PocketDoan: A Meditation Timer v3.4.0

A meditation timer for the PalmOS®.
By Joseph H. Stadolnik III
Copyright © 2003-2007, All Rights Reserved
jstadolnik@hotmail.com

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Feature Overview
3. What's New
4. Minimum Requirements
5. Installation
6. Terminology
7. Editing a Session
8. Starting a Session
9. Checking a Running Session
10. Pausing a Session
11. Session Preferences
12. Global Preferences
13. Multiple Sessions
14. Custom Minder Triggers
15. Hourly Chimes
16. Playing .wav Sound Files
17. Utilities (NEW)
18. Procrastination "Hacks"
19. Miscellaneous
20. Tips
21. Release History
22. Known Limitations/Issues
23. Credits
24. Contact Information
25. Mailing List
26. Legal Statement

1. Introduction

What is a doan? In Zen practice it is the person responsible for ringing the bells at the beginning and end of a meditation. Like a traditional doan, the PocketDoan meditation timer informs the user when to begin and end a session. It frees one from having to keep track of time, and thus allows one to more fully engage in one's practice. Even though doan is a Zen Buddhist term, this application has no particular tie to Zen. PocketDoan is quite flexible and can be adapted to many styles of meditation. It supports both single and multi-stage sessions. Each stage can be configured with it's own unique duration and end alert. A variety of alert types are also provided with varying degrees of discreetness (audio, visual, and vibration). This makes the program useful for both solo and group meditations. Additionally, PocketDoan can play .wav sound files (including voice recordings) from memory cards and flash drives. Thus it is particularly helpful in structuring guided and mantra based meditations where voice cues are central. Another aid is the the hourly chime feature, which can serve as a periodic "call to mindfulness" throughout the day. Beyond meditation, PocketDoan has a wide variety of timing uses including cooking, exercise, task management, and many others.

I hope you find PocketDoan a useful tool in your practice and daily routines.

Joseph Stadolnik

2. Features

Single and multi-stage meditation sessions.
Each stage can be assigned a unique time duration and alert.
All stages can be viewed and configured from a single edit screen.
Can have more than one session (thousands actually).
Various audio (bells, gongs, birds, notes, etc), vibration, and LED alerts.
Can play .wav files (including voice recordings) from memory cards and flash drives.
Periodic "minder" alarms to keep one on track should one's mind stray.
Hourly chime (useful for staying mindful throughout the day).
Large screen buttons for stylus-free (finger) starting and stopping of sessions.
Slowly updating analog progress wheel (inhibits "clock watching").
Eight volume levels (including "off", "whisper", and overdrive modes).
Power saving: Device and screen can turn off to conserve batteries.
Stages can be set to block upon completion requiring user input to move to the next stage.
Support for 5-way navigator and jog dial controls.
Runs on Windows Mobile devices using StyleTap® emulation.
Freeware.

3. What's New in Version 3.4.0

Now supports up to 40 intervals per session.
New Utilities menu item with 3 options:

Move built-in .wav sounds to a memory card/drive (frees main memory).
Delete built-in .wav sounds (if they aren't support or desired)(frees memory).
Create /PDoan directory on memory cards and drives (for playing any .wav file).

New Hardkey Only key mode (ignores screen taps when running).
New Random chime interval (rings on the hour and randomly in between).
Vibration support for Treo 680, 700p, and 755p models.
Vibration support for StyleTap® platform (emulator for Windows Mobile devices)
New single .prc distribution file.
Various minor bugfixes.

4. Requirements

A device running PalmOS® version 3.0 or higher. Devices running Windows Mobile™ can also run PocketDoan with the StyleTap® emulator.

5. Installation

Install the PocketDoan.prc file.

If your device does not support playing .wav sounds, PocketDoan will ask if you want to remove these built-in sounds the first time it's run. This will save around 660Kbytes of memory. The .wav sounds can also be removed at a later date by going to the Utilities option in the menus.

6. Terminology

Interval: A span of time generally ranging from 3 seconds to 99 minutes in length.
Session: A full meditation. Composed of one or more intervals (up to 10). PocketDoan allows you to define multiple different sessions (e.g. One may practice more than one style of meditation).
Initial Delay: A short period of time to wait before starting an interval. Generally ranging from 10 to 90 seconds. This gives one time to prepare for the coming interval (e.g. change position, ring a bell, etc.).
Minder Alert: An alarm which triggers periodically throughout an interval. Intended to gently bring one's attention back to meditation should one's mind stray.
Minder Trigger: A rule governing when the next minder alert will occur. (e.g. Every 10 seconds or every quarter way through an interval.)
Session Preferences: Settings which effect how only one session behaves.
Global Preferences: Settings which effect how all sessions behave.
Pause Dialog: This screen appears when a running session is paused through either a screen tap or button press.
Blocking Dialog: When a session is finished or if an interval with a blocking flag is completed, this screen will appear, prompting the user for input before continuing.

