Epocdigest V1 # 399

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Epoc Digest Sat, 13 Dec 2003 Volume 01 : Number 399

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Sent to: 790 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 15 messages:

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- Data to Contacts

- Copying Abode PDF file to Psion 5MX

- MBook, PDF files, Agenda problem, email problem, spam...

- Re: Epoc Digest V1 # 398

- Re: 512Kb Compact Flash

- Mozilla for PDA

- Re: Epoc Digest V1 # 398

- Re: Sony Clie UX-50

- Re: Spam and Worse (on a Psion)

- Extra bar settings?

- PDF on Psion, Editor.txt, new Mbook, Disclaimers

- Foxpop Sale

- Re: Psion Journal

- Humble Pie

- Re: Extra bar settings?

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Date: 12 Dec 2003 22:43:53 +0100

From: Manuel Campos Galvan

Subject: Data to Contacts

Is anybody aware of any utility that would transfer Data files into Contacts? The odd request stems from the fact that my database of contacts has grown so much that Psi Win during synchronization eats all the memory on my 5mx and stops with an error. The database has 2500 + contacts. Granted, with careful selection and dissection of the file you can carve out not much needed contacts and bring the number down. However, as I travel a lot it is very convenient to have the information at hand. I have no problem synchronizing that database to DATA, but then you lose the ability to automatically insert e-mail addresses and fax numbers.

Thanks,

Manuel Campos

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Date: 12 Dec 2003 22:49:48 +0100

From: Manuel Campos Galvan

Subject: Copying Abode PDF file to Psion 5MX

To Nigel:

Yes, you can read those files but need an additional piece of software called PDF+ You can get it at www.mbrainsoftware.com/Pdf/Pdf.htm

Excellent piece of software. I use it all the time, both to create PDF files to send to clients, as well as to read documents from other platforms, including electronic books. It's lovely to be able to keep your books in the machine and have a selection to read while waiting, on the subway or on a plane and not having to carry the dreaded weight around.

Regards,

Manuel Camp

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Date: 12 Dec 2003 23:18:31 +0100

From: Trygve Henriksen

Subject: MBook, PDF files, Agenda problem, email problem, spam...

Greetings!

Jim Watson-Gove asked:

> 1. The MBook comes with a 200-240 V power cube. Where do I

> get a 110 unit?

any RadioShack one that conforms to these specs will do:

15V 1.5A 'positive tip', 'stabilized power supply'.

(Stabilized means there's a voltage regulator built-in, and that it keeps the voltage stable even if the load changes)

> 2. Someone said that the flash card in the 5mx will not work

> on the MBook (or NetBook). Is this so?

Who said that? A M$ tecnician?

The Mbook/netBook can use several cards that your S5mx can't use!

(Like Type II cards in the D: CF-drawer and PC-Card sized flash-cards and adapters in the E: slot)

> 3. I am not really a power user. I assume that I can IR word, agenda,

> sheet, data, etc back and forth between the MBook and the 5mx.

Start beaming them!

>4. Plain vanilla PsiWin work or do I load up another version?

Anything newer than 2.0 should be OK, but I recommend V2.33

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Nigel Bonnett asked:

> Hi, anybody know how I can get a large PDF file from my PC to my

> Psion in a form that I can read on the Psion.

Two options:

Either copy the text content out of the file and into a text-file and use that, or...

get hold of the PDF reader at http://www.mBrainSoftware.com

There's also a PDF writer available on the same site...

-----

Idris wrote:

> I recently experienced a problem with Agenda

> Program starts to open file then generates the following error message:

Sounds like the file has become corrupt...

Try creating a new one, then Import the contents of the old one into it.

That sometimes helps.

------

Jim Watson-Gove wrote:

> Went to pick up my EMail tonight and when I performed a control shift

> C, I got a message saying something about possible overload and the

> machine (my 5mx) locked up.

It is possible that the mail you tried to download was not badly formatted.

Have you managed to receive emails from that sender before?

If you did, did any of them also contain attachments?

Ask your friend to send you a mail without attacments if so, and see if that comes through.

