NYCDAUG 2001 Meeting Minutes & Reviews
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Due to volunteer changes, we do not have all meetings covered - No Minutes from June through December,2001

Meeting Minutes for May 17, 2001 - by Peter M. Fine

This month's meeting began with the usual introductions and explanations by NYCDAUG President Peter M. Fine.

Peter demonstrated Palm's new m505 PDA and his review follows.

This unit (as does the m500 sporting the B&W/grayscale screen) is fastest Palm OS out there and it shows. It has a 33mhz Dragonball processor, same as in fastest HandSpring Platinum unit which was comparison tested with other Palm and Pocket PC models in "Mobile Computing Magazine" this month and came in first amongst all Palm OS devices.

These m500 units are also very good looking with a brighter metalic case and stainless steel finished keys. It feels solid to me as well. The alarm function now has visual and vibrating indicators as well as audible. The cradle is now native USB (for Macs and PCs) which makes the synchronization much faster. A serial cradle is an option for either platform.

Although the color screen is not as bright as a Compaq's Pocket PC iPaq screen, it is not bad as some have reported and since the battery life of the unit with the backlight on is still much much better than the iPaq or any Pocket PC, it is a good compromise. It reportedly is less bright than the color HandSpring model but now we have to consider the entire feature set of this unit as well.

The expansion slot is a winner although it is indeed another new standard. This unit is barely thicker (by a millimeter or two) than the Palm V series yet now can hold Secure Digital or Multimedia cards (each the size of a postage stamp) that both expand and backup the internal unit's capacity by up to 64 megs although the 16 meg card is more typical.

This new solution blows away the much larger Compact flash card in size which is a huge limiting factor as to how small any HandSpring or HandEra unit can and will get. Even the sleek new HandSpring Edge, which is roughly the size of the Palm 500 series now has an add-on detachable springboard slot that adds to bulk and inconvenience if you desire to use any expansion device. However, size may not be your concern although it is one for me.

HandSpring's Prism would be the competitor based on color screen and processor similarity but again, that unit profile is closer to the larger Palm III series than the Palm V which is really the direct sibling of a m50x series unit. I have yet to see how bright the Prism is but they say it is very good.

However, these color backlit screens in the iPaq, Prism or the m505 makes low light usage much more of a joy or even a reasonable possibility than any B&W or Greyscale screen with backlight. I had no problem using the unit in no light situations like a movie theater as even the graffiti area is backlit. This is surely an important fact if such usage is desired.

Point being, nothing now combines the size and profile of the m500 or m505 with expansion capabilities, processor speed and a color screen albeit that it is not perfect. My only objection is lack of control over this backlight intensity. I would rather HAVE the option to crank up the backlight even at price of battery life. Most often, I don't need any more than a day's battery life without recharging and if a brighter backlight was possible with much reduced battery life, give me that option along with any necessary caveats.

The new version 4.0 Palm OS that comes on these units has a few nice enhancements including a new calculator, memo pad (with note scribble function directly on screen) and expansion card recognition for copying info to and from the card. A still needed utility is one that both copies files or packages to or from the card and then deletes the now duplicate from the original source location. I think some third party software helps cover this need or surely will in the near future.

As these new units sport a new universal connector Palm promises is the new standard, all peripherals need to be upgraded as well. This is not great news but is often the-name-of-the name in technology.

The bottom line seems to be this. If total size matters most with a great feature set, the m500 and m505 are indeed wonderful choices. Everything in technology (and life) is give-and-take. It is a matter of weighing the pluses versus the minuses and seeing if the benefits outweigh the negatives. If the color screen of the m505 is not as bright as ideally perfect (and it is not) it still is a worthy contender in my book. If the color is of no interest yet you want everything else like the small size, fast processor and expansion capabilities, you should consider the m500 with it's gray scale screen as your device of choice.

