Epocdigest V1 # 539

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Epoc Digest Sun, 13 Jun 2004 Volume 01 : Number 539

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Sent to: 777 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 07 messages:

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- Re: Mail Archiving

- Opera

- Tom on Tom's Questions

- Re: Tom's questions

- Re: Avoiding PC browsers by using Opera for EPOC

- Opera

- Fontmachine,

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

Date: 11 Jun 2004 23:04:26 +0100

From: Alan Morris

Subject: Re: Mail Archiving

To answer my question about printing e-mails saved on a .box file to include the field names Jack wrote:-

> Printing Range "Current file" (single entry) via "General" to

> "File".txt it did the job for me

It worked but some of the text got lost so I did a normal copy & paste then added the field names for one important job.

I guess that I need to amend the page layout as lines are possibly being lost at the bottom of a page.

Thanks Jack.

Gianluca Gallino wrote:-

>> Are you able to publish the macro?<<<

> Sure I will, even if I understand this is the dummiest

> procedure around... so take as it is, just an example.

Thanks Gianluca, I'll give that a try.

Alan R Morris, G4ENS.

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.

Using a Psion netBook & Nokia 6210e.

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

Date: 11 Jun 2004 23:30:08 +0100

From: Andy Hayes

Subject: Opera

Kevin asked about Opera. Since February I have not had a PC at home so I have had no choice but to use one of the netBooks to dial up, through a US Robotics modem, to the net to surf and collect mail.

It has possibly been one of the most painful surfing experiances that I have ever had. It just isn't the tool for the job. You can stop reading here if you like because I have nothing good to say about it at all with the exception that it can connect to some secure sites that Web couldn't. Other than that it is a complete heap of rubbish.

I doubt whether the EPOC version mimics IE properly as sites that check to see what browser you have declare that they can't tell and wont let you in. My bank was one of them. Opera seems to have difficulty coping with anything out of the ordinary. It totally screws up some pages by overlapping text so that you have to mess about with the page magnification to be able to read the page. Google's www.blogger.com is an example of this, but it wont let you publish your blog anyway, and you have to take the alternative and email your blogs in. If there is java on the page Opera can't cope and either locks up or takes so long to load it that you lose the will to live. The app runs like treacle at the best of times, although to be fair I have never ran anything else on this line so I don't know what its quality is like. If an OK button is highlighted on a web page you would imagine that you could take the default choice and press return on your EPOC keyboard to select that OK action - wrong. You have to click on it. Although it is slow normally, it is absolutely dire if the worms are trying to connect to one of your ports. I run the excellent Sink2 but things still grind to a crawl. My advice - don't do it. Get a cheap PC and use that instead.

Afters year of being really impressed with Psions it is probably Opera that has done more to make me realise that they are now very limited if you want to interface with the rest of the world. If you just want to pick up your email then it might do the job, but surfing, no thanks it just hurts too much. My Mac can't come soon enough. Things are so bad with Opera that it is usually quicker to drop into the office, a 20 minute walk away over a huge hill, and use a PC there.

Talking of Macs, I now have the software that I ordered but somehow the Powerbook and the software got split in transit. After initially being told delivery would be 5-7 days and then having that changed to 5-7 working days, Apple / TNT / Streamline have still failed to get the goods to me on the 10th working day. I have paid my credit card bill for the Powerbook before I have even seen the offending item!

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

Date: 12 Jun 2004 00:52:18 +0100

From: robertsont

Subject: Tom on Tom's Questions

Dear all,

Thank you all for your input - overwhelmed by all the responses!

Ian wrote:

"I use a CF-PCMCIA (now known as PC card) adapter in my netbook, and this works fine."

- do files simply show under the 'E' drive?

- thanks for the tips on WIFI, my netbook build is 156, this shouldn't be a problem or might it?

Marcus:

- Thanks for the info on a sandisk pc card/sd reader, have found one on ebay too! I'll give it a go.

Richard:

- An Archos user - just the person! I'm seriously considering buying the Archos 220 to use as a portable MP3 player/hard disk for my digital camera and psion backup. The 220 has an internal cf drive and seems quite neat. Is your's the 220 model? (small square one :-) ) if so, is the CF reader a tray type port like on the psion 7 or is it open so it is possible to use a cf adapter? I have great hopes that the psion and archos will work hand in hand!

- sorry, the link you gave me to the archos site seems unavailable due to maintenance, i'll try again later.

- i plucked up the courage to remove my spacebar and see what you mean about the paperclip type bar. this appears to sit under two very small plastic tabs which hold the bar down... a little superglue in the right plase ought to fix it.

"Through a USB -> Serial adaptor, yes."

- where can i get one of these? So this connects the rs232 port (via the serial cable) to a 'female' USB port. then the USB device and P7 can communicate via the comms app I take it?

