Dizzysoft Software

Although this program is for fun, I wrote it for a purpose. I had a problem that needed to be solved and decided to write a palm program to help. In keeping with a good programming philosophy, I decided to write the program to not only solve my own dilemma, but make it as broad as possible so other people could use it for other purposes. My conclusion was to create an abacus. I have added various features to the program to make it very useful.

This program is free but I want to know how you use it. I want to keep a list of the many ways people use the program. Be creative.

I’ve tried to make this as intuitive as possible, but just in case you can’t read my mind, here’s how it goes:

• Tap the bead that you want to move. The bottom 5 beads each hold a value of one. The top 2 beads each hold a value of 5. These values are multiplied by 10 per column to the left of the first. Once you have a value greater than 10 in a column, the abacus automatically rounds the value to the column to the left.
• If you would like to account for decimals, use the page-up/down hard button. This moves the decimal bar.
• You can copy the value into the clipboard from the “Ftns” menu or c-shortcut.
• You can change the color of the bead or bars from the “Prefs” menu.

The Internet has lots of great resources describing how to use an abacus. A couple of the sites which I found helpful are…

• The Abacus: The Art of Calculating with Beads
• The Abacus Handbook

1.0

Full Release

• Removed “Palm” from name to avoid major lawsuit due to my freeware program.
• Fixed “flashing” problem by drawing the abacus with a completely different method.
• Beads are now Hi-Res (if device is compatible).
• You can now copy the resulting abacus number into any program that supports the PalmOS clipboard.
• You can select the colors for the beads or rods (if device is compatible).
• The program “saves” the number when you exit it, so you can continue upon returning to the program.
• Commas are added to the display to make it easier to read the number. The commas are not copied when using the copy/paste functions.
• Work with decimals! A decimal bar will appear when you press the up/down scroll key on your device. This will also move the decimal bar. The decimal IS copied when you use the copy/paste function.
• The program is even smaller (by 1 kilobyte)! Whoopie-do!

0.961

Fixed minor errors.

0.96

First Release

Link: http://www.pocketgear.com/en_US/html/display_product.jsp?categoryId=&srcPage=searchResults&id=prod6612739&sf=48190044

This is a text-based RPG based upon the classic Hamurabi game. You are a feudal lord who has been entrusted with some of the king’s grain, land, and peasants. The goal of this game is to increase all of these resources by managing them, allocating certain amounts of grain for food and seed, and planting some of your land.

I’ve tried to make this as intuitive as possible, but just in case you can’t read my mind, here’s how it goes:

• After the introduction screen you will be shown a report describing the state of your feudal lands. Your advisors will note the following statistics:
  
  • Year: The year of your rule.
  • People Died: How many people starved because you didn’t allocate enough grain for food.
  • Children Born: This is a random number based upon population, acreage owned, and the effect of the rats (see below).
  • Population: This number includes the number of people born less the number of people starved.
  • Total Acres: duh.
  • Harvest per Acre: Your total yield per acre that you planted.
  • Rats Ate: You have a random chance of up to half of your stored grain being eaten by the rats.
  • Stored Bushels: The total amount of grain you have to start with for the year, less the amount allocated for last year and eaten by the rats. Every year you will receive this report from your advisors.
  • Score: A number to rate how you are doing.
• After viewing the report, you need to allocate your grain to food and seed. You will also need to set aside some land to plant. To change the numbers, press on the digit of the number you want to change and press either the “+” or “-” button to the right. This will increment or decrement that particular digit by one. You can also use the hard-scroll buttons on your handheld to increment or decrement the selected digit.
• You also have the option to buy or sell land. Choose which you want to do, on the left, and then set the amount of land you want on the right as above. HINT: your purchasing or selling of land is calculated before your grain is spent.
• You can always review the latest Annual Report by pressing the “Report” button.
• Once you have made your decision for allocating your resources, press the “Make it so.” button to place that order. If there is any problem in making that order, your advisors will warn you and allow you to reconsider your order.
• After your order is complete, you will receive another Annual Report. After your first year as Lord your advisors will remind you about the previous year’s statistics for comparison. Your advisor will point out some important losses from the year before.
• The game will end if you run out of money or kill off too many peasants. Otherwise the game will go on until the end of your forty year reign.

