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Epoc Digest Fri, 28 Jun 2002 Volume 01 : Number 022
Sent to: 391 subscribers
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In today's Epoc Digest 20 messages:
==============================
- Screen rotation (5mx and netBook)
- Order of macro's, Spare 5MX, 9210,
- Mako charging
- YourEPOC \ 9210 \ 6310
- HOLIDAY SEASON?!? / SCREEN ROTATION / DINKY NOTEBOOKS
- netBook IMG 156, Autoreply
- VReader, rotating the netbook screen, Zip files...
- Housekeeping
- Turning on "out of the office" but not affecting the Digest?
- Rotatable screenview: great idea!
- Mako charging
- Revo/Mako battery pack
- Where to buy a Netbook in NL?
- Compuserve in France
- Answer to Nicole and Jack Réf: SMS
- Re: Screen orientation
- Re: Psion repairs
- Re: netBook Screen Rotation
- Re: Siemens S45
- Disinformation on EPOC DIGEST # 019
*++++++++++&
Date: 26 Jun 2002 08:12:58 +0000
From: Philip S. Adkins Potter
Subject: Screen rotation (5mx and netBook)
Hi "J" and other Psion people,
I don't think Peter meant just a vertical reader and I know I didn't. There are a few vertical readers out there. I use EBook by Simon Quinn which I'm very happy with. It's certainly not his fault that it doesn't read all formats but the only one missing for me is Tome Raider and he's not allowed to support that.
I think Peter meant a utility that would rotate the screen through 90° (either way) for ALL applications (well, nearly). That's what we really want. We want to be able to do more than read.
It's not a major niggle at all, I'm just "Wond'ring Aloud".
It would probably involve writing new fonts (vReader did), new toolbars, etc., etc.. I don't think it would be practical to rewrite the EPOC OS this way and to subvert the 5(mx) ROM might provoke errors (I assume the same for the nB/series 7).
Still it was worth mentioning.
Happy days,
Phil.
I wrote:
>Peter Keene wants a rotatable screen view for the netBook.
>I will soon want one for my 5mx .......
"Beware of altruism.
It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil."
*++++++++++&
Date: 26 Jun 2002 12:44:58 +0000
From: Itamar Engelsman
Subject: Order of macro's, Spare 5MX, 9210,
Answer to: Bram Amsel
Re. Order of macro's - Hi there, trust all well with you and family. You omitted to write which program you use. With Assistant you get an alphabetical list and typing the first few letters will jump to the requested macro. In Macro5 you can arrange the 3 panels in such a way that only the ones you use most will appear.
Answer to : Rick Gyllion
Re. Spare 5MX - Yes, it was my idea probably and my spare one is in the safe at work. What I meant was, "seeing the light" I would use for more important matters than a spare PDA.
Re. 9210 - Do you understand why "we" EPOC v.5 users don't see the Nokia as a possible future replacement ? The report in Palmtop was quite positive, there is a first rudimentary macro program for shortcuts, two third party data programs are available and it does do more or less the same as a 5MX, right ? But the keyboard is less functional and the screen smaller, but we will have to compromise somwhere along the line ? I think that if this platform will continue to be developed it might well become my machine of the future (I might even use it as a phone too .... <smile>).
Bye,
Itamar Engelsman
London, United Kingdom
*++++++++++&
Date: 26 Jun 2002 16:39:30 +0000
From: krohn-list-series5
(Eric Krohn)
Subject: Mako charging
Sanjay,
Here's a trick for keeping things charged without overcharging them, compliments of a fellow amateur radio operator who found this a good way to keep his gel cells topped off.
Get one of the cheap applicance timers that lets you set just a short amount of time (preferably 30 minutes or less per day) between the on and the off positions. The timers with sliders for each hour of the day are probably not suitable, since you cannot set them for less than one hour of "on" time. Plug it in and once a day for 15 minutes (or whatever interval you chose), your Mako charges. Just make sure you don't get the on/off backwards since you stated you don't want your Mako charging for 23h45m per day.