I know from personal experience that some spam mails can crash the Mail app, and that some poorly written mailheaders can cause the program to loose the contents.

----

Anthony Napier wrote:

> After year of trouble free e mailing with various Psions I now get almost

> daily unwanted mail "e.g. see my webcam!". I'm aware of PC antispam

> solutions but what can Psion users do to stop this?

Personally I use www.spamache.com

It's a filtering server that accesses your mail accounts(I'm running it against two mail accounts) periodically and deletes spam. It stores a copy of all deleted messages for 30 days, just in case.

The site is navigatable with a Psion, but I have no idea if it's possible to use the payment site(ProBilling) to pay for the service while surfing from a Psion.

The cost is about $7 a month, and for that it cleans out just about everything. :-)

They're currently running a 7 days free trial.

Just remember to add the digest and other lists to the whitelist as soon as you activate the account.

In addition to white and black-lists and their own filters they also have a 'must-list' which means you can specify that mails MUST have one of the defined words in it not to be seen as spam. (nice if you have an account set up to handle all emails on a particular subject)

Another alternative is spam.n-dream.com which is a free service...

But they don't run advanced filters and such, anymore.

Now they base it on that 'verified sender' scheme which means the first time you send a mail to the user you get a mail from the n-dream server with a link you have to use to verify that it was a valid sender address.

(Makes havok of automated mails from online stores, mailing lists and such)

This was my preferred server until they switched to the 'annoy-mail' system...

There's probably a lot of other free or commercial systems out there, but those are the ones I've tried.

:-)

Trygve

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

Date: 12 Dec 2003 23:23:57 +0100

From: Steve Hodgson

Subject: Re: Epoc Digest V1 # 398

> Hi, anybody know how I can get a large PDF file from my PC to my Psion > in a form that I can read on the Psion. I have the free space and

> have got the file to appear on my Psion but it didn't recognise the file > type when I tried to open it. Convert didn't seem to work either.

> Thanks Nigel Bonnett

One really simple solution if you have access to a PC is to download the xPDF files for Win32. Unlike the Linux version this does not include a

PDF viewer but a number of command-line utilities for use with PDF files.

One of these converts a PDF into a text file equivalent, following the original layout if required. The obvious limitation is that graphics

will be lost but this may not be a problem for you.

Regards,

Steve Hodgson

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 00:12:07 +0100

From: Armin Podtschaske

Subject: Re: 512Kb Compact Flash

Jorge Ramos wrote (> ):

> Anyone have any experience using a 512Kb compact flash

Hi Jorge! I use a Sandisc Ultra 512MB since several months in my 5mx without any problems.

I never formated it until i got some problems after using it for transfering some files from the PC to my new Netbook in it's drie E:.

Last week I bought another 512MB CF (Kingston). No Problems so far.

Some time ago the 5mx did not recognize a smaller CF. Formatting it in a Canon camera did help.

Psee you

Armin Podtschaske

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 00:22:14 +0100

From: Vlad Kuzba

Subject: Mozilla for PDA

Hello,

have heard of this?

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minimo/

In short it is a project whose aim is to create a Mozilla based web browser for PDAs. Just wonder if the developers know about Psions...

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

Vladimir Ku Chairman of Czech OS/2 User's Group

http://com-os2.ms.mff.cuni.cz/czos2/

http://www.os2.cz

ICQ: 99588132

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 01:37:04 +0100

From: Martin Maxwell

Subject: Re: Epoc Digest V1 # 398

To: Jim Watson-Gove

Subject: MBook Questions, Et Tu Brute, Stuff for Sale

Dear Jim,

>>>2. Someone said that the flash card in the 5mx will not work on the MBook (or NetBook). Is this so? What kind of flash memory should I look for (for backup)?<<<

This is news to me. I frequently move my CF card, currently a SanDisk Ultra 128 MB and occasionally a PreTec 64 MB, between a 5mx and a netBook and Mbook.

It is good practice, however, to close all applications (Ctrl+Shift+E) before you move the card.

