SECTION 1
Getting Started
PEN*KEY
R
6200/6300 Hand-Held Computer Programmer’s Reference Guide 1-19
Some Considerations and Guidelines
Screen
Some of the standard Windows dialog boxes are too large. For example, the file
open dialog does not fit. Running in landscape mode requires a different display
driver, VGAP.DRV. This is the standard display driver for Windows and is not
customized to the smaller screen of the 6200 or 6300 Series computer. You need
to make changes in the SYSTEM.INI file for correctly aligning the pen. Look in
the [Pen Driver] section of SYSTEM.INI. See the 6300 Forum on the BBS for
more details and a sample configuration.
Keyboard
Even though the onscreen keyboard from Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing
(SKB.EXE) is available in the toolkit, it is too wide for the portraitĆoriented
screen on both of the 6200 and 6300 Series computers. Since it is impossible to
use both landscape and portrait modes within the same application in Windows,
it is not advisable to run SKB.EXE in landscape mode. If you need an onscreen
keyboard that runs in portrait mode, you may want to write your own keyboard
application or consider ordering another keyboard application.
The Configurable Popup Keyboard from Intermec is suitable for portrait screens.
The User's Guide and software come in one package using the following part
number: P/N 215Ć601Ć001.
System Guidelines
There are other useable development environments. Here are some guidelines
that can help you determine whether a particular environment is viable for a
6200 or 6300 Application.
1. How much space is required?
Many environments assume that the target machine is a desktop or laptop
with virtually unlimited hard drive space. This is certainly not the case
with a PEN*KEY 6000 Series computer; memory is still at a premium. For
example, Power Builder is a very popular environment for development.
However, just to get an application started, Power Builder uses more than
3 MB of DLLs in addition to Windows just to run a program to display
Hello World" on the screen. Power Builder applications tend to be large
and slow; at this time, it is not recommended.
2. (Windows) How are the dialogs being stored?
This is a question you must ask if you want to use a tool that provides one
environment for both DOS and Windows applications. If the dialog
information is stored as separate files, you may find it very hard to get
adequate response time for drawing the screens. Also, some of these tools
insulate you from the Windows APIs; consequently, it becomes very difficult
to use any of the APIs that are provided for you.
3. The 6200 and 6300 Series computer uses a processor that is common to
many recent PCs, as described in the
Introduction to the 6200 and 6300
Series Computers
paragraph. But, be sure to test the performance of your
application on a comparable computer.
"
NOTE:
A PC development computer (60 to 100 MHz 486) may hide some potential speed issues
that would become evident on a PEN*KEY 6000 Series computer with a slower processor.
4. (Windows) Standard Mode Windows is smaller and runs faster than
Enhanced Mode Windows. However, you should use Enhanced Mode only if
a particular program or environment requires it. Some applications and
communications protocols require the Enhanced Mode.
1. Getting Started
