Epocdigest V1 # 391

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Epoc Digest Mon, 01 Dec 2003 Volume 01 : Number 391

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Sent to: 787 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 13 messages:

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- Symlink Regcode

- Discussion of Non-Psion Machines

- Impressions from the HCC dagen

- Re: Palm and the like, no more trusty Psion 5MX

- Re: Palm and other pda's

- Re: Program list

- Re: Revo Fax and Logfiles

- psion-abiword plug-in

- A Psion 1/3/3a/5/5MX user trys out a Dell Axim X3i running PocketPC

- Palm/non-EPOC topics

- 'Record' improvements

- Re: Whoops - no more trusty Psion 5MX - I broke the screen :(

- Re: Program list

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

Date: 30 Nov 2003 19:41:42 +0100

From: G.Rainer

Subject: Symlink Regcode

Hello out there!

Has anyone an idea, how and where to register Symlink or is there one for sale?

The author seems to have dissapeared long time ago.

Who can help?

Thanks,

Gernot

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

Date: 30 Nov 2003 19:55:00 +0100

From: Jim Watson-Gove

Subject: Discussion of Non-Psion Machines

Stéphane Sage

>It seems there appears to be a increasing interest for Palm devices, such as T3, on Epoc Digest recently: perhaps we should stick to the original

>theme -discussing the merits of Epoc OS...Even though I feel OK with helping ex-psionists to switch over to other devices (files transfer, various programs adaptations and the like...), I see no reason to exchange web sites or software tricks dedicated to the day-to-day use of Palm devices on this forum. What is others' (and particularly the Digest "founders") opinion on that ?

As one who was a member of the CompuServe Forum that sort of evoloved into this EList, though I don't consider myself a founder, I feel I am an original member.

From the very begining there has been a desire to have the content focussed on Psion machines combined with a tolerance for off-topic content - some wonderfully silly (I remember a long go with an espreso machine, a cow and a helicopter on a rooftop).

As most of us will eventually be migrating to other platforms (I am currently exploring Palm as is Itamar and others), I think a continuing tolerance for exploration of alternatives should be continued. Even is a cow on the roof appears.

As long as my Psions are working, I will be using them (primarily spreadsheet and Data). Here I feel I can slip in a question or two about Palm as well as Psion and occasionly give my impressions. Hard core questions I have been handling to list members directly.

I hope that the list forever remains Psion oriented but so far having no rules per se and no moderator has solved us well (IMO).

Watching the POS Revo front with interest, but suspect it will be Palm OS.

jim - port townsend, washington

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

Date: 30 Nov 2003 22:07:37 +0100

From: Thomas F. VAN DER ZIJDEN

Subject: Impressions from the HCC dagen

Dear group,

As many of you already know perhaps, every year the HCC, a big computer club in the Netherlands, organise the HCC days in Utrecht. These 3 days (Friday and the week-end) are a must for all Dutch-speaking computer techies, because they are a meeting point for the computer clubs and you can buy some cheap stuff.

This year Symbian.info , The Benelux Symbian User Society, had a - very

big - stand on it as well. They succeeded in getting a lot of prototypes on the HCC dagen and perhaps you are interested as well.

It was their original idea to be present at the HCC dagen with the Pocke PC club and the Palm club, but during the preparations the other two decided that the HCC dagen were far to big for them, leaving symbian.info to the job. Apparently, symbian.info took the opportunity gladly, but the demonstrators were asked to be "OS neutral". This was a hard job for me. :-)

The stand itself consisted of a big info desk with 4 computers for Internet access to symbian.info, pulster.de , clubpda.org , epocboulevard.com and some other popular sites. Behind it was an "office" for the demonstrators and there was also a big "theater" for the lectures.

The lectures were varying from demonstrations of specialised Symbian and Pocke PC software to the general lecture "A PDA, why do I need that ? ". If anyone is interested and can read Dutch, this presentation is available on http://tfvanderzijden.online.fr/pda.ppt .I focused on some nice applications that I need for my job and explained why I bought a PDA... and why I bought a Psion. I also explain what the main differences are between the 3 OS, but during the Q & A I briefly lost my neutrality.