7. Editing a Session

From the starting screen select the edit button. A number of additional buttons will appear as follows (from left to right):

Done: Return to the start screen.
New: Insert a new interval after the current selected position. A maximum of 40 intervals are allowed per session.
Up Arrow: Move the selected interval up. Hold this button to move rapidly.
Down Arrow: Move the selected interval down. Hold this button to move rapidly.
Copy: Duplicates the currently selected interval.
Trash Can: Delete the currently selected interval. Holding and releasing this button will pop a "clear all" dialog.

Each interval takes up one line on the edit screen. A line consist of five columns as follows (from left to right):

Interval duration (in minutes): Tap to change.

Custom Option: Selecting custom will pop a mini-dialog with two text fields for expressing the interval duration. The field on the left is the minutes field, and can have any value between 0 and 99. The seconds field is on the right and can have any value between 0 and 59. Taping the up/down arrows will adjust the current field by 1. Holding down the up/down arrows will adjust the value by 5. The reset button will return the fields to thier original value. Pressing the 5-way center button is equivalent to hitting the Done button. Pressing the left or right 5-way buttons will switch the cursor between fields.

Interval text: This editable text will be shown on the running screen. Entering a return character will move the selection to the next interval. If selection is at the last interval a new one will be created. Entering a backspace character will delete the row if the text field is empty.
Alert type: The type of alert to play when the interval is complete. Tap to change. Note: Tone, Rise, and Fall types are audio alerts; Bowl (singing bowl), Bong, Chime, Conch, Cricket, Dove, Faerie, Flute, Gong, Hawk, Lark, Mu-Yü (mokugyo), Thunder, Tingsha, and Tower (bell tower) are all enhanced sounds (.wav files); VibeS & VibeS² (soft vibes), Vibe (normal vibe), and VibeL (long vibe) are vibration alerts; while LED12 (12 blinks in 5 seconds), LED24 (24 blinks), LED48 (48 blinks), and LED1 (1 big blink) are LED alerts. Note: Due to software limitations, Treo 600/650/700p devices have a different set of vibration alerts (Vibe1, Vibe2, etc., where the number indicates the number of pulses.)
Initial delay (in seconds): The number of seconds to wait before starting the interval. Tap to change.
Blocking Indicator: Tap to change the blocking/non-blocking status. If enabled (red arrow pointing to a vertical line), a stop/continue dialog will pop when the interval is complete. The session will be paused until the user makes a selection. The non-blocking mode is indicated by a green arrow pointing through a vertical line.

A session will start with the top interval and work down to the bottom one.

Entering a carriage return character will either move the cursor to the next interval or create new interval if last interval is selected. Entering a backspace character in a empty text field will delete that interval.

Handling More Than 9 Intervals
Up to 40 intervals per session are supported. When more than 9 intervals are entered for a session, two scroll rocker buttons will appear in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Use these buttons to scroll to other intervals not visible (at most 9 intervals are visible at a time). The (X of Y) indicator (also in the lower right hand corner) shows what interval the cursor is on (X) and how many intervals there are in the session (Y). The page up/down or 5-way up/down buttons can also scroll the screen (e.g. page-up when the cursor is at the very top or page-down when the cursor is at the very bottom).

8. Starting a Session

From the starting screen (the one with both edit and start buttons at the bottom) the following actions can be taken to start a meditation session:

Tap or touch the large gray circle in the center of the screen.

Tap the start button in the lower right hand corner.

Press down 5-way navigator or jog dial control (if available).

Press the Enter key (on devices with keyboards).

Also, tapping on the time at the bottom of the main screen will toggle between Now and End time. Now mode indicates the current time, where End mode indicates the time the session will finish should it be started now.

Alternatively, there is a "Jump to Interval..." main menu item which brings up a dialog for selecting a specific interval to start the current session on. The checkbox on this screen allows one to skip the intial delay of the selected interval if desired. The interval can be selected with the 5-way up and down buttons. The 5-way center press starts the selected interval. The left 5-way button toggles the skip initial delay checkbox, and the right 5-way button cancels the dialog.

9. Checking a Running Session

When a session is running the auto-off timer may expire and power off the device. PocketDoan will still wake up the device at the appropriate time. However, you can peek at the progress of the current interval by pressing any of the application hard keys or 5-way navigator select button. Pressing any of the application hard keys or 5-way select again will turn the device back off.