>>>3. I am not really a power user. I assume that I can IR word, agenda, sheet, data, etc back and forth between the MBook and the 5mx.<<<

Yes! Or via CF card.

>>>4. Plain vanilla PsiWin work or do I load up another version?<<<

Same PsiWin will work. Make sure you have PsiWin 2.3.3

cheers

Martin Maxwell

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

To: adam north

Subject: Palm OS5 vs. OS6/ Progress

Dear adam,

>>>I think this is the biggest frustration: the OS is efficient, and trouble

>free. However, it's only being used on Smart Phones - which I don't want.

>Should a Symbian colour, USB, Native MS document support PDA be available,

>then I'd be fighting to be first in the queue....<<<

Looks like you do not have to wait that long. The Nokia 7700 already has all these things

you ask for running Symbian OS v7.0s. Early next year there will be another Communicator with

the same Symbian OS version and application set and with a keyboard.

Colour? Yes!

USB? Yes!

Native MS document support? Yes!

PDA features? Yes!

So unless you are just repelled by the very term 'Smart Phone' these machines are fully fledged

PDAs drawing heavily on the Psion application set.

cheers

Martin Maxwell

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 02:29:47 +0100

From: Jim Watson-Gove

Subject: Re: Sony Clie UX-50

Reply to Nicole

<<- Very small and light - even smaller than the Revo, no to mention the 5mx that I "retired" long ago because it was so heavy and bulky

- Very sharp colour screen which bears lots of data that can be comfortably read - it makes the Psion's screens look antique>>

A lot of the reasons that I was initially highly enthused with my Treo

90.

<<Psions for but, let's be positive, it will muscle my fingers and improve my piano practice.>>

or carpal syndrome??? Actually with the Treo, I got used to it and could take a fair note - nothing like the 5mx or Mako though.

<<Palm OS i.e. dreadful compared to Epoc but I suppose I shall get used to it, as I would get used to almost anything>>

I learned to live with the OS pretty good. Found some apps that would open where you closed them which made it almost as good as multi-tasking. For Palm OS I highly recommend SnapperMail for email and WordSmith for word processing for those reasons. Also WordSmith has a user interface that overcomes some of Palm's limitations.

The thing that finally killed it for me and drove me back to EPOC is the slowness of the processor. I had about 400 of my 1200 files moved over, and when I would access WordSmith (on the Dana or the Treo) it would take as much as a minute sorting files before my Word file queue would come up.

How fast does your UX-50 access your word processing app when selected after using it in some other mode? How fast is the processor?

Also the spell check on my system is inadequate especially compared with EPOC.

How is the spell check on the UX-50?

When the price paid for the UX-50 is compared to the price tag on the Treo ($150.00) I would expect a lot of the problems to be gone.

jim- port townsend

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 04:36:37 +0100

From: Wong Koi Hin

Subject: Re: Spam and Worse (on a Psion)

Reply to: Anthony Napier

Dear Anthony,

>>After year of trouble free e mailing with various Psions I now get almost daily unwanted mail "e.g. see my webcam!". I'm aware of PC antispam solutions but what can Psion users do to stop this?

Which mail-provider do you use? Quite a number of the 'PC' solutions you are referring to, actually has anti-spam mechanisms at the mail-server side of things. As such, you can still benefit from. You can try contacting your mail-provider to see if they can assist. Another solution is to use the various online spam-protection services like N-Dream which allows you to input a safe list and screens the rest by asking the sender to verify again. It prevents spamming in most cases. (That is until the next technology advance or trick from the spammers. The spam wars goes on)

Warm regards,

Koi Hin

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 06:25:25 +0100

From: Peter Rand

Subject: Extra bar settings?

Does anyone know the name and location of the file on the Revo that contains the Extra bar settings? Every time the Revo hangs and I have to do a reset, I lose all the settings, so I'd like to copy the file and keep a backup in a safe place.

Peter

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 08:52:08 +0100

From: ian chapple

Subject: PDF on Psion, Editor.txt, new Mbook, Disclaimers

Nigel,

>> Hi, anybody know how I can get a large PDF file from my PC to my Psion in a form that I can read on the Psion. <<

Try PDF (free) or PDF+ (not free, I believe) from mBrain Software.

