Welcome to Palm'n'Stein 4.2 for OBDlogger.com!

This release offers better performance, new features, color charts, and a vastly different user interface.

If you are used to using a stylus to operate applications on your PDA, you are in for either a real treat or a lot of frustration. Once you have it set up, it is possible to log and play back the results with only two button presses.

Chart sizes change based on the number of items being view. One item, whole screen, two items half screen, thre items, normal size.

Instead of the stylus, Palm'n'Stein uses ALL of the Palm buttons (including the power button) to make selections.

Because the interface can be confusing, there is a new menu option.

It is the "How to work the logger" drop down.

Depending on the currently active form, the information displayed by the help will vary.

Now, lets discuss the buttons found along the lower edge of the Palm Pilot.

There are a total of seven buttons. They are the power, calendar, address, up/down, "to do", and memo buttons.

For our purposes, we will refer to them as the power, f1, f2, page up/down, f3 and f4 buttons.

Each button means something different depending on what screen is currently displayed. The ONLY exception to this is that f1 ALWAYS means go back to the previous screen unless you are on the main screen.

 

 

 

 

Now, lets talk about the actual screens and what they do.

 

This screen is used to select the operating parameters of the logger.

You normally get here by pressing the Page Up button while on the main screen.

Pressing F1 will take you to the next configuration screen.

Pressing F2 toggles the value of the selection which appears in bold. It then takes you to the next selection.

Page up, moves the bold setting to the previous selection.

Page down, moves the bold setting to the next selection.

The power, F3 and F4 buttons are NOT used, and are ignored.

The selection options are:

DRB 1st Gen DSM, selects logging for 90/94 DSMs.

OBD-II  T16 selects logging for virtually ALL OBD-II vehicles (except CAN).

Test Mode allows the application to be run without being connected to the vehicle. This allows you to learn the user interface while your family watches figure skating :)

Chart frames causes a frame to be draw around the graphs in both log and play back mode.

Digital mode switches from charts to a text display of the data. Depending on the number of items being logged, the font is a different size.

 

Fast log mode (if visible) permits you to select fast mode (normal), or slow mode. Normally, this control is NOT available, and the logger operates at the fastest possible sampling rate.

Scale charts by time is used to display the data in a time relative format WHILE LOGGING. It does not have any effect during play back.

Auto save/play causes the logger to automatically save the log file when logging stops. It will then take you to the playback screen for that log file.

Single Chart graphs all viewable items on a single large (full screen) chart.

Color enables color charting on PDA's that support color.

Monitor places the logger in monitor mode. No data is logged, and no log file is saved.

Auto Start causes the logger to check the engine RPMS every 30 seconds. When it sees the RPMS exceed 1000, the logger automatically starts.

After you choose your operating setup, press F1. When you do, the list of logable items will be displayed.

Depending on your choice of OBD-II or 1g DSM, you will get either one of these two displays.

If you select OBD-II, you will have 15 possible items to log. Not all items are available on all cars. The logger queries the car to determine which items are supported, but it does not do this until logging has begun. If you DO try to log unsupported items it will remove those items from the selected list.

Items are selected in the same manner as on the previous screen. Pressing F1 on this screen takes you to the main screen.

 

 

This is the main panel. Nice huh? Your first reaction is probably "ok, now what do I do".

If you are NOT using the digital mode, the first thing you probably want to do is to select the items that you want to chart.

The previous screen defined the items you are logging, but since you can only chart three items, you need to define which ones (or none) that you wish to display.

The default is to always display the first three items selected for logging.

To define the items for charting, press the power button.

 

This screen appears when the power button is pressed. It is available only on the play back screen and on the main (logger) screen.

Pressing F1 returns to the previous screen. The power and F4 buttons are not used.

The objective to this screen is to transfer one or more choices from the scrollable list to the three lines below it.

Use the up/down buttons to select a logable item. Pressing F3 transfers your selection to the line with the '->' characters next to it.

F2 scrolls the '->' characters to the next line. You can also choose and transfer items by tapping on the scrollable list item and then tapping the line you wish it to transfer to.

Choosing none means no chart will appear in that position. The log and playback screens allow for up to three charts. The three lines represent those three chart locations.

 

 

OK, now back to the main logger screen.

The F1 button starts logging. If pressed during logging, it toggles the peak hold. When 'on', a "P" appears in the title bar and the digital values represent the peak value observed. F2 pauses/resumes logging, F3 stops logging and pops up the save file screen, F4 brings up the log file play back screen.

If you are not logging, AND the car is a 1g DSM, F3 will bring up the DRB actuator test screen.

Page up/down operate differently.

