Did you ever wish your device would not turn off on you in the middle of showing a picture, reading a book or viewing a map?

If you're already using other software to disable your auto-off timer (aka "always-on") - how many times did you forget it disabled, and found out that an alarm triggered in your pocket, and drained the battery because you set your device never to turn off...?

A Solution: Use the supplied DAs, and if you follow the method to turn off your device using the AutoOffSleepDA, your auto-off timer will first be restored to what you've set it on "Prefs" (your system application)! :)

AutoOffDisableDA.prc - Completely disable auto-off timer (aka "Always On")

AutoOffExtendDA.prc - Makes auto-off duration to ten times longer than what it's set in "Prefs"

You'd also need a DA launcher if you don't have any:

- DA Launcher 5 : A very good stand-alone DA launcher for OS5 (the only freeware DA launcher for OS5?)

- EasyLaunch : The best hack for various tasks and convenient launching of DAs - MOST RECOMMENDED !!! (freeware)

- YAHM : The most stable hack-manager (required for EasyLaunch hack) - more stable than X-Master (both freeware)

For all information regarding the usage of these 3rd party programs, consult their own manuals.

Usage:

First, goto "Prefs" application: Tap the Home icon (Applications Launcher), and see it under the "System" category.

When inside your system Prefrences application, choose "General" from the upper-right corner.

Choose one of the "auto-off" durations to your liking! :)

Now, after you configured your DA launcher to launch the AutoOff DAs, use as follows:

- AutoOffExtendDA will simply lengthen the auto-off timer by factor of ten (x10) from what you made it to be under "Prefs" - it will not show fancy interface to get in the way! :)

- AutoOffDisableDA will completely disable the auto-off timer (system knows it as duration of "0" seconds). This will make your device stay on until you explicitly shut it off, but beware - you will have to manually shut off your device in that session! After you power off however, the auto-off timer will restore to its Prefs' value (this is NOT true if you turned off your device by taking the batteries out! It's an unlikely situation of course, but if you do, you'll have to go to "Prefs" again and set the desired timing as explained above).

Note: you don't have to use both DAs - see "Installation" and you can make your preference for just one of them! :)

Further Information:

A good place to learn about DAs: http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/h-yama/da/whatsda.htm

Update Description:

25-May-2004, v1.4:

Previous versions could work unexpectedly if Prefs wasn't explicitly set. This version sets a default 120 seconds if Prefs is invalid (has zero value).

22-May-2004, v1.3:

Now AUTOMATICALLY restores the auto-off timer upon sleeping! You do not longer need "AutoOffSleepDA" :) (the included PP (Pascal) source code has a nifty example of using Palm OS Notification Manager)