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GRAPHICS TUTORIAL
Capturing PalmPilot screenshots
By Calvin O. Parker
Every now and then, especially if you do any type of web page or writing about the PalmPilot, you need to get a screenshot of a PalmPilot application. Or, perhaps you'd like to put together a quick tutorial for coworkers about Graffiti. While obtaining screenshots can be fairly straightforward using CoPilot, there are some circumstances that you might not be aware of. Also, obtaining Graffiti examples is quite easy if you have a copy of the Graffiti TrueType font, however there are also circumstances where this might not fit the needs of your project. This article will go over the basics of getting a PalmPilot screenshot and Graffiti image, and then talk about some of the alternatives that may have to be used.
Using CoPilot
CoPilot is a program that emulates the PalmPilot on your PC (there are also versions for Macintosh, BeOS, Linux, OS/2 and even one in progress for Windows CE). In order for CoPilot to work, you need to upload the contents of your PalmPilot's ROM to the PC (a task described on the CoPilot web site). Another PalmPilot emulator, based on the CoPilot source code, but for the Power Macintosh, is called Zilot.
Most folks when they think of getting a screenshot, think of using CoPilot, the desktop emulator for the PalmPilot. Getting a screenshot with CoPilot is easy: bring up the screen you need and do a screen capture, crop the image and save. Make sure you have your version of CoPilot running in black and white mode as shown in Figure A, if you're like me and prefer to see screenshots in black and white. Although it is possible to convert these later, you'll quickly discover its just easier to have CoPilot set up in this mode.
FIGURE A
 
Running CoPilot in black and white mode allows for easier to read and publish on the web screenshots. Roll over picture for a larger image.
CoPilot works well, but there are a couple of circumstances that it doesn't. For instance, some applications require a username in their registered version. Unless you've managed to get your username set in your CoPilot, then these applications won't work. Also, some applications are too big and CoPilot won't load them. Finally, you might want to get a screen shot of the actual application data that you use in your PalmPilot. So, basically, we need a way to capture and save screenshots directly from the PalmPilot.
Using TealPaint
Before TealPaint came along, I'd heard of folks scanning their PalmPilot and even taking a picture and scanning that to get screenshots directly off of the device. TealPaint eliminates the need of doing any of that, as it has a nifty screen capture function that is easy to use and works quite well.
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