my favorite palm stuff
new stuff:
October 11, 2003 -- Well here's an update at long last. I've got a lovely new Zire 71, hi-res, OS 5.2.1.
A few of my old apps no longer work -- for instance AgentZ, Strip, and Froggy. Most of my favorites
do still work, however. A few didn't work at first (Tide Tool, Acid Solitaire, Aldon's Crossing)
but I found new versions which fixed 'em up. Yay!
Here's some good software I've discovered recently:
Coconut Fern -- Connect 4 clone. Play
with another human or against your palm. Simple and fun :)
MicroFluxx --- Fluxx (wonderful card game
by Looney Labs) for your palm! Not perfect, but fun.
TipTop --- Ooooo I love this game.
Another winner from Astraware :)
GNU Keyring -- Nice little secure password keeper, my replacement
for Strip.
Weasel -- Free, and very nice, ebook reader. Sure CSpotRun still
works... but no hi-res. I can't really stand looking at lo-res text anymore, so Weasel is the reader for me.
McPhling -- this one is important! The new Palm OS doesn't let you
use hacks, so luckily Mike made a version of McPhling that's a stand-alone app! I don't know WHAT I'd do without
it, so thanks Mike :)
FileMan and BackUpMan -- File manager and backup thing that'll make a nice
backup of your whole palm onto your SD card. Thanks Mike_W!
PocketTunes -- Yup gotta have an mp3 player! The one that comes with the
Zire71, RealOne, is not with installing so don't bother, just install PocketTunes right away.
PrefEd -- I've had this forever but I see I never mentioned it here
before. VERY handy.
June 14, 2003 -- whew, it's been a while since I updated this page. But recently I've found some new, decent
software, so here it is:
Vexed -- updated, free, in color, lots of puzzle packs! GREAT game.
Bookworm -- another first-rate word game from
Astraware. I've been playing this one a lot lately... my top score is 228,000 or so.
Text Twist -- more word fun from Astraware.
This one is timed, so it's less relaxing than Bookworm but if you want a serious mental challenge it's great!
Palm Chip - Remember "Chip's Challenge?" Well here it is for PalmOS!
astraware has recently released a couple of entertaining games:
whatword and
candy cruncher. neither is STELLAR, but
both are good for a few minutes of fun while you are waiting somewhere :)
kingdom update -- i see i've been playing it for two whole months! it's still fun -- go buy it :)
august 20 -- an actual UPDATE! I recently found two more very good palm games. Here you go:
kingdom --
a civilization clone for palm! it costs $15 and is worth it.
timebomb --
a wonderful puzzle game which is FREE! the developer does not seem to have a website so i've linked to palmgear.
****
aldon's crossing -- this is the best RPG for palm that there is.
i've been playing it since long before it was released to the public (i was one of the beta testers) --
i thought it was going to be good back then, and it has totally lived up to its promise. if you like role-
playing games, you've got to try this one. you can play the demo as much as you want, but your character
can't get past level 4. trust me, it's worth the $20 to register, it really is. warning: may cause
serious addiction :) if you have any questions about any aspect of the game, or if you get stuck and need
a hint, you can go to the
forums and post your question.
you'll almost always get same-day
help from one of us regulars, or even the developers themselves. this is an amazing game with a
devoted and passionate following :)
randy's page -- good aldon's crossing stuff there,
including his mod, "ox-bow".
(here's a link to a walkthrough that looks pretty good:
AC walkthrough)
iRogue: go look at the screenshot... when i saw it i
just about died of happiness. i recently got addicted to nethack, so having rogue on my palm is sheer heaven.
mummymaze: another fun game from astraware -- steer your archeologist around
in the tomb and avoid the mummy. he moves faster than you do but predictably, so you can trap him if you are careful.
the neat thing is that you can play
each maze over and over and over until you solve it, and then you can go on to the next level. you don't have to start the whole
game all over if you fail once :)
agent z: this is an amazingly fun game. you are a secret agent and you
run around in a building collecting microfilm. your agent flips when he jumps and it looks so cool. you have to avoid bad
agents and you can shoot and jump and duck.. it's really fun and actually worth registering; please try it :)
drawit: a slick little drawing app; only in color (for
now -- the author is working on a grayscale version)
tumble: this is a
puzzle game sort of along the lines of vexed. i am addicted! (update -- i solved the whole thing! yes, it's possible :)
robotfindskitten:
you are robot. somewhere in the room is kitten. find kitten!
software
- useful stuff
- bigclock: freeware clock with alarms and timers--the *first* third-party app i loaded on my palm when i got it. i use it many times every day. how else would i ever remember to get the laundry out of the dryer?
- tide tool: it gives you detailed
information about the tides in your area. very cool, and freeware besides.
- strip -- secure tool for recalling important passwords.
what would i do without it? and it's free!
