MOTOR Documentation
Introduction
MOTOR (Messages On The Open Road) is a freeware PalmPilot application that displays Burma-Shave and other slogans on billboards as they might appear to a person driving down a highway. Messages can also be displayed in a simple text format. (NOTE: Burma-Shave is a registered trademark of American Safety Razor.)
Table of Contents
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| Options Menu |
MOTOR has only 1 menu (tap on the menu silk-screen icon just above the Datebook hardware button), an Options menu with the following choices:
- Preferences... - Displays the MOTOR Preferences screen where you can set various user preferences. The Graffiti shortcut for this option is "/R".
- Beam MOTOR - Beams the MOTOR application (MOTOR.prc) and database (MOTOR1.pdb) to another Palm handheld device. Make sure you wait for both files on the receiving Palm device (you will be prompted to accept them individually).
- Set VFS Directory... - Displays a screen on which you can set a specific directory where MOTOR should search for message modules. Tap on the "Card Default" button to use the current external card's default directory (usually "/PALM/Launcher"), tap on the "Alternative Directory" button to use "/PALM/Programs/MOTOR", or enter any specific directory you want. If you don't use the card's default directory, you will need a utility such as McFile (freeware) to place files there.
- About MOTOR - Displays version and other information about MOTOR. The Graffiti shortcut for this option is "/I".
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| Graphics Preferences | Text Preferences |
The Preferences screen has options for Moving Graphics and Text Only modes. Tap on the respective buttons at the top of the screen to choose between these. Two options are common to both Graphics and Text modes:
- Show Other Apps - Before starting, MOTOR displays information about itself and other Palm applications that I have written. Unchecking this box will show information only about MOTOR.
- Justification - Both the Graphics and Text messages can be Left justified or Center justified.
The following options are specific to the Moving Graphics mode:
- Billboard Spacing - Sets the distance between billboards in a single message from 1 (shortest) to 4 (longest).
- Message Spacing - Sets the distance between messages from 1 (shortest) to 4 (longest).
- Driving Speed - Sets the speed at which the billboards pass by from 10 mph to 80 mph. Note: speeds are meant as relative indicators only.
The following options are specific to the Text Only mode:
- Message Font - Sets the font used to display the message.
- Show Year - If checked, the year in which the message was written (if known) is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen.
In the "Apps" folder, the file MOTOR_Doc.pdb is a Doc-formatted version of this file. This file can be installed on your PalmPilot for reference if you have any Doc reader installed. You can download a free Doc reader from Aportis (http://www.aportis.com/tryme/download/AportisDoc/aportisdocreader.html).
In the "Docs" folder the following files can also be found:
- MOTOR_Doc.html - Documentation for MOTOR readable in a web browser such as Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer.
- MOTOR_Doc.txt - Documentation for MOTOR readable in any text editor.
- VERSION.txt - Release history for MOTOR.
Many thanks to:
- American Safety Razor (and especially Alan Odell) - for their entertaining contribution to Americana.
- My wife Jade - for all her support during this (and all of my other programming endeavors).
MOTOR Version 1.0.0, August 1, 2002
MOTOR is Copyright (C)2002 by Robert Jen.
The latest version of MOTOR and other PalmPilot and Macintosh software can be found at http://www.rjen.com (specifically http://www.rjen.com/Pilot/MOTOR.html). Questions, comments, and any other email can be sent to the author Robert Jen at mailto:rjen@rjen.com. Your feedback is much appreciated.