"Is Pocke PC stabile ?"

"Between the crashes it is... euh... I mean... it is slightly less stable than Palm or Symbian" :-)

Right, now for the goodies.

The demonstrators had

- 2 Siemens SX 1 prototypes ; nice phone, quite small with a Series 60 interface. I liked the video capacity. It makes videos, but apparently not standard AVI as the Netbook Pro to which I beamed the video could not read it. This particular prototype had a mean bug. If you switch the T9 dictionary to Dutch, then all applications crash when you try to do some input. With a disabled T9 (or whatsitsname for Siemens...) it worked. The working version of the SX 1 is to be expected in January. What I disliked was the numeric "keypad" that was actually in 2 rows on both sides of the screen. Yuk... that is hard to type with ! Also its "joystick" was very sensitive.

"Can you please demonstrate the Agenda".

"But ofcourse... ups... that's Internet... zut... now I activated the video... a Agenda... oh, no, that was the game left to it."

At the end of the day I was getting used to this joystick.

- A Nokia 7700 prototype (it was in a closed vitrine, so I could not touch it)

- 2 S-E P900 : This is indeed the P800 turbo ! Nice phone, very slick, and with a stylus

- The complete Nokia stuff with some 36xx and an N-Gage. I did not play with those phones. Standard Series 60, but with some improved goodies. The N-Gage will be very popular for gamers !

- 2 Sendo prototypes . Verrrry nice phone, small and slick. It also works with such a joystick. Its camera has a flash... and a very good one ! Sunglasses anyone ?

- My favorite :

The Netbook Pro

This is a very slick and improved version of the Netbook. The keyboard felt rather "new" and it was slightly harder to press the keys, but we got it straightly from the box. The 800x600 TFT screen looked very clear and crisp, but since this was inside a building I could not see much differences between the clearness of the Netbook Pro and my own Malaybook. However, the higher resolution shows on the main screen of the Windows CE.net . Those icons are very nice ! The Netbook Pro has a very nice USB 1.1 miniport that permits the usage of a mouse (if you don't like the touch screen) . It comes with a Mediaplayer, so I beamed some MP3's over from my Netbook (works very well with Plbeam !). The sound through the speaker is very soft, but Teklogix says the speaker is only meant for beeps and alarms. You can use the headphones for MP3's.

It has Win CE.net, but if my brandnew Malaybook will become oldfashioned (and this can take quite a time...) I am interested in the Netbook Pro, due to its splendid hardware qualities !

Christoph PULSTER will be delighted that Handata (the Dutch distributor) has a price in mind of around 1599 euros incl. VAT !

My own Malaybook also attracted quite some people, so I redirected them to Pulster's site to buy a Malaybook. A journalist was very interested in it: nice keyboard, great screen, it can print PDF (Sander van der Wal sold his PDF Printer next to our stand) and it works for 6 to 8 hours on a battery ! And what was this called again ? A Psion ? So why did Psion stop its production ?

Euh... yesss...

One of the visitors actually took one of our computers to check out pulster.de , saying that he would buy a Malaybook NOW ! I would be very interested to hear if Christoph received an order from Holland yesterday. :-)

I thought that Saturday (the day I was present) was a great success for PDA users.

The only thing I noticed that people knew that they could just ask anyone with a Symbian badge to show them the prototypes, but they did not dare to do this. "My" Siemens SX 1 was hanging on a key cord around my neck (it has a ring intended for that use !) and this made it easier for people to ask a demonstration and to play around with it.

If anyone is interested in "details" about the phones, just ask, but please keep in mind that it was only one day to play with a lot of prototypes.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas VAN DER ZIJDEN

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 02:40:10 +0100

From: Andrew Gregory

Subject: Re: Palm and the like, no more trusty Psion 5MX

It's been a long while since I last posted, but I've been keeping an eye on things here.

I don't want to see this list become more non-epoc than epoc, but I don't see any problem with having topics that are only tangentially related to epoc. As depressing as they may be :( threads on how to move from epoc to another platform are OK. Threads that have no relation to Epoc (eg relevant only to Palm or WinCE) really have no place here, IMHO.

