or albumn. It can stream songs from your desktop through WiFile (discussed below) and from ShoutCast. Unbeatable feature set and great sound make this the audio player to beat.

PocketLingo 2.0 College Dictionary and Thesaurus - (273K) Shareware from HLCSoft, LLC. The full American Heritage College Dictionary and Roget's II, The New Thesaurus on your Palm, no kidding! With over 260,000 words and 244,000 synonyms, this constitutes quite a reference. Be prepared to surrender 10.5 MB of space on your Palm, though. Also, don't neglect the PocketLingo Cultural Literacy reference, which is a real gem of important information on Western politics, history, and culture. If you went to public school in the US, chances are you may be seriously deficient in this area of information.

***PowerHiRes - (10K) Freeware by Hacker Dude-san. VFS-aware replacement for Sony's HiRes Assist, which doesn't support VFS. All programs are automatically given hi res assistance unless explicitly excluded. Works very well, but only works with programs on the card if they are first put in RAM and selected there. Hi res exclusion continues to work on the card, but the apps appear as 'unknown' in PowerHiRes. Web site is in Japanese, but the program is available in English. ***Superceded on my Sony by SwitchDash below because of the latter's better VFS support. No use for it at all on the T3.***

#PowerJOG - (K) Shareware by Hacker Dude-san. Geared towards increasing the functionality of Sony's Jog Dial. Does some nice stuff, including a pop-up menu, but has some glaring omissions. for example, you can use the Jog Dial and back button to get to a button on the screen, but you can't press that botton by simply pressing the Jog Dial. I kinda have a love/hate relationship with this utility. I've taken it off/put it back on my device a number of times already. The only time I use it is in HandStory now. NOTE: No use for it on my T3.

Pray! - (152K) Commercial by Laridian. Nifty program to track your prayers. Lets you include who, what, why, etc., plus notes. Handy if you're subject to senior moments like me. Also can keep a contact list of your prayer partners. Internal graphics are low res.

***Preference Editor - (10K) Freeware by Bodo Bellut. Not as powerful as RcrcEdit, but it will allow you to delete orphaned preference settings if you know the creator ID. Some IDs are given in the display, but not all. Downloaded from nXt's Clie Club Yahoo! forum. ***Removed--not enough value added over RsrcEdit and Palm Insider***

***PSMemo - (76K) Freeware by Sembe. Memos replacement app that uses the built-in's database and that's also compatible with the T3's new 32K Memo database. It also uses standard Palm text fields so that my MessagEase4T3 macros will work properly. Works well so far. Now to see if it adds value over Memos over longer term use. Website and instructions are in Japanese, like the old Clie days. ***Unstable during large deletions, causing auto-soft resets. Removed.***

PXA Clocker Pro - (18K) Shareware by Syrius Dire Service. Over/underclocking utility for Intel X-Scale processors. Compatible with the T3 as of version 2.9, and 3.0+ uses the entire 320x480 screen. I left most of apps the at the system frequency, slowing down those in which I spend lots of time but don't need the speed, and speeding those that benefit most. The sweet spot for the T3 is 588 MHz--SysClk x40, MemClk x2, and CpuClk x2. This full version persists across soft resets and works with peripherals. I also tried LightSpeed, but it had much less flexibility in clock settings and didn't support peripherals.

#Reset Emulator - (4K) Freeware by Daniel Seifert. Nifty utility that simulates the message traffic to apps that occurs upon a soft reset. Simply do an application bypass reset (pin while holding page up), and Reset Emulator to find a bad program that may be causing problems. Great troubleshooting tool! ***Update: Although it doesn't crash the T3, it doesn't recognize the device has been reset and therefore does not work as intended to simulate resets in OS 5.***

***Resource Edit - (123K) Shareware by Quartus. Nifty but dangerous utility to access and change the internal resources of Palm OS programs. Handy to convert Japanese menu entries to English, but be careful. No longer being updated and doesn't support color resources, but still handy. ***Replaced by Palm Insider Pro above.***

***RichReader - (44.1K + 76K for fonts) Shareware by Michael Arena. A step above the average Palm DOC reader. Palm DOC is the standard format for ebooks and other documents for Palms. RichReader goes a step further by adding fuller font coverage (bold, italics, etc.) to the viewer, and providing tools on the desktop to convert rich text format (RTF), HTML, and PDF files to RichReader format on the Palm. RichReader really increases the readability of large documents. My downloadable collection used to be based on this software before I transferred them to WordSmith. ***Now replaced by WordSmith.***

Screenshot5 - (51K) Shareware by LinkeSoft. Nice screenshot app that now captures the T3 DIA area and status bar, including landscape mode, with version 2.1. Although it only captures images to a proprietary database in RAM, it exports either GIF or BMPs to the card. It can also use a conduit to automatically transfer images to the desktop. After trying it a couple of times, I decided to register it. Seems to do the best job with the T3 of any capture program out there. I removed the other capture programs from my T3.

ScrollBar5 - (5K) Freeware by Mark Tamura. Great utility to slow down the scrollbar repeat rate to make it usable on fast OS 5 PDAs. Works great on my T3, and made some previously madening programs useful now. Get it on PalmGear.

Shadow Plan - (267K) Shareware by Jeff Mitchell. Outstanding outliner/todo manager/planner that interfaces flawlessly with the built in todo, address, and memo databases and associated apps. Use it to lay out a project from end to end hierarchically. Supplied preset item types are checklists, notes, tasklists w/% completion tracking, flat lists, and worksheets, plus the user can define any number of custom setups. The entire program provides complete customization and flexibility in displayed information and mixing/matching data types, and links items with todo, address, and memo databases as well as other Shadow data files. I use it in conjunction with Datebk5 to plan and organize complex projects. Also comes with a desktop companion program that is in the early stages of development. Very highly recommended. Version 2.8.23a uses the full T3 screen very well, and the updated link app works fine under OS 5.