- CSpotRun: my favorite doc reader
- diddlebug: write notes to yourself, draw
pictures, set the timer and have reminders pop up any time you want, and transfer data to other apps with
pick 'n' flick intellibooger technology! diddlebug RULES! too bad diddlebug doesn;t work on color devices...
on my iiic i use
bugme instead. it's not freeware, and not as cool as diddlebug, but oh well,
it works in color.
- Launch 'Em 2: a really good replacement for the
default launcher. i set it up with the tabs at the top, and two columns of small icons. :) non-free.
- hackmaster: ah, the wonderful hackmaster and my favorite
hacks! i use phlegmhack, clearhack, middlecapshack, uptimehack, screenshothack, and diddlebugscreencap. (you can
find them at palmgear.)
NoLinesHack is a replacement for
Clearhack, which doesn't work as well as it should. NoLInesHack works just fine, and removes the pesky
underlines from editable text fields. it was written by n1ffo-of-#palmchat.
- mcphling and mccolors from MikeMcCollister.com:
both are small, free, and fairly nifty. mcphling is a hack (see hackmaster, above) which replaces phlegmhack
and has color support (for the little icons in the list); mccolors shows you all the colors or shades of gray
which are available on your palm. i like it because it gives you the hexadecimal codes for the colors, which
makes it a useful quick-reference for web design -- just what i was looking for.
- nifty stuff
- fanmate: (yeah it's a link to palmgear 'cause the mobimate page sucks) fanmate is so cool! true, it doesn't do much... but gosh it's fun to put your fingers in the blades to stop it. :)
- showtimes: a little program on your desktop computer downloads current movie showtimes and sends them to your palm when you hotsync. and then you can decide on a movie without fooling with a newspaper or phonebook!
- PortaMonkey: feed your monkey bananas to keep him healthy. give him soda to make him jittery (not too much or he'll puke!). put him in a dress to make him jump up and down in a rage!
- games
- kyle's quest -- an RPG for your palm. the neat thing is that there's
a level editor, so you can download many additional
adventures to play. the best one i've found so far is Rat-Trap. it's an adventure starring milo the mouse, and it's charmingly british and very very
fun. another good level is "pirate", and "island paradise" was not too bad. please let me know if you find other
non-lame levels.
- netwalk: connect all the computers to the server.
- NoMess: lots of fun, great sound effects, cute animation, highly addicting.
- mulg: guide the little marble through the maze...
try not to tear out all your hair when you fall into a pit and die.
- froggy: frogger on your palm! same guy makes galax! beautiful
faithful ports.
- picturelogic: aka nonograms or paint-by-numbers;
a cool logic/deduction puzzle game with dozens of puzzle packs you can play, and you can make your own puzzles too!
- crosswords: don't let the name fool you -- it's scrabble
for your palm. play against up to three human or robot opponents. there are various dictionaries you can dl for it.
i like how it allows you to "ok" the plays before it scores them -- when playing with humans you can agree to
play with non-standard words; against the robots you can just cheat if you feel like it :)
- bejeweled: this game rules. it's beautiful in color and SO
addictive. give it a try and see if you can knock me off the
high score webpage ;-)
- biplane ace: another fun one from astraware.
- rally 1000: mille bournes (the french road-race card game).
- miner 2149: a sort of rpg... quite unusual and addicting.
- space trader: a *free* game that is amazingly fun and addictive. you need to try it! yes it's a bit complicated at first but well worth the effort.
- seahorse software
james makes card games... wonderful, addictive, fun card games. if you have a palm, you *need* them. my favorites are pyramid, blackjack solitaire, blackjack challenge, rummy, and euchre. in fact, my cousin chloe and i learned to play euchre just by trial and error with james's game!
miscellaneous
- the kayray screen protector (the last one you'll ever need): i made a new screen protector out of piece of thin,
flexible craft vinyl that i got at a fabric store.
i bought two thicknesses (4 gauge and 8 gauge) and tried both. i prefer the thicker stuff -- doesn't
wrinkle so much. anyway, get yourself some vinyl (it'll cost you about a dollar to get a lifetime supply),
cut it to the exact size and shape as your palm screen, and carefully lay it over the screen. it will
cling to the glass like a Colorform(tm) or those clingy window decorations. it won't get scratched up
the way an
overhead transparancy will. after having tried serveral methods of cutting the vinyl to the proper shape and size,
i have discovered the easiest way: get some graph paper and make a pattern of your screen, then trace the pattern onto the
vinyl and cut it out carefully. an x-acto knife + straightedge does the best job but i've done it with scissors successfully.
you may notice a few small bubbles at first -- they will go away after a while.
- my new stylus! the floating*point
- my palmvelope case. here's julie's review--i bought my case from her gadgeteer garage sale.
