DA's!

[CIrrob]

WOW!

Been using a palm pilot, in one form or another, for 4 years now, and never knew these things existed. What great little programs!

I always considered myself some what of an expert on palms and applications for specific jobs, but this has humbled me. Recently I had to do a reinstal of all my applications ( trying to perform a "copy" function in docs2go caused a hard reset, still not sure why) and I decided to purchase uninstal manager if I was going to start fresh. So while installing my aps one by one, I came across mcphling and re-read its discription while hotsyncing. "Launches DA's" Hmm "What is a DA?" I ask myself, and the rest is history as they say.

WOW! Just wow!

Currently I have CoolIDA, BacklightDA, wordcountDA (should be called charactercount), calcalDA (calculator), call lookup DA (friggen godsend!), ezconverterDA, and my favorite: todoDA

Was just wondering if any one had any other suggestions.

[xanderdv]

acGraffitiRef (for graffiti1 only)
ak Utils
HR Capt DA - screen shot DA
IR switch
Melody DA
SimpleClock DA

check out freewarepalm.com search of DAs (not all are OS 5 friendly so cavet emptor - or however it is spelled)

[xsnrg]

I did some reading up on "hacks" under OS5, found YAHM to be one of the better "hackmasters" that supports OS5.

I am still a little cloudy as to what will work, and what will not. The search listed above will give a pile of DA/Hacks, but will most of those work on an OS5 devices as well? X-master's webpage states that it doesn't support OS5 anymore for example.

The OS5 native DAs would appear to be the better way to go, but there just aren't the choices (yet)

Any thoughts or pointers from anyone?

[Josser]

My favorite is SnapCalc , it is a pop-up 4-function calculator.

[mmorasch]

I find myself asking myself:

What is a DA?

Someone care to explain?

[TANG]

Click on xanderdv's link. In the new window (showing Google search results), click on the first one. It'll explain everything.

[bobbd]

What follows is a simple explanation devoid of much technical detail. As such, I may have oversimplified to the point of error. If I have done so, my aplogies.

Simply put, DAs are little programs that can run even though another program is running. Remember that on the PalmOS, there really isn't much multi-tasking. If you start an application, the one that's currently running terminates (and usually saves it's status). With a DA, a program can "popup" over top of the other program. DAs are launched using a DA launcher of some sort. This may be a dedicated program that inserts itself into the tool bar. Or it may be something like McPhling.

Popups like SnapCalc are similar to DAs but don't require a separate launcher. They come with the launch code. SnapCalc, for example, embeds its launcher into the Tool bar.

Hacks were originally designed to trap system calls and replace the system code with something else. The PalmOS changed the way system calls work between version 4 and 5 so that most older hacks no longer work. The new version of YAHM (Yet Another Hack manager) is a PalmOS 5 Hack Manager that proposes a new way to do hacks. There aren't too many hacks available yet for YAHM.

Hacks can do the popup thing but they also traps system calls. For example, FONTHACKV allows you to change the fonts you use.

Hope this helped.

Bob

[Possum]

Here's what I have found available:

FonthackV: No fonts available anywhere. You need to make them yourself, if the converter supports your Desktop OS, that is.

NoDotHack: Very simple, but useful. Removes dotted lines from text fields.

NoBeamHack: Not sure if I have the name correct, but it's the hack that turns off the "Do you want to reactivate beaming." message you get every time you try to beam something if you have turned IR receive off to save batteries.

The rest of the hacks have chosen to become stand-alone applications. I am under the impression that there isn't as much of a hack conflict problem on OS5, which has led to this trend.

I currently use SnapCalc and HiLauncher. HiLauncher works great for launching the only two useful DA's I've found, a DTMF dialer and ToDo DA. A DA calc would be nice, but SnapCalc is better because you can drag it around like you should be able to do with a DA. (I know, technically, it is a DA.)

[gavinfabl]

I love using the DA's.

I use

acBacklight
acGraffiti ref
acRomankbd
acWordCount
Analag Clock
ApptViewer
Brightnesslowda
brightnessmedda
brightnessmaxda
replaceda
stopwatch

and others noted above.

However, I am looking for a calculator DA. Any one know of one that works in OS5.

I use DALauncher 5.50, which works excellently with my T3. With Qlaunch I had configured the Voicememo button to raise screen to medium brightness, backlightoff etc..

You can set the Quicklaunch in Zlauncher to have any preferences or DA's.

[CIrrob]

However, I am looking for a calculator DA. Any one know of one that works in OS5.

Does the above mentioned calc (a few posts up) not work for you? I know its not a da, but it functions as one