-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Tips for Posting to the Digest and how to unsubscribe

                         at the end of the Digest

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epoc Digest     Sun, 13 Oct 2002      Volume 01 : Number 092

************************************************************************

Sent to: 632 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 26 messages:

==============================

- Use of Jotter

- Modem connections

- OS Holy Wars (was: Sketch/MBM converters)

- Re: Astronomy & Astrology

- P800 / symbian 7

- Emulator/Sketch Conversion/Virus

- VIRUS / COLOUR PRINTING

- RE: VIRUS and lurkers.

- Re: streetmap of Dublin for a Psion

- Re: Batteries

- dos programs

- Email problem + advice for OE users

- Spell - sorted!

- Re: 1GB Sandisk CF

- Netbook Docking Station, Future of Psion

- Astrology gave birth to Astronomy

- Re: EPOC DIGEST V1 # 091

- Modem connections

- Psioneer's home country

- AlarmPlus

- CoCoPaPa and Merlin

- Psion Revo-need for upgrade

- Connecting to net via a pc

- Sick 5mx

- Re: EPOC DIGEST V1 # 090

- Sunrise/Sunset for 5mx

*++++++++++&

Date: 10 Oct 2002 20:42:46 +0000

From: "John Morris"

Subject: Use of Jotter

Jim Watson-Gove wrote :

<"To side with Rolf, for the life of me, over the years, I've never been able to figure out how to use Jotter.  Maybe it's for users used to high level organizers.  I handle short notes vs long documents by having a unique naming sequence and storing them properly.">

I'm not used to high-level organisers. I simply use Jotter to "jot" down random notes, on any and all subjects, including telephone numbers which I haven't had time to enter properly as Contacts. Whenever I want to search it I use <Control><F> which gives me a managable list of relevant Jotter entries. I have also started using the Notes function on MS Outlook in the same way, using the <Find> button in this case.

John Morris

*++++++++++&

Date: 10 Oct 2002 20:50:36 +0000

From: "Thomas F. van der Zijden"

Subject: Modem connections

Hello digestees,

Ups, sorry Nigel. Apparently there _can_ be hardware differences between the UK modems and the French equipment. I did not

know, because I use a UK modem in France.

Since I am in a bit of a comparable situation with Nigel (trying to get online in France with foreign phone equipment) I checked out

my stuff. Here goes:

1. UK Psion IR Travel Modem (I bought it in Holland, but it was clearly parallel UK Import) has a hole for an RJ11 plug with all four connectors clearly visible

2. The adapter for the UK telephone network which came with it: same

3. My Dutch phone adapter: only the connectors in the middle

make contact.

4. My French phone adapter: idem

BUT: all the RJ11 cables I have in the house come with four connectors, so any combination of the UK modem with any

adapter does not give any problems. They always will make the

right contact with the phone networks.

So Nigel, I assume the cable and the French connector you have bought are identical to mine and will work fine. Check out your

modem: it might have only the outer connectors if it is an oldfashioned one. The newer UK modems (such as Psions own IR

Travel Modem) solve the problem by providing all four connectors.

Itamar, you said that one needs a special modem cable for the

modem and not just the standard telephone cable. Why do you

say that? I always disconnect the cable from the phone and plug it into my modem. This saves me from having to take the whole

collection of local phone plugs and cables with me. I just take the modem and 'borrow' the cable from a local phone.

I have given the details of the ISP Free.fr to Nigel. If this works from the UK it will be an indication that Nigels modem is UK only. You

will have a collector's item, Nigel! ;-)

In that case: modems with a serial plug are widely available second- hand. Also, if you can get it cheap, the Psion TravelModem (sometimes available at local English Dixons for silly money I have heared) is definitely the way to go! I had some problems with the IR connection, but I now know why and it seems to be solved.

Yours truly,

Thomas van der Zijden

*++++++++++&

Date: 10 Oct 2002 20:54:31 +0000

From: "Steve Hodgson"

Subject: OS Holy Wars (was: Sketch/MBM converters)

> One minor hitch though, it only runs on the RISC OS

> This is one way for a lot of you EPOC heads out there to indulge what

> I

> reckon to be the most user friendly and stable OS on the market.

Peter,

Surely you meant BeOS?  Sorry couldn't resist :o)

Let's not start a war on this though.