Many software packages were demonstrated by Peter at this month's meeting and all seemed m500/Palm 4.0 OS compatible:

PDActivate™ Software Collection by Synergy Solutions which includes LaunchEm (most likely THE best launcher interface out there), ListMaker (for creating reusable check-lists with hierarchical listings), SimpleSketch (sketching program with full color support), SynCalc (scientific calculator) and Today (daily reminder of events and to-dos). MagicText v1.6 also by Synergy Solutions is a wonderful collection of shorthand/shortcut features that include everything from phone number lookups, upper or lower case switching, date and/or time insertion, smart quotes plus about twenty others all accessible by a predefined pen stroke. A must have if you enter a lot of data into your Palm.

Neohand's Pocket Gourmet with color support gives explanations of many dish preparations and terms used in ethnic cooking as might be seen in a Menu. Most international cuisines were covered. In addition, a very clear and easy to use Tipping calculator is included along with an area for you to add your own reviews with details on restaurants you have frequented.

Lastly, Peter showed Romance-in-a-Can from The Big Hairy Palm website (cute meaningless quotables),

Raffle winners this month received Pocket Gourmet by Neohand, Tee Shirts from Omnisky and TRGPro, and Palm User Magazine.

Meeting Minutes for April 19, 2001

This month's meeting began with the usual introductions by NYCDAUG President Peter M. Fine.

Many software packages were demonstrated at this month's meeting:
A beta version of Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader for Palm OS. Three software packages from The Big Hairy Palm website were demonstrated: "Ultimate Battleship" is an elaborate game, "Big Tipper", a tip calculator and "Designator" which tracks Blood Alcohol Levels and drink totals of up to five people.

Ectaco's "Language Teacher" French-English Translation Dictionary (also available in many other languages and for Pocket PC platform as well) was shown to be useful and perfect for travel as it is simple and translates both words and phrases in two directions. "Bang Bang", a modern shooting gallery on your Palm and "Little Angel" which dispenses pearls of wisdom and occasionally moons you rounded out the Palm OS demonstrations.

Pocket PC software demonstrated were "Tube" New York edition. a high-quality scrollable map of the subway system along with intelligent route planning, "Portable Guide"(also for Palm OS) which gives locations and direction info for New York City as well as dining reviews, and "Bejeweled" a game similar to Tetris except you' re matching jewels of the same color and shape.

The meeting also went into a discussion about Avantgo's service and the ability to setup any web site through their service for synchronization to your PDA.

Raffle winners this month received Incase's Palm soft case and misc Tee Shirts.

Introduction

HanDBase is an enormously popular database tool for the Palm OS. It is now available for Microsoft's Pocket PC platform (PPC) and it brings with it an easy to use toolset for creating and storing
databases and database applets (DDH's term for pre-made database applications).

With HanDBase, databases can be created and modified on the Pocket PC device or on the PC using the HanDBase desktop program. For this review, I decided to create a new database using only the PPC device.
Creating a database couldn't be easier. Upon starting the program, the first window presents to the user with a choice to create a new database or selecting an existing database to open.

Clicking on "Create a new database" brings the user to the edit database window.

Security Settings allows for setting security levels (full access, no access, or password access) for reading, modifying, and beaming the finished databases. A single password is used for each of the database attributes.
For each database field, users can select from 15 field types, including text, pop-up, check-box, date, time, and image, which provides for a input box where the user can draw free-form notes or pictures using the stylus. Particularly useful is the unique field type, which allows for each record inserted into database to have a unique id number. The Unique data type is useful when data is to be exported out of HanDBase into a relational DBMS and vice-versa.

Once the database properties and columns have been defined entering data is a simple process. To insert a record, select the blank page at the bottom of the screen.

Once in the Edit Record screen, all the defined fields are displayed with the appropriate entry input tools for each fields' data type. For example, Date fields display a calendar when clicking on the arrow at the extreme right of the field. Time fields use increment arrows. Fields defined as Pop-ups show the drop down menu when the arrow is clicked. One nice feature of the Popup list is the ability to edit/add popup values on the fly during data entry.

