System Info

• On the Desktop Menu: Edit / SysInfo opens a tabbed dialog box that shows just about everything you'd want to know about your system (probably more than you want to know!). Processor and System display information that is not terrifically important but may be nice to know. There is one interesting setting that you can make in System, though. Idle Time is the amount of time that your PPC will remain "awake" after it's screen or buttons have been used the last time. This is normally accessed through the Power applet in Control Panel, but that severely restricts the times that can be selected. In the System Tab, you can enter any value, in minutes. An entry of 0 means "never shut off automatically".
• "StarTap" displays information on it's internal use of resources. This would only be important if you're working with our Tech Support to find a problem. There is some information here that might be important if you have an international (not American English) version of the PPC. When StarTap is installed, it searches for the names of several important directories on your PPC. The names that it finds are listed here.
• Squirt Me! is a button at the bottom of this page. Press this one, and StarTap will copy all of it's important files into a single executable, and send itself to another PPC through the Infrared port. On the receiving PPC, just run the executable, and StarTap will be installed.
• The interesting stuff is in Memory and Battery!
• Memory is divided into three sections: Memory, Main Memory, and Storage Card. (The terminology may not be the best, but most of the alternatives are worse!) Memory refers to Program Memory where Applications actually run. This section shows the percentage of this memory currently in use, the Total size of this memory in bytes, and the number of bytes of Available memory. Main Memory is your PPC's main "disk," where files are stored, sometimes called Storage Memory. It displays the number of bytes Used, Available, and Total. Similar for the Storage Card, the same values are shown.
• The coolest part of the Memory tab is the Compact button. Press this and StarTap will do its best to squeeze the currently running applications out of whatever memory they can give up. More free memory means more programs can run!
• Battery can give you a reading on the current condition of the battery in your PPC. Unfortunately, batteries are darned difficult devices to get accurate readings on, so always take this screen with a grain of salt!
• At the top, there are five lines: Used %, Used Time, Available Time:, Total Time:, and AC Time.
• Used % is (surprise!) the percentage of battery power already consumed.
• Used Time is the time spent on Battery power since the batteries were last changed or fully recharged. Used Time is actually a button. Pressing this button resets the time to 0, indicating to StarTap that you've installed new batteries. Usually this should not be necessary. If StarTap sees that your batteries have gotten low, and then subsequently sees that the battery's OK, then it will assume that you put in new batteries or recharged them and will reset the time for you.
• Available Time is a guess. It is simply the Total Time minus the Used Time. Is this actually the amount of time you have Available? Who knows! It's a guessing game!
• Total Time is actually an Edit box where you can enter the amount of time, based on your experience, that your batteries usually last. 8 hours is entered as the default. This is probably a little pessimistic for the Nino, a little optimistic for the Casio. Your mileage may vary.
• AC Time / Charge Time shows the length of time that your PPC has been in its cradle. What that time means is detected by StarTap. The default is AC Time. This means that the batteries are not being recharged, but not being consumed, either. If this entry shows as Charge Time, that means that StarTap will assume that your batteries are recharging while it's in the cradle, and reduce the Used Time by the amount of recharging.
• To the right of these entries are four Check boxes. Put a check mark next to Enable to turn on the battery monitoring features (if it's off, everything reads 0:00:00). Put a check mark next to Notify and StarTap will keep you apprised of your batteries' condition. Each hour, StarTap will produce a dialog box saying, "You've been on battery power for xxx hours." If you don't want to be bothered, then leave it unchecked!
• Show determines whether or not StarTap displays all the available information about the Batteries. In the current generation of PPC's these data fields show as Unknown. Leaving Show unchecked leaves these fields hidden.
• Auto B (for Battery reset) controls whether or not StarTap tries to automatically detect when you've changed your batteries, and consequently reset the Used Time. If you only Recharge your batteries, rather than replacing them, leave this box unchecked. If you do replace batteries, try letting StarTap manage the Used Time by putting a check in the box. If StarTap gets confused and keeps resetting the time, then remove the check.
• There is also a small edit box, called "Rech". This is the Recharge Factor, and is a measure of how quickly your machine does its charging. The Nino seems to recharge about 6 times as fast as it discharges (1 hour of charging time will give you 6 hours of battery life). Like Total Time, this is a guess. Experiment!
• Below this on the screen, the value of the information drops off considerably! AC Status shows whether or not the PPC is in it's cradle (duh!), Bat Cond, and Back Cond give valid (though terribly imprecise) readings on the condition of your Main and Backup Batteries. High, Low, and Critical are the important readings. On the current generation of PPC's, most of the other headings will read "Unknown." Until the manufacturers build battery monitors into these little guys, we're all left in the dark! Remove the check from Show to hide these fields.