-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Epoc Digest Thu, 02 Oct 2003 Volume 01 : Number 354
************************************************************************
Sent to: 797 subscribers
In today's Epoc Digest 14 messages:
==============================
-- Airline baggage handling (OT)
- Psion ownership and the future
- Reply to Chris Handley, Re: IR backup
- Why Wifi?
- Re: OS/2
- Series 5 for Spares & User Guide - Free to Anyone Prepared to Pay Postage
- Contacts back to DATA, Microsoft,
- Moving email message store
- Re: Zip preference settings
- Re: mystery crashes
- Re Mystery crash
- Vanishing e-mail syndrome.
- Help needed with .AVI playback in Win2k (OT)
*++++++++++&
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003
From: Digest administrator
Subject:
Dear subscriber,
Your email address returned the last digests since #347. We temporarily unsubscribed you for 10 days and hope you will read this via other sources. Please either solve the problem with your system administrator or subscribe with a different email address.
With best regards
Rolf Vonau
The Epoc Digest Team
*++++++++++&
Date: 30 Sep 2003 22:08:54 +0100
From: m.garrett
Subject: Airline baggage handling (OT)
Owen wrote ;-
> Sorry about the long OT post, but as I have noticed many of our > readers travel by air, this should be relevant, and hopefully
> educational to some.
Hi Owen,
Sound advice and all very gratefully received! Unfortunately my four destroyed items of luggage were all damaged as a result of travelling by helicopter
where one has no choice but to pack all computers/delicates in a bag (aluminium recommended, although I do believe high tensile steel with welded clasps offers some advantage ;o) and stow them in the helicopters luggage
hold. On a typical offshore flight you then squeeze yourself into a rather fetching bright orange survival suit, (makes the body easier to find in the water) and don on a pair of ear-defenders to reduce the engine noise to a that of a road drill. It makes for a fun start to the working day.
I once met a drunk pilot in a pub near the "H-Block" Hotel in Unst (most northerly hotel in Britain) who said that a helicopter was 10,000 spare parts flying together in formation. I was a bit disconcerted to find out that he was the pilot on my flight the following day!
Kind Regards,
Malcolm
Glasgow UK
*++++++++++&
Date: 30 Sep 2003 22:15:38 +0100
From: m.garrett
Subject: Psion ownership and the future
Itamar wrote :-
> Answer to: Malcolm
> Re.: 5mx - Hi Malcolm, reading your message I started to wonder > what attribute Psion users have that make them a social bunch of > people willing to help each other. Is there something else we all have > in common besides the ownership of a Psion?
> Maybe next year we will see an "all singing and dancing" new
> keyboard machine we will all jump to, or maybe a machine that will
> be driven by speech ? I think the technology will continue to develop > further and further.
Hi Itamar,
I think pride of ownership of a special object and the pleasure derived from using it can come from almost any item we may possess. I am lucky in owning a rather nice car and I share that pleasure with others in a real world car owners club. Through these pages we are all linked together in a virtual world and, although we may never meet, we still like to share our thoughts and enthusiasm for our Psions. Long may it last !!
I await the next generation of sub-note book or 5MX style machines with interest - a return to a keyboard-style clamshell would be nice. However my 5's and netBook meet my present needs perfectly and it will take a stunning machine to drag me away from EPOC.
Kinds regards,
Malcolm
Travelling hopefully somewhere on GNER's rail network
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 00:03:06 +0100
From: Sanjay Chawla
Subject: Reply to Chris Handley, Re: IR backup
> From: Chris S Handley
> Subject: Re: mystery crashes & IR Backup
>
>
> Sanjay,
>
> > From: Sanjay Chawla
> > Subject: IR Backup
>
> > Unfortunately I have not been able to figure out how to > > backup my Psion devices with PsiWin/EPOC Connect. There > > seems to be a way to manually transfer files but I have a > > 128MB CF card that would take too long to replace all of the > > files.
>
> Could you clarify your problem with CF cards? Are you worried about the time taken to copy files from Psion to CF, or the time from CF to Windows?
>
> The former problem is not an issue when using an incremental backup program on the Psion. The latter problem simply requires
using an incremental backup program on Windows.
