• Portable Innovation Technology

• $30

• Uses files directly off card, without a full copy being written to RAM
• Little or no lag time, regardless of file size
• Can use files larger than available RAM
• Supports multiple card slots, if available
• Reacts gracefully when a mounted card is removed

• Takes up valuable heap space when running
• Makes the Palm OS memory manager display a false number for the amount of memory available
• Makes itself a selection in the dropdown box in Prefs
• 50 file per directory practical limit for stability

Design:
Cost/benefit:
Coolness:
Overall:

When I first used PiDirect II, I was relatively early in the process of looking for a VFS solution to work with the cards in my HandEra 330. I found a very valuable one in PiDirect II. I was able to install the software and rather intuitively go right to using it. When I first installed the program, I found it easy enough to set up that reading the manual was an afterthought.

File Manager
The program comes with a file manager which allows the movement of files between RAM and the card, but it isn't yet mature enough that it seems worth using for most. It displays the program's currently selected subdirectory, without any option to switch. The RAM app and database list is rather elegant, but the remainder of the operation is cryptic enough that I would recommend a third-party file manager. That would make it a lot easier to set up the subdirectory structure in the first place.

I installed the software and immediately put a few files into the default directory, /Palm/PiDirect. I then ran the program and discovered the first of very few things that I don't like about it: It makes itself a selection in the dropdown box in Prefs. I think I would prefer a simple stand-alone application. However, they did provide an icon that goes directly to PiDirect II in the Prefs app. This wouldn't bother registered users too much, but when I was using the trial version, it was a bit unnerving to go to Prefs and be hit with a registration nag for an app that I didn't even think I had run. I had to dismiss the nag and then go to the Prefs selection I was looking for.

Once I got the program enabled, I was quite impressed with the speed of access to applications and databases mounted from the card. In most cases, it was difficult to tell that the apps weren't actually in RAM. The only place where I found a significant lag was in the refresh of the icons list when I went back to the apps screen for the first time after enabling. The developer recommends that, in order to keep the app stable, users not mount more than 50 files per directory. Below this limit, the lag is quite manageable.

When I started using the program for the first time, I went right for the most extreme large data use I know: Mounting the 1920-to-Present detailed view of the Internet Movie Database in TomeRaider format. The app worked like a charm and TomeRaider ran perfectly.

I didn't find the VFS access inconvenient at all. Over time, I discovered a few of the finer points, one of which I feel merits mention in the review to make trying the application easier for others. Some applications don't like PiDirect mounted databases when the program is set to its defaults. It does wonders for compatibility to go into PiDirect II preferences and uncheck the option to set card databases as read-only. It was quite interesting to me how much this helped. Since only the header information is copied to RAM, the databases mounted from the card can still not be altered, but some programs just don't like for their databases to be set as read-only.

One rather surreal moment was when I first looked at Menu->Info with PiDirect II enabled. I was quite alarmed to see that my machine told me that I had 0K of memory free. I found out soon that this is simply because PiDirect II confuses the memory manager in the Palm OS. If one looks at free RAM with another utility, such as McFile, then the correct number will be displayed.

For the HandEra 330 users among us, multiple card support is available through a dropdown box in the application.

The app will also allow for switching directories while enabled. If a given directory is enabled and then another one is selected, then PiDirect II will automatically disable the first directory and enable the second. It should also be noted that it reacts well to the removal of a mounted card. I tested this without even knowing it, because I found myself occasionally removing a card while the application was enabled, forgetting to disable it first. The worst problem I had with this was a soft reset, and often not even that.

Conclusion
If a user plans on having far greater than a few MB of data on a handheld, then this is an optimum solution. It is probably not a comprehensive VFS solution for most, because it does not allow writing to mounted databases, However, for what it does, I know of no better solution. I highly recommend it for the many people out there who find 8 or 16 MB to be simply insufficient for all the goodies the Palm OS development community has to offer.