If you paid for the program, you will also have these features available to you:

• The game in progress is automatically saved when you exit, so you can continue it later.
• The game keeps track of your 5 highest scores.
• You have a “Retire” on the main screen, to quit while you are ahead or start-over.

1.6

• Got rid of the annoying flicker on the main screen.
• Changed interface so only one digit from any resources is selected at any time. You can now increment/decrement a digit by using the hard scroll buttons on your handheld.
• Formatted larger numbers so they are easier to read (based upon the preferences set by the handheld).
• You will face no tragedies until after the 5th year. You will not have a plague until at least the 10th year.
• A plague cannot end the game for you.
• The annual report highlights any statistics that have dropped from the previous year.
• Now able to reset the high scores (REQUIRES REGISTRATION).
• Set the field focus (insertion point) on all fields.
• Seeded the random numbers at the beginning of each game.

1.5

• You have a 40 year reign, after which the game ends.
• Game ends if you don’t have enough resources to continue through the next turn.
• There is a new formula to calculate the amount of grain you harvest.
• Your population might die from a plague if the rats get out of hand.
• A hailstorm might cut your harvest in half.
• Removed many of the warnings telling you that you have not allocated enough resources- now the computer will work with what you have (for your good or bad).
• You can view the high scores while playing the game (REQUIRES REGISTRATION).
• Really fixed the > 32k problem.
• Made some internal program changes.

1.0

• Fixed error that lead to early firing if grain > 32k (changed to a larger variable).
• Add and Subtracts from adjacent numbers in each number entry.
• Easier start.
• Added a “Score.”
• Game ends if starve more than half of your population.
• Added a “High Scores” screen (REQUIRES REGISTRATION).
• Return to game in progress after exiting (REQUIRES REGISTRATION).
• “Retire” button (REQUIRES REGISTRATION).

0.9

• First release

Link: http://www.palmgear.com/satellite/index.cfm?siteid=2822

A “magic square” is a series of consecutive numbers arranged in a square so that each of the rows, columns, and diagnals add up to the same number. This game randomly creates a magic square and gives you a few numbers to start with for you to figure out where the rest of the numbers go.

This is a lot like Sudoku (or however it’s spelled) but more difficult because it deals with larger numbers.

I’ve tried to make this as intuitive as possible, but just in case you can’t read my mind, here’s how it goes:

• To try a number in a box, tap on the box. This will highlight the box.
• Once the box is selected, use the Graffiti strokes to enter a number you think should go in the box.
• To “enter” the number you can write the stroke for “return” or tap somewhere else on the screen.
• If the number is correct, the box will un-highlight and the number will remain. If the box remains highlighted, you have guessed incorrectly.
• The “backspace” stroke will erase the previously entered digit (divide the number by 10).
• You can pause the timer by tapping it or writing a “space” stroke.
• Continue this process until you have completed each of the boxes and the square is completely filled in.

When you select a new puzzle, you have a couple of options available: the size and level of difficulty. The size determines how big the puzzle is- obviously the larger, the harder. The level determines how many numbers you start with.

Hints:

At first it might seem impossible to complete the puzzle. Here are a few hints to help you out.

• Depending on the size of the puzzle, the sum for each of the rows, columns, and diagnals is the same.
  

  Size	Sum
  5 x 5	65
  7 x 7	175
  11 x 11	671

• You can figure out the puzzle (even the “Impossible” level) by…

  deduction

  
  

  Knowing the sum for each row, column, or diagnal you can calculate what the remaining boxes must be.

  
  

  searching for a pattern

  
  

  Once you know where a couple of the numbers go, a certain pattern might emerge.

  
  

  guessing

  
  

  Sometimes you will just have to resort to guessing.

• Ignore the timer until you get the hang of things.

1.0

• Added an 11 x 11 puzzle. Believe it or not the Impossible 11x11 puzzle is actually possible- but not easy!
• Added a timer to really put the pressure on you.
• If your system supports color, you can customize the color of the puzzle and highlight.
• You can display the unique puzzle number for the puzzle you are playing.
• Added “backspace” and “space” support (see above).
• I can’t believe I spelled “diagonal” wrong. Fixed it.
• PAID FEATURE: program will remember the puzzle and elapsed time between program uses.