Another nice feature offered in the Edit Record screen is the default values option. When the arrow to the left of the field name is clicked, a pop up menu is displayed with one or more options on how to fill the field. I found this extremely helpful when inserting values into date and time fields.

Individual records can be acted upon by using the Actions Menu. Choices the standard move/copy/delete functions across one or many databases, printing, beaming databases or records to and from other devices, and running simple reports. The Actions Menu also allows for field searches, sorting of records, and filtering of records.

Database Synchronization

Databases can synchronized through the ActiveSync process or by using the Import/Export functions, which convert database data into flat text files. Apparently, DDH currently offers a Palm OS conduit, which handles row-level synchronization from a mobile device to a desktop HanDBase, but no such product is available for the PPC as of yet. As I used HanDBase, I found myself missing the direct synchronization to a desktop DBMS such as Microsoft Access that a product such as Syware's Visual CE provides. However, when making such a comparison between the two products, it is noteworthy to mention that Visual CE's price ranges from $79 (lite version) and $129 (personal version) compared to that of $24.99 for HandDbase.

When databases are uploaded to HanDBase Desktop, users can manipulate the database data to create and print reports and export database files in CSV, DOC, HTML, and XML formats.

Ready Made Databases ­ Applets

DDH calls pre-created databases "Applets", which can be downloaded from the DDH site. HanDBase for the PPC is 100 percent compatible with the Palm OS version, so all the existing Applets can be used on the PPC. There are literally hundreds of Applets available for free download covering a broad spectrum of subjects, from technical to medical, to travel and fun. If you are uncomfortable designing your own HanDBase form and database for a particular need, odds are someone already has, and placed it for download on the DDH site.
One minor complaint of the database/applet implementation is that applets can only be accessed through launching of HanDBase and not as stand-alone applications.

Summary

Between HanDBase's simplistic and well designed interface (both on Desktop PC and PPC) and its well-written user documentation (including tutorials), you can set up a database in less than 30 minutes.
To some, being able to create databases on the PPC itself is an important selling point. As for someone like myself, I rather create my databases on my PC and transfer them to the PPC. HanDBase provides the flexibility for both PC and PPC database creation. For those that don't choose to create their own databases, the existing library of ready-made applets is compelling enough to use this product for a variety of personal/work related database needs.

In all, if you aren't looking to develop sophisticated applications, but just want to organize your data, and you don't need direct synch-Access compatibility, you may want to consider HanDBase. It very stable product that has limited "relational-esque" capabilities such as links and lookups.

Meeting Minutes for March 15, 2001

This month's meeting began with the usual introductions to all present by the President of the group, Peter M. Fine. In addition, he reminded member that all group information is available on the web site and suggested that all members subscribe to our Yahoo eGroups as a means of keeping informed on any changes that may occur. He also encouraged members to participate in our meetings by demonstrating any interesting software that they use on their PDAs.

Our normal question and answer session followed which covered many topics including Hot Sync problems with a Psion on the Mac platform, GPS software for Palm and talk of the new Palm m500 and m505 models soon to be released.

Software products demonstrated this month were Password Wallet 2.0 for Palm OS by Selznick Scientific Software, JS Landscape 2.0 for Pocket PC and a peek into a program development by a fellow member who is using his Palm device to aid in gathering information to create a Travel Guide with the aid of Pumatech's Satellite Forms, a Psion Revo HPC, Psion's 56K IR Travel Modem and MemorySafe by Northstar Mobile.

Peter also demonstrated a few Hard cases by ScribblePDA of England. All were strong and simple and seemed well-made.

Raffle winners this month received ScribblePDA's Palm Chameleon m100 case, misc.Tee Shirts, Palm User magazines and Landsware's Pocket Quicken.

