New revolutionary FREE media player is out!!

[Stripe Panther 1989]

Hey Telyx:

No, it's crashy crashy in flashy flashy. I'm sure I can load it to the SD Card and run as a "TealAlias," but rather than wait for it to load I just keep it in RAM. I haven't tried just loading the plugins in flash including the file manager ("AAC") - but the player itself is a no-go. Oh well.

Congrats on the Zodiac - probably my choice if the T3 fell off a pier. If the "LD2" is a little quicker (just posted on that in the other forum) - I'd consider that - but the Zodiac is tried and true, and has the cool "graffiti zones" for use with TealScript. No finding the middle "line" to capitalize - you've got your own "capital letter zone" in the middle.

Let us know how that fares and if you have S/W snafus - it's the "older" 5.2 OS, and that's a HUGE plus for me.

[Josh Timmons]

I use Zlauncher, and with it I can make "shortcut" apps that are very small and basically what they do is link to the original program and it's files in a location stored in an expansion card. I don't know if this will work on T with the flash memory but if anyone uses ZLauncher out, they could try it. I know it works for SD cards, because it just copies the files back to the RAM when you run it, and that makes the program take a few seconds to load but if main RAM is that precious to you...

Does that TealAlias have a similar approach to the ZLauncher's shortcuts?

Isn't the flash memory kind of like having a built-in SD card or something to that effect?

Or am I mistaken?

[dodgers]

TungstenEguy:
Does that TealAlias have a similar approach to the ZLauncher's shortcuts?
Isn't the flash memory kind of like having a built-in SD card or something to that effect?

Good questions! Yes, TealAlias does similar thing - but you can request (possibly same with ZLauncher) WHICH databases to load with the app, rather than just all of them. If you have a simple database app for example, containing let's say "diet information," and several databases of restaurants, you could pick the .prc itself and "Jack in the Box."

"Flash," for most units but not the Tungsten E, is safer than an internal SD Card because it will survive a hard reset. Using a proggie called "JackSprat," you can REMOVE pesky garbage like "Welcome, QuickTour, the ROM version of Docs2Go, languages etc - then use "JackFlash" and "JackSafe" to MOVE things into flash and free up RAM. If you do hard reset, those apps are still on there just like your regular address book/calendar, etc. Downside is that your saved preferences, which contain all the reg codes, can NOT be stored, so you'd have to have a CardBackup program for the databases coupled with the main apps in flash.

The internal SD Card, a la T5, can still be lost during a hard reset - which is why Brayder considered the T5's "flash" to be just weird, and I don't consider the T5 "safe." With the advent now of the LifeDrive and 4GB you can't (as of today) backup on a card AT ALL, it seems things are getting worse.

The advantage, if the TE were "Sprat/Flash"-able, would be that your backup files are much smaller, and you can have about 95% of your RAM freed up by having the apps in flash AND they'll survive a hard reset or even battery failure. I freed up 10MB on my T3, and have only used 7MB to move apps in. I still have 3MB left - and 49MB of 52MB in RAM. That's why I'm not "racing" to a LifeDrive - 4GB is great if you don't lose it, and I will never drop below 40MB free RAM as it is.

[Psilocybin]

Hmmmm.....

For me when I bought my Tungsten|E, I realized quickly I needed SD card Backup program to safeguard against the unlikely event that I forget to charge it, so I found FlyBackup, and after trying I fealt it was worth the money, since it worked flwlessly. Now, everyday at 5:00 in the morning and at 5:00 in the afternoon my Palm automatically runs it's backup and all my RAM is compressed and stored on the SD card in case I need to hard reset or restore after a dead battery. So far I have never let my battery fully drain, and the lowest I have ever let it get is about 20% power left.

After a couple weeks of using the Palm, I bought ZLauncher after trying many launchers. I didn't find facer to be as powerful as ZLauncher, and everything was just garbage, except for one, Hi-Launcher, which puts a nice menu on your screen that you can totally configure. To save space in RAM, I keep many apps on the SD card and use the shortcut functionality of ZLauncher.

Is it me or is free RAM not that important. I know you need at least some free RAM, and the more the better, but if it's not holding something, then why have it? Seriously, what are the benefits of having 50MB free RAM, as opposed to say 10MB?

Someone? Anyone?

[nikiwildman]

If you have 50MB of free RAM you can put more stuff on it.

It's also a question of security/safety - if it's in flash instead of "volatile" RAM, you can't lose it.

There's nothing wrong with loading up your machine's RAM with stuff you need though - you'll just have less. You'll also have a larger backup file. I'm going to post a new thread on "Backup Tips" so as not to get off topic here.

[badinfluencegirl1995]

Nearly all the apps I use on my TE are on my SD card, and since the Zodiac has a much larger dynamic heap (and therefore less "user" RAM), I'll be "bundling" some databases that belong to those apps. Hopefully, only ePocrates (all those databases, some have one Creator ID and some have another!) and Docs to Go will have to stay in RAM along with my PIM databases. As it is, I'm only using 15 MB or so of RAM.

The advantages are somewhat better battery life (whatever is in RAM has to be "kept alive," and battery life was never the TE's strong point anyway), a smaller amount of stuff to back up via HotSync or restore in the event of a hard reset (time saved, either way), and less stuff that would be lost by hard reset or battery drain.

[JWebb]

Can anyone tell me what the error:

Player: Video codec (IV41) not supported by the player means??

It has happened with a few avi and mpeg files / movies I am trying to play.

Thanks,

Syno

[JayAre]

I think it means what it says. You dont have the correct plugin installed for the codec that was used to compress the video in the first place. IV41 is some kind of Intel codec which is probably not supported by TCPMP....

[double_drago]

O.K.

Anyone know where the lastest can be downloaded from? I'll reinstall all. they can all be installed directly to the card, right?

Cheers,

Syno

[malagon95]

Could be that the videos were made using a non-standard codec (or at least one that TCPMP doesn't handle). I don't know enough about that stuff.

Update on my Zodiac: Working great. Battery life is mountains better than the Tungsten E's and the greater screen real estate is excellent. The stock stylus does a fine job of scratching screen protectors, though; it's sharper than it has to be to reach the reset button in the Zodiac's back. (That's OK; I lost the stylus a while back and now use my old Pentopia Chameleon, and the ballpoint pen tip will reach that button.) The flip cover also scuffs the screen protector, so I'll probably glue a piece of something onto it so the cover will rest on the front of the case rather than on the screen.

Almost all of my apps are on one SD card, and I even have some of the big ePocrates databases on the card with LauncherX shortcuts in RAM, so the databases will AutoUpdate properly during a sync. The other card is mainly for pictures and RAM backup. I have about 6.3MB free out of 20MB available.

For anyone thinking of/wishing to get one, Olympic Systems (which repaired Zodiacs for Tapwave and still repairs them) is selling unused demo Zodiac 2s for $125. They are reflashing the ROMs so they will be "normal Z2s," and since part of being prepared to be demos involved removing the battery and drilling a hole in the back of the case, Olympic Systems is including a "parts Zodiac" from which the buyer can harvest the (working) battery and case back. (Instructions are included; you'll need a Torx T5 driver.) The demo Zods were hand-picked for the "demo" role and extensively tested in anticipation of heavy in-store use--so they're supposedly "tanks" compared to retail Zodiacs.