PiDirect II

 

Quick start guide

 

PiDirect is a virtual memory manager, which allows you to directly run applications and access read-only databases stored on the expansion card without the need to transfer the complete program and/or data file to internal memory on the handheld device prior to being used.

 

This quick start guide will give you step-by-step guidelines on using PiDirect.

 

Example Tasks

Four example tasks will be shown:

1.      Move a application from RAM to the expansion card, and run on the card

2.      Install a document reader and its database to expansion card with card reader

3.      Manage PiDirect preference list

4.      Manage PiDirect active path

 


Example Task 1:  Run an application on card

This task involves transferring an application to expansion card and activating PiDirect.

 

Step 1.  Launch PiDirect and go to File Manager

User can either tap on the PiDirect II icon or use the Palm ¡§Preferences¡¨ applications (i.e. the place you go to reset your digitizer, change the volume of alarms, etc.) to launch PiDirect.

From within the Preferences application, tap on the category control at the top right, and select PiDirect II.

After PiDirect is launched, select a mounted path and then tap File Manager. (Only registered users are able to change and add mounted path. For unregistered users, only ¡§/Palm/PiDirect/¡¨ is available)

 

Fig. 1.1

Figure 1.1. This is a general screen shot of PiDirectPanel

  • The ¡§Card¡¨ is the expansion card that is currently mounted. If your device has more than 1 card slot (e.g. HandEra), you can select which card to mount.
  • The ¡§Path¡¨ is the directory that PiDirect will force the Palm to treat as if it were RAM.  Files placed on there will be visible to Palm.
  • The ¡§Setting¡¨ button (describe in more detail in a later section) allows you to specify applications for which PiDirect will need to pause and resume, or stop and rescan to avoid conflict and facilitate the usage of PiDirect.
  • The two push buttons are ¡§Enable¡¨ and ¡§Disable¡¨.  Tapping ¡§Enable¡¨ causes the directory specified in the ¡§path¡¨ field to be ¡§active¡¨.
  • The ¡§File Manager¡¨ button allows you to manage files on the device and expansion card

 

Tap the ¡§File Manager¡¨ button at the to go to File Manager.

 

Note: the ¡§File Manager¡¨ and ¡§Setting¡¨ buttons are available only when PiDirect is disabled.

 

Fig. 1.2

Figure 1.2. This figure shows the File Manager. It helps to manage the files on user¡¦s handheld device and the mounted folder of expansion card (in this case, ¡§/Palm/PiDirect/¡¨ on MemoryStick)

 

Note: If the ¡§Path¡¨ selected in PiDirectPanel does not exist on the expansion card (¡§/Palm/PiDirect/¡¨ in this case), File Manager will create it automatically when users launch it.

 

Step 2. Move Application

Select an application you want to run on card and move it to ¡§/Palm/PiDirect/¡¨ folder.

 

Fig. 1.3a

Fig. 1.3b

Figure 1.3a.  Select an application you want to run on card.  And then tap the ¡§Move¡¨ button.

 

Figure 1.3b. Tap ¡§OK¡¨ to confirm to move file.

Fig. 1.4a

Fig. 1.4b

Figure 1.4a. Moving in progress.

 

Figure 1.4b. Move file completed. User can now see that the file is moved to ¡§/Palm/PiDirect/¡¨ folder by viewing the external card side.

 


 

Step 3. Activate PiDirect

Back to PiDirectPanel by tapping ¡§Back¡¨ button in File Manager and then enable PiDirect. Exit PiDirect and the card application will be found in the launcher.

 

Fig. 1.5

Figure 1.5.   Tap the ¡§Enable¡¨ button to activate PiDirect.  The ¡§Databases on card¡¨ will show the number of databases run on card.

Fig. 1.6

Figure 1.6.  The application icon of the card¡¦s application will show up on your launcher  (with a dot before icon name for the default launcher).

 

Tap the icon and you can start the card¡¦s application and run it.

 

 


Example Task 2: Install a document reader and its database to expansion card with card reader

This task involves installing a document reader, TomeRaider, and a document (about 12M) by a card reader, and then accesses the document on Palm

 

Step 1. Copy files to PiDirect folder by card reader

 


Fig. 2.1

Figure 2.1.  Connect the card reader of your expansion card to your PC.  Install the necessary driver for the card reader (sometimes your system may detect it and install the driver for you).  After it is set up correctly, you should notify that a new drive appears e.g. Removable Disk (E:).

 

 

 

Figure 2.2.  Copy the document reader, "TomeRaider.prc", and a document, "websters_encylo.pdb", to the PiDirect folder, which is "E:\Palm\PiDirect" in this case.

 


Fig. 2.2

After you have copied these 2 files, eject the card from the card reader and then insert into the expansion card slot of your Palm device.

 

Step 2. Enable PiDirect

 

Fig. 2.3

Figure 2.3.  Launch PiDirect, verify the path is "/Palm/PiDirect", and then tap on the enable button. 

 

After PiDirect is enabled, you will see "Databases on card" is 2. Now you can exit from PiDirect.

 

 

 

Step 3. Run the document reader and read the document

After you exit from PiDirect you will see the TomeRaider icon. Tap TomeRaider icon to launch it and you are now ready to read the document.

 

Fig. 2.4a

Fig. 2.4b

Fig. 2.4c

 

 

 

 


Example Task 3:  Manage PiDirect Preference List

Palm applications commonly assume all databases reside on RAM.  Some applications do not work well with PiDirect (e.g. Some backup applications).  PiDirect need to be disable when enter those conflict applications, meanwhile PiDirect may need to rescan after entering some applications (e.g. 3rd party file manager),

 

User can set those preferences in the preference list of PiDirect; PiDirect will handle those conflict and rescan-needed applications automatically.

 

Adding applications to Preference List

 

Fig. 3.1

 

Fig. 3.2

1.      In PiDirectPanel, tap ¡§Disable¡¨ push button, the ¡§setting¡¨ button will appear.

2.      Tap on the ¡§setting¡¨ button.  The ¡§Prefs List¡¨ Form will pop up

3.      User could tap on the ¡§default¡¨ button for PiDirect to arrange those common setting for you.

4.      Tap the icon area of the conflict application to switch its state.  (Pause and resume state is commonly used to avoid conflict)

5.      Tap ¡§OK¡¨ to save the setting and exit

6.      On PiDirectPanel, tap ¡§Enable¡¨ to re-enable PiDirect with the new preference.

 

Note: 

When entering or leaving ¡§Disable and Rescan¡¨ application, PiDirect need to clean up and rebuild the application list.  It may cause the palm device blank out for a while during processing.

 


Example Task 4: Manage PiDirect ¡§active¡¨ path (For registered user only)

PiDirect allows user to specify up to 16 user-specified sub-directories, and allows user to switch between them in the PiDirectPanel

 

It is recommended user to manage their files under different sub-directories.  And switch between them simply.

 

To create and specify a new ¡§active¡¨ path

 

Fig. 4.1

 

Fig. 4.2

1.      Tap PiDirect icon to enter PiDirectPanel

2.      As show in Figure 4.1, tap on the path name, and the active path list will pop up

3.      Select Edit Subdirectory list¡K.

4.      Figure 4.2. Users can create/rename/delete any enter displayed here.

5.      Tap ¡§OK¡¨ when completed

6.      Tap the path trigger again, and select the active path for PiDirect

 

Note:

The active path list just provides a simple way for users to switch between different paths, it does not create the sub-directory. However, if you select an active path that does not exist on the expansion card, PiDirect will create it automatically when users launch the File Manager.