Cheers,

Steve Hodgson

*++++++++++&

Date: 10 Oct 2002 20:59:18 +0000

From: "Steve Hodgson"

Subject: Re: Astronomy & Astrology

> But both of them observe the same sky, which contains the same stars,

> comets, constellations, etc.

Euan,

And especially in the middle ages it was the work of astronomers that

underpinned much of the natural sciences and people like Corernicus.  I

don't know if I am right in remembering that the observations of Tycho

Brahe (sp?) the provided a basis for understanding the solar system

were all about making more accurate horoscopes.

Just how off-topic are we?  Still it's almost the weekend.

Cheers,

Steve Hodgson

P.S. Thanks for the applications on your website - I particularly

enjoyed teasng a Palm user by showing the differences between my

netBook screen and his m105!

*++++++++++&

Date: 10 Oct 2002 21:25:01 +0000

From: William Fuggle

Subject: P800 / symbian 7

I have enjoyed reading this digest again despite not having a psion device for a couple of years. This was, partly, because I was quite excited by the prospect of the p800 which i had hoped would replace my PDA (palm 505) and my phone (t68). But I see, according to various postings and announcement on Clove's website (who I had ordered from) that its delayed yet again. Not before 2003 now apparently. This is for a machine which is based on software design that symbian were showcasing before I left the psion camp. Ericsson are pretty fed up with this sonyericsson phone joint venture so I wonder if the last chance to obtain a recognisable  psion type PDA has gone? (I don't count nokia 9210 because it is so old technology - serial connection, no gprs, no bluetooth, laughingly enormous for a phone etc. The newer nokias announced seem to largely abandon the pda in favour of phone/photo/mp3 combo with a curious dial type keyboard).

Well I suppose the new palm high spec model being announced in the next few weeks will be small, smart, have built in bluetooth and I will be able to use it for  to give power point presentations etc. Or perhaps the new sony nx70 devices just announced in the US.

I didn't want to abandon symbian / psion again but feel my hand is being forced. Is it the same old story : good concept but poor

execution and marketing?

regards

Bill Fuggle

Birmingham, UK

*++++++++++&

Date: 10 Oct 2002 21:51:47 +0000

From: Keith Giles

Subject: Emulator/Sketch Conversion/Virus

I have just updated my web site, http://home.attbi.com/~ohsix827/, by adding an "emulator" page. From there you can download the step-by-step instructions plus the 2 zip files you should have to complete the job. If anyone finds any fault therein, please contact me.

Steve Hodgson wrote:

> There is a desktop graphics viewer called xnview (http://www.xnview.com > /) that runs on Windows/Linux/Unix/Atari/BeOs/OS2/DOS and, I believe, > supports mbm files and Series 3 bitmaps.  I doubt it would support

> Sketch files though.

Could one not use the Psion Convert to change the Sketch to a bmp

then XnView? I'm too busy (read 'lazy') to try it.  :-)

wrote:

> i'd recommend going to this

&

Might be a good idea for you to use Norton Antivirus and keep the

virus definitions updated.

Happy Cycling,

Keith

Sunnyvale, CA

Thought For The Day: About the only thing that can halt an

outrageous fad among the young is for adults to adopt it.

All my outgoing e-mails have been checked by Norton Anti-virus.

*++++++++++&

Date: 10 Oct 2002 22:03:47 +0000

From: Peter Keene

Subject: VIRUS / COLOUR PRINTING

Hi Guys,

For Itamar re virus:

I'm glad somebody didn't receive it (AND that you didn't write it :-)

Re colour printing:

I haven't been onto Andrew's website for over a year now, but, if I remember correctly, there were drivers for other printers as well, not just Canon.

Regards,

Peter

Cape Town

*++++++++++&

Date: 10 Oct 2002 23:04:58 +0000

From: "Andy Salmon"

Subject: RE: VIRUS and lurkers.

Answer to Peter Keene who stated:

"From the postings made so far it seems that most of the active members received the infected bogus digest. If this is also the case with the lurkers then we may have a compromise subscriber database."

As a confirmed lurker, I'm happy to say that I did NOT receive the virus. I'm going to slide away into the shadows now, before they try to infect me!!

Andy Salmon

UK

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 00:05:23 +0000

From: "Euan Mee"

Subject: Re: streetmap of Dublin for a Psion

On 10 Oct 2002, Owen H. Morgan wrote (more or less): > Does anyone have a streetmap of Dublin in a Psion compatible > format.

