Brand your Palm™ / Sony™ / Handspring™ / Handera™ handheld. Take the image of

• your wife and kids
• your company logo
• your favorite sports club

All kinds of PalmOS® handhelds (Palm, Sony, Handspring, Handera, Kyocera, Acer) supported.

Create your image database with an easy to use tool and see a preview of your image before it's downloaded to your handheld.
Add a comment to the database to notice the authorship of the database.

Open Logo hack consists of a PalmOS System extension (aka. hack), an application for PalmOS 5.0 and a creator program for your Windows PC, Mac or Linux Box.

If you don't want to install any program at your computer, an online converter is also available.

New! Have a look at the latest online converter New!

Latest Version: (01 May 2004)
OLH-1.16 (Hack-1.15, Appl-1.15, Java-Creator-1.14, List-Creator-1.6).
Supports external memory like SD/MC or MemoryStick to store the logo database.
Supports High Density Mode (320x320) with PalmOS 4 and PalmOS 5.

Bugfix and improvements

• Support for Handspring Treo 600
• Fix: Clock application doesn't start when using Select-button on TT

Hack / Application Features:

• Multiple Bitmaps in one database file
• Can use database on external memory (Compact Flash, Memory Stick, and SmartMedia)
• Can show bitmap on wakeup and sleep
• Selectable bitmap
• Cyclic or random change of bitmap
• Adjustable duration of logo display
• Backlight support
• Supports Black/White, Grayscale and Color Images
• Supports PalmOS® 2.0 upto 4.1 (Hack)
• Supports PalmOS® High Density Mode (320x320)
• Supports Sony Hires Mode (320x320) and Hires+ Mode (320x480)
• Database comment field
• Multi Language support (English/German)
• Standard Resource files for bitmap and database
• Open source

Creator Features:

• Reads various bitmap formats (depends on installed JAVA VM)
• Reads Palm™ PRC, PDB and imagerX files to extract bitmaps
• Normal and backlight preview mode
• Supports PalmOS® High Density Mode (320x320)
• Supports Sony Hires Mode (320x320) and Hires+ Mode (320x480)
• Change of properties like screendepth, compression of Palm™ images
• Some image enhancement functions like gamma correction, image adjustment
• Database comment field
• Multi Language support (English/German)
• Open source

Application Limitations:

• The display may show some kind of flicker when the device is turned on or off. This is because the current display contents cannot be temporary stored.
• Tungsten 5-way navigator
  To use the clock when the device is off, you have to press the select button again during the display of the wakeup logo.
• The wakeup and sleep logo will be shown when the device is connected to cradle or power cable.
• Turn off screen on sleep doesn't work on Treo
• The VFS feature seems not be working well on ACER S50

Hack/Appl configuration

English configuration screen, Palm m505 Backlight Utility installed	German configuration screen, Palm m505 Backlight Utility installed

Creator

Creator program (running on Linux), with three images loaded. Different formats and preview modes selected

Creator program (running on Mac OS X)

You can download the packages from sourceforge download page or take the direct download links for the latest version. The sourceforge download page will also have an older version of OLH available.

Available Packages

Utilities

To use OLH at your PalmOS2..4 handheld you will need a program to manage PalmOS system extensions (aka Hacks).

To use OLH at your PalmOS 5 handheld you will need no additional Palm programs.

To use the creator tool at your PC you need the JRE, the Java Runtime Environment.

Please follow the install instructions provided by the JRE to install JAVA 2 Runtime environment.

• Extract all files from the downloaded zip file.
• If you want to use the Creator Program be sure to have a Java Runtime Environment installed. See also Requirements.

Hack (PalmOS 2.0 .. 4.1)

• To use OLH on your handheld you will have to install olh-XX.prc (where XX is "en" or "de") and logo-bw.pdb or logo-color.pdb on your with a hotsync® operation.

  To use the special Sony Version (which supports the 320x480 pixel screen resolution) please install the olh-XX-sony.prc (where XX is "en" or "de").

  If you have installed an older version of olh-XX.prc please deinstall it with your hackmaster program before installing the new one.

  Be sure to have a hackmaster compatible program installed to activate the hack. Have a look at the requirements page to find a download source.

