REALLY useful web page! Thanks for posting a lot of the results I've found, in a much more organized way!

One comment on LaunchEm III - which I registered. I REALLY liked it even though it didn't have the "glitzy" appearance of Silver Screen (missing from your round up). LaunchEm III worked fine for me...UNTIL I bought a memory stick. Had I not read several user reviews on Palm Gear about the problem, I might still be troubleshooting it. Or I may have returned a serviceable memory stick.

I use a Clie' T665. When the memory stick is inserted, and the included PG Pocket software set up, the memory stick appears in Windows Explorer as a removeable drive so you can drag and drop things like MP3 music files there. With LaunchEm III installed the operating system could not "see" the removeable drive. It was frustrating until I recalled the reviews I read. I tried turning LaunchEm III off but it still wouldn't work. I had to remove LaunchEm III from the Clie' completely and then the removeable drive appeared in Explorer and it worked "as advertised".

I logged onto the LaunchEm web site and left them an email. Also found an article acknowledging the problem in the online FAQs saying they were working on a "fix".

I use LauncherIII for an entirely different reason ... external media card 
access.

I must say I just skimmed the individual reviews and went to your overall 
review and was a bit disappointed by it. I didn't find any mention 
anywhere of external media cards. To me, these are like the introduction 
of the Winchester drive to the PC back in the 70s. They are going to be 
our mass storage for our true hand held computers in the future.

I have a Handspring Visor with a SmartMedia MemPlug and a 32 meg & a 64 meg 
card. I have to use an app which cam with my MemPlug called PiMover to do 
file management as it's the only thing I've been able to find which sees 
both RAM and card and allows me to move between the 2.
Launcher III will look in 1 sub-directory only on my external card ( 
Card/Palm/LAUNCHER/ ...) so I put 90% of my apps in there. I keep a few of 
the most often used in RAM as there is a download time issue for accessing 
these card based apps ... it generally takes 20-40 seconds to load for the 
SmartMedia. I've been told that Flash cards are faster, but they use 
batteries a LOT faster too so pick whichever side of the tradeoff you prefer.

One thing I must mention is that so far there are very few apps which will 
recognize the external smart cards so that most frequently accessed data 
files still have to be kept in RAM. I've created several folders on my 32 
meg card besides the one for Launcher and in those I keep FireViewer 
Images, eBooks, maps (my 64 meg has touring maps and city maps for most of 
Europe & North America; I hunted for good zoomable maps for weeks before 
settling on PalmTop Software out of the Netherlands. I don't know how 
well they'd work with a GPS but I think those are cheating ... one should 
be able to use a map in a totally unknown country to find anything ... I 
love to travel; I love to get lost, and to use a map to find myself), and 
MetrO (a Freeware mass transit transfer planner with data files for nearly 
every city in the world !). These individual data files I transfer 1 at a 
time to RAM when they are actually needed.
Since I essentially have to do the memory management for this little system 
myself I try to keep at least 2 meg of RAM free for apps to load 
into. This system is far from perfect though and I have apps overwrite 
problems probably once every 2 weeks ... which causes a full system crash 
and hard reboot wiping RAM completely. Luckily I have 2 resources for 
these, Backup Buddy on my PC I use every Saturday, and PiBackup which backs 
up RAM to my Smart card, I try to remember to do this at the end of each 
day so far I've been really lucky and been able to recover almost all of 
my RAM stored work.

Silver Screen (which you didn't mention, calls itself a launcher on its web 
site) says its working on an upcoming version with full external card 
support, several other launchers say that too. For now, for Palm OS 
people pushing the memory envelop with MemPlug I think it's PiMover for 
File Management and the newest rev of LauncherIII for as much simple card 
access as we can get, and do the memory management of the RAM yourself.

My dream is a launcher which (1) performs access functions with both apps 
AND data files on the whole card, (2) performs memory management functions 
to eliminate my system overwrites which result in hard reboots, and (3) 
perform file management functions for apps AND data files using "drag & 
drop." In other words, I want a 1983 Macintosh with a swap-able 
external drive to carry around in my pocket (that was my favorite OS of 
all time).

