Problem: PalmPilot applications come off the Web with the wrong icons
I pull a lot of PalmPilot applications off the Web. They often appear with either SimpleText icons, or generic icons. You can see both in Figure D. Neither is correct.

FIGURE D

PalmHappy fixes the icons of PalmPilot application files. Click picture for a larger image.

PalmHappy 1.01, by Jim McCarthy, provides a simple solution. Simply drag the icons for PalmPilot application files onto PalmHappy. It will change them into the correct icons. This has several benefits. First, these files will now be visible in InstallApp. If the icons are wrong, you have to select the "all files" option in InstallApp, and see a lot of distracting other file entries. Second, this icon type belongs to SimpleInst. This means you can now mark these applications for installation into your PalmPilot simply by double-clicking them, which will run SimpleInst. Best of all, PalmHappy is freeware.

Another utility with the same idea is PCtoMac, by John Loose. It's fine, but I like PalmHappy better.

I'm not dead yet!
So, armed with these nifty utilities, you are much better prepared to download and install PalmPilot software from the Macintosh. In fact, as you double-click to install applications you can chuckle at the Windows users who still having to use the clunky InstallApp. But is that all there is? Certainly not. Several software developers have come up with PalmPilot applications and corresponding Mac applications, overcoming some hurdles in the process. We'll cover this in a future article. In the meantime, may you and your Mac -- and your PalmPilot -- become ever stronger!

Jim DeLaHunt is an independent PalmPilot software developer. In his spare time, is an engineering manager with a multi-national software company and a tenor with local opera companies. He can be reached via E-mail at jdlh@jdlh.palo-alto.ca.us.