Appl (PalmOS 5)

• To use OLH on your PalmOS 5 handheld you will have to install olh-appl-XX.prc (where XX is "en" or "de") and logo-bw.pdb or logo-color.pdb on your with a hotsync® operation.

  To use the special Sony Version (which supports the 320x480 pixel screen resolution) please install the olh-appl-XX-sony.prc (where XX is "en" or "de").

  If you have installed an older version of olh-XX.prc please deactivate and deinstall it before installing the new one.

Creator

• Windows users:

  After extracting you can start OLH Creator by double-clicking the file "olh.jar".

  To create a desktop shortcut, follow these steps:

  • Drag the "olh.jar"-file out of the Explorer on your Desktop with your right mouse button.
  • After releasing the button a menu is going to appear. Just choose "Make Shortcut on Desktop".
  • Give the shortcut a nice name (for example: OLH) and choose a nice icon.

  Use the run script

  If you are using a software which also made a file association for the filetype ".jar" you may use the supplied file olh.bat.

• Mac users (MAC OS X):

  After extracting you can start OLH Creator by double-clicking the file "olh.jar".

• Unix users:

  After extracting you can start OLH Creator by using the file "gui".

• To use the Sony Hires Mode and Hires+ Mode, have a look at the Java Creator page
• General: to start the GUI use the command
  

  java -classpath olh.jar [<size>] [<language>] [<format>] [<preview>] [<compression>]

  where

  <size> is [ 160x160 | 320x320 | 320x450 | 320x480 | 160x130] 
          
  
  <language> is [ en | de ] for english or german. 
          
  
  <format> is [ 1bit | 2bit | 4bit | 8bit | 16bit ]
          
  
  <preview> is [ green| backlight | color ]
          
  
  <compression> is [ none | scanline | rle | packbits]

  the format, preview and compression parameters are used to set the default values for new loaded images.

Start

If you are using the Hack	If you are using the Application
Start your Hackmaster (or compatible) program and select Open Logo Hack for configuration.	Start the Application and tap the Configuration-button.

Configuration

Select the configuration for the wakeup or sleep logo. Wakeup and sleep logo can be configured independent.
Select the time how long the bitmap will be shown. You may show the bitmap from one seconds upto nine seconds. A tap on the display or silkscreen area will cancel the display before the display time has finished. See also OLH Preferences/Force display waittime.
Specify the selection mode for the bitmap. none No bitmap is shown. single The selected bitmap is shown. cyclic A range of bitmaps from the database will be shown, one after another. random A range of bitmaps from the database will be shown, randomly picked.
Select a bitmap from the list of available bitmaps.
Select a range (for cyclic and random selection) of bitmaps from the list of available bitmaps. All Set the range from the first to the last bitmap within the database. Start Select a bitmap from the list and tap the button Start. This will set the range start to this bitmap. If no range end was set before, the range end will also set to this bitmap. Every time you select this bitmap the pushbutton Start will be selected. End Select a bitmap from the list and tap the button End. This will set the range end to this bitmap. If no range start was set before, the range start will also set to this bitmap. Every time you select this bitmap the pushbutton End will be selected. To check the range of bitmaps simply tap on all bitmaps on the list and have a look at the pushbuttons Start and End. If a pushbutton is selected it will mark this bitmap as range start or range end.
Select the backlight control mode (On, Off or BKLT ). On OLH turns the backlight on for the logo and turns it off after this. Off OLH won't touch the current state of the backlight. BKLT OLH uses the state of the backlight as given by the Palm m505 Backlight utility. BKLT is only available if you have the Palm m500 Backlight Utility installed. See also The backlight mode is not working well. Is this a bug?"
Tap the Test-Button the see the bitmaps and test the ranges for cyclic and random selection mode.
Tap the About Logo DB-Button the see the info about the logo database supplied by the database author.
Tap the OK-Button to finish configuration.

