Beamer Manual
1.Index
Beamer Manual
1.Index
2.Overview
3.Beamer for Palm
3.1.Requirements
3.2.Installation
3.3.Usage
3.3.1.Sending files
3.3.2.Deleting files
3.3.3.Receiving files
3.3.4.Registering extensions
3.4.Uninstall
4.Beamer for Windows
4.1.Requirements
4.2.Installation
4.3.Usage
4.3.1.Sending files
4.3.2.Sending notes
4.3.3.Receiving files
4.3.4.Settings
4.4.Uninstall
2.Overview
Beamer is created for easy transfer of files between a handheld Palm device and a PC with an IR-port. Beamer is actually two programs working together to transfer files over IR-ftp (a standard protocol for infrared file transfer), one program for a Palm device and one for a regular PC with Windows. The programs work independently and can also be used for transfer between two Palm devices or two Windows computers, or even for sending or receiving files to or from any device that with an IR-port. They both use a graphical user interface to facilitate the transfer and make it easy to use. The two programs will be described in different parts below beginning with Beamer for Palm and thereafter Beamer for Windows.
3.Beamer for Palm
3.1.Requirements
The Beamer program has been developed and tested on Palm V or later, running Palm OS 4.0.
3.2.Installation
One way of installing Beamer on a Palm device is to send the Beamer.prc file via an infrared connection to the Palm device. The Palm device should then recognize the file ending (.prc) and then ask if you want to add Beamer as a program in your Palm device.
Another way of installing is to make use of the “installation program provided with the Palm device”, while the Palm device is in its cradle.
Once Beamer is installed you will probably not be able to see the Beamer icon on your palm right away. This is due to that #“the screen has to be updated. This can be done by tapping the calculator and then home.” A tiny database object will also be installed named Files-BEAM. This is used to keep track of the names of the files associated with Beamer.
3.3.Usage
When you start Beamer on a Palm device the first thing you will see is a list of files (probably empty the first time) with three buttons beneath it. (The files in the list are the files associated with Beamer.) The buttons are named Beam, Del File and Ext Mng. See picture below.
This is the first out of two forms in Beamer. The other is the Extension Manager which we will see later.
3.3.1.Sending files
To send a file using Beamer from your Palm device to another IR-device, select the file to be sent in the file list. Then tap “Beam”. Make sure that the receiving IR-device is in range.
3.3.2.Deleting files
To delete a file, select it and tap “Del”.
3.3.3.Receiving files
Receiving files with a Palm device is quite simple. You just have to accept an incoming file transfer, since the transfer can not be initiated from the Palm device itself. For the transfer to succeed, the file extension (ending, suffix) must be registered on your Palm device. This can be done in Beamer’s Extension Manager which we will see in the next paragraph. If the file extension of the received file is registered by Beamer the file will be added to Beamer’s file list.
3.3.4.Registering extensions
In Beamer’s Extension Manager you can register new file extensions. If you tap the button named “Ext Mng” in Beamer’s main window, you will enter the Extension Manager. Here you will find a list of extensions associated with Beamer. See picture below.
To add another extension, write the name of the extension and tap “Add”. These file types will be associated with Beamer. If you want to delete an extension, select it and then tap “del”. To exit the Extension Manager tap “Back” and you will return to Beamer.
3.4.Uninstall
To uninstall Beamer and its associated files, delete Beamer and Files-BEAM.
4.Beamer for Windows
4.1.Requirements
The Beamer program has been developed and tested on a computer runningWindows 2000 or Windows XP.
4.2.Installation
Beamer for Windows consists of only one file and need not be installed. As soon as you have the file Beamer.exe on your computer you can start Beamer.
4.3.Usage
When you start Beamer on a Windows computer this is what you will see:
As you can see there are two parts. The top one for writing text and sending it as a text (.txt) file via IR. The text file will be received as a note on a Palm device with Beamer installed. The lower part is for transferring files over IR-ftp.
4.3.1.Sendingfiles
To send a file using Beamer from your PC device to another IR-device, click the “Add files” button and select the file you want to send. They will be added to the transfer queue. In orderto make the transfer, click the “Transfer files” button. If you only want to transfer some of the files in the transfer queue, select them and click the “Transfer selected” button. You can also remove files from the queue or clear the queue by clicking “Remove selected” or “Clear queue” respectively.
4.3.2.Sending notes
If you want to send a note to a Palm device with Beamer installed, type the text in the text field and click “Transfer message”. The text will be sent as a simple text (.txt) file and can be received by other devices as such.
4.3.3.Receiving files
Receiving files with a PC is quite simple. You just have to accept an incoming file transfer, since the transfer can not be initiated from the PC itself. The received files will be saved in the folder specified in the Beamer settings.
4.3.4.Settings
If you click on the “Settings…” button you will see the settings for Beamer. See picture below.
Here you can choose if the transferred files shall be removed from the transfer queue and where to save the incoming file transfers.
4.4.Uninstall
Before you remove Beamer you want to change the default location for receiving files IR-transfer since this is a setting in Windows. To uninstall Beamer for Windows, delete the file Beamer.exe. There are no more files associated with Beamer. But since Beamer uses the Windows registry to save its settings there are some registry entries that are no longer needed. The entries can be found under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Beamer in the register. To remove them, open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe), locate HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Beamer, right-click and choose delete. This concludes the removal of Beamer.