Epocdigest V1 # 383

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Epoc Digest Wed, 19 Nov 2003 Volume 01 : Number 383

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Sent to: 793 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 08 messages:

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- psion5 personal dictionary

- Screen Differences / Backups / Question

- lifespan netBook/S7 screen,

- Re: dream machine 5mx replacement ( a rookie question )

- Re: Symbian porting and migration

- Reading agenda files without a psion

- Re: netBook/S7 screen differences & stickyIcons

- Interesting bug in OS

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Date: 17 Nov 2003 14:58:47 +0000

From: anthony ross

Subject: psion5 personal dictionary

On trying to add a word to my personal dictionary I was met with the message NO DICTIONARY ACTIVE although the "use personal dictionary" was ticked. Does this mean that the dictionary is full? If so how do I get into it to delete as attempting "show contents" gives the message "NO SOLUTIONS FOUND"? Is the only answer to back up all of disc C, remove the batteries to delete the disc and recopy from backup? Or am I missing some simpler solution?

TONY ROSS

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Date: 17 Nov 2003 15:34:23 +0000

From: Andy Hayes

Subject: Screen Differences / Backups / Question

Hi All

I too noticed a huge difference in the screen quality of my new netBook compared to the old one. I have absolutely no idea of whether the screens are different, but would suspect that it just gets dimmer with age. Much like me then really!

Itamar asked about backing up font files. When I was responsible for backing anything up that couldn't be backed up as it was open (lets ignore with a lock etc. or copy backups for the moment) I would just copy the files to another directory whenever possible. If it is something that doesn't change you only need to do it once and then the backup will backup the copy of the original file. If it changes frequently I am sure that you could write a macro to do the necessary before the backup.

(OT). I have just been for an interview as an IT Trainer and there was a question on the written test that had me thinking. What is the difference between the Internet and the Web? It threw me completely! I now know the answer though. Any guesses?

Andy Hayes

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Date: 17 Nov 2003 15:49:09 +0000

From: Itamar Engelsman

Subject: lifespan netBook/S7 screen,

Answer to: Grant Mearns

Re.: lifespan netBook/S7 screen - I have no particular details about this but in general it is a fact that backlit screens will deteriorate over time / usage. You could of course send it in for a screen replacement.

Best regards,

Itamar Engelsman

London, UK

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Date: 18 Nov 2003 16:12:46 +0000

From: "Gilles G. CASANOVA"

Subject: Re: dream machine 5mx replacement ( a rookie question )

How about a fast "5Mx" (with touchscreen and able to run ER5 native apps) with cellphone capability and colorscreen ( and usb interface ) ?

Do any of the available phone sets come close to that ?

Which come closest ?

I have to change my phone, but get puzzled with the large offering and compatibility issues !!!

Regards

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Date: 19 Nov 2003 00:42:31 +0000

From: Martin Maxwell

Subject: Re: Symbian porting and migration

Answer to: Itamar Engelsman

>>>Re. Symbian OS 7 netBook Pro - You write in very technical language. <<<

Ooops, was I?

>>>What I understand is that on (1) it will be difficult to impossible to copy EPOC programs and data to the planned machine, on (2) is there somewhere a list or a website that will show us users which programs are available for Symbian OS 6 and 7 devices ?.<<<

On (1), running EPOC programs (if you with 'EPOC' mean v5/Eikon applications) as they are, of course not, and I would say that is a quite unreasonable request since we're talking about a different piece of hardware. However, what we are looking at here is *running later versions of the same or similar applications*. In comparison, obviously RoutePlanner for v6.1/Series60 (on, say, a Nokia 3650) is not *identical* to the v5/Eikon version (on, say, a Psion S7). But I am sure a user of one version would feel quite at home when using the other version the first time.

As for data, this is very much up to the application developer. Normally an application developer would either make the data sets compatible between different versions, or (s)he would ensure that there are export/import functions for earlier versions. I have not checked how the situation is with RoutePlanner specifically. However, with Data you can, as you say, always save as comma separated file.

On (2), well start with www.symbianpages.com and www.handango.com. There are quite a lot now. On Handango, just click on the Symbian tag.

>>>Having moved my diary and data files to a Sony CLie I can tell you that it is quite easy via Microsoft Outlook and with a comma separated file straight into the Data program (third party). The neighbour's garden is not nicer forme at all <<<

I got nothing bad to say about Sony Clie. My wife's got one. Nice machine. The reference to greener gardens relates directly to your comment about any netBook Pro Symbian being a dead-end device, and the tendencies for some people to glorify Win CE and Palm OS as being in some kind of ideal world with no problems whatsoever with compatibility, porting or migration.

Kind regards

Martin Maxwell

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

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Date: 19 Nov 2003 09:34:21 +0000

From: "dnl"

Subject: Reading agenda files without a psion

Hi all,

My beloved Psion 5mx finally stopped working and I found myself in a situation where I cannot longer access certain type of files from the PC. I always thought that with PsiWin I could convert any standard Psion file to another PC format and so my data was accessible. Now I have discovered that it is not possible (or I am not able to do so) to convert an Agenda file to any other type of file, PsiWin will give me the same error each time: "Unable to load converter".

Does anybody know if there is any PC utility that would read those files? Or do I have to use a Psion to do so? I thought about using the emulator (if I am able to find it on the internet) but the only solution then will be to sync the agenda file with the PC and as far as I know, this is not possible (you have to sync with a real Psion)

Please any help is more than welcome

Best regards

dnl

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Date: 19 Nov 2003 10:47:38 +0000

From: Chris S Handley

Subject: Re: netBook/S7 screen differences & stickyIcons

Grant,

> From: Grant Mearns

> Subject: netBook/S7 screen differences

> Does anyone know how long the expected working life of the

> netBook/S7 screen is?

As you noticed, yes the brightness of the screen DOES diminish with use. There is no difference between Netbook & Series7 screens.

The brightness should tend to drop exponentially, with a large drop in brightness early on, and smaller drops later.

You should be able to extend the "life" of the screen by using it at a lower brightness level.

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Itamar,

What Jack writes is correct, but ONLY if you use the "Extras bar" icon from the Control Panel.

For some reason, if you tap on the title-bar of the actual extras bar, any changes made will be lost after a soft reset. This is a well-known "bug".

> Date: 15 Nov 2003 15:29:08 +0100

> From: Jack

> Subject: Re stickyIcons

> Itamar wrote:

>> There was a macro called "xbarset5mx" that repositioned

>> the programs on the Extra bar as per your own choice

>> after a hard reset.

> Re No need for any macro...

> just after restauration do perform a soft reset and every

> icon comeback where you earlier placed it.

Regards,

Chris Handley

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Date: 19 Nov 2003 12:39:22 +0000

From: Itamar Engelsman

Subject: Interesting bug in OS

I had an interesting bug in the OS today. I had a copy of my C disk of my S7 on the CF card and had called the folder "Disk C" (I am not sure whether the name is significant or not). There were several files that were "read-only".

Tonight I deleted the folder again and each time the deletion hit one of these "read-only" files the S7 did a soft reset by itself after which I could skip the file and continue with the deleting. For 4 files this happened 4 times. Did anyone else ever hit this bug ?