Lynn Alcorn
Colchester, VT

(FYI: on LauncherIII the apps which are on external media are shown by 
putting a dot in front of their names, ie. ".Bubblet" is on my card, 
"Bubblet is in RAM)

Commander is the one I favor, since I do lend my Palm to others, albeit at 
coffee time or other. Why? It features a Password feature that let's you 
lock up each app individually or grouped. You can choose which apps to show 
and which not to appear in any list at all. Just my two cents.

Jason

I was wondering what all this fuss about the launchers is about.

Having said that I need to point out that I use 2!
I use TealLaunch and PopUp Favorites.

Both are pop up windows which is the best (in my view) way.

TealLaunch offers a set of standard buttons to -
go to 'base' launcher
bring up the keyboard
bring up graffiti help
turn on the backlight
cut/copy/paste
turn off and lock (either with TealLock or built in security)

It gives an option to assign 2 (!) functions to both silkscreen
buttons and h/w buttons and specify which applications you
want to be displayed on the popup window(you can sort them
whichever way).
I use TealLaunch for the 'end-user' programs.

The PopUp Favorites I use for another set of programs.
Mostly tools, security etc. PopUp Favorites allows you to select
particular applications and/or keep list of last-used applications.
The names are sorted alphabetically.

With these two I hardly ever need to see the launcher screen.

I've 'spoken' with Bozidar Benc (the developer of PopUp products)
and suggested that he should include categories in PopUp Favorites
and the ability to go back through the list of last-used programs.
And he agreed with me.

I've tried a number of launchers including MegaLauncher (another one
not mentioned in your comparison) and I think... No I KNOW that I prefer
to launch the programs from a pop up window.

Commander, I am told, offers good security features, but I use TealLock
which works well with TealLaunch. And the latest version gives more
options to protect the Palm than I could ever need.

I am surprised that no developer so far has come up with a launcher
that slides up (or from any of the screen edges) giving a user a selection
of options/categories/applications to choose from. The FireViewer menu does
that. And that's another good way. Just think of the Windows task bar and here
is your perfect launcher.

Regards,
Len Shenfield

I use AppMan with AppManHack on my PalmIII, and it works great.  I
downloaded both from  PilotGear, I think.

Also, I agree with all of the folks who've posted recommeding
SwitchHack.  Very handy.

Lyle Beidler

Hi, Julie

I've been using Launcher III forever on my Palm III w/ none of the
anomalous behavior you've seen. No lines when switching to list view or
back again. I have noticed that there's no click on the applications
silk screen button--strange, but NBD. BTW, whether you go the memory
launcher from the icon or from the menu, it takes you to the built in
list view and of course from there you can use command "I" for memory. I
don't know of another way to do this so didn't think it was odd.

Perhaps you have a conflict w/ a hack? FWIW, I keep my Palm as full as
possible and am constantly trying out new apps and new hacks, none of
which has interfered w/ Launcher III.

Linda Pape

One thing that helps with the difficulty in tapping the correct quarter
of the Applications silkscreen icon, is 3M Removeable Tape.  I place the
tape over the grafiti area (helps the recognition on the screen last)
and draw four even quarters over the Apps icon lightly with a pencil. In
retrospect, I should have drawn the four boxes before I placed the tape
just to be safe, but regardless, it makes for a good visual guide.

hi,
one thing about commander:

commander hasn't got a trashcan - that's right. but you can delete
an app by dragging the icon to the icon at the lower left corner
(it isn't there on your screenshot - maybe you've used an older
version), look at it's version, change the private and locked
attributes or - press the delete button!!!
so it's not more complicated than dragging an icon to a trashcan
and confirming the deletion.

ciao, patrick kolla

On Launcher III:
The battery display section toggles between Voltage meter, percent used,
memory free and percent of memory free.  I've really learned to enjoy that.
Also one nice feature about the launcher series that I think isn't included
in the standard palm "wood between the worlds" screen is that time togggles
between time/date and day of the week.