SharkSwipe - (96K) Shareware by Ludus Technologies. THE must-have app for T3 owners. Implements swipes on the T3 status bar to execute apps and internal functions like bringing up the keyboard, command bar, last app, move across fields, lock, and power off. You never have to open the slider to access basic functions. The developer is working to add DA support for the swipes. Great app with outstanding support. PalmSource should contract with Ludus for this capability.

SkinDIA! - (51K) Shareware by Dr. Alexander Pruss. Incredible little utility to change/manage your T3's graffiti area skin and status bar. In addition to managing and changing T3 skins, it can merge elements of different skins (copywrite permitting) to make a custom skin. I use it to keep my MessagEase4T3 keyboard while setting the other graffiti elements and the status bar to more colorful designs. This is a HUGE benefit to MessagEase and Fitaly users. The app can also set the graffiti area color depth to 16 bits for photo backgrounds, and also fix the nasty T3 popup clock crashes that occur after the status bar is changed. If you have a T3, you need this! Latest version changed the name from SkinT3 and works on the T5.

SnapCalc5 - (64K) Freeware by Ling Nero. Great popup calculator that can be moved around the screen in its smaller form. It will even occupy the T3 DIA area when the DIA is not there. Very nicely done.

***Soft Reset - (4K) Freeware by RNS. Executes an app after a soft reset. Handy when I used JackSprat to remove Bluetooth from my T3 and then required a soft reset after each Hotsync. ***Archived on my desktop just in case.***

Speedy - (24K) Freeware by Laurent DUVEAU. Nice benchmark utility. Generally agrees very well with Benchmark. Now updated to properly test ARM CPUs.

SpashID - (315K) Shareware from SplashData. Attractive app to keep your passwords, bank info, credit card data, etc., safe. Uses 256-bit Blowfish encryption, has great flexibility in creating templates and customizing individual entries, and comes with a nice desktop component. Can assign custom icons to individual entries from IconEditor-compatible icon databases. Nicely executed, but pretty expensive. Best bought as part of the SplashWallet suite if you need the other apps.

SplashShopper - (355K) Shareware from SplashData. Attractive database manager targetted for lists, including shopping. Comes with lots of useful examples. Tracks coupons, allows different prices at different stores, can share individual entries across stores, and has a nice desktop component. Not cheap...best bought as part of the SplashWallet suite if you need the other apps.

Star Pilot Advanced - (485.2K w/all modules loaded) Shareware by Star Pilot and M. Edward Wilborne III. Unbelievably outstanding collection of astronomy tools (Star Pilot, Sol! II, Moon Info!, Planets!, Messier!, Solstice, Solar System, and J-Moons!) in a well integrated bundle. Star Pilot itself generates real-time, full star maps that include 740 stars, the planets, the moon, sun, and Messier objects based on your location and time/date. It is highly customizable, provides object information (RA, Dec, etc.) at a tap, and includes a zoom feature and integration w/the rest of the package. Sol! II calculates the sun's position and other key data, including a solar compass. Moon Info! does the same for the moon, including phases. J-Moons! shows the positions of the 4 largest Jovian satellites. Planets! and Messier! calculate the positions of these celestial objects and includes distance and magnitude data. All draw your position from Location Manager that includes a large database of cities, or you can input your lat and long. Solar System plots the positions of the planets in their orbits at any particular time. A super package that really shows the power of the Palm! You can also buy the parts individually and in a smaller collection. New version supports Sony hi res! I run most of the programs from under PiDirect so the mutual links work flawlessly. Update: With the T665C RAM upgrade, I move them all to RAM. They stayed in RAM on my T3.

Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 27th Edition - (15K + ~14 MB data on the card) Commercial from Skyscape. Very comprehensive with excellent definitions. After considerable research, I've found this dictionary to be the one to have if you can only have one. Supports VFS natively and it's pretty quick, but doesn't support higher than 320x320 on the T3. Links to other Skyscape products. My only complaint is that the index is split in two parts at L-M. This can be annoying when you start typing before realizing that the wrong index is active. However, given that it has over 102,000 terms and a huge data file, maybe that was the best compromise for performance. In the end, the content quality won out.

SuperNames - (330K) Shareware by Stand Alone, Inc. When I moved to my T3, I needed to replace my beloved PopUp Names hack. I tried a bunch of address book replacements like FastAddress (minimal functionality), ContactsPro (eh), TealPhone (eh), and Contacts 4 (way huge) before settling on this app to test for a while. It has tremendous flexibility in setup, can search any field, act on user-checked records (e.g., user selects 10 records and moves all to another category in one action. Built-in requires 10 individual moves.) and version 2.22 uses the T3's entire screen. It is very well thought out. I tried it out for a couple of days, during which time the author quickly responded to and fixed a T3 issue in version 2.21--excellent support. Follow-up: I'm registered!

#SwitchDash 0.44 - (17K) Freeware by Hiroaki Imazeki. VFS-aware replacement for Sony's HiRes Assist, which doesn't support VFS. All programs are automatically given hi res assistance unless explicitly excluded. Apps in RAM and on the memory card are listed explicitly from pull down lists. This version and later don't have the screen blanking problems that older version had. Website is in Japanese. Available on ClieSource and nXt's forums. Best of the breed so far, with outstanding support. When an incompatibility arose with PiDirect II 2.2, Hiroaki braved software language translators to work with me to find the problem and provide a work-around. Highly recommended! Update: Sony specific, so no use for it on the T3.