Activation / Deactivation

If you are using the Hack	If you are using the Application
Start your Hackmaster (or compatible) program, select Open Logo Hack and mark it for activation.	To activate OLH tap the Activate-button. To deactivate tap the Deactivate-button. If your device is performs a soft reset, OLH asks automaticaly for reactivation.
Turn your handheld off and on. You should see the selected bitmap for a short time.
You may cancel the picture's display with a hardware button or with a tap on the display. Attention: The button or the tap are forwarded to the current application. If you tap on the screen where a button is located the button will be activated. See also OLH Preferences/Force display waittime

External Memory Support

You may use external memory (Compact Flash, Memory Stick, and SmartMedia) to store the logo database. Use the menus File/DB->memory card to export the database to the external memory. The file " olHaLogos" is created in the directory "/PALM/Programs/" File/DB->internal memory to import the database from the external memory to internal memory. The file "olHaLogos" is read from the directory " /PALM/Programs/". Access to external memory is much slower than internal memory. Be aware that there may some significant delay before the logo is shown. You may activate the prefetch image mode to decrease the delay (and increase memory usage). Don't move the application or the hack to the external memory!

OLH Preferences

Use the menu Options/OLH Preferences for special OLH preferences. Check Disable OLH in Cradle when your handheld won't go to sleep when in cradle (detected on Handspring Visor Prism). Check Force display waittime if you don't want to cancel the logo with a tap on the display. Check Prefetch image to activate the prefetch image mode. In this mode the next image is read from external memory during the display time and stored in internal memory. So you need additional memory for the wakeup and sleep logo. Activating, deactivating or using the Test button will clear the cache. Check Late Screen Clear when OLH should not clear the screen when showing a sleep logo. Useful if you want to see your network connection shutdown. (Hack only). Check Turn off Screen to force OLH to turn off the screen after the sleep logo. This will reduce the flickering after the sleep logo has been shown (Application only. Will not work for Treo).

Troubleshooting

Use the menu Options/Reset Configuration to reset the configuration and to recalculate the device hardware capabilities. This may help if you get an error message with "Unsupported Bitmaptype" but you know your device is able to handle this kind of bitmap (reported for a Palm3c after an upgrade to PalmOS4.1).
See also: Application Limitations and FAQs.

There is a Database Creator tool which is implemented in Java using Swing Classes.

• Use the menu Logo DB/Load Images or the button "plus" to import one or more images to the list. You can also load images from other .pdb or .prc files.
• Select the name in the list to modify the properies.
• Use checkbox Resize if you want to resize the image to fit exactly into the choosen screen resolution.
• Use checkbox Center if you want to center a smaller image.
• Use the checkbox Crop if you want to crop your image to the interesting parts. A dialog box will open. At this point the image has to be rebuild, so this may take some seconds.
  Press and hold the mousebutton at the upper-left or lower-right corner and move the mouse to set the size of the crop rectangle.
  Press and hold the mousebutton within the crop rectangle and move the mouse to move the crop rectangle within the image.
• Set a new name
• Select the bitmap format. 1 Bit for Black and White images, 2 Bit for 4 Grayscales, 4 Bit for 16 Grayscales, 8 Bit for 256 Colors or 16 Bit for "direct color" images depending on your hardware.
• Set the compression type depending on your hardware.
  Scanline is supported since PalmOS2.0,
  RLE since PalmOS3.5
  Packbits since PalmOS4.0
The best compression depends on the loaded image. To get some information about the image size for each compression type use the menu Logo DB/Logo info.
• Use the gamma slider to get a nice picture
• Use the button "cut" to remove a image from the list.
• Use the button "paste" to insert the last removed image.
• Use the buttons "up" and "down" to set the position of the image within the list.
• Use the button "!" to edit the database comment.
• Use menu File/Generate PDB or the button to create a logo database for use with the "Open Logo Hack".
• Use menu File/Save Project to save all logo's for later use with the Creator tool.

To use the Database Creator tool to create logo's with a size of 320x320, 320x450 or 320x480 pixel use the menu Preferences/Logo size . A small dialog let's you choose the new logo size and the display type. Choose the logo size and PalmOS 2 .. PalmOS 4.x display for the display type. You may create logos with for the following devices

To use the Database Creator tool to create logo's with a size of 320x320 pixel use the menu Preferences/Logo size. A small dialog let's you choose the new logo size. Select 320x320 for the size and PalmOS 5 or 4 w. hires display for the display type.

To change the default settings you have to edit the file olh.ini .

