• Written by Marek Pawlowski, Editor

This program was formerly known as Note Bene until a copyright issue forced a change of name and, technically, is still in Beta form. However, the software is so near to completetion that the authors are publishing it as shareware already. In short it provides an electronic canvas on the Pilot. At its most basic level you simply use the stylus to make free hand marks on the "paper". This, luckily, is not the end of it - you also have a number of controls to turn this from a "pen and paper" type package into a comprehensive piece of drawing software. You are provided with: Pen (Free hand sketching) Circle (Dragged circle shape with variable size) Rectangle (Dragged rectangle shape with variable size) Line (Point to drag straight line) Eraser (Variable size eraser) These tools are coupled with a point size control which defines how thick the outline of shapes will be or the width of the lines you are drawing. Already the program has built up into something fairly comprehensive, but this is just the stage it was at in its very first beta edition, 0.1. Now that we have reached 0.92, with many small bugfixes along the way we have also obtained a new user interface at the start of the program. This, for me, is one of the best parts of a very good piece of software. Once you have created a drawing when you next come back to the program's start screen you are presented with a thumbnail image of the picture, along with a two line text note which can be placed next to it. As many picutres as you like (within memory restrictions) can be added and you scroll up and down the "file list" by using the arrows on screen. In the next release users have been promised a "Details" function, enabling you to assign the usual filing tags and private properties as with many other Pilot applications. The application also has a full menu system, which varies between different sections of the program, giving a flexible control system throughout. You can use it to delete records, move across the canvas (also possible using the hard scroll buttons), cut, copy and paste text, clear the canvas and gain access to the usual electronic keyboard. All said and done Dinkypad is an excellent ambassador for the fledgling market of Pilot shareware - good, stable software with many useful functions which only serve to help users, not hinder them by piling too much in.

Some artwork created by a Dinky Pad user

For information and downloads see: Daggerware Homepage

To mail the author: Edward Keyes

All information contained within the magazine is ©PMN Publications 1996.