Tabor's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 19th Edition - (23K + ~9 MB database on the card) Geared to nursing and health administration, it contains some very good and practical treatment information along with the definitions. While not comprehensive enough to be my only medical dictionary, the explanatory information was good enough to buy it as a supplementary source of information. Supports VFS natively and it's pretty quick, but doesn't support higher than 320x320 on the T3. Links to other Skyscape products.

Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia Deluxe - (274K + 3.6 MB data on the card) Shareware by USBMIS, Inc. PDA implementation of the popular pocket medication reference, covering about 4000 medications and many herbal/alternative meds. It has good scope, adequate depth, and a straight-forward interface. Unlike most other drug references, only the adverse affects that occurred in over 5% of the test subjects and at twice the rate as the placebo--i.e., those that are clinically significant--appear in the monographs. You can update automatically on HotSync, and the updates are zipped to save bandwidth. Includes an excellent drug interaction function informed by the Medical Letter. You can get monthly or annual subscription to the databases, and they are significantly less expensive than the competition. Doesn't support 320x480 on the T3 natively, but works full screen pretty well with CodeDiver 1.1b6. Its support is outstanding.

Taxi! Taxi! - (10K) Free from MobilityWare. Here's some mindless entertainment for free. This tiny app animates the same Palm taxi as appears randomly through the famous Easter Egg, also explained at this link. Pretty handy to show folks that the taxi is real and not your private delusion.

***T3PowerOnBugFix - (1K) Free from Jonatan Fernstad of ClieVideo. The Tugsten T3 has a hardware bug. Turning off the power and then powering back on causes the I2S system to generate about 30,000 interrups per second, significantly slowing down the system. A soft reset clears the problem. Jonatan created this patch that creates a tiny recording file then deletes it, resetting the I2S system. So far, this patch doesn't seem to interfere with any other system. ***Update: No longer needed with the T|3 ROM update.***

TealLock - (217K) Shareware from TealPoint. I'm currently testing this to replace EasyLock, which won't work under OS 5. Like the Palm Security 5.0p update and a few others, TealLock lets you unlock your device with the hard buttons. It also does app encryption and auto locking. The latter's options are very nice. Datebk5, Palm WorldClock, and TikTok alarms still sound when locked. It prevents HotSyncing when locked, but won't continue that Hotsync after putting in your password. You have to cancel that sync and start another. I suspect that this is caused by the timing sensitivity of the HotSync link, not by TealLock itself. TL also doesn't disable the voice recorder or camera (if you have one). The nags during testing get very annoying, though. I ended up registering, pretty much completing my transition to the T3 with my previous OS 4 capabilities. The main advantages over the very nice Palm Security app update for the T3 is added flexibility in setup and activation, plus it doesn't interfere with other apps like the Palm Security update.

***Thinfont - (5K) Freeware by Hacker Dude-san. The Sony CLIE hi res fonts are awesome, and although the most readable I've ever seen on a PDA, are also very thin in form. This program fills in the fonts so that they are darker, but they don't take any more room on the screen. Works well, but has a minor problem with punctuation--turning ellipses into dashes by filling in the dots, for example. For older eyes, that's a small price to pay. Available on CLIEWorld. *** I don't use this anymore, as I've replaced it with FontHack123 below.***Update: Not needed on the T3.

#T'Catalog - (40K) Freeware by Tom Aufischer. Nice update of Andrew Plotkin's Z'Catalog with more capabilities. Also faster. Displays and allows you to edit properties of all the databases on your Palm OS device. You can also beam them or delete them. This program is very powerful and should be used w/caution. It can also copy programs out of ROM. Development still supported. ***Although it loads under OS 5, the file list comes up blank.***

***TikTok - (29K) Freeware by Dave Pearson/Mike McCollister. Excellent countdown timer program that supports 32 simultaneous alarms! Usability is excellent. You can also set the alarm sound to any sound on your system. ***Replaced by MegaClock.***

***TinyMirror - (477 bytes) Freeware by Benjamin Strahs. Neat tiny program that can either make you screen all black to make it a mirror, or all white to make it a flashlight. No redeaming social value, but cool. Supports Sony hi res. ***Update: Cute, but never used it.***

***ToolOneSony - (94K) Freeware by Uwe Wilhelm. Very attractive utility in Sony hi res that gives some basic data on your PDA like memory usage, battery voltage, internal serial number, CPU, color depth, display resolution, etc. No dedicated web site, but can be found on the Sony forums at Yahoo. ***Sony only, so gone from my T3.***

#TrapCatcher - (30K) Freeware by Igor Nesterov. Lists all apps on your device and which system traps they have set. Great for finding conflicts, especially since hacks aren't the only apps that set traps. Saves results to a memo for analysis, as well as displaying them.

TrackerDog - (95K + ~50K database) Freeware by A0Soft, Inc. App to track version changes of your applications. Nifty concept, but currently has problems determining the current versions of many applications. Also doesn't know that 6.0.11 is a higher version than 6.0.5. Still worthwhile, though.

Uninstall Manager - (88K) Shareware from Northglide. Great app that monitors file creations and changes to the Saved and Unsaved Preference files. This enables the uninstall of all parts of an app when deleting it. Launchers do this by deleting everything with the same creator ID. Uninstall Manager is more thorough because it tracks the creation of "hidden" settings and files associated with apps but that have different creator IDs, and monitors app installations through the Hotsync. Some shareware apps create these IDs to track trial periods, but it takes up memory and garbages YOUR device even if you delete an app after testing it. That's a stinky tactic that costs you memory, but it is all too common. Uninstall Manager for OS 5 provides the common cure for these intrusive apps, even monitoring the installations themselves, and uses the T3's full screen. The developer provides outstanding support, and offers a great deal when purchased with Cleanup as part of the NeatFreak package. Highly recommended, especially if you try or test a lot of shareware.