I believe I can now get one into Psion-compatible format - thanks to the XnView application suggested to me earlier in this digest.

I'll use Dublin maps as a my familiarisation project.

Also, there was a city map viewer written for the HP MS-DOS palmtops, which has a nicely rich legacy of palmtop-friendly maps.

Is anyone interested in joining me in a little porject to convert the maps to Psion format?

I've been in contact with the original ~HP map-viewer's author, and been given the map-file format specs, etc, and now with

XnView I don't believe it is a difficult task - just a time consuming one.

Any volunteers?

Cheers,

    Euan

P.s. Owen, let me know if you ever pop into a harbour round central Scotland.   Edinburgh for preference!

Cheers,

     Eua

'I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance,

Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance'

- Ogden Nash

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 01:36:31 +0000

From: "Euan Mee"

Subject: Re: Batteries

On 10 Oct 2002, Itamar wrote (more or less):

> How would your calculation be against a set of 100 batteries for around 18

> pounds from PC World ? Normal alkalines.

   A:   9 to 10 weeks

         After that, you could easily save £2,350 on batteries

(detailed working below)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Btw, If anyone is convinced by these calculations to go and

save themselves £2400, please remember all the hard work

and effort that went in to gathering all these facts and figures.

Spend some of the money saved on my shareware

applications when they are released :-)

The web-page telling all about my own applications, current

and near-future, is at

http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/index.html

Either that, or Amazon or Firebox.co.uk gift vouchers :-)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1)  How long do a pair of 'PC World normal alkalines' (PWna)

last in a Psion5mx?

   Probably ~450mAH per pair *

2) How much is the fast-charger, car adaptor and 4 1700mAH

NiMH batteries?

   £30

(the electricity costs about 3 - 5 pence for the same power as

the set of PWna, so can be ignored) **

3) How many PWna do you get for £30?

   166, or 83 pairs.

4) How long would 83 pairs of PWna last?

   37,350 mAH  (83 pairs at 450mAH each)

5) How many times do you need to use the rechargables to

get the same 37,350mAH

   13-14 times  (2 pairs, 1350mAH per use)

6) How many 'free' batteries do you get after breakeven?

    The equivalent of more than another 13,000 PWna

7) How much do you save over the lifetime of the rechargable

batteries?

    £2,350 = 131 boxes of 100 batteries, at £18 each.

   Each pair is good for 1000 uses, so you get the equivalent

   of more than another 13,000 PC World alkalines free!

8) How long until breakeven?

   On average, I go through about 550mAH per day on my

   Psion 5mx, so it'd normally take me about 9 to 10 weeks

   before I was getting free batteries compared to the PWna

   (I have been known to spend weeks at 1500mAH/day mind

    you, and in those periods it'd only take me 2-4 weeks to hit

    breakeven...)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* As I've mentioned before, some alkalines get 1550mAH.

At just under 25p/battery, 'Philips Longlife' alkalines provide

~450mAH per pair.

At 18p / battery, I'd guess the PC World batteries are at the

lower end of the scale!

(Please feel free to let me know how many mAH you get from

a pair of 'PC World normal alkaline' batteries, and I'll re-do the

calculation)

For the moment, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, and

assume that a pair provides around 450mAH in a Psion5mx.***

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

** The electricity required to recharge them 13 to 14 times is

approx. 0.4 KW H - which costs about 3 to 5 pence  at most, 

at current prices.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** If you're happy with only 450mAH until you have to swap    

batteries again, you can buy eight-packs of Uniross 800mAH 

NiCads for £4.99 in Poundstretcher at the moment. (£4.99 for

4 in Dixons)

After a couple of cycles, they happily provide 700-800mAH in

a Psion5mx in my experience.

Cheers,

     Eua

'I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance,

Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance'

- Ogden Nash

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 04:14:32 +0000

From: "DL"

Subject: dos programs

Hi,  is it possible to run an old dos program on my revo?  If so could someone please advise me how?  Thanks.  Dave Limbrick

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 08:41:43 +0000

From: Kate Head

Subject: Email problem + advice for OE users

Kit Byatt wrote:

>>Unfortunately I still have the problem of being able to connect to the >>Internet, but not being able to retrieve the messages from one of my ISP's.  >>The message in the box reads "No messages" although there are many, >>because I get them on my PC too.

