need help setting up my TH55 after hard reset

[sambucca]

Hi, i am a happy owner of a th55 since about a year and i just now found this great forum.
I just ordered a 2GB MS Pro and a BT GPS receiver.
When i get the MS, i want to perform a hard reset and start out fresh.
My question to you is, which programs to install...
All i need basically is:
My logbook program (for work)
A Calendar program (i now use pimlico's Datebk 5)
A audio program to listen to some music (i use pockettunes deluxe)
A Media player, to watch a movie occasionally (i use none yet)
A Navigation Program (i will use Tomtom5 once i get the GPS)
A Document Viewer (word, pdf etc)

Of the programs above, do you recommend other programs then those listed? if so, why?
Are there any other little practical, nifty programs which make my TH55 life any better,easier?
landscape maybe?

Any help is appreciated.

Also maybe some tips to tune it after the hard reset so that it runs faster or uses less resources?

[sambucca]

since there hasn't been an overwhelming response to my previous post, maybe some more detailed questions help:

Agendus vs. Datebk5? (I have Datebk5, does anyone use both and prefers one?)

Which program to view files? Picselviewer only shows Pdf's (right?) and only up to a certain filesize.. I need to view larger Pdf files, .doc (word) files and maybe .txt files?

A AIO movie viewer? Is there a small app which can show avi, divx, xvid maybe etc type of movie files?

Music player: I use pockettunes because i can listen to music while using my th55 for other stuff

[wellsjs]

On Agendus vs. Datebk5 or 6 (now released), it's a subjective, personal choice. I suggest you download the fully functional trial of Agendus Pro 10.04 and see if it would be worth it to you to spend more money to replace something you already own (Datebk5).

Landscape is pretty cool, especially for Netfront web browsing.

For file viewing, you might want to check out Repligo, which does a great job with pdf files (and most all other formats), IF you can live with them being converted by the included desktop converter application, i.e. the files do not remain in native format.

DocsToGo is the best MS Office equivalent for the Palm OS PDA.

NeatFreak - You should install this combo of Uninstaller and Cleanup as it is quite valuable in keeping and maintaining a "clean" PDA. This should be the first app you install as it monitors application installs!

Resco Explorer - Great file manager with zip creation/extraction functionality.

Resco Backup - Configure it and forget it! YOU MUST HAVE A BACKUP STRATEGY! I can't say it strongly enough. I can't tell you how many times having my 4 a.m. backup that day has saved me. I schedule the backup every day for 4 a.m. and keep two backup sets. You can configure however many you want to keep.

Security - PDA Defense or TealLock. Even if all you have of compromisable value on your PDA is friends and relative's phone numbers, do you want them to fall into the hands of a sicko if your PDA is lost or stolen?

PTunes is a great choice for music enhancement.

SkinUI or PalmRevolt - Really improves the look/feel of the Palm OS, but it is strictly "eye candy."

Fonts4OS5/FontSmoother - Greatly improves font rendering in all applications.

[dragonsgames]

Which program to view files? Picselviewer only shows Pdf's (right?) and only up to a certain filesize.. I need to view larger Pdf files, .doc (word) files and maybe .txt files?

A AIO movie viewer? Is there a small app which can show avi, divx, xvid maybe etc type of movie files?

Music player: I use pockettunes because i can listen to music while using my th55 for other stuff

You can view .doc and .txt with PicselViewer. Download http://palmpowerups.com/file/PicselAccelerator.prc to make it faster.