Behold our first meeting at newest home, B&H Photo/Video. President Peter M. Fine is demonstrating some new programs on the Palm while the crowd seems to have better things to do. :-)

Meeting Minutes for Jan. 25, 2001

Peter M. Fine, President of NYCDAUG, started off the meeting in our new home at J&R Computer World at 1 Park Row in New York City's lower Manhattan. He stated that help is needed in other aspects of the club's operations such as meeting demonstrations. Another item mentioned was the fact that there were no projection devices available and that it will be necessary to purchase one in order to properly demonstrate software items. This meant that a volunteer would be needed to hold onto the equipment and bring it at every meeting. One member did volunteer to bring the device to the meeting once it was purchased as he is located near J&R. However, research must be done as to model and cost involved.

A Question and Answer period followed which covered various topics including printing from Palm devices on Mac platform, affiliations with other vendors, partial data transfers during synchronization to and from the desktop, continuous beaming (some of the members suggested web sites Pumatech and RPS for applications that offer continuous beaming) and even a Newton connection problem for a member wishing to migrate to the Palm.

Since there was no projection device available, there were no formal demonstrations but "discussion" of software instead. Some of the software products Peter described and detailed were FlashPro by TRG expands usable memory to that portion of unused flash ROM, Secure Memo by Certicom which creates memos using a secure algorithm, IambicMail by Iambic Software which is their new POP mail program for the Palm, Salary Utility & Total Car by Witkowski-Designs, Documents to Go 3.0 by DataViz and the new 2.0 revision of Omnisky's wireless modem solution software. Documents to Go's big new feature is ability to edit and modify spreadsheets and other documents on the Palm and synchronize those changes back to the desktop.

Others talked about Town Compass Dataviewer from Pocketdirectory.com, Quickbits by 2bitsoftware and Metro which covers most if not all subway maps and directions for the world.

Items given away at this month's raffle were the Palm III Screen Protection Kit, Omnisky T-Shirts, Palm User magazine and Documents to Go 3.0 software for the Palm.

Book Review by Carlos L. Miranda, 11/01 on "The Essential Palm Programming Guide"
by Christian Immler , 2001 - Publisher: Data Becker, $24.95 List

Pros: Ease to use, powerful tools for the hobbyist and the freelancer who does not want to spend time learning a new language or complex tools.

Cons: Not for the novice, several limitations in capabilities, no Windows CEversion and it does not support Apple Macintosh Computers.

Compatibility: All Palm OS PDA's (v3.0 or greater) -
Rating: 3 PDA's (out of a possible 4)

I have been looking for a fast, efficient way to program my Palm PDA's (I own a m125 and a V), but I was not able to find any good books whose intended target were programmers/freelancers who want to develop applications for hobbies or small office use.
Then NYCDAUG President Peter M. Fine wanted someone to review "The Essential Palm Programming Guide", by Christian Immler. This book looked like the answer to all my questions. The book was originally written and published in Germany, where the Palm craze is bigger than in the United States.

The book's title sounded as the kind of book any beginner could pick up and start learning right away, just like one of those "Learn it in 21 Days!" books series we all love to hate. In reality, the book is intended for programmers who already have some knowledge in BASIC. It also assumes the user is very internet and Palm OS savvy, since both BASIC compilers the book covers must be downloaded and then installed in the Palm or on the desktop. This is not difficult, but a newbie trying to find its way around will spent some time around the applications, trying to find them, and truly getting ready to start programming.

In some sense, it lacks the "Dummies" format where everything is explained at the very basic level, and all instructions are broken into bullets, for maximum clarity. This book skips all the steps in the middle, and assumes you know enough to fly through installation procedures. It also assumes your BASIC skills are good, since there aren't many examples. The author does not try to educate you in the programming art of organizing your code and logarithms, but he basically shows you the way it should be done without being explicit about it.