"using a Psion and WiFi for internet access isn’t particularly worth it, as the Psion apps don’t cope with many of the modern capabilities of the modern www."

- fair point

- on the NHS Psion contract... as I hear it, a pilot testing the suitability of a psion netbook style machine running linux has just come to an end. Primarily aimed at GPs and district nurses for patient records 'in the field', sounds like it was a great success. I think the contract is still ot be finalised but i wonder if these machines will be available to the public? Would it be possible to put the epos OS on a linux based machine??

Fergus

- I think i may end up going for the 'flush fit' adapter if the archos has a tray like the 7. good to know it works and is a plausible option.

Trygve wrote:

"Try removing the two panels directly underneath the screen.

There should be a memory module under the rightmost one.

Remove and insert it to make certain it is seated properly.

If there's no module there, look under the leftmost one.

If there's no module there, either, you're up the creek as it not only contains the RAM, but also the BOOT ROM."

- right, I think we're getting somewhere! I did as you say and found a memory module under the rightmost panel. I removed this, reinserted it and hey presto. BUT... the machine starts up, 3D 'PSION SERIES 7' logo comes up at the top of the screen with the release version and copyright blurb beneath it... but that's it. I can do no more. the machine responds to brightness/contrast changes but I cannot raise the screen that requests the OS.IMG file. Rebooting with a CF and OS.IMG file does not work.

Could the memory module be damaged? are replacements easy to find/expensive?

- could the comms app not be used to communicate with a USB device?

Thanks for the help.

Thanks to all. I should really learn not to ask so many questions!

Regards,

Tom

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

Date: 12 Jun 2004 01:21:06 +0100

From: Wong Koi Hin

Subject: Re: Tom's questions

Reply to: Richard

Dear Richard,

>>Is it possible to connect a USB device to the p7? Through the PCMCIA slot?<<

R>>Through a USB -> Serial adaptor, yes.

I would be very interested in hearing your experiences in regards to this. I have tons of USB devices I would like to connect to my Mnetbook and am just dying for someone to show me the way.

Looking forward to your reply,

Koi Hin

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

Date: 12 Jun 2004 13:27:07 +0100

From: Chris S Handley

Subject: Re: Avoiding PC browsers by using Opera for EPOC

Kevin,

Since you have the extra memory installed, you might like to try some Java-based web browsers. Although I no-longer use my Netbook for browsing, the GrandRapid browser works, and the IceBrowser sort of works (a crashing issue has not yet been solved).

Have a look on PDA Street (AKA Psion Place) for discussions about both, and also the necesary software downloads.

Kevin Thorne wrote:

> Before I give up on Web and have to resort to a PC for my

> surfing I've decided to give Opera one more go.

> Any feedback gratefully received before I start exploring its

> abilities myself!

Regards,

Chris Handley

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

Date: 12 Jun 2004 20:17:01 +0100

From: Phil Aypee

Subject: Opera

Hi Folks (& particularly Kevin Thorne),

I think you need the extra RAM to run Opera properly. I have a 5mx with a D&G upgrade to 24 megabytes of RAM and Opera runs pretty well on it. However, I don't think that could eclipse (even with colour) a desktop for the web itself *unless* you were getting rid of everything non-Psion or less useful.

I do have both Opera and Web on my 5mx but I rarely use either. My Mac gets much more use on the web for a whole bunch of excellent reasons, not just colour.

On the Mac (and PCs are similar) the I'Net is rather more likely to function well and Flash, RealPlayer, MacroMedia, etc., won't run on the Psion. Frames don't render well (not at all in Opera I believe) and the sheer size of some HTML sites means that the Psion crawls.

Interestingly Web has advantages over Opera as well as *vice versa*. Web renders frames where Opera doesn't. Web's download facility usually works where Opera's fails and *vice versa*.

For me, a confirmed Psionista, I truly prefer a desktop or portable for the I'Net but I wouldn't be without the facility on my Psions now. For nearly a year I couldn't use anything other than my 5mx on the I'Net and I managed pretty well.

It's a pain using both Opera and Web but Web has such a small footprint that it's just the convenience that's awkward. It may well be different using a mobile connection but I only use a fixed line.

I do prefer to use my Psion but I have to be honest here; the Mac does *much* better on the I'Net.

Happy days,

Phil.

"One man's theology is another man's belly laugh."

http://www.aypee2.net

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

Date: 13 Jun 2004 01:05:35 +0100

From: Itamar Engelsman

Subject: Fontmachine,

Answer to: Philip Carlisle & Joseph Hamwee

Re.: Fontmachine - The interesting thing is that I can find these files as well but the program does NOT appear in my Add/Remove list of programs. I would like to be sure that I delete all the files before doing it. Thanks for the further explanation Joseph, I might one day do it but don't feel like going through this process right now <G>.