Agendus 8.02

8.01 was a huge steaming turd, although 8.0 (if they'd left it alone) seemed fine.

Have they fixed the crash where hitting the menu button on the T3 CRASHES the thing?

Hmmm . . . . . Another thing : Probably only Mooseman will know the subtle differences in version numbers but I'm curious if they added anything in 8.02 other than hopefully stability.

They're not very forthcoming about version changes in detail and what was "fixed."
 
8.03 is supposed to be released tomorrow. There are several bugs that are still present.

I've been in communication with the developers and they have id some of the issues and I'll let you all know if it's stable enough after 8.03 comes out. A very quick turn around from .02 to point 03 of 2 days? if they hold true.
 
With coming through the gate at 902k and STILL HAVING GOOFS, 1st I really appreciate (as I'm sure everyone here does) your efforts with Agendus. No one knows more about that app than you do - I suspect even the "developers," but I'm really not debating Agendus vs Datebk5 any more.

I AM DEBATING just dumping the thing. Period. K's Datebook is freeware; the stock Palm app is pretty good if boring, and the new TealPhone will link contacts with ToDos. When Agendus WORKS it's absolutely super - 5.35 was GREAT and simple and easy to read; 7.06 brought a lot of improvements. I think they're simply trying to bundle too much in one application at too great a cost; for example linking a photo ON THE CARD to a contact costs you (I forget exactly) around 30-50k -- FOR THE LINK ALONE! That's not the jpeg - that's just THE LINK to the photo on the card!! It's easier to just name the images by contact name, pick list view in Splash or AcidImage, and go from there. At Agendus' rate, 20 pictures of contacts would COST YOU A MEG OF RAM!! In addition to the 1MB for the app! That is to say the least ludicrous.

I knew when the old 394k 5.35 jumped to 500 and then 650 and then 850k it was getting silly - a meg of RAM so you can have an icon of "scissors" for a haircut next Wednesday -- unfortunately the Datebk5 trial I downloaded 2 days ago CRASHES when loading an icon; apparently the "hi res" icons Agendus handles are "too res" for Datebk. It loaded the ugly black and white ones just fine, and for a while showed the color ones (of mine) in the list view of week -- however, tapping on details and tapping icon caused a crash, as did tapping on the icon itself.

Jeez, I just want my icons and a link to photos of address listings; I've asked Tealpoint repeatedly to DO IT RIGHT and come out with a calendar app, but they're so tied up with OS6 changes and rewrites (good ones at that) of existing products they don't have time right now. At least their stuff DOESN'T CRASH, and if it does it's fixed within the week -- permanently. You'd think with all the money Iambic are making on Agendus, how much they've touted it, how often they send REALLY ANNOYING EMAILS, and HAVING GIVEN UP ON US LOYAL TINY SHEET CUSTOMERS, they'd have the time, $$$ and ability to FIX something before releasing it or STOP releasing newer, more bloated versions of a damn CALENDAR. I don't need a GIF of Szylvia Lauren over the weekly To-Dos; I just want it to WORK.

Whew. Well I feel better. Again, thank you very much - I could think of no one else more of an authority given your experience with this product - hopefully you'll have some kind words of realism over the next few days. I'm also SERIOUSLY considering reloading the old 5.35 (the good one with the SOLID BLUE day headers instead of that goofy "this Monday" and "Next Wednesday" crap), but would probably miss a lot of the cool stuff now added like MakeSpot (that's a great help in coloring days of the month - Datebk5 does that TOO now, but I'm not reconfiguring 2 years worth of "icon building."

I'm starting to wonder how much of the time I save being "productive" is spent fixing products that are supposed to make me productive. Seems WE ALL spend a lot of time updating PC/Mac/Palm apps, and then hoping like hell we haven't loaded one that gives us MORE problems than the previous "older" one.
 
Paul, not advocating a change, however if you used Icon Manager you could re-map your current icon sets to work with Datebk5. I've done this when playing with datebk5.....(I'm a registered user of it as well).

I just simply can't get away without the contact management features that Agendus gives me.

Plus I think that Datebk5 is about the same size as Agendus now anyway. There are just so many features that I don't want to live without and hence I put up with the issues by Iambic.
 
I have Icon Manager and I renamed the icon set
Icons-DATEBK5.prc.

Like I said, they showed up for a little while but crashed on editing. You're right about size, Datebk5 is now 765k. It seems to offer more views - but like you I just LIKE Agendus and it's what I "learned on." The multiple small fonts, showing a ton of info in landscape in "next 30 days" mode, for example -- is terrific.