• logo size
  Set the value for width from 160 to 320 and height from 160 to 320, 450 or 480.
• UI language
  Set the value for the language of the creator tool to en for english or de for german.
• Directory for Images
  Specify the default directory for the images. Set startLogoDirectory to a valid directory name. Please do no use the character "\" only use "/" for pathnames like "c:/temp/"
• Directory for logo databases Specify the default directory for the logo databases. Set startPDBDirectory to a valid directory name. Please do no use the character "\" only use "/" for pathnames like "c:/temp/"
• Palm High Density Mode
  Set the value for PalmHires mode to "true" if you want to create bitmaps for the Palm Density mode or to "false" to create bitmaps for default Palm displays or Sony devices.
• logo format
  Set the value for Format to specify the default logo format. Valid values are: 1bit, 2bit, 4bit, 8bit, 16bit
• Preview type
  Set the value for PreviewType to specify the default preview type. Valid values are: green,backlight,color
• Compression
  Set the value vor Compression to specify the default compression algorithm. Valid values are: none, scanline, rle, packbits,

When you start the creator the next time the preview and logo images are shown with a new resolution.

Example: olh.ini

width=320
height=320
language=en

There is a new online converter for "Open Logo Hack" databases available. It is based on the same code as the Java converter and is hosted at the new MCS2 infrastructure of www.myjavaserver.com. This converter gives you control over the image conversion (like the Java converter) and has a better preview mode than the old ones. You also may create logos for Sony hires+ modes and PalmOS 5 hires display and custom size.

Sometimes it seems to be a little slow or may be unavailable. So please be patient, it's a free service of www.myjavaserver.com.

Click here to jump to the new online converter

List interface

This is a very simple interface. A list of filenames and properties. Create a file with content like this:

#*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
#* This is a simple inputfile to create a logo database                      */
#* Empty lines and lines starting with # are treated as comment              */
#* Format: (start each line at column 0)                                     */
#*                                                                           */
#* !Database info 1                                                          */
#* !Database info 2                                                          */
#* !Database info 3..n                                                       */
#*                                                                           */
#* Name in list                                                              */
#* Bits per pixel  1|2|4|8|16                                                */
#* Compressiontype None|Scanline|RLE|Packbits                                */
#* Filename                                                                  */
#*                                                                           */
#*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/

!GNU Logos 
!(c) Free Software Foundation

TUX
1
Scanline
../doc/PenguinLogo.png

Dynamic Duo
1
Scanline
../doc/dynamicduo160.png

VERSION "1.0"

STRINGTABLE ID 1000 "" "Pinguin" "Dynamic Duo" 
                       "Dynamic Duo Gray" 
                       "Dynamic Duo Color"

BITMAP       ID 3000 "PenguinLogo.xbm"  NOCOMPRESS
BITMAPGREY   ID 3001 "dynamicduo160.xbm"  COMPRESS
BITMAPGREY16 ID 3002 "gnu-and-penguin-grey16.pgm"  NOCOMPRESS
BITMAPCOLOR  ID 3003 "gnu-and-penguin-color-1.bmp"  NOCOMPRESS
BITMAPCOLOR  ID 4003 "gnu-and-penguin-color-2.bmp"  NOCOMPRESS

ALERT ID 3000 INFORMATION  
BEGIN 
  TITLE "Logo DB Info" 
  MESSAGE "A small info" 
  BUTTONS "Thanks" 
END

Questions

• What is OLH?
• Will OLH work with Handera's 240x320 resolution
• Will OLH work with Sony's 320x320, 320x480 resolution
• The backlight mode is not working well. Is this a bug?
• Alarms are not triggerd when using OLH. Is this a bug?
• May I use more than one database?
• Creator tool says "Out of Memory". What should I do?

Answers

• What is OLH?

  OLH is a system extension to display images every time your PalmOS handheld is turned on or off.

• Will OLH work with Handera's 240x320 resolution

  No
  The problem is the handera QVGA extension. I made some tests to support the 240x320 resolution. Most of the time it was working, but when an "alert" is active it is not possible to change the resolution so the image is not shown correct.

• Will OLH work with Sony's 320x320,320x480 resolution

  Yes.
  Use the file "olh-en-sony.prc" or "olh-de-sony.prc" for your Sony device. All logos will be shown using the Sony Hires Mode. Normal logos (160x160) will be shown at the upper left corner of the screen.

• The backlight mode is not working well. Is this a bug?