Astrid,

>> why don't you simply get used to leave apps with Ctl + Shift + E when you have selected the 'save as' option? <<

I'm not sure what Ctl + Shift + E is supposed to do, but in the Symbian Text Editor it does nothing.

Itamar,

>> Re.: editor.txt - I use the Symbian editor quite often but neve had this file created on my S7. So I opened a text file, used save-as and closed the text file again and indeed I also got a 0 size file. My answer would be either not to use save-as but save, alternatively to use both to avoid the zero size file. <<

The problem with using save is that your file is then called Editor.txt, not a very meaningful name; if you use save as after, then you end up with two identical files with different names. The safest way to create a new file is to use Ctrl+N from the System screen, and then choose Editor as the application. The problem is, when you forget to do any of these, and then do the backup via IR, the reset problem occurs.

Jim,

>> 1. The MBook comes with a 200-240 V power cube. Where do I get a 110 unit? (I guess I can read the output specs, match the plug and but something from Radio Shack, but you guys have already addressed this I assume).

2. Someone said that the flash card in the 5mx will not work on the MBook (or NetBook). Is this so? What kind of flash memory should I look for (for

backup)?

3. I am not really a power user. I assume that I can IR word, agenda, sheet, data, etc back and forth between the MBook and the 5mx.

4. Plain vanilla PsiWin work or do I load up another version? <<

1. I guess so.

2. CF cards work equally well in both machines; I know, as I have the same combination myself.

3. Yes.

4. In theory yes; I've given up on PsiWin, as it worked appallingly under Windows XP.

Rolf,

>> I have to say sorry for blowing up the digest. Usually we cut such disclaimers. But in this case I looked over it.<<

Don't worry, that wasn't really why I posted. I was just amazed at how long the dsiclaimer was. It seems to me that they lose their purpose when they are so long, as no-one bothers to read it at all. I guess it gets a bit like the Terms and Conditions that appear when you install new software; no-one reads it, but the retailer can always say "...ah, but we did tell you that it would re-format your hard drive in the Terms, didn't you read them?"

Cheers, Ian

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 13:14:40 +0100

From: zxcvb

Subject: Foxpop Sale

Another good source of netpads is www.ebay.co.uk A bit cheaper too!

Mr Z. Xcvb

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 13:19:52 +0100

From: Mike Dyer

Subject: Re: Psion Journal

Philip Carlisle Wrote:

>A month or so ago contributors were asking where the first edition of the Psion journal was. have not received a copy yet, >despite subscribing for a year, and have not enjoyed the courtesy of any reply from will green at the Society address.

>Am I alone, or (sorry to have to express this) have we all been ripped off in the Nigerian manner??

Hi Philip,

I also emailed Will twice this week to his journal address and his work address and have also recieved no reply. This time I gave him an alternate email address if he had a bounce from this Yahoo address.

I *hope* we've not been ripped off, he seemed a decent chap and we definately need another Psion magazine :(

Mike Dyer.

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

Date: 13 Dec 2003 13:29:34 +0100

From: Mike Dyer

Subject: Humble Pie

Hi all,

tried to use my Revo+ as an alarm clock yesterday and even though the battery meter reads 75% when the alarm 'chimes' goes off the Revo shuts down with low power.

I got it working again by plugging it into the mains adaptor, and mercifully had no data loss, it is okay for now as long as I don't play any sounds for any length of time, if I do I can literally watch the battery gauge plummet.

Dunno weather to keep it, buy one of the last 5mxs' from Clove, or a 9210i...

Regards,

Mike Dyer.

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

Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2003

From: Rolf Vonau

Subject: Re: Extra bar settings?

Peter Rand wrote at Sat, 13 Dec 2003 06:25:25 +0100 (> ):

> Does anyone know the name and location of the file

> on the Revo that contains the Extra bar settings?

Hi Peter,

at my S5mxPro those informations are stored in C:\System\Apps\Shell\Shell.ini. I think it's the same at the REVO.