It might be worth trying www.Mail2web.com to see if any of your emails are 69 to 71Kb big as they will be W32-Bugbear carriers.  You can delete them from Mail2web as well (if you have problems logging on, you may have to go to  "Advanced login" and enter the POP3 mailbox address).

Also anyone using Outlook Express on Windoze, it would be worth your while to go to "View", then ""Layout", and on "Preview Pane" make sure that the "show preview pane" is not ticked;

this will make sure that you have to open the emails yourself, once you've checked that they're not virus carriers. 

If "preview pane" is ticked and the email is selected and there's a virus in it, it will run on Windoze...

All the best,

      Kate!!

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 08:41:47 +0000

From: Kate Head

Subject: Spell - sorted!

Hi there,

Many thanks to all the people who offered advice on how to run Spell when the touchscreen has died: we started with Keith's suggestion to use the Z: drive, but ended up copying Darryl's OPL program onto the C: drive, and my Dad is now able to get his crossword puzzles finished OK.

Thanks to you all.

All the best,

      Kate!!

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 08:58:50 +0000

From: Lothar.Kammann

(Lothar Kammann)

Subject: Re: 1GB Sandisk CF

Kevin,

I have bought the CF at the following retail store:

Reise & Fotowelt

Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 213

D - 47179 Duisburg - Walsum

Phone: +49 203 991844

Fax:   +49 203 991846

Email: ReiseundFotowelt

Cost was EUR 820,00 incl. VAT of 16%

At the same store I have also bought a Sandisk 512MB Ultra at EUR 359,00 incl. VAT of 16%.

I have not yet encountered any other place with a lower price.

Hope this helps.

Lothar Kammann

Germany

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 09:53:17 +0000

From: Will Green

Subject: Netbook Docking Station, Future of Psion

Hello all,

Netbook Docking Station...

First of all I have no PCs, only Psions, so I use my docking station purely for recharging.

I would however love to use it to connect to the Internet via a modem, but when the modem is connected directly to the docking station and try to connect it dials up OK but when going through password authentication it fails with 'Comms line fail'.  

It works fine with exactly the same settings when I connect the modem (3COM US Robotics) directly to the COMM port of the netBook!           

Any ideas?

Future of Psion...

WIth Psion Teklogix looking after hardware (separate company to Psion I assume), and Symbian looking after software, what role has Psion for the future?

When the final Psions PDA's are gone what are Psion going to do?

Looking at their stock price I think other investors are thinking the same!

Cheers,

Will.

PS Thanks to all those who sent me the colour upgrade to Sim City. I sent my first email from the wrong email (Pete is my business partner) so sorry for any confusion!

Regarding my shortcut tip; it'll work fine for Spell without any add on software and only take about 30ish-k, I thought it might be useful...thats all :o)                                                             

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 10:19:37 +0000

From: Philip S.  Adkins Potter

Subject: Astrology gave birth to Astronomy

Hi folks.

Stargazing was a respected form of augury long before the birth of astronomy.

Many older and respected observatories were founded by astrologers or their patrons to refine augury - science has odd roots. Astrology could even be assumed to be the great-great- . . . -great-grandfather of computing as mathematics was advanced for astrological calculation (and accounting of course). The first computer were only calculating machines and the underlying code is all numbers still.

There are still folk who believe in astrology (see the daily papers if you don't believe me) but it's no sillier than other kinds of fortune telling - I think they're all silly!

Happy days,

Phil.

"A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an intellectual -

find out how he feels about astrology."

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 12:50:57 +0000

From: "S.S."

Subject: Re: EPOC DIGEST V1 # 091

HI all,

I also got infected with this virus. Tha(what a domain "BLOODLINK?) for pointing to the link where the virus can be deleted. But, How and why the heck did EpocDigest let a virus like this go thru?

Thanks for the service,

Sussan S.

<<I have unfortunately been infected by the virus...i have a tendency to open everything i get.However if someone elso who doesn't format his PC 2-3 times per week was also infected i'd recommend going to thiremoval.tool.html It's a tool from the makers of Norton A-V and it successfully removes the

virus.>>

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 13:37:49 +0000

From: Itamar Engelsman

Subject: Modem connections

Hi Thomas,

I said about the cable as in my experience not all phone cables work with modems as well. Yes, I quite often use the phone cables in hotels as well, and even have a small adaptor where you can enter on both sides a RJ11 plug so I don't have to undo the cable from the modem. But I had instances where it did not work, and some cables I bought for phones did not work with modems, both in the office and at home.  Maybe the newer types do work.