On non-Palm or non-OS5.0+ devices, a padlock symbol in the upper right hand corner indicates that the current interval is about to end (or a minder alert is about to occur). When this symbol is present the hard keys are disabled (locked), pushing them will not turn off the device until the current interval (or minder) has ended.

On the Treo 600/650 devices pressing the center 5-way navigator button will make the device sleep, but pressing it while the device is off will not wake it up (use one of the application launch keys instead).

WARNING: Using the power button to turn off the device during a running session can artificially lengthen the current interval by up to one minute.

10. Pausing a Session

When a session is running either the initial delay counter or a progress wheel will be seen. To stop or pause a running session do the following:

Tap or touch the screen.
Hold down any of the application hard keys or the 5-way navigator select button for 1.3 seconds. The Hard key Mode must be set to "Normal" in the preferences for this to work.
Press jog dial control, Enter hardkey (if available), or Tungsten voice record button. The hardkey mode must be set to "Normal" in the preferences for this to work.

A paused dialog will then appear. The session progress will be suspended until one of the two buttons is selected. The session continue yes/no buttons can be selected as follows:

Tapping or touching them.

5-way navigator or Sony 5 way jog dial. Left=No (stop session), Right=Yes (continue session).

Keyboard. Backspace=No (stop session), Enter=Yes (continue session)

Press the application hardkeys. Left buttons=No (stop session), Right buttons=Yes (continue session). The hardkey Mode must be set to "Normal" mode in the preferences for this to work.

The pause dialog also has a drop-down menu which can be accessed by tapping the title bar, menu button, or the page or 5-way up/down keys. The following menu items are available:

Restart Interval - Restarts the current interval.
Skip Interval - Immediately start the next interval.
Jump to Interval... - Pop a dialog for selecting a specific interval to start.
Continue session - Unpauses the current interval.
Stop Session - Cancels the current session.
Restart Session - Restarts the current session from the beginning.
Exit PocketDoan - Exits PocketDoan. Current session remains paused until PocketDoan is re-launched and manually unpaused.

Note: Pressing the home button from the pause dialog will exit PocketDoan, however the session will remain paused until PocketDoan is re-launched and manually unpaused.

11. Session Preferences

From the menu panel there is a session preferences option. Selecting it will open a preference screen for the current session. This screen has has the following options:

Title. This text field specifies the name of the session as seen in the upper right hand corner of the main and edit screens.

Volume level (for audio alerts). 8 levels: Alarm Pref, off, whisper, low, medium, high, .wav 125%, and .wav 150%. The Alarm Pref setting follows the system Alarm Pref setting, whereas the .wav 125% and 150% settings overdrive the playing of .wav based sounds. Note: Overdriving increases the volume, but also distorts the sound (due to clipping).

Session Start Alert. Specifies alert to play when a session first starts (or when first delay countdown completes). Select None for no start alert.

Minder Trigger. PocketDoan can issue lesser alerts periodically during a session. A number of settings are available. For details on how to set unique minder tiggers for each interval set the Custom Minder Intervals section of this document.

None - No minder alerts will occur.

Start Only - Issue a minder alert only when a delay countdown completes.

Fade - Starts at a 10 second interval and slowly increases over time.

Random - Issue minder alerts at a random interval (90 to 300 seconds between each alert).

1 min Warning - Issue 1 minute to interval completion warning minders.
Halfway - Issue a minder halfway through the each interval.

Quarterly - Issue a minder alert every quarter way through each interval.

Fixed time values - These specify a fixed time intervals (e.g. 10 sec, 1 min, etc.) in which to trigger minder alerts.

Minder Alert. Use this option to select the kind of minder alert to occur. The first set of alerts in the list are short and well suited for minders. The next set includes all the interval alerts. Finally the last set includes all the .wav files located on memory cards. Note: The Screen-on alert currently only works with the 1 min Warning trigger mode.

Hardkey Mode. Controls how the application hardkeys, 5-way navigator, and jog dial controls behave when a session is running. Four options are available:

Normal - Short presses of any application button or of the 5-way select button will power off/on the device. Holding an application button or the 5-way select button for more than 1.3 seconds will pop the pause dialog. Sony jog dial and Tungsten voice record button presses will also pop the pause dialog.

Disable - All application key, 5-way, and jog dial presses are ignored. Useful for preventing accidental button triggers from disrupting a session. While a session is running, the application buttons will power off/on the device.
Hardkey Only - As Normal mode, but additionally screen taps have no effect.

Non-Meditation - The application hardkeys presses will always launch the their respective applications.

Auto-Off Mode. Sets the Auto-off timer mode. Three options are available:

Default - Uses system preferences.

10 seconds - Useful for conserving batteries. Note: For short minder intervals (less than a minute), it can still take up to a minute to power off in this mode.

