How to create a background .pdb file

 

The easiest way to create a background in Initiate is simply to load an appropriate jpeg onto your sd card. You can then go to Menu/Preferences/Display and select the jpeg as a background.

If you don't have an sd card, you can put jpeg images into .pdb files which you can load directly onto your palm. This is a topic for confident PC users!

If you create any good backgrounds and own the rights to them, please do send them to me for others to share I'll upload them to my site. Ideally, please send in 320*320 , 160*160 and .pdb format.

Preparation

• Create a folder on yoru c drive called InitiateBackgrounds
• Download PAR (free application) from http://www.djw.org/product/palm/par/ and place it in the InitiateBackgrounds directory
• Download BackgroundCreator.bat and save it to the same directory.

Background Creation

• Save any images that you want to turn into .pdb backgrounds in the directory (they should be .jpg files which are 160*160 pixels or 320*320 pixels)
• Open BackgroundCreator.bat in Notepad (e.g. by dragging it onto notepad). It should look like this:

cd \InitiateBackgrounds

par c -a "stream" I8_Name1_160.pdb I8_Name1_160_jpg jpeg Rs06 Name1_160.jpg
par c -a "stream" I8_Name2_160.pdb I8_Name2_160_jpg jpeg Rs06 Name2_160.jpg

PAUSE

• Edit the BackgroundCreator.bat file to match the background(s) you are creating
  • I8_Name1_160.pdb is the name of the file that will be created in the InitiateBackgrounds directory
  • I8_Name1_160_jpg is the name of the database that will show on the Palm. This must begin with 'I8_'. The rest of the name is what you will see in the background selection menu in Initiate.
  • Name1_160.jpg is the name of the original jpeg file (in this case a 160*160 jpeg)
• In this case, two backgrounds are being created from jpeg Name1_160.jpg and Name2_160.jpg. You can create more by copying the par line, or only one by deleting one of the lines.
• Save the BackgroundCreator.bat (it should save as BackgroundCreator.bat - if it does not, you must rename it)
• Double click on BackgroundCreator.bat. A command window should open up. If there are any problems, it should display an appropriate error message
• Your background should appear!

Enjoy!