Java DOES work from the SD card, with KMaps at least!

ninodelsol · 01/19/2006, 11:20 AM

Not sure if anyone has tried this (I did a search, didn't find anything), but Java does indeed work from the SD card if you move all its files to the same folder as the app. I'm not Palm OS expert, so I think this logic is right - for sure the outcome is GREAT though. The idea was sparked during a discussion with gfunkmagic in another thread.

The only Java app I use is KMaps, which I run from the SD card. I started moving files around to various card folders trying to get KMaps to work with Java on the card. I realized that when KMaps is launched it is looking for Java in RAM. So simply moving all the Java-related files to the SD card doesn't work because KMaps doesn't know where to look for it anymore.

Well, what about just moving all the Java files with creator ID j9* and MIDP to the SAME folder as KMaps, so that KMaps can find all the files it needs? Why yes, ninodelsol, that's it! It works!

I launch KMaps from the card, it opens itself AND whatever Java junk it needs (there's my tech expertise shining again

), copies everything to RAM, then when I exit KMaps all the Java files get copied back to the card. The only Java-related file in RAM after exiting KMaps is a single J9MS ### file a couple hundred bytes in size, which is normal KMaps-Java behavior.

So again, just try moving all the Java files with creator ID j9* and MIDP to the SAME folder as KMaps and you'll be set!

Maybe this same approach works with other apps you run from the SD card. Try copying those Java files to that app's folder too.

tomvb2000 · 01/19/2006, 12:32 PM

Topic covered in this thread as well

ninodelsol · 01/19/2006, 12:42 PM

Thanks, Tom - I knew someone smart must've come up with this before!

cgordonn · 01/19/2006, 03:24 PM

I have just tried the above as per ninodelsol's method. I have KMaps running off the SD card via PowerRun. I have moved all the J9 and MIDP java files to the same folder as KMaps (palm/programs/powerrun/kmaps). There are 10 files with the J9 creator ID and 1 file with the MIDP creator ID. When I launch KMaps with the shortcut created by PowerRun, the files are loaded, but then PowerRun opens instead of KMaps. No matter how I launch KMaps (short cut or from within PowerRun), KMaps does not open and PowerRun opens instead.

Anyone have any insight into the cause of this? I use KMaps quite frequently and it is the only program I use that uses java. It would be great to free up the space that the java files takes up in ram.

ninodelsol · 01/19/2006, 03:30 PM

CG, not sure if this has anything to do with anything, but I used ZLauncher, as did the others in the thread that TomVB2000 mentioned. Maybe it's launcher-related in some way. Try downloading a trial of ZL to see if you have any luck, then I guess we'll know with more certainty if your issues are launcher/shortcut related.

bklech · 01/19/2006, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cgordonn

I have just tried the above as per ninodelsol's method. I have KMaps running off the SD card via PowerRun. I have moved all the J9 and MIDP java files to the same folder as KMaps (palm/programs/powerrun/kmaps). There are 10 files with the J9 creator ID and 1 file with the MIDP creator ID. When I launch KMaps with the shortcut created by PowerRun, the files are loaded, but then PowerRun opens instead of KMaps. No matter how I launch KMaps (short cut or from within PowerRun), KMaps does not open and PowerRun opens instead.

Anyone have any insight into the cause of this? I use KMaps quite frequently and it is the only program I use that uses java. It would be great to free up the space that the java files takes up in ram.

I couldn't get the "just copy the files to the same directory" thing to work and assumed it was omitting an implied "use with zlauncher". Since I'm a LauncherX user, I started experimenting with PowerRun.

First attempt: move KMaps into PowerRun. I knew that worked, I'd already done that before.

Second Attempt: hand copy the large java files (J9 JavaVM.prc and J9MIDPBundle.prc) into the KMaps directory for PowerRun. Running like this, I've got back most of the 2.4M that Java and KMaps take up (note that there's about 160K of other Java files floating around).

Third Attempt: hand copy ALL java files into the PowerRun directory for KMaps. I got an Out Of Memory error when I tried to launch KMaps and it left my KMaps and Java files partially installed and some deleted. Not a good outcome. So I re-installed and kept going.

Fourth Attempt: I repeated my Second Attempt above, but added the fileconnect.prc and pimop.prc libraries to the PowerRun directory. This didn't help, the first time I ran KMaps they were copied back to ram and left there.