Never - Will not power off until the whole session is finished.

Loop Session. Three options available: Once, Forever, and Custom. When Once is configured, the session will execute one time through and then exit. When Forever mode is enabled, the session will always start over when completed. Selecting the Custom setting causes a numerical field to appear where a number of loop iterations can be specified (e.g. if 5 is entered in the field, the session will repeat 5 times).

12. Global Preferences

From the menu panel there is a global preferences option. Selecting it will open the global preference screen. The options on this screen effect all sessions. The options are as follows:

Play alerts when selected. Enables/disables alert playing whenever one is selected on the edit or preference screens.

Confirm deletes. When selected, a confirm dialog opens whenever a interval delete is attempted.

Default Volume. Sets the default volume used when new sessions are created.

Default Duration. Sets the default duration when adding new items on the edit screen.

Default Alert. Sets the default alert type when adding new items on the edit screen.
Include /Audio in . wav file search. When checked, includes the /Audio path on memory cards and flash memory when scanning for .wav sound files.
Running Screen Color. Specifies the background color of the running screen. This is useful for controlling the running screen's brightness.

13. Multiple Sessions

The menu panel has the following options:

New Session. Creates a new unnamed session. Go to the session preferences to change the name.

Copy Session. Creates a copy of the current session.

Delete Session. Deletes the current session.

Navigating between sessions:

Select Box. On the main and edit screens tapping the select box in the upper right hand corner of the screen will produce a list all created sessions. The selected session becomes the current session.

Hardkeys/5-way/Jog dial. On the main screen the page up/down, 5-way up/down, or Sony jog dial can be used to step through all existing sessions.

The settings in the global preferences are applied to every newly created session.

14. Custom Minder Triggers

PocketDoan has the ability to periodically play "minder" alerts throughout an interval. These alerts are useful as means of reminding one to return to meditation should one's mind stray. They are also useful when doing breath work, for example as an indication to breath out or in. For more physial work such as yoga or tai-chi, they can serve as an indication to change position.

On the session preference screen there are two controls for configuring the minder settings. One is the minder trigger which determines how frequently a minder alert should trigger, the other is the minder alerts, which specifies the alert to play.

Normally the minder trigger setting applies to all intervals in a given session, however a mechanism exists which allows each interval to have its own minder trigger setting. This is accomplished by adding special text commands to an intervals text label. The following commands are available:

[n] - no minder.
[s] - start only.
[X] - minder interval of X seconds.
[X-Y] - randomize every minder interval from X to Y seconds. The time between each minder alert is randomized over the specified range.
[oX-Y] - randomize 'once' from X to Y seconds. Randomized once at the beginning of an interval. The same value is then used for the remainding minders in the interval.
[h] - halfway minder.
[q] - quarterly minder.
[f] - fade minder.
[r] - random minder (90-300 seconds).
[wX] - warn X seconds before interval ends.
[/N] - divide interval into N segments.

Notes: Any custom minder trigger command will override the session preferences trigger setting. The closing ']' character is optional. Text is case insensitive (e.g. [q] and [Q] are equivalent). Can add 's' or 'm' after X and Y variables above to explicitly specify seconds or minutes (e.g. [10s-3m]). Seconds is the default (e.g. [10] and [10s] are equivalent). Lastly, the 'Insert []' menu item on the edit screen provides a quick way of adding [] to an interval.

Example: Given a session which has four intervals named: "Warm-Up [s]", "Breath Work [6]", "Walk [q]", and "Long Sit [60-120]". The [n] in the first interval indicates a minder alert should occur only at the start of the interval. The [6] in the Breath Work interval causes the minder alert to play every 6 seconds. The [q] in the Walk interval causes the minder to occur every quarter way througth the interval. Finally the [60-120] in the Long Sit interval causes a minder alert to occur randomly every 60 to 120 seconds.

15. Hourly Chimes

With the hourly chime feature, alerts can be configured to play at the start of every hour or at shorter intervals (i.e. every 30, 20, 15, 10 minutes). This alerts are particularly helpful for meditators, as they can serve as a periodic "call to mindfulness" throughout the day.

The chime panel can be accessed via a number of ways:

Tapping the bell icon directly to the right of the edit button on the main screen.
By using the Chime Panel menu item.
Entering a 'c' character (keyboard or graffiti) on the main screen.

