BigClock+ V2.0 FAQ 1) Thanks Thanks to all who sent me mail. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2) Will there be a timezone setting? No, I will keep the increase/decrease mechanism. With V2.0 you can set the timezone in the options. 3) Will there be automatic daylight savings time calculations? No, that is too complicated and would require some large lists. 4) Crash on a Pilot 5000 I finally got BC to work on OS 1.0 (thanks to Rod Biejo). Now it should run on all "Palm computing devices". 5) Timer with turned off pilot If the pilot is turned off, it will turn on only on a full minute, so the alarm will not be exact to the second. 6) Will there be a timer with 1/100 seconds? No. If you need one, get a special timer program. 7) Will there be a lap feature in the stopwatch? No, OK maybe... 8) Option in the alarm for: "every day", "once" and "selected days" Included in V2.0 9) I can't get a connection to your website for download? Where can I get the most recent version? One of these should work: http://www.palmlife.com/free/9 http://www.pilotgear.com http://www.palmcentral.com 10) Is there a Alarm-test-button? Yes, now with the new sounds there is a test button too. 11) What happens in the year 2000? It will display '00' for the year. 12) and in year 3000? It will probably crash horribly (so be sure to get an update early...) 13) Date in the form "14 Aug 98" ? No. 14) I set an alarm but it didn't go off. What happened? Maybe the alarm went off and you didn't hear it. The pilot will turn off again after the timeout. When you turn on the PalmPilot, you will see the alarm message but hear no sound. Have you checked the TIMEBASE setting in the options? If you set an earlier alarm in another program, it prevents the display of the bigclock alarm sound until after closing the earlier alarm. If two BC alarms (including snooze and timer) are set for the same time only one of them is triggered. Still no alarm? Maybe you have found a bug... 15) Giebt es eine deutsche version? Is there a German version? Any other languages? There is currently only an English version. If there is a demand for a specific language I will create a special version (there are only very few words in it anyway). But that has currently a low priority on my list. Mail me if you are interested! 16) What was BigClock created with? I used the free GCC for Pilot on a WinNT workstation and the POSER for testing. 17) If I set the countdown timer to 1 second and start it, the alarm does not sound when it gets to zero? That is not a bug, but a feature. It prevents the alarm from going off several times. And who needs that anyway? 18) Alarm sound not loud enough. Try playing with the sound configuration. A lower amplitude setting may create a louder effect. Set the frequencies so that you hear it best. 19) How can I increase or decrease the worldtime. Tap on the upper half of the numbers to increase and on the lower half to decrease. 20) can I get clock to be "opening screen" on all tasks? I think there are hacks that can do it. On my Pilot I have put it on the "ToDo" button. So I can turn on the pilot and start BC in one step. 21) When will be the next release? That will probably take some time. Will first concentrate on some other projects like: Epos (http://come.to/pilot) or RoboCom (http://www.cyty.com/robocom/) 22) I don't like your documenation! Ok. Write a better one and mail it to me, I will be happy to include it. 23) I don't like your BC icon! Ok. Paint a better one and mail it to me, I will be happy to include it. If you have any other questions or suggestions please mail me. Jens Rupp 13.12.98 jens.rupp@gmx.de BigClock V2.01+ FREEWARE written by Jens Rupp E-Mail: jens.rupp@gmx.de WWW: http://come.to/pilot If you like BigClock+, write me an E-Mail. It motivates me to continue working on free applications. New in V2.01 - Bugfix: alarm names - Bugfix: autoclose - the up/down keys now can close the alarm screen New in V2.0 - up to 4 alarms, 4 worldtimes and 4 timers - option: alarm triggered "every day"/"on selected days"/"once" - silent alarm - free configurable snoozer - timezones setable as hours/minutes in options - backlight/snoozer/silent alarm in timer - 4 free configuarable alarmsounds - pagenames can be changed - new icon - bugfix: update without deleting old version possible New in V1.7 - bugfix, large snooze times - bugfix, only right halve of alarm checkbox worked - limit the maximum of snooze alarms New in V1.61 - bugfix, changing app while in options/layout New in V1.6: - am/pm bugfix - snooze feature - auto close of alarm screen - alarms based on worldtime - alarm with backlight - up/down button to change screen INSTRUCTIONS ------------ Install bigclock.prc like any other palm application with the "Palm Install Tool" provided with your Palm Desktop application. BigClock has four different pages. Each can be accessed via the buttons at the bottom. Additonally there are options for LAYOUT, ALARM, WORLD, TIMER and SOUND settings activated with the menu. Each page has a name and two panels that can be configured in the LAYOUT. The default settings are: PAGE 1 ------ Name : Time Top panel : Date L (local date) Bottom panel: Time L (local time) PAGE 2 ------ Name : Alarm Top panel : Alarm 1 Bottom panel: Alarm 2 PAGE 3 ------ Name : World Top panel : Time 1 (worldtime 1) Bottom panel: Time 2 (worldtime 2) PAGE 4 ------ Name : Timer Top panel : Timer 1 (first timer) Bottom panel: Control 1 (controls for the first timer) The following panels are available in BigClock and can be set to be displayed on any page in the LAYOUT: Time L and 1 to 4 ----------------- This are the 5 times included in BigClock. "Time L" displays always the time of the device which can be set in the pilot preferences. 