I use an Intermatic TIME-ALL model TN111 (with the little green and red tabs) available for $6 or $7 here in the States (Sears, Radio Shack).
Another trick is to always leave the tabs set for 15 minutes of "on" time. If you want a longer charge, say 6 hours, adjust the large wheel for 6
hours before the red tab and force it "on" with the little "on/off" manual override wheel. The timer runs for 5h45m tripping the green tab (no-op since it is already on) and at 6h0m tripping the red tab to turn the
device off. Now if you go off and forget your device on the charger for days, the most it will ever get is 15m per 24h period.
--
Eric Krohn
KC0CA
*++++++++++&
Date: 26 Jun 2002 19:21:02 +0000
From: "AndyHayes"
Subject: YourEPOC \ 9210 \ 6310
Hi All
Peter Keene said "...This despite following the instructions in the short-lived (and extremely irritating) Your EPOC. "
I enjoyed the YourEPOC experience and was disappointed when it ground to a halt, (especially after I was told that my (unpublished) submission would win the next readers prize). I didn't receive the prize and don't know why they died without trace, but it was actually critical of certain aspects of the Psion scene, and at that time I thought things needed a kick. Web sites were only writing glowing reviews about software, when some of it was just awful. I for one would like to see YourEPOC return.
Back in Issue 20 Itamar said "Just look at what force Nokia are pushing the 9210 in the newspapers, surely there are a lot of users by now, probably more than 5MX users"
I have not seen one person using a 9210. I live in a fairly wealthy part of England (but I am very poor and have two large dogs, so don't think about burgling me!), but not a single 9210 have I seen in use. I considered buying one myself when they first came out, but like the R380 I consigned it to the "nearly" bin. The hassles in using a laptop and a netBook are nightmarish enough without bringing a third item into the scenario to lose that important file on!
After considering the T68 and 6310 I have finally settled on the 6310. Can anyone answer the following before I go into Carphone Warehouse to do the deal early next month: -
1). Are the 6210 accessories compatible with the 6310? In particular I have spare batteries, desktop charger, in-car charger.
2). I have been looking at the Motorola Bluetooth headset in Carphone Warehouse. At 150ukp though it is an horrendous amount of money. Carphone Warehouse used to offer a 20% discount for accessories bought at the same time as the phone purchase, which makes it marginally more attractive. Has anyone used one of these headsets and are they worth the horrendous cost? i.e. if you are travelling in a car at speed, can you hear the caller and can they hear you? Also is it comfortable?
3). It is looking like I will probably go with T-Mobile as the service provider. When you ring them from your handset to, say query accounts or when you are having handset problems, is this a free call or do you have to ring a premium number?
4). I have always used Lifeline insurance thru Carphone Warehouse. The top level of cover is nearly 10ukp per month, but covers your phone in any eventuality. Drawback is that they have introduced an excess payment if you use it. Has anyone got a better deal elsewhere?
Andy Hayes
*++++++++++&
Date: 26 Jun 2002 19:29:46 +0000
From: Peter Keene
Subject: HOLIDAY SEASON?!? / SCREEN ROTATION / DINKY NOTEBOOKS
Hi Guys,
Itamar wrote:
>It is that great time of the year again, warm sun, kids off school, off we go to our exotic destinations (or the local swimming pool).<
Surely you jest? It's freezing down here. I can see snow on the mountains! ;-)
For Jack re screen rotation and 156:
Thanks for the tip about vReader Jack, but can you use it in conjunction with a recogniser to make handwritten notes in portrait mode? By the way, one of the addresses you gave as hosting build 156 of the netBook ROM is via the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa (www.csir.co.za). Now why would they have an interest in the netBook os I wonder? Curious.
