MortButtons 2.0 Released

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.sto-helit.de/freeware/pocketpc/mortbuttons/en/' target='_blank'>http://www.sto-helit.de/freeware/po...mortbuttons/en/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Despite the name, MortButtons is NOT a tool to assign applications to buttons, like BtnPlus, VITO ButtonMapper, PowerButton, and similar tools. Instead, MortButtons is a menu system or launcher tool. It's not meant to be a replacement for the Start menu of Windows, but rather as a "quick start" for the most important applications, documents, and functions."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050405-MortButtons.gif" /><br /><br />MortButtons 2.0 has just been released, and best of all, it's free. It has full support for <a href="http://www.sto-helit.de/freeware/pocketpc/mortbuttons/en/skins.pl">skins</a>, so if you're interested in changing your style of launching programs, be sure to give the <a href="http://www.sto-helit.de/freeware/pocketpc/mortbuttons/en/">MortButtons webpage</a> a visit.

[carphead]

Mortbuttons is a must install for me. It helps with single handed operation (such as changing GPS programs whilst on the go).

Couple of things new features that hadn't been mentioned....

1 - You can get Mortbuttons to switch screen rotation based on the program you launch. So if you like to have PIE in Landscape but Explorer in Potrait mode you can set it to do this

2 - You can now create sub menus 8)

[sto-helit.de]

There's a small "silent update":
- Fixed a bug that happened on iPaq hx4700 (skipped entries on application button press...)
- Transparency ("Show menu background" deactivated) works much better
- SIP (input panel) is hidden on activation

And there are two nice new skins.

Oh, and to complete the list of changes:
Supports rotation and VGA (including "real VGA")
Fixed several problems with icons and links
Arbitrary number of entries per menu (no more limited to 12)
Localization support (currently waiting for a French and Dutch translation, others are welcome - see FAQ on my site...)
Menus can be shown with own background (from skin), today theme, or transparent
Directories can be shown as MortButtons menu (just select a directory in the entry selection)
Entries for screen rotation (requires WM2003SE)
Create new documents (entries of "New" menu, requires WM2003)


To get an idea of the skinning possibilities:
http://www.sto-helit.de/freeware/pocketpc/mortbuttons/skins/screenshots/SmoothBlue.jpg http://www.sto-helit.de/freeware/pocketpc/mortbuttons/skins/screenshots/wanted.jpg http://www.sto-helit.de/freeware/pocketpc/mortbuttons/skins/screenshots/mb_small_small.jpg

And I just noticed the main feature (small, but powerfull) hasn't been noticed: You can skip to the next entry by pressing an application button, and the selected one will be executed after a selectable timeout.
This way, if you start a MortButtons main menu (there are up to 5) with an application button ("Buttons" in windows setup, or BtnPlus, VITO ButtonManager, PowerButton, ...), only one button is required for usage...

[sto-helit.de]

Well, as usual, errors are only found after several weeks of beta state... :roll:

Thus, there's a V2.01:
- all modifications listed in the entry above (so it's "more official")
- Improved the background type selection (dropdown with "menu background", "today theme", and "transparent" instead of the somewhat confusing "Show menu background" checkbox)
- Bugfix: Submenus sometimes got multiple "Back" entries

[beq]

This looks like a great app that I'll have to try.

But I also happen to be looking for an app for extended mapping of hardware buttons, and was wondering if there are any recommendations. I think it would have to be something really stable (the Power Buttons applet part of Omega One's Battery Pack Pro 2003 was not stable at all on my i-mate PDA2k).

What I'm looking at:
- Orthanc Double Launcher (http://www.orthancsoftware.com./DLauncher.htm) $10
- pocketMax buttonMax (http://www.pocketmax.net/buttonMax.htm) $15
- VITO ButtonMapper (http://www.vitotechnology.com/en/products/buttonmapper.html) $10

I was just looking to get additional function for tap-n-hold but some of these apps even do double-click (&amp; double-click-n-hold) mapping, simulate stylus taps, etc.

[sto-helit.de]

Try BtnPlus (don't know the URL right know, but Google sure does... ;)).
Sadly, it's Japanese, but it's free, works great, and it's not too hard to figure out how it's setup (well, at least if you know the setup screen's reached by selecting the first entry of the tray icon it creates...)

[beq]

Double Launcher supports 4 button modes (including double-press-and-hold) and adds a set of special functions to the list of available actions. But it has no stylus tap emulation macros, nor application-specific profiles, and doesn't seem to support the D-pad. Honestly, I don't think I'd really use the double-press-and-hold mode (too much to remember). [Support: email with author]

buttonMax supports 3 button modes, stylus tap emulation macros, and application profiles, and seems to offer a greater list of special functions. But while the D-pad directions are supported as button presses, it only supports a total of 5 other hardware buttons (unlimited buttons supposed to be coming to next version). Whereas I assume the competitors support all available buttons as there's no mention otherwise (FYI my PDA2k has 8 buttons + D-pad + volume slider + 2 phone buttons + power button). In fact this limitation on # of supported buttons and its need for a "learning" mode makes me think the program works differently than the competitors (which seem to just take what's available from the built-in Buttons applet)? [Support: forum interaction with author]

VITO ButtonMapper supports 2 button modes (press and press-and-hold), stylus tap macros, application profiles, and its own list of special functions. But Jenneth.info review says it doesn't support the D-pad and its stylus tap macro recording is flawed. [Support: forum]

From the buttonMax and ButtonMapper forums I do see reports of problem cases with users, so I assume it's similar with Double Launcher. This kind of utility in particular I would want to be rock-solid reliable as I assume it intercepts/replaces the built-in hardware buttons driver?

[beq]

Try BtnPlus (don't know the URL right know, but Google sure does... ;)).
Sadly, it's Japanese, but it's free, works great, and it's not too hard to figure out how it's setup (well, at least if you know the setup screen's reached by selecting the first entry of the tray icon it creates...)
Oh whoops I missed your reply before typing my above post, thanks sto-helit.de.

I did Googled BtnPlus earlier and found the (incomprehensible) Japanese page, and was thus turned off it :D

[beq]

- Orthanc Double Launcher (http://www.orthancsoftware.com./DLauncher.htm) $10
- pocketMax buttonMax (http://www.pocketmax.net/buttonMax.htm) $15
- VITO ButtonMapper (http://www.vitotechnology.com/en/products/buttonmapper.html) $10

I also checked Handango and all three apps above show 2000-something downloads and all 5-star user reviews (though last review for VITO was from 2003 while the other two have reviews from this year). All were last updated Jan or Feb this year. Sure makes it hard to decide ;)

sto-helit.de, aside from BtnPlus (http://www.momidi.org/software/BtnPlus/) do you know of the URL for "PowerButton" that you'd also mentioned (which I couldn't find from Googling)?

[sto-helit.de]

sto-helit.de, aside from BtnPlus (http://www.momidi.org/software/BtnPlus/) do you know of the URL for "PowerButton" that you'd also mentioned (which I couldn't find from Googling)?
That's the one from BatteryBar, just forgot the "s" at the end...