Speaking of topics vaguely related to epoc :) ages ago I started work on an IR hotsync system between my netBook and Palm IIIxe. The idea was to sync my epoc Contacts and an Agenda file with my Palm Datebook, Address, To Do List and Memo Pad/NotePad. I stopped work on it because it just got too hard :| (I got to the point where the Palm thought it had established a hoysync connection and played its little trill - the too hard part is figuring out the RPC for the Palm databases) but I was wondering what sort of interest there might be in such a thing?

Cheers,

Andrew Gregory, <URL: mailto:andrew

<URL: http://www.scss.com.au/family/andrew/ >

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 07:12:28 +0100

From: Dick Chatjaval

Subject: Re: Palm and other pda's

Hello all,

>>I see no reason to exchange web sites or software tricks dedicated to the

day-to-day use of Palm devices on this forum. What is others' ...opinion on

that ?<<

Being a pda enthusiast, Psion and others, I find it interesting to read

others' advice about different platforms. I use an S7, but since both my

5mx and Revo do not work, I have been using a Palm os machine recently

because of its form factor. I am grateful for the posts on Palm software

such as DateBk and HanDBase because they have greatly enhanced the

usefulness of my Palm pda.

I enjoy our digest community and find it nice that I can get information

here on psions, palms etc without going elsewhere. While some discussions

are sometimes off topic, they do make our digest more interesting. Just my

2 cents worth...

Best regards,

Dick

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 08:58:27 +0100

From: Chris S Handley

Subject: Re: Program list

Hello Owen,

>> my Email >>> indenting macro

>> no-one here seemed interested in it

> Or because the excellent REM by Rolf Vonau does this and lots

> more?

I wrote the macro because I knew of nothing to do the job, thus I am curious where I can find this "REM". What does it's name stand for (might make searching easier).

Is it shareware?

> Still, I'd like to give your macro a spin if you send

> it to me.

Aftering seeing one of your recent replies, I had thought you were already using my macro (so that someone must have leaked a copy), because of the short word-wrap that my macro defaults to.

Yes, I can send it to you. It only indents texts, but there seems some interest in automatic signature addition, etc, so I may add that eventually. (I am spread too thinly at the moment!)

> The reason is that I sometimes receive e-mails

> where the text is in an attached document, and then REM won't

> quote the text.

That sounds like a strange limitation!

Regards,

Chris Handley

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 09:46:23 +0100

From: Marcus von Cube

Subject: Re: Revo Fax and Logfiles

John

>(Marcus): "You should create the folders C:\Logs\Etel and C:\Logs\Fax. Then, after a failure, look at the files in these directories, they should tell you, what has happend to your phone." >

>Thanks Marcus, I tried that & got the following in the C:\Logs\Etel folder:-

> " ----------New Log----------

>11.18:59:312500 Entered ETel Server thread

>11.19:15:296875 ETel: About to exit ETel thread function "

>There was nothing in the C:\Logs\Fax folder.

>Is this enough information for you or anyone to diagnose the problem & suggest a solution?

Sorry, but it's not. On my netBook (didn't try on the Revo) there is a bunch files in these directories, detailing the handshake between the phone and the PDA. Since you don't get any of these, you probably have a problem with the IrDa connection. Are you shure, that IrDa is enabled on your 6310i?

Marcus

http://www.mvcsys.de

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 10:06:36 +0100

From: Jack

Subject: psion-abiword plug-in

Hi psionaddicts,

The excellent & free Abiword201 from abisource.com/download/

DOES convert EPOC Word (psiword) to/from main word editors

One has only to co-install the abiword Tools plugins for that.

One good new (at last) !

HTH

Jack

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 12:14:41 +0100

From: Antony Steele

Subject: A Psion 1/3/3a/5/5MX user trys out a Dell Axim X3i running PocketPC

Hi!

Thought some of you might like some feedback on my recent exploit into the world of PocketPC.