United We Stand - (173K) Donation-ware by WAGWARE and the Animation Factory. Nice collection of our national patriotic songs and a good quote from our president. Version 2.0 works fine on OS5.

#UpTime 1.3.1 - (7K w/the hack) Freeware by Holger Muller. Great program that tracks the time your PDA is powered on. It also tracks time since last reset and backlight time. So far seems very accurate. Works in conjunction with UpTimeHack. Good way to track your real battery performance under you usage profile. ***Update: On the T3, the hack doesn't work and so it cannot discover the on time. That's a real shame, because it leaves me without a good way of tracking usage.***

***VFSMark - (13K) Freeware by Kopsis, Inc. Test the speed of you memory card access. Thorough, and takes a while to run. Nice job! ***Removed. Available on my PC when needed.***

***VoxClock - (65K) Freeware by Vihk. The CLIE Talking Clock is very cool, but for CLIE T-series devices only. Great entertainment value! Web site disappeared and it looks like no updates are forthcoming, but it works great as it. ***Clie only, so gone from the T3.***

***Weasel Reader - (104K + 30K for zlib) Freeware, OpenSource. Nice new reader that supports VFS and hi res. It can read regular Palm doc format, but also ztext format, which is more highly compressed. Still under development, but very promising. ***Hi res support proved flaky; now replaced by HandStory***

Weather Calculator - (37K) Freeware by Jan Null. Good weather calculator that computes wind chill, heat index, relative humidity, and standard atmosphere. Also converts temperature, wind, and pressure. Includes Fujita Tornado Scale, Beaufort Wind Scale, and Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Great for weather geeks!

WiFile - (303K) Shareware from HandsHigh Software. Amazing file manager that accesses files on your Windows desktop or Mac with Windows Sharing enabled. Its intuitive interface belies the power beneath its surface. Works over 802.11 and Bluetooth networks. I had trouble getting it to log into my Win XP SP2 PC with a special setup, and their outstanding support pinpointed the necessary desktop security-setting changes that resolved the issue in just one email--before I registered! If you want access to your desktop files from your WiFi-equipped Palm, WiFile will exceed your expectations.

Win-Hand Anywhere - (150K) Freeware from MT Impossible. Another amazing utility that remote controls your desktop PC from your Palm handheld--no kidding! Two words--it works! I've seen others promise this, but MT Impossible delivered. Very usable on the small Palm screen due to the careful thought the developers put into its design. Speed using 256K color display proved very good on my T3. Support proved outstanding when I found a problem with the app. If you need or want access to your PC from anwhere in the world via wireless, look no further.

***WordComplete - (117.1K) Commercial by Communication Intelligence Corporation (CIC). Nifty, but not cheap, tool that attempts to complete your words as you write on your Palm, displaying up to 5 choices in a little window. It learns as you use it and puts your most commonly used words at the top of the offerings. Very nicely done in the new version. It can really speed up your input while note taking. I'm inclined to say it's almost handier than Jot itself. Again best picked up as part of the 3-product bundle offer. Works with MessagEase just fine. Version 3.x supports OS 5 plus cleans up some issues with screen relics in OS 4.x hi res apps. Update: CIC released Version 3.1 with full T3 compatibility. ***Removed in favor of Instant Text Mobile.***

***Word Per Minute - (10k) Freeware by David Haupert. Nice input speed test to gage your increased proficiency, or to compare input methods. ***Served its purpose, not removed but ready on the desktop if I need it again.***

***WordSmith - (575K not including dictionary and thesaurus, which add another *1498K w/the large dictionary) Shareware from Blue Nomad Software. This is a REAL word processor for the Palm. Pseudo-WYSIWYG editing on the Palm with paragraph justification, indenting, font faces (bold, italic, underline, strike-through, sizing), context menus like right-clicking in MS Word, Multi-Paste clipboard, et al. Font types (Arial, Courier, etc.) are preserved from MS Word, and can import/convert TT fonts to the handheld. Flexible Hotsync directory setup to Hotsync only what you want on the Palm. Doesn't work with most editing hacks (like EVEdit and others) because the font faces required rewriting the text fields in the Palm OS. Also accounts for the program's large size. Interchanges w/Word through RTF files, and works seamlessly with Word through Word menu additions. Interface and operation are simple, and the syncing conduit was written by the BackupBuddy folks so you know it's slick. If that isn't enough, it is also a memo pad replacement (still uses the memo pad database) and doc viewer as well. Supports bookmarks, has a built-in dictionary/thesaurus, hi res (320x320), hi res+ (320x480), soft graffiti support, and a lot more. I've transferred my entire Reformed reference library (downloadable below) over to this format. Supports storing its docs on memory cards supporting VFS. Version 2.2.21 works great with the full T3 screen. ***UPDATE: WordSmith has gradually fallen behind in the Palm word processor war. I've finally despaired of seeing any major functionality additions like table or image support and moved everything over to Docs To Go. With some tinge of sadness after a long affilitation, I uninstalled WordSmith.***

Wordz 3.0 - (16K + 1.1MB dictionary) Freeware by Neil Bowers. Nice crossward puzzle dictionary app that finds words based on letter placement in a sequence. Well executed.