For all re B5 and smaller notebooks as keyboard-PDA replacements:
The problem with dinky notebooks, like the baby Vaio and the Fujitsu P-1035, is that, like their bigger brothers, they run bloatware. To do that with any degree of efficiency they need nuclear-powered processors which means lap-scorching heat, which means fans, which means battery life in the 2-3 hour range at best. And, unless you buy a ruggedised one, don't breathe on it!
Apropos keyboard-based PDAs, has anyone had the chance to play with an Intermec (Sharp) 6651 H/PC? It seems to have a similar form-factor to the netBook and has a built-in camera.
Regards,
Peter
Cape Town
*++++++++++&
Date: 26 Jun 2002 23:24:46 +0000
From: Trygve Henriksen
Subject: netBook IMG 156, Autoreply
Greetings!
This is a non-automated message to tell you that I will be out of the office from 22.06.2002 until 22.07.2002....
Darryl Kempster wrote:
> Now the proud owner of a (2nd hand) netBook to replace my ailing Series 7
Congrats!
> OS.img build 156 - Any idea where I can find the original image posted on
> the web?
I think I saw something about it on one of the newsgroups recently, but since I'm away from the office right now, I can't really say what it said...
(But I think it was something about the 156 image being hosted on a website somewhere)
I have found the old 156 image in one of my archives, but the zipped file is too large for me to mail (the office system blocks mails at over 5MB, and my private mail is with GAM... )
---
Clive Freeman goofed with:
> I will be out of the office starting 06/22/2002 and will not return until
> 07/01/2002.
Look ma! No brains!
Itamar, it may be an idea to expand the macros to search for certain text strings...
:-)
Trygve
Who will use any opportunity to heckle those who can't set up autoresponders correctly...
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 00:31:26 +0000
From: Trygve Henriksen
Subject: VReader, rotating the netbook screen, Zip files...
Greetings!
Hopefully, my last message to the digest didn't show up twice...
(I'm having a bit of an argument with my ISP's modem. It seems they don't like my Nokia 2110 any more)
[Note from editor : It did show up twice, I deleted one]
Jack wrote:
> Since Sibo time, and now on nB, one can use the excellent JL Damnet's
> vReader. Last (1998) version for ER5 is 2.01 (84Ko) and was to be found
> on comp.binaries.psion
> It reads (horizontal and vertical, both Left or Right side) ASCII - OPL, TCR,
> Aportis doc...
Ah, yes...
That's one of the programs I didn't transfer from my S5 to the netBook...
It tends to crash without warning when you open some files. (Particularly .TCR)
it also tends to display a lot of garbage from these files. It's almost as if the creator didn't really study the file formats...
The ONLY thing I miss from that program is the autoscrolling, but that can be fixed by loading the file into EPOC word, then run a macro that sends 'down' keypresses every now and then...
---
Peter Keene wrote:
> For Trygve re holiday:
> Lucky man.
No...
The luck is that even with a 4 week vacation, I STILL have 2 weeks of unused vacation time, plus an additional week of flexible hours...
> Seeing as how you have nothing to do, how about writing me some
> software to rotate my screen ;-)
Nothing to do?
Whatever gave you that idea?
I'm busy building a digital lock for my car, sorting my PDA collection(I probably have Norways largest collection), trying to paint a porcelain figurine, watching Anime films on DVD and of course avoiding serious work...
As for writing that bit of software...
At best, this means creating a kernel driver, at worst hacking the hardware...
The Screen picture is usually built in dual ported RAM which the display circuits can access directly. Unless you can reprogram how the chip accesses that memory, you would end up reserving another memory area and forcing the normal systems calls to use that, then copy and rotate that image over to the real screen memory.
This is NOT a simple task, and if at all possible, must be done in either C++ or Assembler, and neither Symbian nor Psion will give you the needed information without a VERY expensive license deal...
(Rerouting system functions means just that, a total recompile of the entire kernel)
----
Itamar wrote:
> Answer to: Trygve Henriksen
> Re. Zip file - It was a normal zip file. I don't know what a zip file with icon
> is even <smile ... and ignorant yet again ... smile>.
