Is there any more work being done on Apt? The last we heard, Jerome Ibanes had taken the project over and there was a lot of activity on these message boards, but after months of waiting for a version update, the excitement has all but faded out completely. Does anybody know what's going on with this? I know that PalmOS is pretty much extinct, but Apt gives my Treo more functionality than I could hope for and the potential for improving it further is great. Let's hear some other users thoughts and opinions on this, eh?
The greatest thing about opensource is that anyone can contribute to a project. Should features be added or bugs be fixed, the whole community can participate, and make things better. This includes you. I've opened Apt because I found it to be a great product, it has helped me tremendously and therefore I wanted to give this back to the community, in the hope that it will help them as much.
I get the occasional criticism about not adding features to Apt, but in truth, it perfectly suits me as is, I wouldn't even know what to add to this outstanding piece of software. And if you have something in mind you would like to see added to it, well, the source code is directly downloadable, it's entirely up to you (and everyone) to make Apt better.
I wish I had time to invest in Apt, but other projects have a higher priority at this time, therefore, for the time being I'll be relying on the community to commit patches to Apt (which I will gladly add to the source tree) until I have time again to spend on this project.
Jerome
Thanks for the quick response Jerome. I would love to be able to add features to Apt, but I have no idea where to begin researching the knowledge base. Do you have any suggestions as to where someone would get started learning how to write code for Apt, or do you think that this should only be tackled by an experienced PalmOS developer? Your opinion is greatly appreciated!
What would you like to add or see added to Apt?
Jerome
I would like to include more Treo functionality (Launch Contacts, hold Side button, etc.), allow icons in the star menu, and add more variables and tag profiles. Of course, I'm sure there are many more possibilities, but those are the first few that come to mind.
Apt is not dead, but Apt development seems to be. It's hard to invest time into a dying platform, the motivation just seems to fade away… and the truth is that most straightforward enhancements to Apt have already been done; what's left to do is more complicated to develop, faces some tough technical challenges that would require some extra work, etc.
I guess that's where Pent left off, when there wasn't much to be gained from too much work… and the death of Palm OS just finished things off.
Of course, if you know programming, just go ahead and work on it - it's open source now.
I would love to know that even though Apt is coming to an end, the concept of per-app preferences and highly scriptable mobile devices would live on - but I seriously doubt that we'll be seeing freer platforms in the future. On the contrary, things seem to tend to more control to the device makers and service providers, less to the users.
I love several things about the Palm Pre, but it gives me the shivers to think of doing without Apt, NvBackup, etc…. things that multiply a platform's usability or reliability by an order of magnitude. Nobody should be allowed to build mobile platforms these days unless they included all these brilliant things that were done before on Palm OS!!! :-)
Sigh…
There's certainly scope for development of Apt to include more Treo features. I never had a Treo (well, only briefly) so never got round to that. Many of those things would not be too complicated to add, but of course it requires someone familiar with C and PalmOS.
I had intended to get a Treo and thence have some motivation to do this work, but then I was seduced by the Android Developer Challenge 2, and to be honest I'm glad I've moved on.
As a developer, it's nice to work with a modern development platform and OS, and a class-based language. I've actually written a 'next generation' Apt for Android: tasker.dinglisch.net.
This is as good a place as any to again thank all the people that gave me so much input and support for Apt; I've been able to use many of the suggestions and criticism to come up with e.g. a much better UI experience. I was also inspired to 'take a step back' and generalize away from application- based customization to 'context based customization', where an application is a context, but so is a time, a place, an event etc. and any combination of these can trigger a 'Task' (macro).
As far as Pgr's comment about 'freer platforms', I think I can compare PalmOS and Android quite authoritatively after my recent projects :-)
Android has total application insulation: for security reasons, it's not possible to intercept or inject (most) events while the user is interacting with a particular application. Hence Apt on PalmOS allows a much greater degree of control than Tasker on Android (inserting into fields, tapping buttons etc).
In addition, Android is quite restrictive about customization of hardware buttons.