***X-Master - (42.0K in full version, ~21K for Lite version) Freeware from LinkeSOFT. My hack manager. Very nice step up from Hackmaster at the right price! X-Master has a more sophisticated interface and Hackmaster quirks/compatibility problems are resolved. Full version has the ability to list all active hacks and the system calls they capture, which can aid in deconfliction. It can also save sets, which are particular hack loadings, including the load order. Very nice program, though significantly larger than Hackmaster. OTOH, Hackmaster hasn't been updated in years, and X-Master is fully supported by LinkeSOFT. ***Replace by YAHM to solve some conflicts with hacks using hidden traps under OS 4.***

YAHM - (55K) Freeware by Igor Nesterov. Yet another hack manager! Igor was dissatisfied with all offerings, especially because of their less-than-stellar support of hidden traps. Igor wrote YAHM for himself to get the features that he wanted and offered it to the public. There are some features, like naming profiles, in X-Master that I still like, but YAHM solved every hack conflict on my device. I emailed Igor about support for disabling hacks during Hotsync, and he promptly emailed me a link to the latest beta with that feature. Great program with great support. Update: Version 2.0 actually works under OS 5, but none of my old hacks functioned. The new version, however, implements a new hack API that supposedly works under OS 5, and I've added three to my T3.

YAUC 1.2.2d - (30K) Freeware by Marius Milner. Yet Another Unit Converter that supports 585 units in 40 categories. Very slick operation. Available on PalmFlying.

***ZGrabber - (9K) Freeware by CodeJedi. New screen grabbing utility. Currently in beta, it saves to the card in PCX format. Operation is a bit rudimentary, using the power button for activation, but it's the only free screenshot app that captures the T3's DIA and status bar. ***Although I really like this, development seems to be on the back burner. ***I'll be back for the next version.***

ZLauncher - (376K + 856K for data, skin, and background files in my setup) Shareware from ZZTechs. This launcher literally came out of nowhere to capture the hearts of the launcher market. Beautifully executed, extremely configurable, and includes a powerful array of tools--especially for the memory card. Tabs can have icons and be hidden, virtually everything about it can be configured by the user, including the tool bars. Fully supports all hi res standards, uses 16-bit color, and displays hi res OS 5 icons on OS 4.x devices. Changing skins, icons, and backgrounds is a snap with Theme Manager. Has multiple view modes with either no tabs or tabs on any side, and all support transparency. The 'no tabs' mode shows more of the background image. Also has full-featured built-in file manager, graphics viewing, cleans up its database for deleted files in version 2.3, and can hide all tool bars in version 3, and the user can space and locate app icons in 3.2. Version 3.5 moves apps and their data to RAM for execution, sports the capability to bring up the Favorites/Most Common/Most Recent list from any app, and a number of other additions. Developers are very responsive to customer suggestions, which accounts for the loyalty of their users. If you don't see something you want in the interface, send ZZTechs an email and the feature will probably show up shortly. Does virtually everything MegaLauncher did plus some, but supports full 16-bit color and backgrounds--both lacking in ML. It even left YiShow in the dust, and is far more stable than YiShow. I registered this after testing it for about an hour--it's that good. No other launcher comes close. Uses the full T3 screen both in the launcher and the file manager. Version 4.0 goes even further by making individual tabs fully configurable, including individual security. Version 4.20 add the ability to put your most-used apps on the toolbars! Version 5.0 added plug-in support, including a Today plug-in. These folks never sleep. Very highly recommended.

ZLauncher Manager - (10K) Comes with ZLauncher. It lists out all the files used by ZLauncher with their sizes. Tapping on the individual files tells their purpose and allows you to delete them. Very nice touch.

Palm OS Hacks:

So what are hacks? Daniel Seifert has the most authoritative discussion available on the web. Check his article out if you are at all curious about what hacks are and how they work. He has an excellent article on hacks and OS 5 here. Bottom line is that even though YAHM 2.0 and TealMaster now work in OS 5, few hacks will actually work. YAHM 2.0 introduced a new hack API for OS 5, and these seem to work fine. For old hacks that don't work, there are lots of good OS 5 apps to substitute for hack. For example, I chose SuperNames to replace PopUp Names.

I'm leaving my discussion on hacks here for historical purposes and for OS 4 and earlier users, and I've added my new OS 5 hacks.

#***AfterBurner 3.1 - (10.9K) Shareware by Dan Wee based on AB 2 by Jean-Paul Gavini. Authorized upgrade to the older AB 2.x. Speeds up you handheld tremendously through a combination of CruiseControl functionality, overclocking the DragonballEZ/VZ CPU (up to 54 MHz on some models for the very brave!), and changing the LCD handling on B/W versions. Lots of flexibility given to the user as to what acceleration techniques to employ and how much of each. Version 3.x brings compatibility to full range of Palm OS 3.1 to 4.1, adds StreakHack LCD functions and a few others. I encountered no problems running at 33 MHz on my Palm Vx w/OS 3.5 for well over a year and on my Sony T615C at 45 MHz, but YMMV. Benchmark 2.0 below returns a whopping 256% on my Palm @ 33 MHz and 294% on the Sony! (The Visor Platinum comes in at 204%) Dan Wee has been very responsive to email questions and quick w/fixes to the Palm IIIc LCD issues, which are now squared away. One catch I've found is that you have to slow down to about 26-28 MHz to beam stuff from an oversped Palm to slower running Palms. My Sony T615C beamed fine at 45 MHz. The other catch is that is doesn't recognize apps on the card, defaulting them to your default setting. This is great if you want all your card apps to run at the higher speed, but that isn't always true for me. There is no dedicated web site for the program, so go to PalmGear. ***Replace by FastCPU to gain VFS support. Still a good program, though, if you don't require VFS support.***

#Backlight Hack - (6K) Freeware by Bram Dees. Nifty little program that turns off the backlight after a specified period of time. Can also have different settings for different days/times of day. It consists of two parts. One is an addition to the standard Palm OS Preference screen, where the settings are specified. The other is a hack that implements the settings. Pretty neat, and could save significant battery time, especially if alarms wake up the device for the specified on-time. Designed for the Palm Vx/m50x series, but works fine on the T615C/T665C. NOTE: I missed the panel app for this hack when migrating to the T3, and it cost me over a day's worth of work to find and cleanup. The T3 would crash everytime it was powered on and revert to the latest app executed minus one. Also, high color images would crash the T3. Once I found the panel for Backlight and removed it, all is well. This provided an excellent case study on hacks under OS 5.