Marci Yesowitch

On the Launcher applications: since I use Action Names, I no longer need a
separate ToDo button. I have mapped that to Launch'Em, and set Launch'Em so
that it always launches the same folder ("App1"). I put my most used
applications there. Now when I hit the "todo"button, I get a display of my
most useful (9 in all) applications. Commander, I believe, will not allow
you to do this, because it is not a separate application.
Philippe D. Radley

....I should check out what I say before I write you about it. Contrary to what
I told you, Commander is in fact an application, and can be launched by one
of the hardware buttons. Regards Philippe D. Radley

Julie,
That was a great comparison review. I just recently decided on LaunchIII for
my needs. I dont have a lot of memory left, so I have to conserve. For its
small size and being free, Im thoroughly satisfied with LaunchIII. I wish it
had the backlight on/off feature. I dont think its a feature worth using up
another 20k in Launch'Em.
Loved your review, babe!
Peace-Out,
George

I was using Launch'Em when I read your review, and switched to Commander.
Except for the slightly faster time it takes to open, however, Commander is
for me inferior to Launch'Em, and I would not recommend it. It has none of
Launch'Em's wonderful plugins, so that it is cumbersome to get information
(i.e. memory) on individual applications and overall content, and  to
delete applications (I try out a lot of applications, and hence need to
delete efficiently). To delete an application in Commander, you have to go
to the PalmOS "Applications", and use a picklist, which takes several
seconds to open. Moreover, I find that in Commander moving an application
from one window to another can be difficult, requiring me to go to the Pick
Applications menu, which is a real pain. I don't understand why you like
the shortcuts - they interfere with text input and are in fact more
complicated to use (why the shortcut command followed by "l" to launch the
Applications picker when all you have to do is hit the Applications
silkscreen button?) I have returned to Launch'Em, and also use AppHack on
two of the hardware buttons. I suppose you are aware that LaunchIt, that
comes with Launch'Em, is a perfectly good replacement for SwitchHack (an
indispensable hack to my mind). I think that the slowness of Launch'Em is
related to the 8meg board (which I also use). Regards.

Julie,

Having just upgraded from a 5000 PRO to a Palm III and also just read your
review of application launchers, I have to comment on something you said.
You complained that some of the launchers had a memory applet that didn't
work - it just returned you to the Palm III applications launcher menu.

>From what I can figure out, that is because in OS 3.0 there is no separate
memory function as there was in previous releases.  Now you access the
memory function as menu options (under the APP pull-down) on the native
application launcher.  So, all these custom launchers can do is put you
back into the original OS 3.0 environment.

What the launchers should do, IMHO, is mimmick the APP menu functions that
the native launcher has for memory checking or deleting.  I know Launcher
III does NOT do this - do any of the others that you tried?

Regards,
Bill Spencer

First of all, let me congratulate you on the fine work you've done with
this revision. AFAIK its the first overall list of PalmOS launcher
progams, it should be a "must" f.ex. on PalmGearHQ when searching for
launchers.

One launcher you've missed out though, the apphack.prc hackmaster
extension which allows you to allocate hardware buttons to start apps.
In the beginning it takes some time to memorize just where you put what
(the prog helps, though, in flashing a customization map when pushing
just one button), but one gets used to it easily and then it's fine, if
you like it.

Personally I use Launcher III in a localized german version onmy PPPro
and I'm very content with it, sometimes it just seems to be a bit slow
starting up, but that's hardly noticeable. The tab design is just right
for me, because quite often I know that I want to, say, play - but I
have to think about just what to go for: one tap gets me to my all-games
screen where I can take my pick without being distracted by other
programs. To a lesser extent the same applies to third party programs or
the what I call "system" section where I store all OS apps.
Important to mention, though, in a revision like yours is that the
memory requirements of launcherIII are definitively higher than the 14k
you mention, it goes way up depending on the number of apps you've added
- my launcher takes 32k at the moment.

