Question: APT & timed events

Summary:

Automated tasks based on a schedule?

Question: APT & timed events

jibanes 25 Jul 2008 21:20

I would like to know if it's possible to use APT to automate tasks at, say, 2am. What I'm trying to achieve is the following:

At 2am, I'm 99.999% sure to be home, when I'm home, my centro is never far from a bluetooth usb dongle on my PC. Therefore, I have the following questions:

* Would apt work on a Centro? (the latest white unlocked Centros sold from palm.com)

* Would apt be able to "wake up" at 2am, and start blue ftp from resco (for instance after turning bluetooth on) and at 2:05am my PC's crontab would automagically fetch and put some files from the centro (namely, backup a few important directories and upload tomorrow's weather, rss feeds, The Economist audiobook[mp3] newspaper and other news or simply random mp3/comic book of the day).

* Then at 2:30am, APT would shutdown blue ftp (and as you could expect, turn bluetooth off).

Would this be possible, if so, then I'd buy it in a heartbeat, assuming (and this is a question in itself) than APT is stable on a Centro. Also, if the bluetooth-enabled PC is not in range (meaning that I'm not home of course) I expect APT to fail gracefully. The purpose is to automate backups and get my feeds ready in the morning before I leave home, without having to use the usb<->centro cable. If this is not possible with bluetooth, is it possible with IRDA?

Please note that I don't expect APT to do anything regarding the PC-side of this equation, this will be handled by crontab and a few perl scripts on a fine unix-like box; well, whatever can support a usb bluetooth receiver and perl+crontab.

Thank you.

Last edited on 26 Jul 2008 02:22 by jibanes Show more

Re: Question: APT & timed events

Pgr 26 Jul 2008 16:10

Hi there,

a few tips that might help you:

- look for a program called MassDL that lets you download a list of stuff from an HTTP or FTP server at a predefined time… it's freeware, and a product of the 1src.com community just like Apt :-)

- if you still want to try something like this with Apt, look for the Time trigger here: http://apt-palm.wikidot.com/event-triggers

- combinations of Apt and MassDL can prove very powerful…

I hope this helps…

Re: Question: APT & timed events

Anonymous (75.216.132.x) 26 Jul 2008 23:34

The problem is that I have a Centro, and therefore no Wifi or Internet on it, it has to be either IRDA or BlueTooth… And I doubt MegaDL supports this, while APT+(the right set of tools) might work better there… you get the idea.

Re: Question: APT & timed events

technical1 27 Jul 2008 02:45

Anonymous,

I have a Centro & use Apt, no probs. Since the device does have broadband internet capabilities, which I use on my Verizon Centro, I imagine that you do not have a data plan yourself.

However, the good news is that Apt certainly does have a trigger to run things at a given time… as Pgr has already said….

Try it for a while & go for that MassDL & kick the tires & see how much else it can do for you. This forum is only one part of the wiki, & the top of the screen has 'online references' & the left side has pictures, examples & tutorials. See what Pgr referred you to & the rest & you will be able to see just how much Apt can do. If the logistics can be worked out, you should be able to write a macro that would include the MassDL, although there were no guarantees that all apps will work with it, but I've had much, real success w/Apt & now on my Centro.

technical1

Re: Question: APT & timed events

jibanes 27 Jul 2008 05:28

Technical1,

I have installed Apt on my centro about 2 days ago, paid the registration ($20) about 36 hours ago (and still waiting to receive the full version). Apt is really powerful, I've defined some actions to buttons, strokes and events (including timers). This application is precisely what I always had hoped for (which is why I paid for it), it's really powerful, and I was able to do partially the backup and upload operations I described above (although limited to 3 actions on the demo/lite version); but, at least I got a proof of concept working.

One of the concerns I have is that one of the bluetooth application I currently use doesn't work if the device is not turned On, I have found how to turn it Off using Apt, but not On, is there an easy way to do this, if so how? (Assuming one is programming an "event").

Thanks!

Re: Question: APT & timed events

Pgr 28 Jul 2008 08:57

Hi,

I asked alt236, the author of Mass Downloader (available here) about using BlueTooth connection and he replied "I haven't tried it, but I can't see a reason why it would fail. For the palm its still a network connection, so it should be fine."

It's free, so… why not try it? :-)

About Apt's registration, usually Pent answers very quickly - he must be on summer vacation, away from the Internet…

Re: Question: APT & timed events

technical1 28 Jul 2008 16:39

jibanes,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Apt. Please feel free to share your Centro / Apt insights in the thread by that name… & let Pent know that adding Option+HardKey press & hold will add much flexibility to Treos (Press 'n hold for 1,2, or 3 seconds) would be equally as valid & useful if it could also be assigned to the Shift, Side, &/or Menu keys…., or letters for that matter. I'm still fairly new to Centro, it's been about only 1 month… so I'd welcome your Centro tips… as well as Centro / Apt tips!

What Pgr said is correct. Pent is likely away fm the 'net… b/c otherwise he is very responsive.

I hope you get your codes soon…

technical1

Re: Question: APT & timed events

Anonymous (208.48.231.x) 28 Jul 2008 17:07

I went as far as I could have with the Lite/Demo version, still waiting on my codes (registered last Friday). I spent several hours tunning some apps to give them the behavior I like, but really… I need the full version now.

Apt is great and does precisely all I need, it takes some time to tweak, but that's totally worth it. Makes my Centro much better than any iPhone would ever be.

Re: Question: APT & timed events

Pent 01 Aug 2008 18:33

Sorry again about the registration delay, I was on vacation (I did put a notice on the purchase page).

Pent