The chime panel has the following controls:

Enable/Disable : Select whether the chime is on or off.
Active Window : Sets when in the day to start and end the chimes. The "All Day" and "No Time" buttons select the entire day.
Interval : Use to set the interval of the chime. Options range from 1 to 60 minutes. Random mode rings on the hour and randomly in between.
Mon-Fri Checkbox : When checked, chimes will not occur on weekends.
Hourly Alert : Specifies the alert to play at the start of every hour.
Non-Hourly Alert : Specifies the alert to play when not at the start of every hour.
Volume : 8 settings: Alarm Pref (follows palm preferences setting), off, whisper, low, medium, high, .wav 125%, & .wav 150% (the last two overdrive the volume for .wav sounds).
Cradle Only Checkbox : When checked, chime alerts only play when device is charging.

The bell icon to the right of the PocketDoan's main screen serves three purposes: 1) tapping it quickly launches the chime panel, 2) tapping and holding it for 1 second toggles the chime on/off state, and 3) as the chime on/off indicator. The bell will be surrounded by 12 dots when the hourly chime feature is enabled.

The Chime On/Off Toggle menu item can be used to quickly switch the chime on and off. Also, entering a 't' character on the main PocketDoan screen will also toggle the chime state.

On older OS5 devices with 5-way navigation, pressing the left-right buttons will control the enable/disable buttons. A center press will exit the screen.

On OS5 devices, the chime alerts will always occur three seconds early to avoid any conflicts with Calender/Datebook alarms.

On OS5 Treo devices, the chime volume will automatically be dampened to whisper level during phone calls.

If the device auto-offs while on the chime panel, the current setting are automatically saved and the screen is exited.

16. Playing .wav Sound Files

PocketDoan can play .wav sound files located on either memory cards or in flash memory. This functionality allows users to have pretty much any alert sound. When PocketDoan is launched it will first scan all /Palm/Programs/Pdoan paths for .wav files. If the "Include /Audio in .wav file search" checkbox is checked in the global preferences, all /Audio paths will then also be scanned. Any .wav files found will appear at the bottom of the alert lists (for the end-of-interval, start-of-session, minder, and default interval alerts). These sounds can then be used just like the built-in ones.

The Voice Memo application available on devices with voice recording facilities generates .wav files and places them in the /Audio directory. PocketDoan can play these recordings, making it a particularly useful tool for doing guided and mantra based meditations. If you have a lot of voice recordings in your /Audio directory you can prevent this path from being scanned by unchecking "Include /Audio" global preferences box.

The following .wav sound formats are supported:

Compression types: PCM (uncompressed) and IMA_ADPCM (compressed - palm voice recording format - not supported with StyleTap® emulation or on Sony devices).
Frequencies: 8kHz to 96kHz.
Number of channels: 1 (mono) or 2 (stereo).
Data encoding: For PCM: 8 bit unsigned or 16 bit signed little endian; For IMA_ADPCM: 4 bit.

Sound files with names longer than 34 characters in length (including .wav extension) will not appear in PocketDoan's alert lists. If .wav exist with the same exact names in both the /Palm/Programs/Pdoan and /Audio directories the file in /Palm/Program/Pdoan will take precedence.

If a session is started and a selected .wav file cannot be found (e.g. card removed), a default sound will be played.

17. Utilities

To access the utilities panel select the Utilities item in the main menu. The utilities panel offers three options:

Remove .wav sounds from PDoan - Deletes all of PocketDoan's built-in .wav sounds (chime, bowls, etc.). Use this option if your device doesn't support playing .wav sounds or if you don't want them. This will free approximately 560K bytes of memory.
Move .wav sounds to memory card - Moves all of PocketDoan's built-in .wav sounds (chime, bowl, etc.) to a memory card or drive. This process usually takes over a minute to complete, but frees up around 560K bytes of main memory.
Create /PDoan dir on memory card - Creates a /Palm/Programs/PDoan directory on a memory card or drive. Any .wav sound files place in this directory can be played by PocketDoan as an interval or minder alert.

Not all options may be available (e.g. if the built-in .wav file have already been deleted or moved, options 1 and 2 will not appear).

18. Procrastination "Hacks"

I while back I did a web search for "PocketDoan" and discovered a that a number of people were using PocketDoan for doing various procrastination breaking techniques, known as "hacks". All of these methods involve the use of a multi-stage timer, and PocketDoan being one, proves to be a good fit. I'm a bit a procastinator myself and personally found these techniques quite useful. Below are some links to these procrastination "hacks".

19. Miscellaneous

There is a Clear Session menu option (from edit screen) which deletes all intervals in the current session.

There is a Default Text menu option (from edit screen) which fills in generic text into all current intervals.
If PocketDoan is mapped to one of the four main hardkeys, pressing it when PocketDoan is on the start screen will begin the current session. Also, pressing this key from the edit screen will cause a switch to the start screen.

The 5-way navigator present on some devices can be used to perform a number of tasks:

5-way left from main screen moves to edit screen.