When you create a new .zip file with RMRZIP you get a dialog with file name, location and a VERY importan question:
------
Archive type:
<>Standard ZIP <x> Zip with Icon
-----
The 'ZIP with icon' type is unfortunately not recognised by all other programs.
(And guess what's default :-)
> Re. Holiday - What about marketing the digest ?
I've been plugging it on the Comp.Sys.Psion hierarchy....
Any other suggestions?
If you wanted me to do a roadshow, you should have said so before I left the office...
There we have a lot of nice things like A0 Laserplotters, A0 Inkjet plotters and even two A4 colour lasers that does double sided and magazine prints ready to fold and cut...
With all the stuff there, I probably wouldn't have had any problems of outdoing the Norwegian distributor, at least... (Not too difficult, because they only ran a few not very impressive ads)
:-)
Trygve
BTW: Anyone passing by Molde, here in Norway should check the local 'Binders' shop (At Årø) because they still have S5mx machines for sale.
Off topic:
Anyone else going on vacation and needing something good to read can do worse than pointing their browser at:
The Raccoon's Bookshelf
http://www.planetfurry.com/~mjriv/
There's a whole lot of .PDF files for download there...
(I particularly recommend 'Otherworlds', 'Sabrina Online the Story', 'Fang' and 'Rrsh'Dhana's diary')
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 00:56:29 +0000
From: Itamar Engelsman
Subject: Housekeeping
A few points of housekeeping:
- In the header you will find the website of the digest, where you can find also copies of the old digests, regularly (but not immediattely) updated with the new digests
- From time to time your addresses have problems like "exceeded storage allocation", "host unknown", "Service unavailable, Access denied", "User is over quota" and other reasons. If the problems persist we will delete the address from the database and we suggest to post once every 2 weeks or so a list with these email addresses in the digest. Let us know if there is any objection.
- When answering to the digest with the "Reply" function sometimes either the word "Re." appears or the Epoc digest no. is repeated. The list of subjects will be more clear if you kindly delete that text and only put your subject in the subject field.
- The writing of the program to run the digest from a Psion is nearing completion and you can expect a message about the future / continuation some time next week.
Bye,
Itamar Engelsman
London, United Kingdom
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 03:15:53 +0000
From: "Walker, Jan"
Subject: Turning on "out of the office" but not affecting the Digest?
Hello Psiontists,
I occasionally take a day off from work and turn on my "out of the office" notification in Outlook on a Windows NT 4.0 system. Can someone please guide me so I don't cause all of you to have to read my "gone fishing" automatic reply?
Thanks, Jan in Silicon Valle
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 07:09:28 +0000
From: peter.rand
Subject: Rotatable screenview: great idea!
--
Philip S. Adkins Potter wrote:
Peter Keene wants a rotatable screenview for the netBook. I will soon want one for my 5mx
--
I would also welcome a screen rotation utility that would work on my Revo and Series 7 that would allow me to read ebooks while holding my machine in a more natural "book-like" position. The shareware Ebook reader has this function built-in, but I would like to use it with MobiPocket and a few other apps, so a global EPOC "rotate screen" app would be really useful.
Peter Rand
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 07:29:55 +0000
From: peter.rand
Subject: Mako charging
---
Sanjay Chawla" wrote:
Subject: Mako charging
I am going to be away for about 2 weeks and wanted tyo know the best way to keep my Mako in shape when I return.
--
A fully-recharged Mako should do fine for 2 weeks. As I understand it, the standby drain on Makos/Revos is as follows:
8MB - 2.5% per day (40 days)
16MB - 5% per day (20 days)
28MB - 10% per day (10 days)
I think that Makos have 16MB, so that should give you about 20 days of standby time before you have to worry about any data loss.
Here are the steps I'd take:
1. Backup the Mako to your desktop.
2. Only recharge the Mako if it's under 10% and the recharge icon has started blinking. (I generally use the freeware app "Record" (http://www.psionwelt.de/downloads/Record.zip) to quickly drain the battery to below 10%.)