#ClockPop - (16K) Freeware by S. Millman. Great hack that pops up a clock w/time, day, date, battery status, and free memory when holding down the user-chosen activation button (datebook button by default), then returns the Palm to its previous program/state upon button release. Very nicely done. Who needs a watch anymore? No dedicated web site, so find it on FreewarePalm. Update: See above for OS 5 version.

#***Daylight Savings Hack - (5K) Freeware by Benc Software. Very nice utility that checks your system and changes to/from DST depending on the rules set in the program. Analyzes your system when first installed to determine your location and offer a default setting. Works great! ***Clockfix now provides this functionality.***

#EasyLock Hack - (21K + optional 37K image) Shareware by Daniel Seifert. Nice security program that uses buttons/dials/silkscreen to unlock within a short delay before going to the full-up password. Remains active across resets, and can display a picture/graphic when it comes up. Easy to use, but very effective. I use it when traveling, just in case the unthinkable should happen.

#FindHack - (17.2K) Shareware by Florent Pillet. Universal find program that blows away the built-in version. Search everything fast from anywhere, fully configurable. I have one friend who doesn't bother to work with categories or even pop into programs. He just uses FindHack to search the Palm for the data he wants, then brings up the program by selecting his target data.

#FontHack123 - (8K + ~10K/font) Freeware by Sergey Menshikov. Great utility that substitutes new hi res fonts (version 4.0c and higher) for the Clie's system fonts. SanSerif22 from Lubak is particularly nice as a system font, and easy to read because of its heavier weight than the Sony system font. If you use this, you don't need Thinfont. Added: Now Lubak has the Palm OS 5.0 system font available which looks very nice. The OS 5 font was my standard under OS 4. I use Lubak's Fonts4OS5 now on my T3.

FontSmoother - (35K) Shareware by Dr. Alexander Pruss. Wonderful OS5 hack that implements antialias (smooth) fonts under Palm OS. You need Fonts4OS5 3.21 or better to implement across all applications.  Don't miss Lubak's 6.2MB of free AA fonts. Looks outstanding on my T3!

Force16 - (8K) Freeware by Dr. Alexander Pruss. Forces apps to use a 16-bit color screen and also fixes the built-in launcher's transparency problems. Note that apps will update the screen and hence appear to run slightly slower in 16-bit color mode as opposed to 8-bit color. I don't use it much, but keep it around just in case. Comes with SkinDIA above.

#McPhling - (32K) Shareware by Michael J. McCollister. Great hack for quickly swapping between most recent programs used, with ability to include favorite programs as well. Similar to SwitchHack, but with full VFS support and can also display icons for faster recognition. Its speed comes from keeping apps names/IDs that are on the card in a cache in RAM. This requires going into X-Master to "configure" McPhling when you add new programs to the card so that it scans the card and updates the cache. The speed trade is definitely worth the effort. SwitchHack preserves the previous program's state better when swapping, but has become less useful to me with all the apps I keep on my Memory Stick. Note: There is an OS 5 app version of this which works great.

#MessagEase Stamp - (24K) Shareware from EXideas, Inc. Scientifically designed, well executed replacement for graffiti input. Input is very fast and access to all characters is excellent. Great support and stamp graphics on their Yahoo! website. You can buy professional stamps when registering MESt. MessagEase is pretty quick to learn and stays with you. This is the input method for which I've been looking since my first PDA. Supports You owe it to yourself to give this a try. After upgrading to my T3, I sorely miss this. I count the days until a T3 compatible version is released. Update: The first beta of MESt for the T3 came out on 5 Feb 04!!!

#MSDict Hack - (8K) Commercial from Mobile Systems. Gives pop-up functionality to MSDict, and comes with it. This hack isn't needed under OS 5.

NoBeamDialog - (1K) Freeware from Igor Nesterov. Comes with new versions of YAHM 2.0. Prevents the annoying dialog from popping up after beaming a file asking if you want beam received turned back on if it is off. I love this one.

NoDot - (1K) Freeware from Igor Nesterov. Comes with new versions of YAHM 2.0. Eliminates the dotted underlines in Palm Memos and other text input fields. While convenient for Memos, I find it somewhat confusing in other apps. I have it loaded but not activated at the moment.

#***PalmVHack - (4.6K) Shareware by RGPS. Different than StayOffHack (intercepts different system calls). Prevents the problem of pressure/activation of the scroll button (or any other button) from disabling the alarms. OS 3.1.1 fixed this for the scroll button, but PalmVHack extends the protection to the other keys and the contrast and power buttons. Fully configurable. ***No longer needed on the T-series.***

#PopUp Names - (87K) Shareware by Benc Software. Great substitute for the built-in address book. Pops up over current app, then goes away leaving you exactly where you were--very cool. Lots of good capability--remembers last name/category/recent finds, tab interface, etc.--, good use of color, nice search implementation, templates, etc. Activated by stylus drag or address book key. I've been looking for a good address book enhancement, but no overkill, and this fits the bill perfectly. Bozidar Benc always produces high quality shareware, and this is a great example. There are no plans for an OS 5 app version as best I can tell. I'm trying SuperNames as a replacement.

#ShadowLinkHack - (2.5K) Freeware by Ling Nero. Hack that links from todo app direct to item in Shadow Plan by double tapping link text in attached note. Very slick! Shadow now comes with an OS 5 version.