5-way right from main screen will pop the main menu.

5-way select on edit screen to return to main screen.

5-way select on preferences screen to return to main screen.

5-way select on main screen to start a session.

5-way up/down to step through all existing sessions.

Short tap of 5-way select on running screen to toggle screen on/off.

Hold 5-way select for 1.3 seconds on running screen to pop pause dialog (need to have hardkey mode set to Normal)

5-way up/down on edit screen to change high-lighted interval.

5-way left on edit screen to select a duration for the current high-lighted interval.

5-way right on the edit screen to select an alert for the current high-lighted interval.

5-way right/left on pause screen to select the right or left large buttons.
5-way up/down (or Page Up/Down) on pause screen will pop the menu.

Entering the following characters (via graffiti or keyboard) on PocketDoan's main screen does the following:

c - Chime panel
e - Edit screen
g - Global preferences
j - Jump to interval (start session at a specific interval)
s - Session preferences
t - Toggle current chime on/off state
enter - Starts current session

20. Tips

The large circle on the main screen is button. Pressing it will start the session.

The VibeS (soft vibration) alert is well suited for group meditations where being discreet is critical. I find the Vibe and VibeL alerts to be a little too noisy. The VibeS² alert is even more discreet than the VibeS alert, especially on the Tungsten line. Typically I will load up a session with all VibeS alerts, put my PDA in my pocket, and let the vibrations tell me when to ring the "real" bell.
PocketDoan can play voice recordings created the the Voice Memo app, or alternatively voice recordings (.wav sound files) made on a PC with a microphone which have been copied to a memory card or device's internal flash drive. This makes PocketDoan a near ideal tool for structuring guided and mantra based meditations where voice cues are central.

For devices without vibration alerts, but with color backlit screens, using the 1 min warning minder trigger together with the Screen-on minder alert can be especially helpful for group sessions. This provides a silent indication (the screen wakes up) one minute before the end of each interval, giving you time to prepare to ring an actual bell or perform some other action. The screen-on alert is particularly noticeable in a dark room where the screen illumination can be detected even with one's eyes shut.

For maximum battery conservation enable the 10 second Auto-Off timer mode.

To prevent accidental hardkey presses from starting or halting a meditation session while your PDA is in your pocket, set the hardkey Mode in the preferences to "disable".
Tapping on the time at the buttom of the main screen will toggle between Now and End time. Now mode indicates the current time, where End mode indicates the time the session will finish should it be started now.
If you have a lot of voice recordings (.wav files created by the Voice Memo app) stored in a memory card's or flash drive's /Audio directory, uncheck the "Include /Audio" global preferences checkbox to prevent PocketDoan from scanning this path. Doing so will keep the alert list's size down to a more reasonable depth. You can then use a file manager tool like FileZ or card reader to copy only the voice recordings you want for PocketDoan over to the /Palm/Programs/Pdoan directory, which is always scanned.
The Running Screen Color selector in the global preferences screen is useful for controling the screen brightness while a session is running.

