(Last edited March 4, 2008)

These are undocumented Graffiti short cuts mainly for Palm developers to aid in program debugging that can change some Palm settings. You simply run Memo Pad, or any other text based application (ie. DateBook, Address, etc) create a new Memo or text entry and input the dot short-cut.

The short cut looks like a script or cursive “l”. You start the stroke from where the “.” (dot) starts and continue the stroke as shown in the image. Anyway, here are the dot short cuts. Remember, please use these with caution as you may have to do a hard reset to revert back to the state it was before. So backup your files and apps before you try them. These were taken from http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/visor/dot-shortcuts.html and other internet sites but these shortcuts are well known amongst veteran Palm users. If done correctly with the shortcut and then the dot and the letter or number, you should see a brief notification flash before you before it disappears.

Caution. These are mainly for programmers and usually don’t benefit regular Palm users and as discussed, may cause more problems than you would want or expect.

.i Enable Beam-Receive for a brief period of time. Initiates a beam receive. Using this shortcut will cause the device to begin waiting for a beam.

.s Toggle between serial and IR modes. In serial mode, data normally transmitted via the IR port is sent over the serial port. This shortcut toggles the output port of infrared data between the built-in IR port and the built-in serial port.

.t Toggle loopback mode for the IR Exchange Manager. This mode is useful for debugging applications that beam data. Enabling this mode causes beamed data to be immediately received on the same device (ie: the IR hardware is bypassed). This is useful for testing your beaming or exchange manager code. NOTE Enabling this mode will cause more stack space to be used than a normal beam.

.1 Open the serial port (debug mode). Soft reset to close. CAUTION: Serious battery drain if left open! This will enable the Palm device in debugger mode and waits for a low-level debugger to connect. A flashing square appears in the top left corner of the device. This mode opens a serial port, which drains power over time. You must perform a soft reset to exit this mode.

.2 Open the serial port (console mode) and waits for communication, typically from a high-level debugger. Soft reset to close. This mode opens a serial port, which drains power over time. You must perform a soft reset to exit this mode.

.3 Turn Auto-Off off. So the Palm NEVER turns off. To turn the Auto Off back on, you’ll need to go into the Prefs, Power settings and set the Auto-Off time again. To exit this mode, you have to do a soft reset.

.4 Flash username and ID; the ID number represents the Windows Registry Key for the desktop software that sets the install flag, denoting whether there are files to be installed (thanks to Erwin Schomburg).

.5 Remove user configuration (username and 4 digit ID) and hotsync log. CAUTION: If you re-sync after doing this shortcut, duplicate entries will be created! Instead, perform a hard-reset and then sync with “PC Overwrites Palm”.

.6 Displays the ROM hardware build date and time.

.7 Cycle through battery type settings. The battery-types are: Alkaline/NiCad/Rechargeable Alkaline/NiMH. Selecting the proper type of battery displays the corresponding “fuel” gauge. This will adjust the time when the low battery warnings appear.

NOTE 1: NiMH setting only available in OS 3.3 and later.

NOTE 2: (courtesy Fred Maxwell): selecting NiMH, NiCad, or Rechargeable Alkaline batteries through the .7 shortcut results in the Visor Neo disabling beaming. If you attempt to beam a file after changing to a battery type other than Alkaline, you get the following message:

“Power Manager: Beaming has been temporarily disabled because the combination of features you are using requires more power than currently available. (Pwr 1E03)”.

Suggested Workaround: When you need to beam data, change the battery-type to Alkaline, perform the beaming and then change it back to the appropriate type.

.8 Toggle the “inverse” backlighting on the Palm V or Palm IIIx. NOTE: If you upgrade from an older Palm device, this will not work unless you delete the Graffiti_ShortCuts.PRC from your backup directory BEFORE you do your first HotSync. If you’ve already performed a HotSync, you’ll have to back everything up, delete the file mentioned above, hard reset your device, and then HotSync. (CESD, of DateBk3 fame, is working on writing this capability into dbScan).

.9 Displays the ROM image revision date. This differs from .6 in that this is software related and .6 is hardware related. If you’ve updated your ROM via download updates, this will reflect the date of the update.

Simulation showing various dot shortcuts

Alternative Flash links: MyFileStash (disable pop ups first), MyFileHut

The simulation will play through to the end unless I’ve inserted a pop up note to explain specific points.

To continue playing the simulation, press the button.
To go back to a previous paused segment, click on the button.
To pause the simulation at any time, press the button. To continue after it’s paused, press the button again.

To scroll forward or backward in the simulation, click anywhere on the left (to go back earlier in the simulation), or right (to go forward in the simulation) on the progress bar.

This simulation will only show the various shortcuts that work (not all the shortctus work as they are device specific).

Restoring default shortcuts

If for whatever reason, you have “lost” or deleted your shortcuts and want them back, and provided that you routinely back up your Palm folders in Windows, you may be able to restore them back.

Search within your Palm folders for a file named Graffiti_Shortcuts_.PRC. Usually, your Palm folders are located in the following areas:

C:\Palm

C:\Program Files\Palm

C:\Program Files\PalmOne

or similar paths

If you don’t have a backup of the Palm folder, you could try this:

1 - Make a written note of all your manually-entered shortcuts. To find them, go under the Prefs application, select Shortcuts. If you don’t have any personally created shortcuts, you can skip this step.

2 - HotSync your handheld

3 - Make a backup of your C:\Palm\MyHotsync or similar folder

4 - Do a hard reset to completely erase the device and restore all files and settings (including the default shortcuts) back into the Palm device.

5 - HotSync your handheld, but with a new user name (eg.Test or other name) so that the default shortcuts will be loaded and saved in the computer’s backup folder.

6 - Do a hard reset again.

7 - HotSync your handheld, but this time with your original user name.

8 - Go to C:\Palm\Test (or whatever the temp other username)\Backup. Look for Graffiti_shortcuts_.PRC and install it back into your Palm (either via Quick Install or other methods).

9 - HotSync to get the Graffiti Shortcuts into the computer under your regular hotsync name’s backup folder.

10 - Re-enter all your manually entered graffiti shortcuts that you wrote down from step 1.

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