1 to 4 are the worldtimes, which can be set with tapping on the numbers or in the WORLD options. You can change the name of the time in the edit field. You can lock the time and name against accidentally changing in the WORLD options. Date L and 1 to 4 ----------------- This are the dates to the 5 times. If the matching date to a time panel is not displayed on the same page the date is shown in small letters above the time. Alarm 1 to 4 ------------ This are the four alarms. If the large checkbox is checked (with a cross), the alarm is active and will sound off at the set time. Under the checkbox the number of the Alarm with a "A1" to "A4" is displayed. To change the time tap on the numbers (top half to increase, lower to decrease). You cannot modify the settings while the alarm is active. Above the time are the first letters of the weekdays. Alarms are only triggered on the days displayed inverted. You can toggle a day with tapping on it. You can disable this (trigger alarm everyday) or change to "trigger only once" in the ALARM options. The alarm name can also be changed by tapping/editing on the characters. The vertical boxes on the right of the checkbox allows you to change the alarm sound used (see SOUNDS MENU). When the alarm is triggered, a screen with 'ALARM!', the alarm time, timezone name and alarm name is displayed. Tap anywhere to close it. If SNOOZE is enabled the alarm will resound after the selected time. To stop it you have to disable the alarm. SNOOZE will add the snooze time to the alarm time, not the time the alarm is closed. So if you have an alarm for 05:35 and a snooze time of 5 minutes it will be triggered again at 5:40, 5:45, 5:50 and so on until you disable it or the maximum count is reached. Snooze time and count can be set in the OPTIONS. If WAIT is disabled the alarm will close automatically. You can set a worldtime to be used as base for the alarm in the options. This is displayed as "W1" to "W4" under the checkbox. To enable/disable the seconds and change between 12h and 24h format activate the LAYOUT options with the menu. Timer 1 to 4 ------------ This are the four timers. Change the numbers with tapping on them. Change the name in the edit field. Control 1 to 4 --------------- This are the controls for the timers 1 to 4. Start/Stop the counting with the button on the left. You can only change the settings while the clock is stopped. "Reset" sets the time to the last manually set time. "Clear" sets the time to 0. Select 'U' for counting up and 'D' for down. If counting down, an alarm will sound off at the end of the count. The vertical boxes on the right allow you to change the alarm sound. You can turn the alarm off with the mode setting in the TIMER options. This settings include a "autoreset" and "loop" mode. You can switch to another application or turn off the device while running the timer. LAYOUT OPTONS ------------- Here you can change the layout of the complete application. For each page there is an edit field for the name and two popup fields. One for the upper halve of the screen and one for the lower. Tap them to get a list with the different panels. ALARM OPTIONS ------------- Select with the buttons at the top the alarm you want to change. There are the following options: Timebase : Select the time used for triggering the alarm. Backlight : If checked the backlight is activated with the alarm. Autoclose : If checked the alarm screen closes automatically. (which activates the snooze alarm if enabled) Snooze : If checked the alarm is repeated after the given time till the maximum is reached. Trigger : "every day" : the alarm is triggered every day "selected days" : the alarm is triggered on the days selected with the letters above the time "once" : the alarm is triggered only once No sound : If checked no sound is played. WORLD OPTIONS ------------- Select with the buttons at the top the worldtime you want to change. There are the following options: Lock : If checked the name and timezone can not be chnaged on the Time panel. Timezone : Current timezone for the worldtime. You can change it to any value. TIMER OPTIONS ------------- Select with the buttons at the top the timer you want to change. There are the following options: Mode : "simple" : count up or down and stop when reaching 0 "reset" : like "simple" but reset automatically "loop" : when reaching 0 autoreset and continue "alarm" : when reaching 0 trigger alarm For the other options see "ALARM OPTIONS" SOUNDS MENU ----------- Here you can configure the four sounds selectable with the alarms. If "Use System Sound" is checked the normal Datebook-Beep is used otherwise the four tones configured below are used. Freq : Frequency to use. Time : Time to play the note. Ampli : Amplitude to play the note. Keeping it on 64 is normally a good idea. Pause : Time to wait after playing the note. These four notes are repeated as selected. You can use the test button to hear the alarm. WARNING: you can't stop the test, so don't select to high numbers for the times and repeat. If you find any bugs or have ideas for improvements please read first the FAQ and then E-Mail me. Jens Rupp 13.12.98 jens.rupp@gmx.de