The two basic compilers explained in the book are HotPaw Basic (yBASIC once it is in the Palm) and CASL:

·HotPaw Basic (formerly CBasPad) is a tiny BASIC interpreter for the Palm. It's a lot like the GW Basic that came with older versions of MS-DOS. It has good support for the Palm API, including things like forms, serial I/O, database creation, etc. The free demo will run up to 4 small programs, so if your needs are simple you might not have to buy the full $20.00 version. HotPaw Basic doesn't have a separate runtime, so to distribute your programs you have to require your users to buy their own copy of HotPaw Basic

·CASL (Compact Application Solution Language) is a Windows based RAD (rapid application development) tool that enables developers familiar with Visual Basic, Java Script, or Pascal to easily develop professional PDA apps. This means that you produce your files in a Windows based machine, and then you can export them as PRC files. CASL include CALSlide (windows program) conduit, and language compiler. Programs require shared CASL runtime besides the PRC file.

The book hits the floor running. Once you have the programs installed in the Palm and on the Windows desktop, you are ready to go with your tiny little programs. I loved HotPaw since you can write programs directly in the Palm pilot, wherever you are. I commute one hour each way in the NYC subway, and this was the greatest thing I ever did since I learned how to play in the computer. CASL needs you to write, compile and run your program first in a Windows based computer, but it is more powerful and professional looking.

The book is divided in ten sections, and it covers everything you need, from simple calculations, to databases, to exchanging data with the computer, to making your own libraries, for both programs. HotPaw is like the old BASIC, where you can use line numbers and the "GOTO" command, so you are free to make spaghetti out of your code whenever you are not careful. CASL is very structured, just like PASCAL, so it needs plenty of planning before you start making a big chunk of code.

The book is very straight forward, complete, and efficient. It is the perfect intermediate step between the "Dummies" series and CodeWarrior from Metrowerks. If you want to start developing small applications for your Palm, "The Essential Palm Programming Guide" is a great option to get started.

SnapNType (T101) Keyboard for HandSpring PDAs, by TT-Tec www.tt-tec.com
Review by Wesley Mason, TDP Software - 10/01

On a scale of one to ten, Graffiti rates about a six. Face it, we all use it but we know there has to be a better way.
Part of my reasoning for the seemingly recent mini keyboard explosion. Even Handspring will be producing
a model with a built in keyboard.

Some may say, 'doesn't the palm come with a keyboard?' Well yes, but you need to tap on the screen for each letter
and the squares can seem quite small /doesn't help that it takes up almost half of the screen either.

Here I will be reviewing my first keyboard. The SnapNType (TT-Tec's T101) is a clip on keyboard that covers the
bottom half of a Handspring Visor (all but the Edge model). Unlike its close competition (Thumbboard or PocketType), it will work with a Visor Prism. The keyboard itself is a 39 buttons unit that seems to function well either in your hand or on a flat table.

Unpacking revealed the keyboard, a floppy disk, a placeholder to put in the keyboard when not in use, and a single sheet of paper folded twice. The paper turned out to be the instructions. Although normally I never read the instructions, in this case I did. I will say they were very clear and to the point. Accurately listing steps to install the driver and 'FaceBoard' (their popup program with the 'missing' keys).

After installing the files I began testing it by writing my first email with it. Starting was slow since I now needed to think where the various symbols were located. This is something one would learn over a very short time. The keys are labeled in both white and neon orange. The orange being all the keys to use in conjunction with the 'symb' button.

Now with all the Graffiti I have used in the past, I find that the keyboard's driver lacks some of the basic functions like showing its current mode through the little Graffiti status indicator. Not the end of the world, but would be nice to have. Another such feature would be to be able to shiftlock by hitting shift twice. One notable thing about the shift lock is that it if it is on, it will draw lower case characters if you hit the regular shift.

The hardware buttons are emulations of the standard buttons. Although, if you run any software that ties into the buttons, you may find it acts differently than expected in some cases. I use a hack called 'apphack'. Its a nice program that when assigned to a button pops up a list of other programs to press another hardware button to activate. The normal wait time of 3 - 5 seconds has been reduced to 1/2 a second due to a possible incompatibility. In the keyboards defense, apphack hasn't been updated in almost three years and may be using a nonstandard system trap.

The keyboard itself is well made and gives a nice firm feel for the keys. The front of the unit is a rubberized plastic that gives it a soft smooth feel a contrast to the hard feel of the base of it. It also comes with a piece of plastic to put in the keyboard for protection when not on the Visor.