21. Release History

5/10/2007	v3.4.0	Support for up to 40 intervals per session. New utilities menu item with three options: 1) delete all built-in .wav sounds, 2) move all built-in .wav sounds to a memory card or drive, 3) create a /PDoan directory on a memory card or drive. New Hardkey Only key mode. New Random chime interval. Vibration support for Treo 680, 700p, and 755p models. Vibration support for for StyleTap® platform. A number of minor bugfixes.
9/18/2006	v3.3.0	New custom per interval minder triggers. New seesion loop count selector in session preferences. New running screen background color selector to global prefererences. Added halfway minder trigger type. Added 2 new vibration minder alerts (they work on Tungsten, m5xx, pre-OS5 treos, and kyocera devices). Expanded minder alert list to include all interval alerts. Added high resolution font for initial delay countdown. Fixed double alert at session end when last alert was long (>14 seconds).
6/17/2006	v3.2.0	New hourly chime feature with control panel. Added two overdrive volume levels for .wav files: .wav 150% and .wav 200%. Added new Alarm Pref volume setting. Added key shortcuts to main screen: e=edit screen, c=chime panel, g=global prefs, j=jump-to-interval, s=session prefs, t=toggle chime on/off state. Improved vibration alerts on Kyocera 6035. Fixed bug in "Goto to interval..." menu option on main screen. Improved power saving on OS5 Treo and Sony devices (device stays off more).
2/28/2006	v3.1.0	Support for running on Windows Mobile™ devices with StyleTap® emulation (fixed sound & graphics issues). Added new Mu-Yü (mokugyo) and Tingsha sounds. Exiting pause and blocking dialogs (via home button or exit menu item) now pauses PocketDoan until it's relaunched. Pause and blocking dialogs now have menus with items for restarting interval, skipping interval, restarting session, exiting PocketDoan, and others. Updated title text for pause and blocking dialogs. New seconds field replaces seconds poplist in custom time dialog. Page/5-way up & down keys pop menu on pause and blocking dialogs. 5-way right on main screen pops menu. Color changed on session selector button to make it stand out more. Progress wheel is now now drawn in high resolution. Fixed sound bug effecting some (unpatched?) Treo600 devices. Kludge vibration fix for Kyocera 6035 devices (vibration alerts work when "vibrate only" system preference is enabled). Fix bug in display of default alert selector on global preferences screen. Fixed temporary screen blanking which occured when minder alerts triggered. Fixed bug where pressing 5-way center on some devices would launch session from edit screen.
12/1/2005	v3.0.1	Fixed sound capabilities detection bug effecting some 2-button Zire devices. Fixed erratic screen on-off behavior during session runs on some OS5 devices. Fixed incompatibility issue with RecoEcho.
11/29/2005	v3.0.0	Can now play .wav sound files from memory cards and flash drives. Fixed sound preference overwrite bug effecting some OS5 devices. List problems on T\|X should now be fixed.
10/26/2005	v2.2.0	Added new flute, lark, bong, bong², & bong³ sounds. Fix for 1 minute auto-off bug effecting default auto-off mode (could play alerts twice).
9/24/2005	v2.1.2	Vibration alerts are now supported on Treo 600 & devices. Vastly improved .wav alert sound quality on T\|3, T\|E2, and LifeDrive devices. Notification alarms (for other app's) now work properly when an end-of-interval/session dialog is popped. Increased duration on Random minder trigger a bit (now 90 to 300 seconds).
9/1/2005	v2.1.1	Added new Thunder sound. Fixed bug where changing default duration in the Global Preferences panel would cause crashes (all OS versions). Fixed bug where changing duration of an interval would cause crashes (pre-OS4.0 only).
8/24/2005	v2.1.0	Custom time durations now have a resolution down to 15 seconds (in steps of 15 & 20 seconds). Total session time now appears on edit screen. Tapping the time on the main screen toggles between Now & End time. Added vibration alert support for Treo 180/270/300 devices. Pause and blocking dialogs now have red/green button color scheme. If PocketDoan is mapped to one of the 4 main hardkeys, pressing it while PocketDoan is on the start screen will now start the current session or switch to the start screen if one is on the edit screen. VibeL (long vibrate) minder alert added. Time remaining in session is now reported on pause screen rather than than time remaining in current interval. A backspace in a row without text will now delete that row. Added Tips & Mailing List items to menu Info pulldown. Amplified bowl#2. All bitmaps are now high-resolution. Can now interrupt the playing of wave sounds from edit & preference screen with screen or button taps.
2/9/2005	v2.0.0	Multi-session support. Two new singing bowl alerts. Screen-on minder alert (for use with 1-min-warning trigger). Some more colorization. OS6 Compatible. Tweaked low-resolution color icon. On edit screen page up/down keys now wrap interval selection across top/bottom. Enhanced Sony jog left-right support on main & edit screens. Added GSI to custom duration dialog. On custom duration dialog, 5-way nav left and right adjust -5 and +5 respectively. Custom duration dialog now inherits previous non-custom value. Custom duration dialog on edit screen now appears a little more to the right so that the current time setting can be seen. Line feed on edit screen now moves cursor to next line.
7/17/2004	v1.5.1	Fixed Zire21 screen blanking bug
7/10/2004	v1.5.0	New VibeS² interval alert. New Clave minder alert. Improved drum minder sound. New "Loop Session" preference. New "Warn" minder trigger type. Streamlined hardkey modes down from 5 to 3 options. 5-way nav now can be used to peek a session. Pause screen now reports remaining time in minutes. Default text used on running screen for intervals which don't have an interval description. 2 Button Zire support (for use on pause dialogs). Many other subtle improvements. Some bug fixes.
3/2/2004	v1.4.0	Can now select a session start alert. New "Rand" minder trigger preference (produces random intervals). New "Fade" minder trigger preference (starts with an interval of 10 seconds and slowly increases over time). Moved "Alert after delay" preference to minder trigger "Start" preference option. Pause screen now reports % of interval complete and interval number. Voice recording button on T\|T series is now under the hardkey mode control. Default interval text used on running screen if is none given. Improved fade on a number of .wav sounds. Fixed T\|W crash bug. Fixed an OS5 screen off bug.
2/2/2004	v1.3.0	Added new conch, faerie, & hawk .wav interval alerts. New chime, drum, & LED minder alerts. New custom duration option (allows any duration from 1 to 99 minutes to be set). Enhanced power saving: Alerts now play without waking up the screen (on most OS3.5+ devices). New non-meditation hardkey mode. Keyboard support: Enter=start/yes/continue, Backspace=no/stop. Boosted volume and reduced noise of .wav sounds. Added 10 second minder duration. Replaced bell#1 .wav sound with new bell. Removed bell#3 .wav sound. Adjusted note alert tones. Bug fix: Backlight changes now work in pause & blocked dialogs. Bug fix: hardkey presses from edit screen now pull up their respective application.
11/24/2003	v1.2.0	New .wav file alerts (chimes, 3 bells, gong, cricket, & dove) for OS5 devices with enhanced sound support. Tweaked the Tone, Rise, and Fall alerts. Holding the delete (trash can) button for 0.7 second or longer pops the "Clear All" dialog. Numerous minor updates.
11/7/2003	v1.1.0	Added high resolution icons. Added default interval duration and alert configurability to preferences screen. hardkey disable & start only modes now effect 5-way & jog dial presses (useful for preventing accidental button presses from interrupting a session). Fixed crash bug which could occur if PocketDoan was launched from a VSF card. App now about 5k smaller.
10/18/2003	v1.0.0	Initial release

