cPax v1.6 | Synaptics cPad Enhancement tool

[sn0wl]

cPax - Synaptics cPad Enhancer

Kadir AKSU

Version 1.6 Beta 3 added 27-MAR-2006

cPax is a replacement for the original "cPad applications" provided by Toshiba.

You need a Synaptics cPad to use this application. Synaptics Drivers 7.12.7 is recommended. cPax will probably not work with Synaptics Drivers 7.5.11 and below.

Run cPax Installer and follow on-screen instructions to install the program to your startup folder and Toshiba Console (if you have it installed). After installation you no longer need any setup files. You can also use cPax without installing. Beware that there is no uninstaller.

It is highly recommended to let installer modify your drivers and install Hybrid Synaptics Drivers. This modification fixes some compatibility and virtual scrolling problems. You need this modification to use all features of cPax Beta.

I take no responsibility of any damage that this application may give, but it shouldn't give any. cPax is freeware and does not include any adware/spyware.

It's NOT recommended to keep the cPad backlight always on as it has a life (about 1000-3000 hours).

-Features-

- Displays constant and animated wallpaper.

- A digital clock that can be modified in terms of size and position.

- Date info that can be modified in terms of size, position and style.

- Ability to turn backlight on/off.

- Ability to set an alarm.

- Battery info and low battery alarm.

- Application Launcher to open applications of your wish.

- Winamp and iTunes control.

- Displays song title.

- Easy access by using Toshiba Controls.

- Compatibility with original cPad applications.

-Installation-

Recommended installation sequence of cPax is;

1. Uninstall any installed Synaptics drivers by using Add/Remove Programs control panel (if you already have Synaptics Drivers 7.12.7 installed please skip to step 5).

2. Restart your computer.

3. Install Synaptics Drivers 7.12.7 found in this topic.

4. Restart your computer.

5. Install Original cPad applications found in this topic if you want to use original applications as well (Calculator, Signature Capture, Sticky Note, Calendar and Keypad). If you already have those installed please proceed to next step.

6. Install cPax and allow it to modify installed drivers when asked.

7. Restart your computer.

If you declined Hybrid Driver installation when asked, you can run setup again and let it use Hybrid Drivers. Hybrid Drivers are very useful as explained above and you need them to take full advantage of cPax.

Click here to download cPax v1.6 Beta 3

Click here to download Synaptics Driver v7.12.7 MultiLanguage (7.6 or higher is recommended for cPax).

Click here to download Original cPad Applications version 2.1.0.3

-Changelog-

Version 1.6 Beta 3

[Core]

- Fixed scripting warning of iTunes upon exit.

- Fixed possibility of opening iTunes again upon exit.

- Fixed a memory leak while using iTunes as media player.

- Artist name will also be shown while using iTunes as media player.

Known issues:

-Exiting iTunes will freeze cPax for about 30 seconds when iTunes is used as media player.

-If seconds counter/animated wallpaper is not shown, screen will not update the song info until next refresh. This is an old bug, nothing in particular to 1.6b3.

-There is still a memory leak with iTunes.

-There might be corruption in texts of iTunes after a long time use. Can be fixed by closing and opening iTunes again.

Version 1.6 Beta 2

[Core]

- Reduced high CPU usage while using iTunes as media player.

- Fixed Pause media button with iTunes.

Known issues:

-Exiting iTunes will freeze cPax for a while. It will go back to normal after several seconds. Cause and fix is unknown.

-iTunes may warn you about scripting that is used by cPax when exiting.

-If seconds counter/animated wallpaper is not shown, screen will not update the song info until next refresh. This is an old bug, nothing in particular to 1.6b2.

-There is a memory leak when iTunes is used.

Version 1.6 Beta 1

[Core]

- Fixed a compatibility bug that prevents mouse from moving in settings of original cPad applications.

[settings]

- Added option to make text backgrounds transparent.

- Added iTunes support.

[installer]

- Installer now adds tweak to fix scrolling line bug.

- Installer adds various registry settings for some other minor settings.

Known issues:

-Exiting iTunes will freeze cPax for a while. It will go back to normal after several seconds. Cause and fix is unknown.

-CPU usage of cPax can be a little bit higher than normal while using iTunes as media player.

-iTunes may warn you about scripting that is used by cPax when exiting.

-iTunes may open again after you closed it if iTunes is selected as media player.

-Pause media button does not work with iTunes.

-If seconds counter/animated wallpaper is not shown, screen will not update the song info until next refresh. This is an old bug, nothing in particular to 1.6b1.

Version 1.5 (from version 1.0)

- Increased maximum animation speed (10-0.2 fps).