However, aside from those Android is remarkably open and Tasker can do a lot of the things that Apt can do, plus an awful lot that it can't. Really cool is stuff like tilting the phone right to advance the music player etc.
Hope this post was of interest to some :-)
Pent
Pgr,
Twas an awful long summer trying to get that thing ready for the competition, I can tell you.
Have to admit I tiled the kitchen walls and lounged on the couch a lot too though :-)
Oh, and BTW I have put you in my Tasker thanks list, I feel like you're one of the spiritual fathers…
BTW2 if you havn't moved on from PalmOS yet, I heartily recommend taking the plunge, it's a completely different world. I get all nostalgic and sad at 1src these days.
Pent
I'm holding off for another year probably, I use my T|X as a PDA really, I can do without the mobile phone integration for now.
I have my eye on the Palm Pre… but there are some things about it that I dislike. I never really considered Android.
What languages do you use to program on Android? Good old C/C++? Or is it a browser/javascript thing?
PS - what can we do make you win the contest? Sign up a hundred times and vote for Tasker? :-)
I think/hope Android is going to get very big, there's heaps of phones coming.
It's pure java for programming Android. I had never used java, but jumping over from c++ was a doddle and the absence of pointer bugs/crashes and not having to do all the manual memory
management is a real time saver.
Thanks for the good intentions on the competition, but I'm pretty sure I won't win, it favours stuff that can be evaluated quickly (the software equivalent of a 'sound bite'). Also, I don't think the average android smartphone user is as technically adventurous as the average Apt user :-)
Pent
Pent, Hi there!
I came over here for a quick look to see if anything has happened in terms of changes, etc.
Recently I became curious about the Android platform. I have lots of productivity benefits fm my set of apps & enhancement programs - Apt, of course the major one… & I just don't want to go to the Palm Pre, b/c there is no local backup. (Bad Palm, very bad!) - so I considered (briefly) Android, but it doesn't have Agendus, Apt, or many others that I regularly use & need; like foreign lang. localization & texts for the localization on the new platform. This shows that not only are apps important, but 'cottage industry' support as well.
Does Android have local backup support? What are the main innovations in terms of h/w features?
I tried to find a list of apps for the 'droid - but don't know where to look.
Best regards, technical1
Hey t1,
don't know what you mean about foreign language localization and 'texts for the localization on the new platform'.
Local backup support: apps don't have access to other apps' data, a big security jump forwards, so
this can only really be done by the individual apps themselves or if you root your device (break the
carrier security, so apps can run as root user), so Palm backup apps can be more comprehensive there.
Hardware: my T-Mobile G1 ($200 without contract) is light years ahead of the TX I had: accelerometer, mag compass, GPS, landscape keyboard, 3G telephony, 3MP camera.
Pent
Nice to hear your voices in here!
I bought an iPhone 3GS in october (to do some developing on it), but did I knew back then that Pent was coding for Android I should have considered Android instead :/ But to be honest, I still use my Palm TX. iPhone 3GS cant sync text with Windows in a good way, I use Evernote but its a mess. I probobly will switch to Android or Palm Pre when my contract is ending. Classic for Palm Pre looks promising - It's the no 1 argument to get the Pre. Nevermind, I hope to see more of Tasker in the future (will recommend it to my friends). :-)
Now I need a nostalgical dose of Apt :) See you!
Just have to say it, couldnt help myself, bought a T-Mobile G2 (aka "HTC Magic") :-)
Ha, welcome to the club, hope you enjoy the new toy.
It feels a bit strange at first after Palm OS (I found myself reaching for the stylus very often…)
Surprised you went for the Magic instead of the Hero.
Maybe see you on the Tasker forum one day!
Pent
Thank you:)
I got a cheap Magic from eBay with vanilla rom ("with Google" logo). Thought it was best for me to try out Android before going for a more expensive phone model :) But I search eBay for a good priced Hero now every day, the Magic is a little bit slow though :/ (actually my iPhone is now sold so I have to stick to Android!)
See you!