The ease of MOVING dates around and RESCHEDULING meetings is great. The overall "readability" is better.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so "upgrade mad" and stick with an older (or not quite so new) version and be happy - all I know is a tired a trial of 8.01 and it lasted about 9 minutes.

Thanks MooseMan and I appreciate your sticking up for Iambic like I do Teal; a year ago Iambic were a very different, fairly priced, dependable and customer service oriented company. I wonder what's changed over there?
 
I don't know that I'm sticking up for Iambic as strongly as you do Teal....however, I'm of the mind that the product is generally very good and Iambic has fallen into a situation of lack of sales that ties with the lack of PDA sales and to support a product with cashflow.

I think that Agendus 8.0 was hasitily released in an effort to generate some cash for some undisclosed reason. 8.02 was released prematurely because several of us were "hounding" them over the lack of stability for nearly 4 weeks without the patch.

It's the same old human productivity story - produce more with less.

Regardless, I believe TealPoint does a much better job of beta testing before releasing. Iambic has gotten into a state of releasing and using the user's as beta testers which is not good for long term marketing although I'll put up with it.....for a short time.

I don't feel slighted by having to pay for 8.0...it was enough of a bump in features for me to justify the upgrade. But if they do it again in 4 or 5 months - doubtful.


While I was playing with Datebk5, I found that it was a bit twitchy with HD icon's versus low definition icons. I used Icon Manager to create two different files - one low denisity which seemed to work fine and the high density version which didn't.

I reported this through a devoted Datebk 5 user in the iQue forum but that was prior to March so I haven't played with it since then.

I'll let you know when 8.03 is released and report on stability on the Treo. My T3 is still in transit back from a friend so I can't tell you how it will do on it.
 
8.03 will be delayed until next week.

I can recommend 8.02 with the following caveats:

It will goof up your birthday's. It moves them 20 years forward.

1/4 View in expanded mode has some issues - it starts 6 months ago rather than the current date. 1/4 view compact mode is not affected.

There have been other reported issues but they have yet to be duplicated by me or Iambic.
 
8.03 is out and seems to have fixed most of the bugs. It's been on my Treo now for 2 full days and hasn't caused any soft resets.

As always there are different devices with different situations that may cause specific issues on your device....however the board seems quiet so I think Iambic got it right this time.
 
I'm rapidly approaching skipping both Agendus and Datebk5. Please refer to my "Eight Reasons I'm dumping Wordsmith." They're both Huge bloated apps and in Agendus' case, constant crashes (which were mostly fixed in the 7.06 version I have), and TONS of extra required memory for linking photos -- it's the next one "in the sights" after whacking Wordsmith.


I did try 8.0 and it's okay - 8.01/2/ both had BIG problems, AND 8.03 is out as of yesterday but I haven't "risked it." Changing Agendus version is rather a pain since they keep adding Saved Pref entries (they're up to 6 now, plus 1 unsaved) and I like them to "stay together" in the Saved prefs file on the T3. For that reason I have to DELETE the older app, and then reset all the colors, icons, prefs, etc. THEN I have to hassle with moving the older one out of flash (to update) and back to flash, which almost always causes JackFlash to "compact flash." This is okay, but I don't like data "moved and defragged" unless necessary.

Add to this the upgrade fee -- not knowing when "9.0" will be "beta'd" to all of us, and if any of it willl work in Cobalt (PIM stuff is REALLY GOING TO BE AFFECTED BIG TIME) and it's cumulatively a "deal-killer." I received a rather terse forum reply from Iambic to the effect of "we've known about OS6 for a year;" and I'm not sure what that means. I know the sun is burning out slowly too . . . doesn't mean I can do anything about it. I suppose that's a $30 upgrade (OS6, not the sun!!). Go to hell.

Bottom line -- I'll stick with current version I have and see what happens. Linking photos was important to me, but now I have a separate "file" under DCIM and view them with AcidImage (SplashPhoto has gone bye-bye too). To link them in AGENDUS required something like 52k for the LINK alone, even though the pic was on the SD Card - 20 pictures and you've added 1MB to RAM and the pictures aren't EVEN IN RAM!!! Just silly. I do like the monthly view with ability to shade in days, but I suppose I could use Maximum (Freeware) to accomplish that and K's Datebook (also freeware) to do the rest.

I'm very hopeful that someone else will enter this "fray," as the people at Natara software told me when I asked them to "get involved." Bonsai is amazing, and I asked Natara if they'd consider making a calendar app. They're not planning on it now. As soon as Tealpoint are finished "OS6'ing" their stuff, I'm hopeful THEY might try one out - and of course that's as good as sold to me if they do.