- Revised main code to get rid of flickering problem. Screen now refreshes when needed.

- Added internal compatibility mode for old cPad applications - Calculator, Signature Capture, Sticky Note, Calendar and Keypad. Core will also keep backlight on while using these applications.

- Completely rewritten GUI and a new logo thanks to Sch0rsch.

- Added date info.

- Settings application now loads faster.

- Settings application now uses less CPU.

- You can now switch between Original cPad application and cPax when it is installed and used with Hybrid Synaptics Drivers.

-Notes-

- Compatibility mode in core will also keep backlight on while using Calculator, Signature Capture, Sticky Note, Calender and Keypad.

- For animation, files should be named as XXX1.bmp, XXX2.bmp, XXX3.bmp, XXX4.bmp ... Also all files must be in \animation\XXX folder.

- You can use small .wav files for alarm tone, just replace supplied Ring.wav file. Tap cPad to stop alarm.

- Battery alarm will sound when battery level is less than %10.

- You can download cPaXtra1 here. It is wallpaper/animation pack for cPax. Just unzip and copy all files to cPax folder in ...\program files\toshiba\cPax.

-Uninstallation-

Uninstallation is easy done manually

1. Kill the running cPax process.

2. Delete the cPax folder in c:\%PROGRAMFILES%\Toshiba.

3. Delete the cPax entry in the StartMenu StartUp folder.

Please note that you cannot uninstall Hybrid Synaptics Drivers. If you want to revert to your original drivers or something else, uninstall the driver from Add/Remove Programs control panel, restart your computer and install which driver you want.

Thanks to RRR for his support/installer.

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions/gave feedback!

Please give feedback to help development of cPax. Thanks.

Edited April 7, 2006 by sn0wl

[Bergevenny]

Yay!

Thanks very much Sn0wl! BRILLIANT!!

[®®®]

Thanks Kadir for continouous support even though warratny (of our laptops) is over :)

[sn0wl]

You are welcome.

Added v1.6 Beta 2.

[Bergevenny]

Hmm.. So what does the transparent text background option do?

I'm downloading v1.6 Beta 2 at the moment!

[sn0wl]

Clock, date, battery info and song title texts had white boxes around them. You can see that if you have a background picture. This sometimes ruins the background picture. However, now you can make these boxes transparent if you want to.

[Bergevenny]

Oh right - yes, I tend to use the writhing dragon animation rather than a pic, so hadn't encountered that situation. But the transparent text box sounds excellent.

v1.6 beta 2 works fine! Many thanks indeed!

Umm.. if you have plans for further updates, would it be too awkward to add in the Calendar wallpaper that cPad used to have? I guess a few people tended to use it, as it was quite handy to have an at-a-glance this month's calendar always there. But cPax Calendar is only a couple of clicks away, so it's not desperate. I just wondered if it was feasible to add that facility to cPax? I realise that the use of the pad screen for other things like date, time, battery and backlight icon would obscure the calendar.

Anyway, thanks for a BRILLIANT program, which brightens up my day!

[sn0wl]

Thank you, I'm also glad beta 2 is working without any problems. I would like to hear more about iTunes usage tho.

Calendar background, if I'm not mistaken, is provided by SynTPEnh which we need to disable to use cPax itself so I don't think that can be done. At least I don't know a way to do so, sorry :)

I would have make the release full but there are some issues that I listed. I can't seem to find a way to fix some of them like the freeze and warning about scripting after exiting iTunes. I will dig around more when I have more time. 1.6 will be in beta stage for a while...

[Bergevenny]

I haven't been using iTunes (yet) so haven't had a chance to try it out on cPax - but I'm keen to give it a go. Everything else is working well. I'm so pleased!

Thanks again

[sn0wl]

Added cPax 1.6 Beta 3. It's a bugfix release. Most issues plus one recently discovered issue (memory leak) are fixed.

[Bergevenny]

Thanks for cPax 1.6 Beta 3 - it's working well!

[sn0wl]

Thanks, but actually there are still problems with iTunes. There is again a memory leak and a freezing problem on exit. Also I saw problems with texts in iTunes after a long time of usage. I hope I can fix them - when I have time :) There is no problem with 1.6 if you don't use iTunes as player, rest of the Core is the same with 1.5.

[Bergevenny]

Oh well - I don't use iTunes, so it doesn't really matter for me. I have noticed that I sometimes lose cPax while using Adobe Acrobat. When that happens, pressing the middle button no longer brings up the cPax applications screen (or anything else) though the touchscreen continues to work. It's not a great problem, as I can get into the cPax setup via the Toshiba console and save and exit - and it restores it with no probs.