3. Charge it to 100%.
4. Close all apps (and be sure you don't have any alarms set to go off while you're away).
5. Pray.
There's not much more you can do, other than leave it with a friend and have them keep an eye on it while you're gone....
Peter Rand
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 09:57:46 +0000
From: "Walker, Jan"
Subject: Revo/Mako battery pack
This is a website for purchasing a portable charging pack (contains 4 AA batteries) for $11.00 U.S. It has an on/off switch and plugs into the Revo/Mako for recharging when an electrical outlet is not to be found. It looks pretty useful.
http://omicrontech0.tripod.com/products.html
Jan in Silicon Valle
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 11:36:51 +0000
From: edb
Subject: Where to buy a Netbook in NL?
Hi Folks,
Anybody know where I can buy a Netbook in the Netherlands, preferrably Rotterdam area?
TIA,
Eric de Bruijn
Rotterda
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 16:43:28 +0000
From: Christopher Marwood
Subject: Compuserve in France
Hi all,
Can anyone help me set up a friend for Compuserve access in France?
Mike's website lists a transpac script, but there are no Transpac numbers listed on Compuserve's site. Only UUD Dial Access Network.
Does anyone either have working numbers for Transpac or a script for UUD?
Thanks, Chris
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 19:53:55 +0000
From: Thomas F.VAN DER ZIJDEN
Subject: Answer to Nicole and Jack Réf: SMS
Hello digest,
Jack and Nicole, thank you for your responses. I checked my control panel in dialling. The setting for Country (for dialling numbers without international prefix) is 'The Netherlands' so that is correct. My international numbers are of the form +int.number citynumberwithoutzero restofphonenumber, but my Dutch numbers are noted as citynumberwithzero restofphonenumber, so for a mobile number this would either be +33 6 xxxxxxxx for France or 06 xxxxxxxx for NL. I also checked: when I set my international settings to Paris and I open Contacts all my Dutch numbers get the 0031 prefix and the French numbers loose the +33 prefix. I also noticed, however, that the French numbers do not get their prefix zero (e.g. a number in Paris gets dialled as 1xxxxxxxx, while it should have been 01xxxxxxxx). When I switch back my residence to Delft, the Netherlands, the French numbers get back the 0033, and the Dutch numbers loose the 0031, but get back their national zero! These observations are also valid for mobile phone numbers. Until so far: splendid Psion! I even notice that the numbers from the city of Delft loose their 015 city code, which is logical, because when I am in Delft I do not need to dial the city code. It is also unpractical, because it also means that whenever I leave Delft I have to change my residence into another Dutch city. Anyway: dialling from the Contacts application with the help of the loudspeaker works fine (except for the fact, that some phones have troubles understanding those DTMF tones).
Now: I already noticed that phone numbers for SMS messages in E-mail 2.0 do not get their international prefix. So I proceeded with sending a fax. Guess what: this DOES get its international prefix in the right way! Apparently, it is only the SMS sending feature which makes a mess of international numbers and I will have to correct this manually, as you say Nicole.
Sorry for the long mail, but I think we just found a bug, which is only present in the SMS feature (and not in the fax, nor in the DTMF dialling feature).
Yours truly,
Thomas van der Zijden
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 21:25:24 +0000
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: Screen orientation
Philip,
Concerning screen rotation.
<< Peter Keene wants a rotatable screenview for the netBook. I will soon want one for my 5mx but I think it will prove even more difficult then for the netBook since the OS is in ROM. Nevertheless someone ought to try >>
When a developer is sufficiently intrigued by the idea (s)he may have a look at what's possible. However, there's no such thing as "someone ought to try" because software developers are free to choose their development projects. It's not mandatory for them to satisfy each and every wish.