Following my 5MX's recent floor-impact (it had survived at least 100 drops before this one - before I wore the hard case zip out - oh well) - I thought that I should look at replacing ye olde trusty 5MX with a new "latest & greatest" device, which in this case (and in my opinion) means the new and sleek Dell Axim X3i. A call to the local office produced a new X3i for a one week trial - lucky me!

My limited research into this area has so far shown that the new Dell Axim X3i is the way to go for a PocketPC. Packing more power into a tighter and neater shell than the Ipaq, yet still including 802.11b wireless... and at about 40% cheaper! However, the first disappointment is the lack of bluetooth support. Coming in a Jan 2004 is the rumour, otherwise it is a relatively cheap add-on option that you can install right away.

No keyboard - damn! I was leant the optional folding out keyboard, which is quiet ingenious - of course extends out to be a fair touch bigger than a Series 5 keyboard - and when folded up is only slightly larger than the PocketPC itself. I see two problems with this: (1) You do need to have a flat table to use it on, so no chance of some quick editing whilst navigating Hammersmith roundabout. (You remember my Velcro on the steering wheel joke last week? ;) ) and (2) It would stop any meeting that I was in stone dead if I "extended" for public display!

The colour screen is superb, and the unit itself a lovely size to use. I was surprised how quick I got used to the stylus for tapping characters in... even had a go at the character recognition for a while too - but ultimately found the on-screen keyboard tapping to be the fastest way to go.

...and then things got quite sad.... the poxy Outlook application is marginally better than the 1988 option that Psion gave us on the LZ64. It is very disappointing. This is not a problem for Dell, but for the operating system that PocketPC users have to put up with. My diary is an important part of using a PDA - and the "week view" shows blocks to represent "busy" periods - but not a clue as to what you are doing. A quick tap on each block shows the event details, but if you think you will get a nice weekly view like on the 5MX - think again!

I use Sheet on the Psion a lot, and make good use of the graphs. NO graphs on the Pocket Excel - and due to the portrait screen shape - the number of cells you can view is very limited. There is no screen zoom-in / zoom-out feature with any applications, another disappointing issue for me.

But wait--- it comes with a RDP client for remote terminal server access - got to try that out! It only took a few seconds to configure dial-up networking, and using infrared to the mobile I had a connection into the office LAN. Impressive so far! I then logged into our Citrix Metaframe system and launched the main office application (Goldmine) that rules my day in the office. But - the login to that application uses about 30% of a normal PC's 800x600 screen, and the much smaller display on the PocketPC does NOT give me any option to navigate the session screen - no scroll bars!! I kid you not! This meant that sadly I could not see the login field, so that was that. Maybe I had missed a setting to display scroll bars, but don't count on it. I thought that about graphs in Pocket Excel.

Data/Contacts - I run several Data files on the 5MX, home, business, and then an export of our 22,000 contact company database. Since you are forced to use Outlook to manage your contacts, there are few options. The first disaster is that there is no "data import" option - so even though I have a CSV file with 22,00 contacts standing by to be imported--- I can not do anything with them.

Batteries: internal rechargeable Lithium-ion, provides I think 6 hours use - depending on what you get up to. Don't panic, if the main batteries go flat then the internal backup battery provides for 30 minutes of memory retention. What!!?!

The 5MX of course provides 6 weeks of use on a pair of AA batteries. Hmmm.

So there you go - this is the best PocketPC option on the market today, and it does not come close to the 5MX which is now 8 years old.

With so much memory and CPU power in PocketPC's today, I do not understand why we need to have "pocket" versions of normal applications. If Psion were able to make such great apps with a 36.8Mhz processor - why does a 400Mhz PocketPC not fair better?!

I am sure that there are some great 3rd party apps out there that might address some of my PocketPC woes... but on my 5MX it was 90% Psion apps, 10% 3rd party app. Onthe PocketPC it would be the other way round.

I had hoped to like the PocketPC, as it would be nice to run on something that you can actually buy... and I feared that I would be difficult to please on this issue... but my next PDA decision is very obvious - repair or replace the 5MX - but stick with the 5MX.

The only way that I would go to a PocketPC today would be if it could run the EPOC emulator - now that's a great idea!!

