Back to Palm OS
Over the winter I was super into Palm Pilots, I even picked up a few new ones and swapped the batteries. My current collection includes a Tungsten E, Tungsten T3, Tungsten C and a Handspring Visor. I was daily driving the C for quite awhile, but fell off when I upgraded my phone.
Well, today I'm going back! I recently posted on Mastodon about my struggles trying to track calories. Everything on the iOS store is enshittificated garbage. I shouldn't have to pay a monthly fee, see ads, have my data sold, create an account and agree to ToS to track freaking calories.
Palm Pilots are from an era when software was allowed to be complicated, and to that end there are a number of applications that allow you to essentially create your own applications! Using SmartList To Go, I was able to create a database with a form for entering and tracking daily calories. It's not complex, but it doesn't need to be.
I have a screen for seeing my daily log, sorted by meal then calorie count. There's a form for recording a new entry, and there's a screen to sum up all the calories in the day. I also keep a running log in each entry of the daily calories (previous record total + current calories).
I might expand the functionality by adding a second database that remembers food items and their calories, then join it in with the log view so I don't have to lookup calories each time. The fact that it's an option to do that is awesome.
I also love that there's the ability to build logical evaluators in computed fields. Yeah, I had to download and read parts of the 136 page SmartList To Go 3.0 Handheld Reference Guide, but why is that such a bad thing? Why have we given up on making software that serves our needs, and instead just let companies shovel subscription based crap at us?
SmartList was not free back in the day (looks like it was $50 USD, which is $84 today), but quality software shouldn't have to be free. What it should have to be is yours. Pay once, no ads, no data collection, no online requirement. Someone that paid for SmartList in 2005 can still get value out of it 21 years later.
Wish me luck as I restart my journey of weight loss, hopefully I can shed some pounds and get faster on the bike! I'll also be using the Weight Tracker application I previously wrote for Palm OS.