22. Known Limitations/Issues

There is a maximum limit of 40 intervals per session.

PocketDoan may not operate correctly when launched from storage memory (SD card, Memory Stick, CF card, etc.). An application must be located in main memory for it to intercept alarms on the PalmOS®. PocketDoan uses alarms. If it is launched from a memory card and you exit during a running session, PocketDoan will no longer be in main memory, and it will not be able to issue interval end or session end alerts. To avoid this potential issue it is best to not run PocketDoan from storage memory.

The initial delay count can be a little choppy.

On pre-OS5 machines, the PalmOS can only wake-up the device at the beginning of each minute. To provide accurate timing, PocketDoan will wake up the device at the start of a minute in which an interval ends. The application hardkey buttons are then frozen and will remain so until the current stage ends. A lock symbol will appear in the upper right hand corner to indicate when the hardkeys are locked-out. Powering off the device (via the power button) or switching applications when the lock symbol is present can cause the duration of the current interval to be lengthened by up to a minute.

When running with minder intervals under a 1 minute with the default auto-off mode enabled, the device may not power off at all. This is because the minders will reset the auto-off timer every time they sound. Use the 10 second auto-off mode instead to ensure power off.

For non-Palm or non-OS5.0+ devices, when using minder intervals under a 1 minute with the 10 second auto-off mode enabled, it may actually take up to a minute for the screen to screen to power off.

Enhanced sounds are not supported on Sony OS3.5 & 4.x devices, nor the NX and NZ OS5 series. These devices can only play up to 8KHz sounds, and most of PocketDoan's sounds require at least 11KHz support. Down-converting them to 8KHz produced horrid results. Sorry. :(

Currently voice recordings made on Sony devices cannot be played with PocketDoan. This is because Sony failed to provide documention on how to access their IMA_ADPCM audio codec.

Vibration, LED, and .wav alerts will do nothing on devices which do not support them.

The Screen-on minder alert currently only works correctly with the 1 min Warning trigger mode.

The drawing of the progress wheel looks strange on Handera devices.

The application OKey by Tatsuo Nagaqamatsu can interfere with PocketDoan's 5-way navigator select hold behavior. Normally, when a session is running, PocketDoan will suppress the the launcher from appearing when the 5-way navigator select button is held. With OKey enabled, the launcher application will always appear.

When a session is running on a Treo 600/650/700p pressing the center 5-way navigator button will make the device sleep, but pressing it while the device is off will not wake it up (use one of the application hardkeys instead).

23. Credits

Thanks to all the those who have reported bugs and made feature requests. PocketDoan wouldn't be what it is today without this help. A special thanks goes out to David Aiken for his extensive beta testing and ideas.

24. Contact

Direct feedback (suggestions, impressions, bugs, etc.) to jstadolnik@hotmail.com. If you enjoy this application I'd love to hear from you.

25. Mailing List

If you would like to receive a notification whenever a new version of PocketDoan is released send an email to jstadolnik@hotmail.com. I'll add your address to the PocketDoan Announcement Mailing list. All email addresses received will be kept strictly confidential.

26. Legal Statement

PocketDoan comes with no warranty of any kind. As such I cannot be held liable for any data loss or damage to a system resulting from the use of this software.

PocketDoan is freeware and may not be sold for any monetary value. This software may be freely distributed, however this documentation must always be included with the distribution. Additionally, neither the application or documentation can be modified in any way.

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