Secondly, have a very *hard* look at the reason(s) why you'd like to have this feature. Are you really asking for all Psion and third-party EPOC applications to be run with the screen in portrait orientation? When that's the case it means the EIKON user interface needs to be heavily modified in an extremely clever way. I won't go into the practical details, but this is such a nightmare of a job that you can forget it. When the aim is to display a Word document with the screen in portrait orientation you make the developer's job much easier. The same goes for a simple portrait mode 'digital ink' application for scribbling notes.
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 21:25:28 +0000
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: Psion repairs
Ralph,
Concerning the 5mx screen cable.
<< Can anyone give me a lead to where I can have the Psion fixed at a reasonable rate in the UK >>
Psion Repair Centre
Unit 6
2 Derby Road,
Metropolitan Centre
Greenford, Middlesex UB6 8UJ
Tel. 020-88391700
Pinnock Organiser Services Ltd
143 Streatham High Road
London SW16 6EG
Tel. 020-86779246
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 21:25:31 +0000
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: netBook Screen Rotation
Peter,
<< While Psion's software engineers are (hopefully) ironing out the kinks in Build 158 of the netBook ROM I wonder whether they would consider writing some software to enable the screen to be rotated from landscape to portrait mode and back again >>
I very much doubt that as Psion Teklogix has a device in its range ideally suited for what you'd like to do -the netPad. Note that Psion Teklogix serves the vertical application market. In other words, handheld computers for highly specific corporate and industrial tasks running tailor made software. I'm quite sure that (say) an insurance claims investigator won't use his/her netBook as a kind of scratchpad, holding the netBook as if it literally were a book.
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 21:25:35 +0000
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: Siemens S45
Christopher,
<< Init (reset) - AT+CGQREQ=1,3,4,3,7,31 >>
Personally, I wouldn't use the AT+CGQREQ command but, when it works for you, don't change it.
<< Data - AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","INTERNET" >>
Note that the "INTERNET" setting of the AT+CGDCONT command refers to the mobile network's APN (Access Point Name) which can differ from network to network. The APN of Orange in the UK is "orangeinternet" and for O2 in the UK "mobile.o2.co.uk".
Question : Is the dial-up number you've set in your Internet definition for O2 Ireland *99***[CID Number]# or simply *99#?
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
Date: 27 Jun 2002 21:25:38 +0000
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Disinformation on EPOC DIGEST # 019
To All,
I was unpleasantly surprised to see Arent Kits van Heijningen's presence on the EPOC Digest and, what's worse, to see that he hasn't mended his ways. To illustrate this I'm quoting part of his message of no. 19 of the EPOC Digest.
[Quote]
Sony will come with Symbian-based products next year but they will use the PalmOS 4.1 or higher interface , not the native (eikon ) one. With the exception of Ericsson and Nokia ***NONE*** of the Symbian licencees is going to use more than just the kernel and the GSM/GPRS/Bluetooth stacks , here's a little breakdown:
Siemens sx45 :
UI is WindowsCE PocketPC on a MIPS VR 4142 (?)
SHARP :
Planned smartphone uses Lineo embedix+Trolltechs Qtopia as the UI probably directly on top of the Epoc 32 kernel
Sony :
PalmOS 5 on top of a completely stripped kernel
To make a long story short Symbian will be completely hidden underneath a PalmOS/*CE layer and the result will be sold as a Palm or *CE compatible product. Ericsson and Nokia will also move to fully embedded after the next releases ( Ericsson P800 and Nokia 7650/7690 )
[Unquote]
Which is his usual spiel of dismissing Psion/Symbian by disinformation as the facts of the matter are as follows.
1) The only Symbian partner/licensee that licensed PalmOS in order to graft the Palm user interface on top of the Symbian kernel was Nokia. The project was abandoned by Nokia in February/March of last year and it took PalmSource (Palm's software division) six months to come with a press statement confirming this. (As well as the cancellation by Motorola of its PalmOS smartphone project).