For a movie viewer, I suggest TCPMP http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/about

I use the Sony MP3 player, because it gives you better battery life. You can also use JAmericans modded Media Launcher http://www.1src.com/freeware/fileinfo.php?id=1137

[Munan]

Everyone uses their devices differently, and honestly, there is no "best" software for anything. It's all a personal choice.
With that said, my choices are:
Agendus Pro 10 - This is because I have never found a task list replacement that I like better. I do prefer Datebk5 for a calendar, but I use Agendus for the other functions I need. I work from my task list HEAVILY.
2ActionMeeting - A powerful meeting outline tool. Great for logs and building that crazy task list.
PocketTunes Pro - Because I don't like anything better and it works great.
For the occasiona video, I use the stock Movie Player because I really don't need anything more than that.
For documents, I tend to use Docs to Go and eReader Pro.
And I also use Resco Explorer for the occasional need to browse files.
I could go into more detail, but that seems to be what you were asking.
Download some trials and see what suits your needs best...

[dragonsgames]

Wow, a lot of people use PocketTunes. Don't you guys know you can get almost double battery life using the stock MP3 player or Media Launcher? It is because they are HHE Enhanced ;)

[wellsjs]

Wow, a lot of people use PocketTunes. Don't you guys know you can get almost double battery life using the stock MP3 player or Media Launcher? It is because they are HHE Enhanced ;)Yeah, but the typical one-hour max listening time for me means I don't care about a little more battery drain. I like the additional features PTunes provides. As Munan said, "Everyone uses their devices differently." You should take that into consideration and really not try to always "know it all!" :eek:

[DanT]

From TH55 manual - Pcsel Viewer suppports HTML, image formats (JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP), documents (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

I'm happy with OEM apps (Audio Player, Movie Player, and Picsel Viewer). In my loaded-down TH55, Picsel Viewer with Picsel Accelerator speeds up opening a PDF file 3x and 13x faster than PalmPDF and PDF ToGo, respectively.

[sambucca]

Wow, a lot of people use PocketTunes. Don't you guys know you can get almost double battery life using the stock MP3 player or Media Launcher? It is because they are HHE Enhanced ;)

I use Pockettunes mainly because i can listen to music while using other apps simultaneously. It also supports several other media formats and i can search my music using id3. Does the stock mp3 player support these things also? Because then i would opt for more battery life. I'm often away on trips for several days and tend to forget my charger. :o

[DanT]

Using Audio Player as background MP3:
1. Go to Audio Player.
2. Tap Menu, Options, Preferences.
3. Put a check on "Enable background play"
This option was available in CLIE from as far back as N760C (2001?)

[dragonsgames]

The N610c had it as well.

[dragonsgames]

I use Pockettunes mainly because i can listen to music while using other apps simultaneously. It also supports several other media formats and i can search my music using id3. Does the stock mp3 player support these things also? Because then i would opt for more battery life. I'm often away on trips for several days and tend to forget my charger. :o

And I know that it only supports ATRACT and MP3 at 128kbps and 44khz, but it sounds good like that, and can be converted to that easily in iTunes.

[wellsjs]

The main purpose for using PTunes is you can program the order of songs to play (create different playlists, and you can get streaming audio via Shoutcast, and then of course there's the eye candy of the skins. At least those are the reasons I bought it. :)

[dragonsgames]

You can create different playlists in Audio Player (not easy, but possible).

[DanT]

I just don't like to use up my RAM for something that are already available in ROM. My free RAM space is getting low. A problem with Picsel Viewer may occur when the free RAM gets too low. It uses the free RAM as a temporary storage during operation. For example when I open a 682 KB PDF appwith Picsel Viewer, not only the free system memory (6.2MB) drops to 0.8MB, but also some of the free program memory (10.2 MB RAM) drops to 8.4 MB. If I only have 1.8 MB free RAM, my TH55 would probably crash, so I like to have enough cushion in the RAM to avoid such problem.

[sambucca]

another thing:
the reason i want to do a hard reset is so that i can rid my th55 of all unnessesary files left behind after deleting some programs.. i also installed the wireless patch to improve connectivity but then i read that it was for US th55's only and not necessary for european e2 th55's. When i perform a hard reset and do a hotsync afterwards, will it put all the "old" files back onto it?