#***StayOffHack - (7.1K) Shareware by RGPS. Indispensable program depending on how you carry your Palm and what kind of case you have for it. StayOffHack intercepts the bottom buttons to immediately turn off the Palm if they are activated. Saves your battery and sometimes your data from inadvertent button activation in your pocket or briefcase. Only a hard case like the Palm Hard Case doesn't need this program. In my Thin Leather Case, I would find my calendar set years away from the real date through inadvertent activation. Works fine on the Sony T615C/T665C in its Sony leather case. Fully configurable in its latest iteration. ***Not needed on the T665C since the hold button accomplishes the primary purpose***

#***SwitchHack - (3.7K) Shareware by Deskfree Computing. Outstanding time and tap saver. Just drag the stylus and you swap to the last program used where you left off. I often use it to look up Scripture references while reading some of the DOCs below, or to swap to the calculator, etc. MUST be loaded after EVEdit hack to intercept the activating stylus stroke. ***Replace by McPhling to get VFS support***

#Uninstall Hack 2 - (55K) Shareware from Northglide. Great app that monitors file creations and changes to the Saved and Unsaved Preference files. This enables the uninstall of all parts of an app when deleting it. Launchers do this by deleting everything with the same creator ID. Uninstall Hack is more thorough because it tracks the creation of "hidden" settings and files associated with apps but that have different creator IDs. Some shareware apps create these to track trial periods, but it takes up memory and garbages YOUR device even if you delete an app after testing it. That's a stinky tactic that costs you memory, but it is all too common. Uninstall Hack (or Uninstall Manager for OS 5) provides the common cure for these intrusive apps. Uninstall Manager for OS 5 does even more, monitoring the installations themselves. The developer provides outstanding support, and offers a great deal when purchased with Cleanup as part of the NeatFreak package. Highly recommended, especially if you try or test a lot of shareware. There is an OS 5 version called Uninstall Manager which is even more powerful.

#UpTimeHack 1.3.1 - (1K) See UpTime discussion above.

#ZL QuickLaunchHack - (<1K) Shareware from ZZTechs. Part of ZLauncher 3.50, enabling the user to pull up their Favorites/Most Recent/Most Common apps list from any app. Not needed under OS 5.

Palm OS Desk Accessories

Desk Accessories (DA) are something between a regular app and a hack, but theoretically without the stability problems of hacks. They can be launched from DALauncher, McPhling, or some launchers like ZLauncher. I run them from DALauncher now, but used to run them from McPhling. In DALauncher5, just make a command stroke and select either on of the two quick-access DAs or bring up the list of DAs. Select the one you want, and it pops up over the active app. They do not interfere with the running app, but can interact with the active program. There is a brief explanation of DAs in English here. All these, and almost all DAs in general, are written in Japan. Rather than list where I got each one (because I didn't track them all), all came from either Muchy, ClieSource, or Palmare.cz. There is also a great DA listing here. There are many more DAs than I use and list here. I tried quite a number before settling on this group. I'm sure that will change over time. Most of the ones I used turned out to work under OS 5 with DALauncher5, but many require tapping above them to dismiss when in full-screen mode.

#AOCtrlDA - (2K) Freeware by Tamakazu Kitamura. Sets your handheld auto-off time from 10 seconds to Never.

#ApptViewerDA - (6k) Freeware by H. Yamakado. Shows one day worth of schedule from the Datebook database. You can select the day.

#AudioControlDA - (16K) Freeware by Hiroki Takahashi. Plays and controls MP3s in the background. Only works with Sony devices.

***AutoOffDAs - (<1K total) Freeware by Yuval Melamed. Includes two tools. AutoOffDisableDA completely disables auto-off timer (aka "Always On"). Resets timer after powering the PDA off. Functions OK on my T3, except sometimes causes a soft reset upon power off, after which the Auto-Off setting in Prefs needs to be reset to renable auto-off. AutoOffExtendDA makes the auto-off duration to ten times longer than what was set in "Prefs". Resets timer after powering the PDA Off. ***Doesn't crash but doesn't work right on the T3.***

BacklightDA - (1K) Freeware. Companion to Backlight above. Turns off the T3 backlight. Powering the PDA off resets the backlight to on.

#BracesDA - (7K) Freeware by eimom. Puts braces--( ), [ ], { }, etc.--around selected text, or removes them. Great for area codes in phone book or locations in Datebk5.

***CalCal - (9k) Freeware by K.Ishida. Simple pop-up calculator with basic four functions. Compact mode takes up just a tiny corner of the screen. ***Replaced by SnapCalc5 on the T3.***

Call Lookup DA - (21k) Freeware by Koichi TERADA. Very nice utility to search the Address Book/Contacts from anywhere, then copy/paste the info into the underlying app. Works fine under OS 5.

daMemoPad - (21K) Freeware by Hiroaki Imazeki. Sophisticated DA that allows you to select, view, edit, and create memos in the Memo Pad database without leaving the active application. Nicely done.

#ezConvDA - (23K) Freeware by Hide Itoh. Nifty conversion program that handles height, temperature, length, weight, volume, and area between English and Metric units.

***HRCaptDA - (14K) Freeware by Chime. Excellent screen capture utility described above under HRCaptDM.

***LClipDA - (5K) Freeware by eimom. Provides 10 separate clipboards. Slick. ***Nice, but never used it.***

***LInfoDA - (5K) Freeware by N@TURE BRAIN. Displays basic Palm device info: date, time, battery status, free RAM and free card space. ***Removed. Battery is in %, I wanted the display in volts.***

***NowDA - (3K) Freeware by M. Maeda (TONTATA). Displays date, day, and time with running seconds. ***Removed. Just duplicates some of ClockPop's functionality.***

OmakeDA - (K) Freeware by tuu. Popup scratch pad like NotePad for quick notes without leaving the app you are in. Very nice!