0.5

First Release

Link: http://dizzysoft.zimorama.com/download/maintain_0_5.zip

Years ago I developed the very successful and simple program for the PalmOS- Mileage. It was a great way to keep track of automobile mileage for business use and saved me a lot of money on my taxes. Recently I decided I needed an easy way to keep track of the maintenance on my vehicle, so I wrote this simple program- Maintain. Although this program can be used separately from the Mileage program, it is designed as a companion to Mileage; it reads your latest mileage entry and tells you if there is any service that is overdue for your vehicle.

Available exclusively through dizzysoft.zimorama.com

I’ve tried to make this as intuitive as possible, but just in case you can’t read my mind, here’s how you can use the program:

1. If you are not currently using the Mileage program (by dizzysoft), when you first start Maintain it will ask you for your vehicle’s current mileage. Just enter it on the field provided. If you have been using Mileage, the Maintain program will skip this step and read the latest mileage entry from your Mileage program. In either case this mileage figure will appear in the upper-right corner of your screen. You can always change this figure by entering an “m” on the main screen or by the menu.
2. At this point you will need to enter the service requirements for your vehicle. These are usually found in your owner’s manual or perhaps online. To do this, tap the “New” button to pull up the “Service Details” form.
   
   1. On the “Service Details” form you can enter the type of service you wish to record.
   2. Next enter the frequency of the service (in miles) in the “Every:” field.
   3. Last enter the last mileage reading where this service was preformed in the “Last:” field.
      
      Maintain only accounts for services considered by mileage, not date. I chose this route because I figured that customers of Mileage use their vehicle enough so they encounter the mileage requirements before the date requirements. If you have a service requirement that is only suggested in a time period, you can either estimate the mileage to that time period or simply note it on the “Service Type” field.
      
3. Once you have some service details entered into Maintain, it will warn you if some of them are overdue. If you have a color-enabled handheld, it will display the overdue services in red (or any color you choose from the menu).
4. The services will be displayed in this list by order of the last time the service was preformed. That means the most overdue services will be on the top.

0.5

First public release of program

This is the long-awaited program that will allow you to access your Mileage data from your desktop computer. This program will convert your Mileage database into a readable file that can be viewed in any web-browser, or editable in almost any word-processor or spreadsheet program.

This program has been written in the Java programming language, which will allow it to run on ANY operating system, provided you have downloaded and installed the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) appropriate to your operating system. Get it from the Java web site (www.java.com). Follow the installation directions at the web site to install the JRE.

0.25

• You can select what format you would like the data to be written in- HTML or CSV.

0.21

• You can bypass the automatic search function.

0.2

• Program searches for the Mileage database for you, and if it can’t find it, asks you to look for it.
• Program didn’t “remember” location you last sent the HTML file to. Now it does.
• If HTML file already exists, asks if you want to overwrite it.
• Compiled as a package to avoid potential conflicts with other Java programs.

0.1

• Original Release- for testing only.

Before you can use this program, you will have to do the following:

• Download the free Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for your particular computer operating system (e.g.: Windows, Linux, Mac) from the Java web site. Follow the installation directions at the web site to install the JRE.
• Move the GetMileage program (GetMileage.jar) to a location that you will be able to easily find it.
• Click (or Double-Click, depending on your operating system) on the GetMileage.jar program to start it.

