.KEYWORD laptophack
.FLYINGHEAD POWER USER POWER
.TITLE Drop the stylus, pick up LapTopHack
.DEPT
.SUMMARY In his continuing series on using Hacks to extend the power of your Palm handheld, Michael Connick will introduce you to LapTopHack, a handy piece of software that can greatly increase the power and usability of your Palm handheld as an enterprise tool.
.AUTHOR Michael Connick
This is the second article in a series on using Hacks to extend the power of your Palm handheld. Last month’s article (at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200205/hack001.html) discussed what Hacks are and the Hack Management software needed to utilize them on your Palm handheld. This month’s article will introduce you to LapTopHack (at http://home.columbus.rr.com/nevai/palm/). When it’s used along with a keyboard, it can greatly increase the power and usability of your Palm handheld as an enterprise tool.
.H1 Using a Palm handheld with a keyboard
One tool I consider absolutely essential to the Palm OS enterprise user is a keyboard. A keyboard is invaluable, especially during meetings. A keyboard allows you to rapidly and accurately take meeting notes. Bringing along a Palm handheld and a keyboard is a lot more convenient than lugging a laptop to a meeting, particularly when electrical outlets are at a premium (which is what happens in most meetings I attend). The long battery life of a Palm handheld allows me to keep taking notes during all-day meetings (an unfortunate occurrence, but they do happen!) while laptops users scramble for "juice" to recharge their machines.
The Palm Portable Keyboard is small enough to fit into my pants pockets, yet will unfold into a full-sized keyboard that’s a pleasure to use. Keyboards for Palm handhelds rival the best laptop keyboards for ease of typing and are extremely convenient to bring along to any business meeting, or to use when traveling.
.H1 Keyboards are great, but why do I need LapTopHack?
Alas, keyboard users will soon encounter a small but quite annoying inconvenience when using their keyboards. The simple fact is that the Palm OS was never designed with a keyboard in mind. It was created with the assumption that the user would be interacting with their Palm handheld by using a stylus. So, doing most any action on a Palm handheld requires that the stylus be used to select a program icon, select an item from a drop-down menu, select a checkbox or radio button, or perform a drag operation to select text. There are some keyboard shortcuts for menu items, and the Palm Portable Keyboard driver software supports a few specialized functions like scrolling. However, most of the time, if you’re using a keyboard, you’re going to have to remove your hands from the keyboard, grab a stylus, and use it to perform some action.
Although this may sound trivial, it can be quite distracting and downright annoying when you’re trying to type something quickly. Try using a keyboard with your Palm handheld on a regular basis and you’ll soon find yourself wishing there was some way to avoid having to perform all those stylus actions.
LapTopHack is designed automate the activities requiring a stylus so that they can be performed directly from your keyboard. With this nifty piece of software, you can keep your hands on the keyboard, typing away as fast as you want. It turns your Palm handheld and keyboard into a powerful computer that can rival the usefulness of a laptop! I wouldn’t be without this software on my Palm handheld.
.H1 How does it work?
LapTopHack uses an "escape" key to let it know that the next thing you type is a LapTopHack command rather than data to be sent to the current program. The default escape key is the "`" (the back-quote character), but you can change it to anything you like. Many people find the "\" (the back-slash character) to be more convenient because of its location on the keyboard.
When you type the escape character, you’ll see the LapTopHack ESC form (pictured in Figure A) appear next on the screen of your Palm handheld.
.FIG A Here’s the LapTopHack ESC form.
This screen contains a summary of some of the LapTopHack commands available to you. You can also configure LapTopHack so it doesn’t display this form, which I’d recommend after you become familiar with the commands available to you. In any case, after typing the escape character, the next character you type will be a command to LapTopHack to perform one of its functions.
.H1 What kind of functions can LapTopHack perform?
When using LapTopHack on your Palm handheld with a keyboard, you’ll never need to touch your stylus. This Hack literally allows you to perform, through your keyboard, any operation that would normally require your stylus. With it you can select buttons, pop-ups, selectors, check boxes, and push buttons. You can pull down menus and select items from them. If all else fails, you can cause the pPointer (a small square containing a cross-hair), which appears on your screen. It can be maneuvered across the screen and used to click on a particular location in a simulation of a stylus tap. There is a category editor and a date selection function.
In addition to these commands for simulating stylus functions, LapTopHack offers a couple of handy utility functions. It can display the current date, time, and battery voltage. It can also adjust your Palm handheld’s screen brightness and contrast.
Finally, LapTopHack is tightly integrated with another of the author’s programs: pEdit. If you also own pEdit, you’ll find it even easier to use and more powerful in its functionality when used along with LapTopHack.
.H1 Is LapTopHack reliable?
Like all other hacks, LapTopHack is no less reliable than any other third-party software you might install on your Palm handheld. I’ve had absolutely no problems with it in the many months I’ve been using this software.
.H1 How about documentation?
There’s good news and bad news when it comes to the LapTopHack manual. The good news is that it’s quite exhaustive in its documentation of the LapTopHack product, its philosophy, and the history of its implementation. The bad news is that it’s not very well organized. I found that it can be quite hard to find exactly how individual commands actually work by reading the manual. I suggest you start off slowly with LapTopHack. Read through the manual and try using a few of its functions at first. As you gain experience with the product, go back and read the manual again and use its information to add more LapTopHack commands to your repertoire.
.H1 Conclusion
LapTopHack is a very sophisticated and very configurable product that can seem extremely complicated at first glance. If you approach mastering it by taking small steps, you’ll find it to be an invaluable aid to using your Palm handheld with a keyboard.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For the article, "Hacks and the enterprise," by Michael Connick in the May 2002 issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition, visit http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200205/hack001.html.
For more information on LapTopHack, visit http://home.columbus.rr.com/nevai/palm/.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
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