pruss

The latest version of my DIA (Graffiti writing area and statusbar) skin loader is out.

www.zlthemes.com/Programs.php
http://www.palmgear.com/index.cfm?f...re&prodID=72007

Version 1.40: "Cross-Load Protection" for direct hotsync of T3 skins on T5 and LifeDrive (make sure you have run SkinDIA! first or installed it via hotsync). Added LifeDrive instructions to documentation. Added T3 compatibility prcs to distribution. Skins are now saved to PALM/Programs/SkinDIA instead of PALM/Programs/SkinT3 (though the SkinT3 directory is still scanned). Improved FixUpT3Skin.

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Alex Pruss

For my shareware (FontSmoother, myKbd, mySkin, Accenter, FastLaunch and AtomClock) and freeware PalmOS software, go here: http://pruss.mobi

iboar

FYI: Alex, one of my customers wrote to tell me that my 16bit DIAs were working well on her new LD with SkinDIA! I wasn't sure if you had any feedback from real LD owners yet, so now you do, albeit secondhand.

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Jack Swinden

w5jck.com

Blackberry Pearl, HP Mini 110, and iPod touch 1G

iboar

oops! I spoke too soon. One of my 16bit DIAs works on a actual LD and one doesn't. Both work on the LD simulator and both were compiled using Festus's T3_16SkinMaker.exe. A customer told me she was able to run one okay on her LD, but the other caused a soft reset and wouldn't run.

Alex, do you have any ideas as to why. I can send you the DIA skins if you need to look at them.

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Jack Swinden

w5jck.com

Blackberry Pearl, HP Mini 110, and iPod touch 1G

Festus440

Jack,
You might want to try using PFCD.
It uses my own compiler instead of PilRc. (I encode the abmp bitmaps a little differently than PilRc in some cases.)

You may only need to decompile and recompile the offending skin. (That takes all of a few seconds if you're slow
PFCD is compatable and automatically joins or splits the large 16-bit images that Alex uses in SkinDIA (and ClieSkinner).

Or Just decompile the skin that works with PFCD and change the bitmaps.
You can only get PFCD from me, so if you want to try it, let me know.

I just bought an LD myself, but havn't had time to try SkinDIA yet

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Try ZLauncher Background Converter and ZLauncher Iconset Factory at:
http://www.zlthemes.com

Come get some stuff at my little web page:
http://www.festus440.happypalm.com/

pruss

By the way, to get around an OS problem on the T5 and Tapwave, all 16-bit skins should include 8-bit components for any images that use transparency. Otherwise, things are too slow in 8-bit apps.

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Alex Pruss

For my shareware (FontSmoother, myKbd, mySkin, Accenter, FastLaunch and AtomClock) and freeware PalmOS software, go here: http://pruss.mobi

pruss

Please do send to arpruss, at, gmail, dot, com if you like. I suggest you delete resources fron the skin until it doesn't crash, and then you'll know which one is the culprit.

__________________
Alex Pruss

For my shareware (FontSmoother, myKbd, mySkin, Accenter, FastLaunch and AtomClock) and freeware PalmOS software, go here: http://pruss.mobi

iboar

Thanks to Festus's great help, I was able to figure out the problem. I had a few BMPs that were saved a 8-bit rather than 16-bit, but the RCP listed them as 16-bit. I corrected this by resaving the BMPs as 16-bit.

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Jack Swinden

w5jck.com

Blackberry Pearl, HP Mini 110, and iPod touch 1G

iboar

Could you elaborate on this a bit? What is the OS problem, and how important is this issue?

I'm hoping I misunderstood what you are saying. A quick review of the RCP file shows transparency for all 215 files. If I have to create 8-bit and 16-bit BMPs for each of these 215 images, plus add all those entries to the RCP, well that's an incedible amount of work. The alternative of just creating 8-bit BMPs kind of negates the purpose of a 16-bit DIA. So is this something that absolutely must be done?

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Jack Swinden

w5jck.com

Blackberry Pearl, HP Mini 110, and iPod touch 1G

pruss

The main issue is with statusbar buttons, which depress more slowly on the T5 in 8-bit applications when the bitmap is 16-bits. They depress so slowly that tapping on home gives the popup list rather than goes gome.

Try it out on the Simulator.



1. You don't need to create 8-bit BMPs. Pilrc will down-convert. Won't look great (but anyway, a 16-bit skin won't look great in an 8-bit app), but it's only for the 8-bit applications anyway. E.g., replace:
BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 19900
BEGIN
BITMAP "bitmap19900-16.bmp" BPP 16
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENT 0 255 0
END

with

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID 19900
BEGIN
BITMAP "bitmap19900-16.bmp" BPP 16
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENT 0 255 0
BITMAP "bitmap19900-16.bmp" BPP 8
DENSITY 2 COMPRESS
TRANSPARENT 0 255 0
END

You only need a single bitmap19900-16.bmp file. So you only need to change the .rcp file, not the bitmaps.

2. Not all images NEED transparency. For instance, the biggest images generally don't: 19011-13, 19500-2, 19600-2, 19700-2, 19811, 19845, 19848, 19900-2. For these, just remove the "TRANSPARENT" text from the .rcp file.

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Alex Pruss

For my shareware (FontSmoother, myKbd, mySkin, Accenter, FastLaunch and AtomClock) and freeware PalmOS software, go here: http://pruss.mobi

FIA WRC

Any chance of a Skin DIA like program for the Clie's with VG?

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Passed pda's: M100, M130, 2 Prism's, Z71, T665c, SJ33, T/E, T3, TH-55, and TX.

Current pda's:none. Current MID: iTouch

pruss

You mean my ClieSkinner? :-)

www.zlthemes.com/Programs.php

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Alex Pruss

For my shareware (FontSmoother, myKbd, mySkin, Accenter, FastLaunch and AtomClock) and freeware PalmOS software, go here: http://pruss.mobi

FIA WRC

Thanks. For some reason I thought that was an actual skinner. Never saw a photo or description.

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Passed pda's: M100, M130, 2 Prism's, Z71, T665c, SJ33, T/E, T3, TH-55, and TX.

Current pda's:none. Current MID: iTouch