ZLauncher

[Larken]

I know a lot of people are still talking about the wonders that are LauncherX and YiShow, but I've recently been turned onto ZLauncher, and I'm pretty impressed so far. If you were like me, I tried ZLauncher a few months back and thought it was horrid and trashed it rather quickly. A friend recommended checking out the new version over on www.palmgear.com. With some reluctance, I did. I would say this is the most configurable third party launcher to date. It supports backgrounds, various font sets and small icons, as well as theme packages. If you install all of the components, it even has a built in ebook reader. I've been using this on my Tungsten T along with Fonts4TT and Aeroplayer with the Tunsten skin. This gives me a lot of font options as well as a consistant theme throughout. Pretty cool stuff. It's worth taking a look at if you haven't already.

[v0gu3b0y]

YiShow is FUGLY and I did not find Launcher X to have that many options.

ZLauncher' da best for me too.

[OldBlue]

Larken

Thanks for the zLauncher recommendation. I've been using LauncherX, but believe in keeping my options open. I'll check it out!

OldBlue

[mmmkay]

I myself have been using ZLauncher since the early 2.x versions. It's been pretty good, and I prefer it over the other launcher software I've tried. I have not tried YiShow on the handheld, only in the OS Simulator, and I didn't really like it. It's very very customizable.

One feature that's really good is the ability to make new tabs that display only files that have a specific creator ID and type. So you can have a tab just for your specific document files. One good use is to put all the Plucker content into a folder that lets you launch Plucker and the document :-)

Too bad that feature doesn't work on the SD card though, only on internal memory.

[v0gu3b0y]

i cant change the background pic in Zlauncher though. I got no card. Do I need a card for that?

That's how it seems in the manual.

[Larken]

The bitmap that I'm using as a background is residing in my main Palm memory, so I wouldn't think that a card would be required for that function. I think if you take any bitmap and resize it to 320x320, you can use it as background.

[v0gu3b0y]

I tried that. Is it i PDB or BMP format? If PDB, what did u use to convert?

[Larken]

It's .bmp. I verified it with Filez. The file is z64k.bmp. I'll have to try resizing a bitmap down and throwing it on there.

[Larken]

Hmmm... interesting... I tried to resize a background that I had and sync it over, but it failed to sync. The usual error about having no application to view it. I'll bet if you install FireViewer on your Palm first, it will let it sync over and you should be able to move it where you want it. I believe that's how I did it with YiShow. I'll have to play with it more to find out.

[mmmkay]

A card would help. Just makes it easier to transfer stuff.

Here's what I do.

[list=1]

Take the original source image
Resize/crop it down to 320x320
Then save the file as a .bmp file. Say image.bmp.
Then you rename it to image.bmp.jpg
Then hotsync the supposed JPEG image to your handheld which should get placed in /DCIM on the SD card.
Then use Filez, or just tap and hold in ZLauncher and select info. Then rename it back to image.bmp and then save and then Okay to close the dialog box.
Then tap and set as background image, or preview, and then you can use the theme manager to handle the rest.
[/list=1]

Alternately you could try to convert it to the PDB format and then hotsync the file over, but I'm not sure how to do that. The above method seems to be the easiest :p Though I could be wrong.

Try that and see if that works for you. Background images that are mostly one colour work better because the fonts from the icons contrast more so its easier to read. Or you can just adjust the brightness in photoshop or whatever you use to edit your images.

[bloemkool]

I agree with everybody.
Zlauncher is way better (even better than Silverscreen).

[RoninD]

I just install it and I must admit it is an excellent piece of software. well wort the $12 but I have a question for all of you who have the registered version.

I don't seem to be able to alter my categories in Zlauncher. I can alter then in the normal OS but when i restart Zlauncher it hasn't changed.

Does the option of editing categories come with registered version only?

This is really the only thing that is stopping me from registering it straight away.

[bloemkool]

Go to the TAB settings, or double click on a tab.
Then you can add, hide or edit the categories.

[RoninD]

ok tried that the only options it gives me is to make a new tab, delete a tab, beam a tab or alter tab properties which only allows you to change its name or its icon.

I still am unable to move a file from tab to another.

[bloemkool]

Keep a tab pressed.
It will change color, then move it using your stylus to the place where you want it. It doesn't always work right, but you will get there.

[RoninD]

thanks its working now.. ;)

now to ply around with it hehe