Can anyone tell me if I should look at a Palm, someone said that the new "T3" is good... good compared to what?!

Rgds,

Antony Steele

Canberra, Australia

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 12:27:56 +0100

From: Peter Rand

Subject: Palm/non-EPOC topics

Itamar wrote:

… I see us more as a "cyber community" with a common interest than a strict Psion forum only …

I concur. While the digest's primary focus remains on EPOC, I think discussing related topics makes perfect sense. After all, a lot on the Palm talk has centered on synchronization issues (EPOC-Palm), and on how best to use the Palm/EPOC combo. I consider these discussions 100% on topic, as I do all the talk about cell-phones (which doesn't interest me in the slightest), due to the desire of digest members to find phones compatible with their Psions. I want to use my collection of Psions for as long as possible, but also enjoy keeping up with new and relevant developments, and the digest, a "cyber community" with common interests, helps on both counts.

Peter

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 13:03:53 +0100

From: Peter McCafferty

Subject: 'Record' improvements

Hi All,

With the Record app, is it possible to set it up so that it only starts recording when it hears a sound? This voice activated sensitivity would be very useful for recording meetings whilst saving disc space. I anticipate the sound file would be saved to the D: drive.

If not directly available, is it possible? If so, how difficult would it be to write an application to run this task?

Thank you.

Peter

Peter McCafferty, Peter Julian & Associates, Architects

6-8 Tiverton Street, London, SE1 6NZ, UK.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 72 34 01 12

Fax: +44 (0) 87 00 55 78 12

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

Date: 1 Dec 2003 15:10:20 +0100

From: U Hornstein

Subject: Re: Whoops - no more trusty Psion 5MX - I broke the screen :(

Reference is made to the mail in the Epoc Digest V1 # 389 : Antony Steele wrote on 28 Nov 2003 13:38:49 (> ):

> I've gone & dropped my Psion Series 5MX - and

> cracked the screen!

snip

>but

> you have to exit from each application in order to

> switch to the next (if there is a shortcut - then I have

> not yet found it.) - as you can not use the touch screen

> anymore to switch apps.

Hi Anthony,

one workaround has been told to you already.

One other is: use the well known Macro5 from Pascal Nicholas. Under "Menu-Hotkeys-System" you can enter a key combination that does task cycling. I use Ct+Menu. This cycles forward. Ct+anykey cycles backward. Ct+Del exits cycling, staying in the original app. Macro5 will help you in LOTS of other situations as well. For me it doubles the usefulness of my MC218 (=5mx). So there is no need to install a separate app just for task cycling. Exception: if you are using Sticky Keys, the Macro5 TaskSw. does not work and you might be better off with the other solution.

This is just a workaround. Like others, I (on the long run) recommend to get a new machine or have yours repaired at one of the known resources.

HTH.

With greetings from Germany

Ulrich Hornstein

For spam protection: Please NEVER type my mail address into a www page ('send to a friend' or similar)!

Sent by MC218 (EPOC palmtop)

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

Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003

From: Rolf Vonau

Subject: Re: Program list

Chris S Handley wrote at Mon, 1 Dec 2003 08:58:27 +0100 (> ):

Owen Owen H. Morgan wrote (> > ):

> > Or because the excellent REM by Rolf Vonau does

> > this and lots more?

> I wrote the macro because I knew of nothing to do

> the job, thus I am curious where I can find this

> "REM". What does it's name stand for (might make

> searching easier).

> Is it shareware?

Hi Chris

as I'm the operator today, I would answer to your questions straight away in this Digest issue:

REM = ReplyEveryMail

You can download it from my homepage http://home.arcor.de/rhvonau/remdl.htm

Its freeware. Using this program you can comfortably reply to both single and digest mails with or without quoting the body, insert subjects, insert additional addresses, as well as greeting text, signatures and thought of the day.

> > The reason is that I sometimes receive e-mails

> > where the text is in an attached document, and

> > then REM won't quote the text.

> That sounds like a strange limitation!

REM quotes only text from the mail body.

But if there is a real need for quoting separate texts, I will write a small separate OPL program for that. Owen, what is your opinion?