>
> Regards,
> Chris Handley
Chris,
I would like to continue to use PsiWin/EPOC Connect for my backups. I can not get the software to connect with any of the devices with the PC. The IR USB device does recognize that a Symbian device is in range. I would like to be able to convert EPOC files, Print via PC, etc.
Sanjay
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 08:37:01 +0100
From: Richard
Subject: Why Wifi?
Dear All,
I do understand perfectly why people would use WiFi for a mobile situation - but what I was thinking (if not actually typing) is: Why use a Psion in preference over a desktop PC for surfing.
I dislike the fact that so much of the web is full of bells and whistles - but that doesn't mean I don't want to access it! With a Psion it is much less accessible (unless there is a Linux surfing solution).
Cheers,
Richard
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 08:45:06 +0100
From: Ian Chapple
Subject: Re: OS/2
Steve,
>> I don't wish to labour the point...as this is a Psion forum not an OS/2 one but I think we should set the record straight with Trygve Henriksen
and his comments about HPFS
.. If HPFS was so badly flawed then why have I seen OS/2 systems running "flawlessly" for in excess of a year ? In more than a few customers?!
I'm not in a technical position to make any comments about M$ IFS's - but I do know from my own experiences that in most cases NTFS *prefers*
a reboot after a month.
I'm not rubbishing anyone here - its not my job...but OS/2 had a much better reputation for file system stability - certainly from my own observations.
However these are my views and representative of the company I work for.
I don't want to start a major debate..its the wrong forum - but I'd suggest that Trygves' M$ spokesperson was taking the rise and having a pop.
The Journelled File System extension to HPFS went one stage better... sadly M$ ousted OS/2 in the OS stakes - but thats history.. <<
My company, the European Patent Office, which has 6000 employees, has been using OS/2 since before I started working here (1990), and has only recently started making the change to Windows 2000, due to IBM stopping
its support of OS/2. Until now, we've had a system which is very reliable, most of the problems being caused by our own in-house software rather than the OS itself, and we've had virtually no problems with viruses, as no-one writes viruses for anything but Windows. Mind you, the crappy version of Netscape that we have running under OS/2 is totally useless, meaning that most websites are no longer viewable as they get more and more complicated...
Cheers, Ian.
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 09:57:43 +0100
From: Gary Jenkinson
Subject: Series 5 for Spares & User Guide - Free to Anyone Prepared to Pay Postage
Hi All,
I've got a dead (screen cable?) Series 5, although the screen is still in v.
good condition, plus the User Guide for it for someone who needs some spares
&/or a User Guide for their machine.
I'll willingly give it away free of charge, except for the cost of postage
to you, although please make a donation to a charity of your choice - I'll
let your own conscience determine whether you do or don't!
Please contact me directly to arrange delivery or collection from Coventry.
Regards,
Gary Jenkinson
email: garyjenkinson AT email DOT com
Tel/Fax/Ansaphone: +44 (0) 2476 361242
Mobile: +44 (0) 7771 635764
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 14:30:04 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman
Subject: Contacts back to DATA, Microsoft,
Answer to: vlad a
Re. Contacts back to DATA - Thanks, but no. Out of interest I asked which program converts Contact files back to DATA files, and you gave as an answer the movement of DATA files to Contact files.
Answer to: Eric Lindsay
Re. Microsoft - I typed a long answer yesterdya about this subject and by mistake deleted it <G>. In shorter form, you agree with my idea that they don't have such a department but do try from time to time to make it more difficult for rival products. And why not ? Who says that Microsoft have to allow all rival products to work with their systems ? Does a Palm program work on a PocketPC or Psion machine ? Does a S3 program work on a S5 machine ? (Auch <G>). And why don't we tell Apple that all their OS systems should allow other OS system programs to work as well (besides emulators at extra cost) ? In the end Microsoft is a commercial Company like others and wants to make maximum profit. If Psion would have been half as commercial they might have succeeded and still be around today.
Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 15:55:29 +0100
From: Richard
Subject: Moving email message store
Hi,
I would like to move my emails to D, but when I try I get an "Insufficient memory message".
If I copy my C:/System/Mail folder to D, it will be on D, but still not accessible from Email. (Presumably.)
Any advice, please?