2) Sony isn't Sony isn't Sony. The company consists of several independent divisions and it's the mobile phone division that licensed Symbian OS and the (then newly created) PDA division that licensed PalmOS. Sony's mobile phone division has since merged with that of Ericsson to form (guess what?!?) SonyEricsson - a combination of a Symbian founder and Symbian licensee. The PDA division of Sony has always been fully committed to PalmOS. Which was confirmed once more by press statements by PalmSource and Sony surrounding the recent launch of PalmOS 5.0.
3) The reference to the so-called "native" EIKON user interface of Symbian OS is a first class howler as EIKON was developed by Psion for it's handheld computers and has never been intended for anything else than handheld computers.
4) That Ericsson is one of two companies that uses more than a few Symbian core components is also wrong as the first Symbian OS based smartphone, the Ericsson R380s/R380e, uses a home-grown user interface on top of a Release 5 core.
5) The Siemens SX45 is (a) already on the market for about 7 months and (b) for 100% based on Microsoft Pocket PC release 3.x. There's nothing Symbian about this smartphone but there will be about future Siemens models. The company took a 5% share in Symbian in April this year and licensed Nokia's Symbian based Series 60 platform in May. By the way, there's no version of Symbian OS for MIPS processors.
6) Sharp's Lineo + Trolltech combination is that of the Zaurus SL-5500, otherwise know as the Linux PDA. When Sharp would like to use the same combo for a smartphone is will be a Linux phone, not a Symbian one. You simply don't run the Trolltech UI on top of the Lineo kernel on top of the Symbian OS kernel.
7) Nokia's 7650 smartphone is the first of its Series 60 based models. With Series 60 being a refinement of Symbian's Quartz reference design. Nokia already uses another Symbian reference design, Crystal, for the 9210. Siemens and Samsung have licensed Series 60 and there's another licensee waiting in the wings till time is right to announce its license agreement with Nokia. Licensing Series 60 is completely at odds with the assertion that Nokia will drop Symbian's use interface shells.
In other words, mr. Kits van Heijningen mixes a series of small snippets to make us believe his 1+1+1=10 conclusion that Symbian OS will be downgraded to a kernel for the PalmOS and Windows CE shells.
For those who don't know mr. Kits van Heijningen, he saw 'The Light' when the first Windows CE 2.0 based devices came on the market and has been a born again Microsoftian ever since. He started to spread 'The Word' and used the Psion newsgroups on Usenet a stage. This wouldn't have been a problem had mr. Kits van Heijningen restrained himself to discussing the relative merits of Windows CE based model X and Psion model Y. Trouble was that he started to evangelise in the same "this platform is now poised for the final kill" style of his message on EPOC Digest No. 19. Needless to say that this wasn't much appreciated on a forum dedicated to Psion's handheld computers.
What wasn't appreciated at all was the way he linked completely separate items and combined half-truths into statements about Psion and Symbian in the Microsoft fashion of blackening the competition. People started to pick his statements apart to demonstrate the nature of mr. Kits van Heijningen's words. Including a handful of Psion and Symbian employees, who followed the Psion newsgroups in their spare time, and were able to provide factual information. Thereby deflating a number of of mr. Kits van Heijningen's balloon sized assertions.
I trust you will understand why mr. Kits van Heijningen writes "**NONE** of those disclaimers that they only post in a personal quality there ! !". The Psion and Symbian people who followed the Psion newsgroups used "A Psion/Symbian employee in a personal capacity" as their signature. To indicate that they didn't want to hide who they were working for but that what they posted were their own words which should not be interpreted as being official company statements. An example of common decency and appreciated by the vast majority of Psion newsgroup members.
Current situation is that mr. Kits van Heijningen no longer dares to show his face on the Psion newsgroups as people are well aware of the intentions behind his so-called 'participation'. So that any message he posts on the newsgroups will be subject to heavy scrutiny. In other words, he's made Psion newsgroup life impossible for himself. I'm afraid the same heavy scrutiny to stop him spreading the same style disinformation, other would call it lies, as he did in the past.
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Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
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