How do I run applications from the SD card?

From TreoCentral

Q: How do I run applications from the SD card?

Contents 1 A: For PalmOS Treos 1.1 Using the PalmOS built-in launcher 1.2 Using Initiate 1.3 Using LauncherX 1.4 Using PowerRun 1.5 Using zLauncher

A: For PalmOS Treos

If you are running low on memory or simply don't want to use your memory for an application you seldom use, there are a couple of ways to move them to an SD card and launch them from there. The benefit is that they will only use memory while you are running the program which lets you use the memory for other programs when you are not.

What actually happens when an application is launched from an SD card is that the application files are copied to memory first, then executed, then deleted from memory when the program is finished (a copy remains on the SD card). Because the application files must be copied to memory first, launching the application will be slightly slower. If only a few small files are involved, the delay is hardly noticeable. The one other thing to note is that the PalmOS Find function will not seach files located on the SD card.

Note that some applications must remain in memory at all times. These include those that sync to your desktop, those which are always running in the background (e.g. Butler, TreoGuard, ProfileCare, etc), and those which generate alarms or respond to certain events (time of day, ringtone/call managers, etc).

The remainder of this article describes how to launch applications from the SD card using the PalmOS built-in launcher or with the 3rd-party applications Initiate, LauncherX, PowerRun and zLauncher.

Using the PalmOS built-in launcher

Using the PalmOS launcher, it's an eight step process:

1. From the PalmOS applications screen, press the menu button and then Copy... from the App menu. You'll then see a scrollable list of all the applications on your Treo.
2. At the top of the screen, check that the Copy To: selection says "Card" and the From: selection says Phone.
3. In the scrolling list, move to the application you want to move to the SD card and select the Copy button at the bottom of the screen. The files will be copied to the \PALM\Launcher folder on the SD card.
4. Now select the Done button to return to the applications launcher.
5. Now that the application has been moved to the SD card, we can delete it from memory to save space. From the applications launcher, press the menu button and then Delete... from the App menu.
6. At the top of the screen, check that the Delete From: selection says Phone.
7. In the scrolling list, move to the application you want to delete and select the Delete button at the bottom of the screen. Then Yes to confirm.
8. Select the Done button to return to the applications launcher.

To launch the program from the SD card, start at the PalmOS applications launcher and press the home key until the category says All or Card. Then select the application to launch it.

You can move applications from the SD card back to memory by simplying copying the application from the card back to the phone (the reverse of step 2) and then deleting the copy on the card (the reverse of step 6).

Note that the Palm Launcher will only copy the main application file, not the entire set of files that may be associated with the application. Usually these other files are small, but that's not true for every application.

Using Initiate

After you move the application to the SD card, you can launch it just like any other application.

To move the application, it's a three step process:

1. From the Initiate main screen, select the application
2. Then select the Move to SD action button. Alternatively, you can drag the item onto the Move to SD action button, or tap and hold the icon until you get a popup menu and then select Move to SD.

To move the application files back to memory, reverse step 2.

Using LauncherX

You can move all moving application files to and from the SD card using the LauncherX bundling capability. After the application is moved, a shortcut to the application will be created. You can launch the application with this icon just like any other icon.

To move the application, it's a five step process:

1. Within LauncherX, drag the application to the Info Gadget.
2. Note the Creator ID of the application in the "CrID" field.
3. Tap the Info Gadget and look for other application files with the same Creator ID value and set their "Bundled" attribute.
4. Drag the icon of the app to the Card tools gadget icon and select Move to card.
5. Drag the icon again to the Card tools gadget icon and select "create shortcut"

To move the application files back to memory, select Card to memory in step 4.

LauncherX will copy all the files that are associated with the application to the SD card. When you launch the program, all associated files are copied back to memory before the application starts running. When you exit the application, LauncherX will copy any modified files back to the SD card before deleting the application files from memory (they'll remain on the SD card).

Using PowerRun

PowerRun makes moving application files to and from the SD card easy. After the application is moved, a shortcut to the application will appear as an icon just like the original but with a small arrow on the left side and a "*" after the name. You can launch the application with this icon just like any other application.

To move the application, it's a three step process:

1. From the PowerRun main screen, select Internal at the top of the screen
2. Select the application you want to move from the scrolling list of applications.
3. Press the Move button at the bottom of the screen.

To move the application files back to memory, select Memory Card in step 1 instead of Internal.

PowerRun will copy all the files that are associated with the application to the SD card. When you launch the program, all associated files are copied back to memory before the application starts running. When you exit the application, PowerRun will copy any modified files back to the SD card before deleting the application files from memory (they'll remain on the SD card).

Using zLauncher

The built-in functionality of zLauncher makes moving application files to and from the SD card very easy. After the application is moved, zLauncher creates a shortcut to the application which appears as an icon just like the original but with a small arrow on the left side. This icon may be placed in any zLauncher category or tab that you wish.

It's a four step process:

1. From zLauncher, find the application you want to move.
2. Using your stylus, press the application icon until a popup menu appears.
3. From the popup menu, select Move to Card.
4. From the next menu, check Related Databases and type a number in the Only if larger than field. Typing 0 here will cause all associated files to be moved. Also check the Create ShortCut option, and then select the onscreen OK button.

To move the application files back to memory, select Move to RAM in step 3.

One final note is that zLauncher will copy all the files that are associated with the application to a folder on the SD card called \PALM\PROGRAMS\ZLauncher\Apps\<name of the application>. When you launch the program, all files in that folder are copied to memory before the application starts running. When you exit the application, zLauncher will copy any modified files back to the SD card before deleting the application files from memory (they'll remain on the SD card).