FastLaunch for Treo/Centro

0. Disclaimer

FastLaunch uses undocumented system functions, and should be used only at your own risk. No warranty whatsoever is provided. Make sure you make a full backup of your phone's data (ideally, on an SD card) before installing FastLaunch.

1. Quick start

Install FastLaunch.prc and Accessorizer.prc on your phone. If you have purchased a full version, also install FastLaunch_Registration.pdb; otherwise, you get a free 8 day trial. Launch FastLaunch and tap "On". You can now exit FastLaunch. The following keyboard-based functions are now available in most applications with the default FastLaunch settings:

  1. Launch applications: Holding down an alphabetic key for about a second pops up a list of the applications on your phone that start with that letter. You can select one of them to switch to it. The list also includes any Desk Accessories you have that start with that letter. To get items that start with something other than a letter, hold down the period (.).
  2. Pop up an application on top of the current application: Pressing the Option button (the black button you use to get numbers and punctuation) first, and then holding down an alphabetic key for about second once again pops up a list of the applications that start with that letter. However, you will now notice that each of the application icons has a red arrow pointing upwards in front of it. When you select one of these applications, the application will be launched "on top". What this means is that whatever application you were previously in will stay active, but the new one will show up on top of it. When you exit the application launched "on top" by pressing the "Home" button on your phone, you will come back to precisely where you were in your first application. This is really handy when you're in a web browser or writing an email, and you need to look at a memo or at your calendar. Just press the Option button, and then hold "M" and choose "Memos" or hold "C" and choose "Calendar"; when you're done, press "Home". Not all application combinations (base application--the one you launch from--and the "on top" application) are compatible with launching "on top"--some may crash (normally, PalmOS does not allow more than one application to be active at the same time). Only one application can be launched "on top" at a time, and the application launched "on top" has a slightly different color scheme (keep an eye on it) to signal that it's "on top" of another application.
  3. Dial a contact: At the top of the list of applications, there is the item "Contacts →". If you select this item, or just press the directional pad to the right, you will get a list of the contacts starting with the relevant letter (note that accented characters will all be gathered under the '.' list). You can go back to applications by choosing "← Applications" or by pressing the directional pad to the left. You can then select a contact. If a contact has "..." after it, FastLaunch will first ask you to choose one of the voice numbers for the contact; otherwise, FastLaunch will just dial.
  4. Tap on-screen buttons: If you are in any application screen that has text-buttons like "OK", "Back", "Save", etc., unless the application uses the alphabetic keys for its own purposes, pressing an alphabetic key on the keyboard will tap the first button on the screen that starts with that letter (e.g., if you press "B" and there is a "Back" button, the "Back" button will be pressed, unless there is a previous button on the screen that starts with "B"). The keyboard's backspace and enter keys have special meanings. The enter key presses an OK button ("OK", "yes", "done", "accept", "select" or "open"--other buttons may also work) while the backspace key presses a cancel button ("return", "back", "reject", "cancel", "close" or "no"), unless the application you are using has a special use for the buttons. This only works for standard oval buttons with text labels, and does not work in all applications. Note that this function is a complete freebie: it works even after the FastLaunch trial expires. If you don't like this function, turn off 'Key-tap' in the advanced options.

2. Advanced tips

The following tips may be helpful:

  1. When you see a list of applications and desk accessories, the selection bar is automatically placed on the last application or Desk Accessory that has been run. (However, FastLaunch is only aware of when desk accessories compatible with it have been run.) You can thus select that item just by pressing the center button on the directional selector.
  2. After holding down the first letter, you can continue typing the rest of the name of the application or desk accessory you want to run. Or you can use the directional selector or stylus.
  3. You can cancel the list by pressing left or right on the directional selector, or by tapping the screen outside it.
  4. Desk Accessories are, typically, simple programs that run on top of standard applications. You can find many Palm-compatible Desk Accessories on the Internet, including calculators, memo pads, and so on. FastLaunch includes some free Desk Accessories in the "Free-DAs" folder. The two most notable ones are: ScreenDumpDA and PrintIt. ScreenDumpDA saves a screen image to a bmp file on an SD card, and PrintIt prints an image of the screen on a tcp/ip networked (either RAW or LPR compatible) printer (either PostScript or LaserJet). Use the free Desk Accessories at your own risk and feel free to give them away.
  5. Applications that do background processing (e.g., music playing applications) are often not compatible with "on top" launching.
  6. If you check "Advanced options", you can disable either "Hold key" or "Opt + hold key" or both in the Phone application. This may be useful since the Phone application uses key hold for its own purposes.
  7. You can customize what shows up when you hold an alphabetic key and what shows up when you press option plus hold an alphabetic key. For instance, you might prefer instead to launch applications normally (rather than "on top") by pressing option plus holding an alphabetic key. Or you might want to include "panels" (i.e., control panels that normally show up in the Prefs application) in the lists shown. Or you might find the clock and batterly life shown when you get a list annoying. All of these things can be controlled by checking the "Advanced options" box in the main FastLaunch screen. For instance, to select what shows up on option plus alphabetic hold, choose "Opt + hold key" under "configure", and then check the boxes you want. If you don't want anything to happen when holding an alphabetic key, just select "hold key" and then uncheck all the options. Then only "Opt + hold key" will work.
  8. In the advanced options, you can disable the alphabetic hold or opt + hold for the Phone (or TakePhone) app not to interfere with the Phone app's quick keys.
  9. You might want to either prevent FastLaunch from popping up its hold or its opt+hold list in some applications, or to remove certain applications from the hold or opt+hold lists. This can be done by pressing the MENU button and choosing Options | Exclusions. For more information, press the information button after that.

3. Registering

Please register FastLaunch on the site where you downloaded the trial. After you register, you will be able to download a full version. You will find that the full version file contains only one item, a file named FastLaunch_Registration.pdb. Install this on top of your trial version, and the trial version will turn into a registered version.

4. Upgrading and moving to a new device

Upgrades are free to all registered users. To upgrade to a new version, turn off the previous version, exit it, install the new trial version, and turn it on. If the old version was registered, the new one will be automatically registered. (If you accidentally deleted your registration data on your phone, just hotsync FastLaunch_Registration.pdb again.)

If you get a new Treo/Centro, just copy FastLaunch.prc and FastLaunch_Registration.pdb to the new device from the old one, and delete FastLaunch_Registration.pdb on the old device. It is forbidden to have a registered FastLaunch installed on more than one device, unless you have purchased the right number of licenses, but you are free to move the registration to a new device.

You are also free to re-sell your registered copy of FastLaunch, as long as you delete your original.

5. Compatibility

  1. KeyCaps600, etc.: Obviously, FastLaunch is unlikely to work well with other utilities (e.g., KeyCaps600) that activate on an alphabetic key hold. However, if in FastLaunch's advanced option you uncheck all the options for hold activation, and then activate the options you want for option + hold activation instead, you may find that FastLaunch will work with that other utility. To do this with KeyCaps600, however, you should use the modified version in the KeyCaps600ARP directory of the FastLaunch distribution (KeyCaps600 is free software licensed under the GPL: see more information in the file KeyCaps600ARP/COPYING.
  2. Documents2Go: Make sure "Enable Active Text Field" is checked in Preferences (at least in Word2Go).

6. Version history