Bye,

Itamar

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 15:18:37 +0000

From: Lothar.Kammann

(Lothar Kammann)

Subject: Psioneer's home country

Hi all,

It would be very helpful to know in which country each of you are living, as it is not visible via the email address. If you want you can add the city.

Hope you do not mind this question.

Lothar Kammann

Germany, 47669 Wankum

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 18:07:32 +0000

From: Philip S.  Adkins Potter

Subject: AlarmPlus

Hi there,

I have 2 Psion 5mxs and my main one just succumbed to the dreaded ribbon cable disease. So I'm sending it to the POS hospital and I've moved to the other which has 24 MB RAM courtesy of D & G. This seems to prevent PsiLoc+ from working so I'm using other utilities instead.

AlarmPlus is the main one and it's superb (and free)!

I won't pretend that it is as good as PsiLoc+ which I rate even higher and the two utilities won't coexist (they both apparently work at system level) but it does many things that make my life easier.

All my system settings are restored on reboot except (like PsiLoc+) my default disk. It also starts any number of other programs when the 5mx is reset including StickyKeys. I need StickyKeys as I can only use one hand for a while but I'd use it anyway. PsiLoc+ includes this.

PsiLoc+ has a function which sets alarms independently which, surprisingly, AlarmPlus does not. AlarmPlus does appear to handle alarms efficiently otherwise though. This is not available in PsiLoc+ (or apparently anywhere else) and I find it very useful.

Remapper is also very useful and I use it with PsiLoc+ too. It remaps the keyboard and silkscreen very effectively and has a built-in macro function (not like Macro5). It's possible that PsiLoc+ does this but I haven't explored all it's possibilities yet.

The company PsiLoc have apparently stopped all development on ER5 software which is a pity but AlarmPlus really helps.

My physical/medical problems make these utilities particularly useful but I honestly believe they should be part of the OS of every handheld. Most facilities for disabled folk are considered luxuries for the able-bodied but that is a very short-sighted view. When I'm a lot better (I'm too old and rotten to be perfect again) these utilities will still be very useful. I thank the writers and any others who try to help me.

Happy days,

Phil.

"Minimise your therbligs until it becomes automatic;

this doubles your effective lifetime -

and thereby gives time to enjoy

butterflies and kittens and rainbows."

*++++++++++&

Date: 11 Oct 2002 19:07:59 +0000

From: "Owen H. Morgan"

Subject: CoCoPaPa and Merlin

Howdy!

I downloaded CoCoPaPa yesterday and installed it on my MC218 and Mako.

I started by copying the three .opo files "Strg+c.opo", "Strg+x.opo" and "Strg+v.opo" to the \Macros folder. As I use Merlin as my macro launcher, I was not able to assign the macros to keyboard shortcuts. Instead, I set up toolbar buttons named "c", "x" and "v" on my Merlin toolbars and linked the buttons to the macros.

The macros work well. I can mark and cut or copy half a dozen bits of text in turn, move to a different application and paste them there in the same order as they were copied.

However, I would really like to be able to assign the macros to keyboard shortcuts to replace the built-in clipboard function instead of (or as well as) using Merlin toolbar buttons, but as far as I can see, this is not possible with Merlin. As I am very happy with my Merlin toolbars, I don't really want to go back to Macro5. I know it's possible to run Merlin and Macro5 at the same time, but this would waste precious memory on my already cramped Mako, and I don't want to use different systems on the MC218 and Mako.

Since the source code is included in the ZIP file, it would be possible to recompile the macros with

LOADM "C:\System\Opx\macro5.mcx"

to make them able to run without a macro launcher, but I'm not sure if that would make it any easier to link them to keyboard shortcuts without using Macro5.

Any Ideas?

PS. Does anyone know if there is any development going on with Merlin? There are a few functions I would like to see added to this otherwise excellent utility. The most important would be keyboard shortcuts both direct to applications and macros and to toolbar buttons and entries on listbox buttons.

Owen

Thought for the day:

My father told me:

'If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well'. That's why to this date, I haven't done anything.

--<53°20.87'N 6°14.83'W

Dublin City Moorings

Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-9311

c/o Idrettsveien 6, 3188 HORTEN, Norway