Cheers,
Richard
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 17:31:44 +0100
From: Korbinian
Subject: Re: Zip preference settings
Hi Jack
Jack: "PS never forget to : Close archive (Ctl+L) before exiting RMRzip itself (Ctl+E)"
Me: "Why?"
Jack: "To prevent RMRzip from (trying to) reopening the last used zipfile, which is problematic if it has been moved or was on a disk no more present."
It's not really importent but I'm still not understand this!
Where is the problem if RMRZip tries to reopen a not existing file??
On my machine it simply open RMRZip without an archive, like expected....
bIS denn
Korbinian
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 20:39:07 +0100
From: Korbinian
Subject: Re: mystery crashes
Hi Chris and list,
> I have started a new discussion
> thread on PDA Street:
> http://www.pdastreet.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26597
Very good idea!!
As well as the person (sorry I can't remember) who contacted his provider to find a solution - or first - the problem.
regards
Korbinian
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 21:48:28 +0100
From: Jack
Subject: Re Mystery crash
Tracking an ISP IP modification, I found on :
http://support.free.fr/reseau/ (Sept 16th and later) "Maintenance plateforme IP/ADSL
Des maintenances de mise a jour vont avoir lieu sur les equipement de collecte du service ADSL "non dégroupé" afin de resoudre des problemes de connexion/authentification se produisant aleatoirement. Des deconnexions temporaires auront donc lieu..."
ie Update in ADSL service equipment due to random connexion/authentification problems will cause "temporary deconnections".
HTH our track
Jack
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 21:59:24 +0100
From: Owen H. Morgan
Subject: Vanishing e-mail syndrome.
Hi
I wonder whether anyone else has noticed this. I'm frequently getting broken connections whilst getting my e-mail through Movistar GSM and connecting via Movistar's own ISP here in Spain. Sometimes when the connection is broken just after an e-mail has appeared in my Inbox, the last e-mail I received will disappear again just as I loose the connection.
It happened again just now. There were three e-mails on the POP3 server, and when the first one came in, I opened it to have a quick look. Then I lost the connection, and when I closed the e-mail I had been looking at and keyed Ctrl-Z to get Email to stop trying to send and receive over a dead connection, the e-mail I had just been reading vanished! It can happen whether I open the e-mail to read it or not, but the fact that I could read it proves that the whole message had been received.
When this has happened, the e-mail has still been there on the POP3 server the next time I log on, but it's still bloody annoying. I don't think this is related to the e-mail problems other users are experiencing. It has happened before too, it's just that here in Spain broken connections are a daily (and expensive) occurrence, so the vanishing e-mail syndrome occurrs more often too.
I tried rebuilding the Index file (like I described on the digest a few days ago), but the missing e-mail did not reappear, so it really has been deleted from the Mail folders, not just from the Index file.
I assume what happens is that the lost connection prevents Email from completing the transaction with the POP3 server for the last e-mail received, but I still don't understand why this leads to Email deleting a message that has already appeared in the local Inbox, particularly after I have been able to open and read that message.
Owen
Thought for the day:
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.
--
Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-9Somewhere in sunny Spain, heading for the Canaries.
http://home.no.net/naomij
Phone and SMS:
In Spain: +34 620520079
In Norway: +47 92053097
*++++++++++&
Date: 1 Oct 2003 21:59:34 +0100
From: Owen H. Morgan
Subject: Help needed with .AVI playback in Win2k (OT)
Hi.
Offlist replies to this please.
WindoZe Media Player on my Toshiba will no longer play .AVI files created on my Fuji 4800z stills camera. When I double-click the file, it opens it, says "Error downloading codec" and plays just the sound". It used to work fine thought I'm not sure whether it was WMP that played the files or something else. It still plays other .AVI files. I've tried re-installing WMP to no avail. As far as I know, I haven't installed anything else related to video playback since it worked. Any ideas? I don't have access to the www or the capacity to receive large attachments.
Owen
Thought for the day:
Why don't they make mouse flavoured cat food, or cat flavoured dog food?
--
Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-9Somewhere in sunny Spain, heading for the Canaries.
http://home.no.net/naomij
Phone and SMS:
In Spain: +34 620520079
In Norway: +47 92053097
*++++++++++&
To reply or to send your own messages,
subscribe by sending an email to
with SUBSCRIBE in the subject.