In any case, "hacks" using TealMaster emulation have apparently been dealt the "death blow" by OS6 - and if I can't use TealLaunch it's all moot -- I won't be without it and won't go with OS6. That, I suppose, is a reason to perhaps look at Agendus and then slam it in flash (which is where it is now) - at least it's not a meg of RAM being taken up.

It's exhausting even talking about it . . . I just want hilited days and a few icons. Is that so hard for someone to develop? The contact linking is a joke compared to the newly configured ALPHA of TealPhone - complete version should be out in August. I need a good calendar/to do app - that's it. The stock Palm one may prove to be the best in the end - I know I've never used TealPhone before because the stock Palm address book is, in my opinion, simple and the best -- especially when used with FindHack configured to search CONTACTS ONLY.
 
For your review of Agendus.... I was gonna spend the 29, but most of all, was concerned that I'd screw up what was already working. Those tweaks we always seek. If it ain't broke, don't fix it should be our creed. Anyways, I think I saved $29 and hours and hours of aggravation.... PRICELESS!
 
Wasn't sure how to handle the title line there . . . felt a little funny saying "Dear StudMuffin."

What app do you use now? The stock Palm ToDo/Calendar? There ARE intermediate freewares that some people swear by - K's Datebook and Maximus (which crashed 3 times on me so it's outta here).

Depending how "whacky" you want to get, I'm sure there are others. We should, on this forum, start REALLY investigating the different calendar/schedule/to do apps out there, freeware and otherwise. I remember Agendus 5.35 and it really was QUITE GOOD, although didn't offer the "tinier fonts" in views, no coloring of month days in month view, and NO DAMN WALLPAPER.

I'm SERIOUSLY considering just going back to that one - bold blue day headers with THE DATE ON THEM, rather than this silly "This Monday" and "Next Tuesday" with the calendar date written in thin blue ink you can hardly read. YEP - if you can find 5.35, snag that -- it is T3 compatible and is a WHOLE LOT smaller -- I think half the size -- 400k. It is now a burgeoning 903k.
 
I'm using along with Agendus and there is some conflict regarding entering some 4 digit number in to-do's (don't show up in A5, but do in Agendus, or as it will now be termed, "Horrendous.").

The hiliting and icons work great (using Horrendous icons). I wish there was a way to make the font of "day and date" bolder, while still using "tiny." If you use standard it's lumped all over the place.

I can't see the month view if there is one - I think you get a choice of list or grid and I prefer list.

Other than that - hiliting, icons - most of what I want - for 205k and it only crashed once (which I'm sure was something I was setting incorrectly).

combine this with some sort of colored day month view (MakeSpot is a freestanding 54k freeware) and I'd have it going on - perhaps a mix of K's datebook and A5. You'd have two apps but that's not unreasonable - a button push can fix that -- hell, you have to hit Datebook (#1) button to cycle the Horrendous views anyway . . . .

Definitely worth looking at further (A5) and the first thing that hit me from the help HTML: WORKS IN FLASH!! Woohoo. This might just be GREAT . . . .
 
Given the other application from PDAPerformance, I'd have to vote for bloatware. Pretty bloatware but bloatware nonetheless. The user interface for Cantacts5 is one of the most difficult to use I've ever seen with inscrutable icons and so much eyecandy that there's hardly any room for data. I'd have to be really convinced about this new "total replacement" before I took the plunge.

I use DateBk5 and like it a lot. If I was looking for free repelacement software, it's hard to beat the combination of KSDatebook, KS ToDo, A5, MakeSpot/SpotDA, and TeikeiDA. It doesn't give you everything that you can get with DateBk5 ( I won't even mention "Horrendus":)) but it's pretty darn close for free.
 
I know that Contacts5 has links to various "tasks" and appointments.....Datebk5 has similar links.

I must admit that there is a certain addiction to Agendus because of the Contact History feature. The bloatedness is or can be an issue but the familarity almost always overcomes the negatives, at least for me.

I will remind myself and everyone else that this is the beauty of the Palm OS....it's flexibility and the number of developers both freeware and shareware: There is usually a solution for all in either category.

My actual preference for Month View is MonthPlanner because of it's ability to banner events that span multiple days however it's not configured for a 160 X 160 resolution as on my Treo.

Oh well the wait for the ultimate datebook app may have to wait till the Life@Hand bloatware trials. :D
 
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