On the note of the keyboard, if you find there are keys missing but you will find them in a program called FaceBoard. Originally designed to hold a set of 'smiles' or 'emoticons. You will find all the standard symbols, but no international support. Also, any items on the FaceBoard will not repeat.

About the only major complaint would be the fact that the software supplied on the floppy disk provided was version 0.80. But the did have version 1.00 online. I suggest you download it since I was having problems with the repeating of keys with the older version.

I would rate this a 3 1/2 out of 5. Given the basic shortcomings. I would recommend this keyboard to anyone needing to do basic text entry on a Visor. The keyboard was fast and reliable. If a few more options become available and the hardware button support improves, I'd kick it up another notch.

Crash 1.2 - Review by Wesley Mason, TDP Software - 8/01

dseifert software production
http://www.dseifert.com

Probably one of the most frustration savers when you use third party software that tends to crash. This little hack replaces the standard popup dialog that tells you of the crash. You know the one, the one that the little 'reset' button only works seemingly 25% of the time. It also has a configurable delay setting that will pause 'X' number of seconds before resetting the device for you.

If by now, your saying 'Wow this is great!', you have one other decision to make. Which image? You see, not only does this reset your device, but when it crashes, it displays a little image on the screen. At his site he has about 15 different versions already ready for download. He also includes (for advanced users only) directions to add your own image.

This little hack has been a great helper when testing buggy new hacks/applications. The only time I need to reset is for hard resets or when I shut my hacks off and crash. I love it and I think you will too. Comes as a Hackmaster or standalone file.

PILOT INSTALL v2.x Review by Wesley Mason, TDP Software - 5/01

envi.con
http://pinstall.envicon.com/

Over the past few weeks I have had the chance to use and abuse Version 2.x of Pilot Install for Windows. After being a long time user of version 1.0, I was very interested to see what it could do.

For those not familiar, Pilot Install or Pinstall used to be a simple utility to quickly setup files to be installed without that annoying dialog box or confirmation window you get with Palm's own install utility. Today its a hotsync replacement that claims to sync with any PalmOS device, with or without the Palm Desktop Installed (USB units need to have the desktop installed for the driver to be present and work).

Installation was a bit of fresh air. There was no installer. The basic concept is that you put it somewhere and it works. Unique idea, but being a tech head I loved it. I chose my Palm Desktop's directory for its home (same place I had its predecessor). Instructions were simple, run it and it registers itself to all the current Palm file types (prc & pdb).

When it runs, it will ask Palm's Hotsync to quietly exit and it will take over the port you set. It allows you to specify the port and speed you want to sync at. In version 2.0, the interface was very sluggish when working with serial ports. Version 2.25 (as of 5/23/01) seems to be much improved in this area. As for syncing, again with version 2.0 I had occasional issues with serial syncing and again version 2.25 is improved. It has yet to miss a sync yet since I installed it 5 days ago.

What can it install? Well, you can force feed it any file, but only during actual syncing will it tell you if you picked a bad one. But it will install more than just applications and databases. You can install JPG and BMP files directly. It will detect if the image is B/W, gray, or color an install it as such. It will append a small amount of code to the image that will provide you with a launcher Icon and the ability to pan the image. I was a little disappointed that GIF was not among the options. You can also tell it to compress the image too. The compression is not as good as Fireviewer, but you don't have to have memory free to uncompress large images. For the technical, It seems that Pinstall generates seemingly random Creator Codes for each image. I can only guess they have a set that they have registered and select from that.

You can also install text files directly too. They get converted to palm doc format on the fly. I really haven't put this portion through the works mainly since I now use Wordsmith's Conduit to do these tasks.

As for installing standard applications and Palm databases, it could not be simpler. All you need to do is double-click on any prc or pdb and it will launch itself. It also checks the integrity of the file to make sure it is not corrupted. It also gives the option to copy anything installed immediately to your backup directory. My only issue is that Palm backs up all files by converting all spaces in the filename to underscores. Pinstall neglects this little specification.