I've been playing with the configuration from my Second Attempt above this morning and it seem to be stable. The only other thing I've since done was changed the "Hidden" attribute to on for the IBM Websphere app, since I don't want to hit that and get the error message that I don't appear to have the JVM installed. The only downside I've found to this approach is that I'm not sure the temp files are getting cleaned up correctly, and instead may be accumulating in the PowerRun directory and copied back and fourth.

cgordonn · 01/19/2006, 05:04 PM

I have tried it again, this time usng the new ZLink beta (from the makers of ZLauncher)that was mentioned in another thread. Its working great (so far) and I have freed up about 2mgs in RAM.

tomvb2000 · 01/19/2006, 05:07 PM

I don't have much experience with PowerRun or LauncherX but using ZL may play an important role. The way ZL seems to work is that when you launch a shortcut, it copies everything in the sd folder to RAM and when you are done, copies all the files back (more likely, copies the changed ones and deletes the rest from RAM).

The key is that ZL just goes by the list of files in the SD folder. If PowerRun goes strictly by creator id, it won't manage the full list since it's a mix of MIDP,J9*, and IVNM (for KMAps) IDs. I thought LauncherX used a "bundle" concept where you could mark the files that should be managed - that at least would let you pick all the right creator IDs.

The key list of Java files is:
fileconn.prc
IBM Java VM.prc
IBM PIM Prefs.prc
J9 Exchanger.prc
J9 Java Launcher.prc
J9 Java VM.prc
J9 MIDP Bundle.prc
J9 WebServices Security.prc
J9 WebServices.prc
j9keystore.prc
j9secpol.prc
PIM.pdb
pimdll.prc

The J9 Database*, J9MS*, and J9RMS* files can be ignored since they are about 3K each and temp files created at run time (the names will change every invocation since they likely have a date/time stamp encoded).

ninodelsol · 01/19/2006, 05:08 PM

Interesting theory, Tom. I bet that must be it.

ninodelsol · 01/19/2006, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cgordonn

I have tried it again, this time usng the new ZLink beta (from the makers of ZLauncher)that was mentioned in another thread. Its working great (so far) and I have freed up about 2mgs in RAM.

Glad it's working for you!

ninodelsol · 01/22/2006, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomvb2000

...The J9 Database*, J9MS*, and J9RMS* files can be ignored since they are about 3K each and temp files created at run time (the names will change every invocation since they likely have a date/time stamp encoded).

I found that with KMaps I could not ignore 2 J9RMS* files. I would periodically delete them all from RAM thinking they were all just temp files (even though they are small files, they collectively can put a small dent in RAM as they build up over time with frequent KMaps use.)

But then I found that my email/password were not saved and that I had to enter them everytime I launched KMaps. Plus, my saved addresses were always missing.

I cleared them all out again, launched KMaps, entered my email/password, then saved a few addresses. After some experimentation, I found that the login info was in one J9RMS file and the saved addresses were stored in another. So copying those two files to the KMaps folder allows me the peace of mind to periodically delete all the J9RMS files from RAM when they start building up, without worrying about losing my login info and saved addresses.

Just a thought for those RAM nitpickers out there

tomvb2000 · 01/22/2006, 03:09 PM

Thanks for the useful clarification. I hadn't noticed that since I hadn't been deleting the J9RMS files. I've moved mine to the KMaps folder on the sd so they don't get accidentally deleted.

vMAC · 02/18/2006, 12:41 AM

Hmm, I can't get this to work. Any help would really really be appreciated.
Blah, didn't work! Are you saying I must use Powerrun to get this to work? Or that I must use zLauncher cause that really doesn't make any sense? Why would I install an app on the RAM so that i can take other programs out of RAM I'm still losing valuable space in the RAM.

ninodelsol · 02/18/2006, 10:19 AM

It's good for those using ZLauncher already since they don't have to add anything to RAM. But if you don't already have ZLauncher, try PowerRUN (PowerRUN-specific instructions are found in another thread) or ZLink since they have smaller file sizes. Even if you have to add one of those two, having either one in RAM takes up less space than having both KMaps and Java there. You'll still have a net gain in RAM due to the file size differences.

If you don't want to spend any additional money, go with ZLink since it's still free while in beta stage.