Once the program is running (by clicking or double-clicking on it) you will see the program’s main window. In order for the conversion to take place, you will have to:

• First, click on the top “Source” button in the GetMileage program. GetMileage will search your computer for the Mileage database. If it does not find the file, you will have to search for it yourself (with a file dialog window that will appear. Once you have found the database you will see the file path (directory and file name) for the Mileage database appear to the left of the “Source” button.
• Second, decide where you would like the output file to appear upon conversion of the database. Press the “Destination” button and another file dialog will appear. Go to the destination directory you desire from this file dialog. Pick a name for the destination file, such as “mileage” and choose a format for the file to be written in. By default, the program will convert your data into an HTML file (like this one) which can be read using any web browser. If you would like a little more flexibility with your data, you can get the data in a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file that can be read in a spreadsheet program, such as Excel. Press the “Save” button. (IMPORTANT: GetMileage will over-write an older file that is in the directory with new information so you will lose any old information if you use the same file name each time). Once you press the “Save” button you will return to the program and see the file name and path to the left of the “Destination” button.
• Third, to complete the conversion, press the “Convert MileageDB to readable file” button on the bottom of the window. If the conversion is successful, a window will pop-up to tell you where the destination file has been written.
• Fourth, go to your destination directory and click on the file. You will notice that the file lists all your trips and gives you a total mileage for those trips on the report, at the bottom of the file. Also at the bottom you will see a date and time the report was generated and the file from which it was created (this might help you distinguish between different handhelds who are using the same computer).
• Note that you cannot write information to the Mileage program’s database using the GetMileage program- it only reads and converts your database to a readable format. You can only add information to the Mileage database from your handheld computer, or add it later by opening the file with a word processor or spreadsheet program.

1. Before you have a copy of the Mileage database on your computer you will have to install the Mileage program on your handheld, enter data into the program, and perform a hot sync with the desktop computer. Do this before searching for the Mileage database or using the GetMileage program.
2. If the automatic search feature does not find the database, and has completed its search, it will call up a file dialog for you to search manually. If you would like to skip the automatic search feature (for instance, if the search is taking too long) you can bypass the automatic search by holding the CTRL key on your keyboard as you press the “Source” button with your mouse. From this dialog locate the Mileage database, select the database, and press the “Open” button. If you don’t know where the database is located…
3. The file (MileageDB-DZMI.PDB) is typically found in a “Backup” directory under a directory named after the HotSyncID for your handheld which can be found under a directory named for the brand of handheld you have the Mileage program installed on. For instance: if you have a Palm Tungsten E with a HotSyncID named “Dizzysoft” you might find the Mileage database in the palm/dizzysoft/backup directory. The easiest way to do this is using your operating systems file-search program, looking for “MileageDB-DZMI.PDB” (without the quotes).
4. If that still doesn’t find the database do a wildcard search for all the PDB files on your computer (usually: *.pdb) and see if the Mileage database is found in that list.
5. If you still can’t find the database on your computer, check to see you have information stored in the Mileage program of your handheld and perform a hot sync with your computer.

The GetMileage program was written in Java. The Java programming language uses many different files to make up one program. The files that make up the GetMileage program have been combined into a JAR file- which is very much like a zip file. This is why some unzip programs will attempt to unzip or load the GetMileage program. There are a couple things you can do to fix this problem:

From your unzip program change the preferences so that it does not attempt to unzip JAR files. Because there are so many unzip programs available, I cannot give you specific directions on how to do this- you will just have to read your unzip program’s documentation yourself.

If you are unable (or unwilling) to change your unzip program’s settings you can access the GetMileage program from the command line. In Windows products you do this by…

1. From the start button, select run and enter “command” in the field that says, “Open.”
2. Change directories to the place where you have the GetMileage.jar file or move the file to a location that is easy for you to get to from the command prompt. From Dos you change directories using the “cd” command. For instance, if you want to change directories to your Windows Desktop you would type: cd c:\windows\desktop\
3. From the directory that contains the GetMileage.jar file type: java -jar GetMileage.jar
4. If the program still does not work, and you are sure that you are in the correct directory, type the following to make sure you have Java installed on your computer: java -version
5. If that gives you an error message, you need to install the Java Runtime Environment on your computer.

Link: http://www.pocketgear.com/en_US/html/display_product.jsp?categoryId=&srcPage=searchResults&id=prod6501740&sf=48190044

For my own use, I needed a program to help me keep track of my automobile mileage. I found that the other programs that were available didn’t do what I wanted, so I decided to write my own. This was four years ago. Since then over 30,000 people have apparently agreed with me and have downloaded this program. These people are from all over the US and even other parts of the world (one customer is from Vatican City, which makes me wonder if the Pope-mobile uses my software).