But that's not all. It can also set the time on your palm to your PC's time if you choose. Useful if your unit seems to be little off.

Personally I would like to see a little more error checking in the file types. I spent some time fiddling with it when I tried to install a GIF file I had. I'd also think it should support more image formats. With GIF being one of the top used file formats, it should have had support it.

All in all, it's a simple tool that does the job pretty well. I would definitely suggest to anyone to download and install this software.

LAUNCH-EM v2.1.6 - An application launcher on steroids. - review by Wesley Mason, TDP Software - 5/01

Synergy Solutions Inc.
http://www.synsolutions.com/ Cost is currently $10.00

If your like me you like to try out new and interesting software, whether on the Palm or on your home computer. Work tends to frown on installing too much new stuff, and defiantly not the interesting stuff. Either case, I tend to always ask myself if there is a better way to do this. Well, when I first got my Palm III way back when, it took me about 2 days before I decided that the standard application launcher was, well, anemic. Yeah, I could beam things and I could check my memory free, but that just about summed up all of it's features. I only had two choices with the Icon display: small or large. And changing the category for an Icon was far from what I thought it should be.

That was when I started looking around. For awhile I was an avid Launcher III fan. It was free. I couldn't beat that. It had many features and worked quite well, I'm not going to go into the details of it as they just re-written the application and I have yet to check it out. But eventually I upgraded to a Palm IIIc. I finally had color. I installed Launcher III only to see this distorted bitmap on all my standard application. I realized almost immediately what was wrong. It couldn't handle the color Icons. So my search resumed. I looked around for a Launcher III replacement. Well, I did manage to learn the Launch-Em came from the same roots as Launcher III to I checked it out. The first difference I noticed was that I would eventually have to pay for it. I overlooked this small problem to check out what it could do. Here is what I found:

Launch-Em2 changes the way you organize your applications. Instead of a dropdown menu, you get Tabs across the top (actually any side you choose) of your screen that you can select to bring up a different category. Moving Applications to a new category was very easy. Simply drag the item to the new tab. Each tab can display 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 Icons across the screen and also allows you to select large or small (list view) Icons. The Icons on the screen can also be set to not show it's name if you prefer. You can also change the font size of the name and it's sort order. Each of these settings are on a per tab basis. You can easily have on tab with small icons and another with large icons and 4 icons across.

They even added a toolbar of sorts across the bottom. This toolbar contains up to 10 gadgets (mini application/plug-ins), the current Date/Day of week, the time, and a gauge that shows memory and battery availability in both voltage/size and percent. There also is a small button on the left to allow you to make the bar half the height showing the bottom 4 gadgets (the right most ones), the gauge and the date.

The gauge only shows one item at a time can be changed just by tapping on it. It will cycle through each view. Also you can tap on the Date to change it to the day of the week. This can alternately be configured to change every few seconds.

Also on the toolbar is an arrow that you can toggle from moving Icons to different tabs to allow you to copy Icons from one tab to another. This will allow you to build a tab just with a certain set of applications and still keep all you want in the other tabs.

In the gadget list you will find some tools that help you navigate Launch-Em2 and others that are just very useful. Some of the more useful gadgets are:

GetInfo
See size and other info about any Icon or just get basic memory info.

BeamMe
Beam any application or database to another Palm.

Backlight/Brightness
Toggle your backlight or adjust your brightness.

Power Offf/Power Off and Lock
Power your unit off and/or lock it in the process.

Rename Icon
Rename any Icon in Launch-Em2. This will not actually change the applications, only Launch-Em2's database.

Small Icon Editor
Edit the small icon of any application in RAM. This actually affects the application directly.

Trash Can
The easy way to delete anything. Either drag something over it or just click it to select something.

Spawn
Probably the most interesting one of the bunch. They recognized that ther might not be enough room for all the gadgets you want. This one will allow you to drop an icon on it and it will give you a list of gadgets that apply.