[wellsjs]

What you will have after a hard reset is the way it was when you first took it out of the box! Unless you know in detail exactly what you're doing, do not hotsync your old user name folder, otherwise you're likely to have everything back from before, including some junk. It's best to place files like you mention in a special "holding place" folder. Delete your old user ID in Palm Desktop, rename the user name folder (I just add "old" to the end), and start from scratch. When you start hotsync, you will be asked for a new user name. Be sure to use the same one you've been using.

After hard reset, install Uninstall/Cleanup first (so they will monitor the rest of your installs), and then install your launcher (if you use one), followed by the rest (I usually prefer to install all the larger apps first, working my way down to the smaller ones, but that isn't critical). Uninstall/Cleanup should prevent you from having to go through this again, as getting rid of the residual junk, like "saved preference" entries, is what they're good at.

[sambucca]

ok..I guess i'll be going for an install monitor.
On the previous page, you suggested neatfreak. is this the uninstall/cleanup app you mentioned in the previous post?
is this app going to slow down my th55, is it permanently running in the background?

[wellsjs]

Yes, the NeatFreak package includes them both:

http://www.northglide.com/

There is no slowdown. It only monitors file installations during hotsync. There is also a "Sandbox mode" and a "Record mode" that are pretty cool if you tend to trial and delete a lot of stuff.

[sambucca]

UPDATE:
Well...after long consideration and (chicken) delaying, today will be the day that i hard reset my TH55. after i do this, i will first install the uninstall APP, then on to my other favorites: Datebk and tomtom, then also maybe pockettunes. Wish me luck, and if i don't have any, i'll be back on here soon enough :)

oh..and is there a "best" way of formatting my MS so that i get the most free space out of it...or is formatting using any app exactly the same process?

[sambucca]

ok.. i finally did it...performed a hard reset and afterwards did the following:

First i installed northglide's uninstall (thanks 4 the tip wellsjs!)
Then:
Datebk5
Tomtom 5
my company's logbook program (even that sync-ed perfect after a sync)

I'm now thinking of installing the brightnessfix and the picselaccelerator to maximise use of the HHE processor.

For the time i'll stick with the stock audioplayer since it apparently also supports HHE use and uses less battery.

I will also get rid of some useless files (pictures, freenote examples etc.)

Some more tips to keep it clean, lean and fast?

[sambucca]

I now need some "guidance" :p with webbrowsing.
I never really used it and tried it out yesterday and found out that it's quite hard and timeconsuming shopping at ebay, reading my hotmail messages etc.
Do I have to wait till i get landscape before i can really use webbrowsing or are there other programs with which i can watch these pages better? Or can I tweak my netfront?

[wellsjs]

sambucca,

To be honest, I wanted landscape capability like crazy when it wasn't available. Now that we have that capability with Landscape, I use it far less than I thought I would. BUT, NetFront, SheetsToGo (spreadsheet), PocketQuicken, Bible apps (occasionally) make Landscape worthwhile, and "the greatest of these" is NetFront, where landscape mode makes all the difference in the world.

All that said, I still (personally) don't like to do tedious things when web browsing on the PDA. A program you should look into that will make logging in a breeze, however, is LClipDA and DALauncher (both freeware). LClipDA allows you to store things like userIDs, passwords, etc. and paste them in with a couple of stylus swipes. Very, VERY, useful!

As for tweaking NetFront, not a lot of options other than the different aligning views. I mostly use the "scroll bars bottom and right" view, occasionally switching to one of the others to read certain paginated text.

From your comment, I presume you found the thread I started on eliminating useless ROM populated files. I compiled that list and created a memo with it's contents. After a hard reset, I use the convenience of that memo on my PC (Palm Desktop), but if I were remote, I could juggle back and forth between file manager and the memo on the PDA.

I would recommend Fonts4OS5 and FontSmoother combo as Lubak and Alex's treatments of Palm OS fonts is amazing! All we who have been using them for a while have to do is turn them off and see what a difference it makes to the "user experience."

Keep on tweakin'! :)