DateFix 2.0.0-beta.5

Keep your Palm working after 31 December 2031. Fifth beta.

What's new in beta.5

• TimeCopy fixed. TimeCopy 1.4 sets the Palm's clock from the PC after every HotSync. Its conduit sends the PC time as Unix seconds, and the Palm application adds the seconds from 1 January 1970, which DateFix's moved epoch reads as an internal year: the clock ended up one offset too late (2062 instead of 2026 with start year 1940). DateFix now patches that year constant in TimeCopy 1.4 (the Palm application; the Windows conduit stays as it is). After updating, open DateFix once, then HotSync: the clock is right again. TimeCopy's drift statistics are spoilt by the big correction, Clear Stats resets them. Tested in the emulator with simulated conduit data (2054 before, 2026 after), not yet with a real Windows HotSync.

From beta.4 (since beta.2)

• Per-application patches. Applications that draw the year themselves (not through the system's date functions) showed the internal year. DateFix now writes the start year into the year constant of the stored code of applications in a built-in table, so they compute the real year. So far the table has one application: Date Book+ 3.0H (week, two-week and year view). Disable takes the patches out. The Test button shows apps: n, other: n and locked: n.
• ROM applications cannot be patched. For a Handspring Visor (Date Book+ in ROM) there is tools/ramcopy/make_ram_copy.py: it makes a copy of the application's .prc under its own name and creator, which runs from RAM as a second launcher icon ("DB+ (RAM)"). This release contains no copy of Date Book+; you need the .prc of version 3.0H yourself. Confirmed on a Visor (Palm OS 3.5.2H3) and, for the patch itself, on a Palm m515 and a Tungsten E2 in the emulator.
• tools/yearfinder finds the places in an application's code that draw the year, to extend the table.
• Fixed: Prepare Update now names the real offset ("28 years early"), not always 36. The default start year is 1932 (since beta.2).

Before you start: make a HotSync backup and insert an SD card if you can. Enabling converts your stored dates; dates before the start year (birthdays before 1932 with the default) are set to its first year. Emergency exit: a soft reset holding the navigator up button starts the Palm without DateFix. Please read the README.

Works on

• Tungsten T3 (Palm OS 5.2.1), Palm m515 (4.1) - tested on the devices
• Handspring Visor (3.5.2H3): the built-in Date Book is right; Date Book+ 3.0H right in every view with the RAM copy
• Tungsten E2 and Palm m515 in an emulator, including a reminder for 2032 that fires at the 2031/2032 rollover, an entry from 2025 read with the clock in 2033 and the World Clock in 2033

Everything else with Palm OS 5 or 3.5 – 4.x is expected to work but not confirmed - please report your device, Palm OS version and the Test line from DateFix (see the README).

Known limitations

• The patch table has Date Book+ 3.0H and TimeCopy 1.4. Other applications that compute or draw years themselves, and other versions, are not changed.
• Date Book+ keeps its records in its own database; DateFix does not convert them (format unknown). The hardware button and alarms start the ROM version of Date Book+, not the RAM copy.
• HotSync with a desktop transfers the internal dates.
• The window is 128 years; Palm OS below 3.5 is not supported.
• Not run on a device: time-dependent games.

Install: HotSync DateFix-2.0.0-beta.5.prc to the Palm, start DateFix, choose the start year, tap Enable, confirm the conversion. To update later use Options → Prepare Update (not Disable), then HotSync the new version.

SHA-256: 0f24ac540e238fb5098fe2363b3f072d135fc5a14489e439a2a18a989c98a3a2