I'm not sure if it's just the way Acrobat works on my machine or something else - no other application has this effect on cPax.

Anyway, cPax is BRILLIANT program, and I'm really happy with it, so thanks very much!

[Bergevenny]

Any more developments in train with cPax? Just wondered!

[sn0wl]

Nope, too busy to touch the code.

[Guest Thomas]

Hi,

I am quite happy with cpax v1.6 beta. Just one little thing, I am unable to come back to the original cpad installation. When I select use original cPad application, I only see a blank screen. From the Toshiba console, I can open small display properties, which pops up the menu to configure the old cpad stuff. But nothing happens on the cpad itself. Any ideas ? Already tried to uninstall and install everything following the recommended procedure. Thanks Thomas

[sn0wl]

Hi,

I am quite happy with cpax v1.6 beta. Just one little thing, I am unable to come back to the original cpad installation. When I select use original cPad application, I only see a blank screen. From the Toshiba console, I can open small display properties, which pops up the menu to configure the old cpad stuff. But nothing happens on the cpad itself. Any ideas ? Already tried to uninstall and install everything following the recommended procedure. Thanks Thomas

Thank you. For your problem, I got no reports that legacy applications are not working so there should be something wrong or missing. Legacy support was a trivial thing to achieve and may yield those kind of problems so from now on do these step by step:

1- Go to control panel and uninstall cPad applications.

2- Restart.

3- Go to control panel and uninstall Synaptic Drivers.

4- Restart.

5- Download and install Synaptics Drivers 7.12.7 found in this topic.

6- Restart.

7- Download and install original cPad applications.

8- Restart.

9- Install cPax Beta 1.6 and when asked be sure to let it insall Hybrid Driver Solution.

10- Do a final restart just in case and see if they work now.

[Guest Guest]

Thank you. For your problem, I got no reports that legacy applications are not working so there should be something wrong or missing. Legacy support was a trivial thing to achieve and may yield those kind of problems so from now on do these step by step:

1- Go to control panel and uninstall cPad applications.

2- Restart.

3- Go to control panel and uninstall Synaptic Drivers.

4- Restart.

5- Download and install Synaptics Drivers 7.12.7 found in this topic.

6- Restart.

7- Download and install original cPad applications.

8- Restart.

9- Install cPax Beta 1.6 and when asked be sure to let it insall Hybrid Driver Solution.

10- Do a final restart just in case and see if they work now.

Hi,

I was following your recipe with all the reboots and in fact, I got the old calendar back until I did step 10. After having launched cPax, whenever I try to select the original cpad mode from the main menu, the cpad becomes blank. I entered Y when I was asked to install the Hybrid solution. Is there any way to check if this solution had been installed ? cheers Thomas

[sn0wl]

Go to Program Files\Synaptics\SynTPEnh.exe and tell me the version number. Are you using English version of Windows? And is it XP?

[Guest Guest]

Go to Program Files\Synaptics\SynTPEnh.exe and tell me the version number. Are you using English version of Windows? And is it XP?

Hi,

I am using XP, in principle English version, although some Toshiba stuff might have some german touch. I don't find any exe file in Program Files\Synaptics, only in Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP . There, the version nr of SznTPEnh.exe says 7.5.11.0 .

Cheers Thomas

[sn0wl]

Right, sorry I forgot SynTP folder. Hybrid solution works if you click middle button of your cPad and select one of the old applications, lets say Calculator. Can you confirm that?. BTW you 'might' need to restart your computer after selecting original cPad applications in settings and clicking save.

[Guest Guest]

Right, sorry I forgot SynTP folder. Hybrid solution works if you click middle button of your cPad and select one of the old applications, lets say Calculator. Can you confirm that?. BTW you 'might' need to restart your computer after selecting original cPad applications in settings and clicking save.

Hi, all my fault, I didn't realized that I have to reboot in order to change from cpax to the old cpad application and vice versa. Everytihng works.

How difficult is it to add also a temperature measurement to the display ? Recently, my laptop became very slow, until I realized that it is overheating. I had to open it and clean the fan.

Cheers Thomas

[sn0wl]

1000 downloads woo!

For temperature, I tried once long time ago but couldn't succeed. Might try again later.

[®®®]

Way2go. Congratulations!

The most important tool for Toshiba Laptops featuring cPad.

[nonegiven]

Can the cPad calendar application be used as a background yet? I prefer having the entire month shown as my cPad wallpaper with the current day highlighted like the stock cPad drivers allow.

I don't want to go through the hassle of uninstalling and reinstalling everything if cPax doesn't offer that functionality. Thanks.