Cheers Uli

Julie,
   Your launcher review is nice, but you missed at least 4 launchers that are
out there.  Let me just list them...
   1. AppHack, by Edward Keyes, lets you launch applications by using the
hardware buttons, up to 24 apps or something like that.
(http://www.daggerware.com)
   2. O'Good Launcher, by Yamada Tatsushi (Hacker Dude-san).  This "launcher"
allows you to run the old launcher even if you have OS3.0.
(http://www.palmfan.com/contest/nominated/file/oglaunch.zip)   It's value to
the Palm community is dubious.
   3. QuickLauncher, again by Hacker Dude-san.  This is apparently intended to
be a list-all-your-apps-in-one-popup-list type launcher.  The activation
stroke appears to be from from the Application button area to the Graffiti,
but it rarely works.  I did get the list to popup fairly consistently in the
emulator.  This app's value to the Palm community is again questionable.
(FWIW, http://www.palmfan.com/contest/nominated/file/qlaunch.zip)
   4. Here's one that _does_ have value: LaunchMenu, by Katsuhiro Endo.  It
displays all applications in a popup list with flyout menus, similar to the
Win32 Start menu.  Here's the URL:
http://home.umi.ne.jp/~endo/pilot/index.html (also at
http://www.palmfan.com/contest/nominated/file/launchme.zip).
   5. This isn't a "launcher," but deserves at least an honorable mention:
SwitchHack.  At times this hack can be much more valuable than a launcher.
(http://www.deskfree.com/)

Regards,
Daniel.

Julie - again, another great review :)

I agree that Hack launcher alternatives should be included.  I consider
SwitchHack to be one of the true *essentials* and I am extremely fond of
RunWrite, which allows you to assign a single letter to your most used
apps, and launch them using a special short-cut stroke.

I use LaunchEm for my less frequently used apps, and as another
partially-full TRG 8Mb user find it very slow to launch.  However, Alan
Pinstein is apparently programming a work-around for this :)

Cheers,

Dan

Julie,

I used PAL on my PalmPilot Pro before I got my PalmIII so I am very used
to the interface. It's second nature by now. Plus, it has an "Unfiled"
catagory that does not show up unless you access it from the menu. It is
not in the Application button tabbing sequence. It's a good place to
store the built in apps you have replaced with freeware, shareware, or
commerical apps.

>From the Launch 'Em manual...

* Memory... - Launch the Memory application utility. *On PalmOS 3.x and
greater, this will launch the "Applications" application utility.

This is because, as the memory app is now "built-in" to the standard
launcher, there's no way to "hook" to it, or run just that part of the
standard launcher.  For instance, a program I have automatically opens
QMate.  I wish it'd go directly to a particular account screen, but there's
no way to provide that hook.  Blame it on 3COM for not providing such
functionality; it's not Launch 'Em's fault. :)

Nathan

I too had no problems with Launcher III.  The memory gadget works fine, it is fast, and I had no problems with list view.

Duane R Kay

Two points on your review of launchers...

> Something interesting that I stumbled upon (I guess this is a feature but no where is it mentioned...) is
> that if you press the Application silkscreen button while you're in Launcher III's screen, it will restart the
> last program you were running.

Actually - this is normal behaviour for the standard Palm application
launcher. As far as I know it's worked on every launcher as far back as the
Pilot 1000.

> As with Launch'Em, the memory gadget didn't work with my Palm III and would just pop me back to the
> original built in application launcher.

Did it occur to the reviewer that this might be what's supposed to happen? Personally I rather like that feature. I had assumed that this is what it was supposed to do.

John (a happy Launcher III user)

I've had no problems with the latest version of Launcher III; trash can
works fine.  (with Palm III).

Launch 'Em works fine, but is much slower thaan L'III .. so I reverted
to L'III.

Phil

Nice review - application launcher are realy essential for PalmPilot.
I thing you should add:
- AppHack
- SwitchHack
Both are Hackmaster extensios and very good demonstrate
two different approach to launcher function.
I have both in my PPP together with LauncherIII and
I use AppHack most.

Branko