ResetDA - (118b) Freeware by Dwayne Fujima. Tiny DA that performs a soft reset.

StopWatch - (3K) Freeware by M. Maeda (TONTATA). Stopwatch that continues running even if the PDA is turned off.

System Analyzer - (38K) Freeware by M. Maeda (TONTAT). Super tool to troubleshoot apps and their resource usage, including the stack. Very complex for a DA, but works great under OS 5.

ToDoDA - (6K) Freeware by SpaWare. The DA that caused me to explore DAs further. Create a new ToDo in the ToDo database w/o leaving your current app. Set its priority, category, due date (or none), and privacy.

***VolumeDA - (11K + 4K for optional Resume) Freeware by Koichi TERADA. Control all your handheld's sound volumes singly or all together. Can switch all sound off with one tap and set to turn back on after a period of time using the optional Resume companion, or only turn back on when you manually do so. Very handy for meetings or church. ***Later realized it duplicated built-in T3 capability.***

wclockDA - (8K) Freeware by Koichi TERADA. Displays local and one other setable time. Has many time zones built in. User selects DST when applicable. Can also adjust the device's clock to the destination time.

Palm OS Helps for Your Desktop Computer:

BackupBuddy - Shareware by BackupBuddy. Another absolutely essential program. Resides/integrates completely on your desktop. On HotSync, it backs up ALL of your programs and data to the desktop, including those in Flash ROM. On detection of a hard reset, it uses Palm's native HotSync to automatically and completely restore your RAM as of the last HotSync. Fully configurable as to what to backup or exclude. It also comes with full VFS support, a program that backs up to memory cards, and a tiny Palm program that will sync the PDA clock to the computer's. Also works with Visor backup cards. One small shortcoming - it backs up your Flash ROM activated by FlashPro or JackFlash, but won't restore to it. It also doesn't back up the ROM on OS5 devices. This program saved my bacon a number of times when I pushed the envelope in testing memory manipulation. Version 2.0 transitioned to a database format to track backups individually, but has a flaw in its card backup routine.

DocReader - Freeware by Michael Pickering. Super program that views Palm Doc files on your PC. Includes instruction to set it up so that right clicking on a doc file provides DocReader as a menu choice. Distributed as a stand-alone .exe file, it doesn't install a ton of .dlls all over your hard disk. Also includes the ability to edit doc files on your PC! You can cut and paste the contents of doc files from DocReader into your favorite desktop word processor or text editor program. Great program with an unbeatable price--highly recommended!

***InstallBuddy - Shareware by BackupBuddy. InstallBuddy automatically translates and installs desktop documents like Adobe PDF, HTML, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files to your handheld when you HotSync. Documents are translated to industry standard PalmOS formats. I live by this program as well, using it to convert work memos and documents to take to meetings, etc. Takes the place of those piles of papers that used to stuff my Geodex. Comes with all required viewers, and you can select which ones you want installed on your Palm. Best bought in a bundle with BackupBuddy. ***Update: I no longer need with Docs to Go.***

Games:

I'm not a big game guy, so this category is very thin. Up until recently, I've only had Pegs, SubHunt (doesn't work under OS 5), and MineHunt. All run off the memory stick, but I rarely use them. Here are descriptions of some newer ones I've added:

***Bejeweled! - (200K) Shareware from Astraware. Very addicting puzzle-type game. Looks and sounds awesome on hi res devices and sound incredible on handhelds with Sony's enhanced speakers. ***Removed, yielded to its replacement below.***

Bejeweled 2 - (1486K + 783K for music) Shareware from Astraware. Awesome new version of the above. Not only addicting, but stunning new graphics, great background music, and new games and pieces. You gotta have this one.

***Literati - (95K + 280K for skin + 307K for dictionary) Commercial from Beiks. Scrabble-like game that supports color and hi res. Challenging. ***Removed because I rarely played it***

OpenChess for PalmOS - (71K) Open Source from Nicolas. Nice chess game that supports hi res. Based on a Unix game's code.

#Othello - (16K) Freeware by Frank Lin. The classic board game on the Palm. No color or native hi res support, but the game play is good and the price is right.

Star Command - (135K) Shareware from Brian Preston. Resurrection of the old 70's mainframe game. I'm just trying it at the moment, but it looks just like the old favorite. I think I still have an old printout of a game from back then. In this day of glitzy graphics and musical scores, Star Command provides a nice but far from simple diversion for us OLD gamers who were killing Krellans before most of the current crop's parents even met. I'll let you know how it goes.

***TakeaGuess - (239K + extra categories) Shareware by Designsbybert. Cool Hangman-type game that's easy to play but addicting. Includes ten word categories for great variety. Have a few minutes to kill on queue? This'll do it! ***Haven't played it in a while.***

Bottom line for my Palm Tungsten|T3

The above programs plus all of the databases (Docs) listed for download below aren't the only things on my PDA. Of course, I also have my huge calendar, contacts, etc., plus my theology reference library and other data I use every day, data for the above programs (including over 2MB for HandStory clips), etc. All this would be unthinkable, even with 16 MB of RAM, without a Memory Stick (MS) for extra storage and access. I have two (very slow) 256MB PNY (Toshiba) Secure Digital (SD) cards and one (very fast) 512MB Panasonic SD card, which have plenty of room for my programs and data, as well as a complete backup of my RAM. So, with all this and more loaded and considering my use of the 9+ MB of flash, I have about 7MB of 52MB remaining in RAM and about 40MB free on my 512MB SD card. I have only three apps on the card and have no use for PiDirect anymore. 52MB usable RAM in a Palm device provides a whole new world. I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of my upgrade to the T3!