If NOT logging, the Page Up button brings up the configuration screens and Page Down displays the screen used to show/clear engine codes. We will discuss that screen later.

If you press the power button while logging is under way, the display toggles between chart mode and digital mode.

If you ARE logging and "scale by time" is selected then the page up/down buttons control the proportional effect of time on the chart axis.

 

Let's discuss the logger screen. In this shot we see see that we are logging and the values for Rpms, o2v, and timing are being displayed in both digital form and graphically. Because each chart has a frame around it, it's obvious "chart frames" has been selected.

Let's discuss the title line at the top of the screen. This line is used to display status information. If you press F3 to pause the logger, the status line changes to indicate that logging is paused. While logging is paused, you may resume it by pressing F1 or end it by pressing F3.

While logging is under way, the status line gives you some information regarding logger operations.

If your PDA supports color, then the lines will be drawn in color. Blue indicates an increase in value, and red indicates a decrease.

The number following the "B:" represents the amount of logging buffer used. It starts at zero and when it hits 8000 the buffer is flushed to the log file and the pointer resets to zero.

The number following the "R:" is the sampling rate. It tells you the number of parms being logged during a one second interval. The higher this number is, the better.

The number following the "D:" is the loggers self adjusting performance threshold. The logger will always attempt to log at the fastest possible rate. If errors are encountered, the rate drops and this number increases. You want to see zero in this field.

The number following the "E:" tells you the number of errors encountered while logging. Obviously, you want to see zero in this field as well.

Now, let's discuss the lap timer. If you tap on the screen during logging, the lap timer starts. If you tap it again, the lap number increments and the timer resets, just like a stop watch. When logging stops, the lap times are added to the memo file. The lap number and time appear at the top of the screen on the left side.

Here is an example of how the one and two chart screens appear. In two/three chart mode, one item is graphed in each chart. In one chart mode, up to three items may be graphed on the one chart.

Lets look at the log file play back screen now.

This is the log file playback screen. You get here by pressing F4 on the main screen.

The power button is not used on this screen.

The F1 button will return you to the main screen.

The page up/down buttons will allow you to scroll through the list of log files.

The F2 button selects the log file and begins the play back.

The F3 button selects the log file and transfers it to the TunerStein Player component.

The F4 button selects the log file and DELETES it. There is a confirmation required to actually delete the file.

 

 

This is the play back screen. Once you have selected a log file and press F2 this screen appears.

The F1 button takes you back to the log file list screen after showing you the peak observed values (press F1 again to clear).. If pressed during logging, it toggles the peak hold. When 'on', a "P" appears in the title bar and the digital values represent the peak value observed.

The F2 button stops play back while "playing". When not playing, it displays the log file notes.

The F3 button steps back one frame.

The F4 button steps forward one frame.

The Page Up button starts continuous play back.

The Page Down button rewinds to the beginning of the log file.

If you press the power button while logging is under way, the display toggles between chart mode and digital mode.

 

You may also drag your finger across a chart, and it will scroll in the same direction that your finger moved.

The status line at the top of the display shows the current frame number and the time index for it.

These are the log file notes. When the file is saved, the date, time, file size, protocol, and logged elements are placed in a memo file. You can add your own notes to this memo file.

Make your changes and press F1 exit and save the changes. You can also press F4 to exit without saving the changes to the memo.

Press F2 to bring up the Time Slip entry screen

Press F3 to bring up the Car Setup screen

When you delete the log file, the associated memo file is also deleted.

 

 

 

 

The final aspect of Palm'n'Stein is it's ability to display and clear DTCs (why is my check engine light on).

This screen allows you to retrieve and clear the codes behind you check engine light.

The power button is not used.

The F1 button returns you to the main screen.

The F2 button gets the trouble code list from the vehicles on board computer.

The F3 button is not used.

The F4 button clears ALL of the codes and turns off the check engine light (OBD-II only).

The page up/down buttons scroll though the list. As each line is selected, the explanation of the code appears in the area below.

 

 

In this example, there are three engine codes and the check engine light is illuminated. The description of the first code appears in the area below the list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The screen shown below is the DRB actuator control panel.

F1 returns to the main screen after stopping all running tests.

F3 starts the selected test, and stops any previously running test.

F4 stops the running test

Page up and down scroll the selection list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This screen allows the drag racer to enter his time slip information.

Once the information is entered, pressing F2 will save the slip data and show the NHRA corrected E/T and MPH while pressing Page Up will show the numbers corrected for temperature/humidity (not yet implemented).

F1 saves the slip data.

F4 discards the slip data.

F3 will display the car setup form.

 

 

 

 

This form lets you enter data for how your car is set up.

F1 saves the data.

F2 shows the Time Slip form

F4 discards the data.