  No. It's a feature :-)

  • OFF means: OLH won't touch the current state of the backlight. If the backlight is on it will stay on, if it's off it will stay off.
  • ON means: OLH turns the backlight on for the logo and turns it off after this.
  • BKLT means: OLH uses the state of the backlight as given by the Palm m505 Backlight utility.
  The label "backlght" has been replaced to "backlight control" in version 1.13
• Alarms are not triggerd when using OLH. Is this a bug?

  It seems so.
  Some users have reported that OLH doesn't work well when using programs like Datebk or Action Alarms. A few users with Palm m130 have reported that OLH causes problems with all kind of alarms. If you are using OLH with a Palm m130 and it's working well, please let me know.

• May I use more than one database?

  No. OLH supports exact one database with one or more images.
  To emulate more than one database use the cyclic or random mode and set different ranges for wakeup and sleep logos. E.g. image 1 to 3 for wakeup / cyclic and image 4 to 7 for sleep / random. So it looks like you have two different databases.

• Creator tool says "Out of Memory". What should I do?

  The available memory for the creator tool is defined by the JAVA virtual machine. Currently there is no way for an application to get more memory than the VM will give. So you have to say the VM to use more memory.
  For the JAVA VM from Sun Microsystems there is a commandline switch to specify the maximum heap memory. Please add the the switch -Xmx128m to the commandline when starting the JAVA VM. It should look like "java -Xmx128m -jar olh.jar".

Open Logo Hack: GNU Logo Gallery
GNU	Use GNU	Dynamic Duo	GNU is the key
TUX	Typing GNU	Gnu and Penguin	Your logo here
Download

Some great logos of NASA's Chandra X-Ray and Hubble Telescope (© Gilbert A. Rankin, 2003) http://www.monkeybrains.net/~allegory/olh-databases/

Logos @ freewarepalm.com http://www.freewarepalm.com/graphics/graphics_imagerx.shtml http://www.freewarepalm.com/graphics/graphics_logo.shtml http://www.freewarepalm.com/graphics/graphics_logohack.shtml

Licensing

Open Logo Hack is free software that is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2 or later. This license allows you to use, modify and redistribute this software.

Commercial usage is also possible with this license. Please let me know if you use Open Logo Hack with your product.

For more information on free software, please visit the FreeSoftware Foundation.

If you enjoy using this program, please send me a postcard to show your appreciation of my time and effort. Postcards with local motives from your place are perfectly ok.

You will find my postal address at the "About Open Logo Hack" form of OLH using the small (i) at the upper right corner. The "About Open Logo Hack" form will be activated with the menu "Options/About Open Logo Hack" at the Open Logo Hack configuration dialog.

Copyright

Copyright © 2001-2004 by Frank Schnekenbühl

Warranty

Contact / Help

If you need help installing or using "Open Logo Hack" let me know and I'll try to help.

Don't hesitate, send me (f.sck@web.de) an email.

Open Logo Hack works well on all Hardware platforms with 160x160 pixel black and white, grayscale or color display (8bit and direct color) and PalmOS 2.0 or higher.

Sony Clie handhelds are supported upto 320x480 pixel screen resolution

It was tested on:

• Palm III, German PalmOS 3.3.
• Handspring Visor (unknown PalmOS)
• Palm m100, PalmOS 3.5.2.3.0.
• Palm m505, Palm3c
• Palm Zire
• Kyocera 7135, Palm OS 4.1
• Sony Clie (upto 320x480 pixel screen resolution)
• POSE, PalmOS 2.0, 3.1, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.1
• Palm Tungsten T, Acer S50 (PalmOS 4 with 320x320)
• Palm Tungsten E running PalmOS 5.2.1
• PalmOS 5 Simulator
• Handspring Treo 600

Test reports for other Hardware/PalmOS versions are welcome.

A note on version numbers

Each package has a version number and each component (program) has it's own version number.The version number consists of a major and minor number.

The minor number will change for bugfixes or new features. The major number will change when the software is no longer compatible to the previous version, e.g. change of database layout.

Used other Open Source or free modules

ACME Labs (Java Classes),

HtmlLayout (Java Classes)

KeyPoint Software (Java Classes)

MakeDocJ (Jeffrey A. Krzysztow)

Icons Copyright(C) 1998 by Dean S. Jones

HTMLDOC Copyright 1997-2002 Easy Software Products

Trademarks

Palm OS is a registered trademark of Palm, Inc.

Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc.

Sony is a trademark of Sony, Inc.