Single Button Launcher is a PalmOS application that can launch up to 5 different applications using only a single hardware button. Pressing this button and immediately releasing it launches the first application. Holding the button down for a few moments cycles through the other applications; release the button when you reach the one you want. It is probably most suitable for those applications that you need to refer to quickly without using the stylus (clocks, tide calculators, compasses, etc.). It is not a Hack, nor does it patch the PalmOS in any other way, it’s just another application.
To use, go to Buttons in Preferences and assign SBL to one of the application buttons, for example, the Memopad button. Press this button. When the SBL screen appears, assign Memopad to the first button, then any other applications of your choice to the remaining buttons.
Now if the Memopad button is pressed in the normal way, SBL will immediately start Memopad. Other applications can be started by holding the button down; simple as that. I told you it only used a single button. Unassigned slots are ignored and skipped.
SBL’s overriding ecommerce web design principle is speed; for this reason it does not read the application icons, and does not verify the existence of the applications it is launching until actual launch time. If an application turns out not to exist when launch is attempted, SBL returns to configuration mode. It has no built-in help, “About” screen, or menu options. This ensures that it starts and gets out of the way as quickly as possible, and should not crash when applications are no longer available (unlike some launchers we could mention). It also uses only 6K of memory.
FAQ:
Q: There are already other button launchers out there, why did you waste time making a new one?
A: Because they crashed in various circumstances, or because they were difficult to use with one hand, or because they were just too damn slow.
Q: SBL cycles through applications too fast or too slow!
A: The rate is just perfect (for me) using Handspring Visor hardware. Depending on your PalmOS device’s speed and button hardware, your milage may vary. If you complain vociferously enough, I may add a speed selection option.
Single Button Launcher is released under the Gnu General Public License. You must read the file license.txt (supplied in the download file) before using this software.