- Hotmail accounts

- Re: touchscreen (4 Vlad)

- Re: Navigating Without SilkScreen, Navigating in Control Panel

- Re: Sandisk Extreme 3 1GB CF Card for Psion 5mx

- Psion 5mx - don't forget to back up

- Screen fading, then coming back

- to Itamar Engelsman concerning handy day 2004/2005

- Data to Contacts, Nokia touch screen, Copying Contacts, Handy Day 2004/2005,,

- Importing data from MetroMap into TubeRoute

- P910 Rambling Observations/Questions, etc

- P910 as modem

Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004
From: Digest administrator
Subject: Hotmail accounts

The mail server of hotmail returned the last digest from all the hotmail subscribers of the digest. We have no idea why, and hope it will not be a re-occuring event.

With best regards
Itamar Engelsman
The Digest Team

Date: 10 Nov 2004 01:00:59 +0000
From: Jack <address truncated>
Subject: Re: touchscreen (4 Vlad)

to: Vlad A Subject
> The Digest wrote on 9.11.2004 1:45:
>http://www.ericlindsay.com/epoc/mkeys5.htm
>has many touchscreen commands. Is there a set >to get to the second row >(configurable) of icons?
Re
Isn't: Ct+frontSilkey?
Jack

Date: 10 Nov 2004 01:54:35 +0000
From: Alan Morris <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Navigating Without SilkScreen, Navigating in Control Panel

Neville Smith <address truncated> wrote:-

> NAVIGATING
> Many thanks to those who responded, including Keith Giles,
> Jack and Alan Morris. My machine is a 5mx, and I can now do
> almost anything except open Time! I have not yet seen a code
> that will open Time on the 5mx although it obviously exists
> for other machines, and the other codes work for other apps.
>
> And for some reason, although I can get to the TimeW.ini file
> in the System\Apps folder,  I get the message "cannot find
> program" when I try to open it.

You can't 'run' the TimeW.ini file from a System folder screen, but if you use Macro5 as I suggested then it will work.  Macro5 can 'run' TimeW.ini on one of my 5mx: I've just done it, to confirm that it works and without using the touch screen.

> Navigating in Control Panel
> Apart from that, I'd also like to know how to navigate within
> the Control Panel. I can set the Time, but can't figure out
> how to get to the currency tab so I can display dollars
> instead of pounds. It's not a major problem.

When displaying the International settings, press <cursor up>, then <cursor right> as required.

> I think an ailing 5mx is still a more useful tool than the
> new devices I have seen.

Agreed.  I still keep my old Psion 5, which lost it's touch screen.  This was a very good excuse to buy one of the new 5mx Psions.  So after this, my current 5mx dies, I'll start to use a brand new one bought when they started to disappear.  When that dies, I'll revert to my old 5.

But I live in hope of someone producing a computer that has most of the EPOC features - some hope thought!

--
Alan R Morris, G4ENS.
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.
Using a Psion netBook & Nokia 6210e.

Date: 10 Nov 2004 06:46:26 +0000
From: Carl von Einem <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Sandisk Extreme 3 1GB CF Card for Psion 5mx

David,

I have a 512 MB original SanDisk CF Card labeled "(c) 03 SanDisk" that won't show up as a D drive. When I try to format that "nothing" in my D drive I get the message "no disk available". I have to admit that I bought it for my digital camera so there's no real need to use it for my 5mx pro. Still how nice it would be to have all my maps around when I need them...

As I know from digital cameras not only the CF card's built in controller is responsible for the read / write speed but also the computer's / camera's "PC Card" slot. I doubt that Psion had the technology in 1999 to use the speed of today's CF cards.

best,
Carl

> From: David Steer \(Plus\) <address truncated>
>
> One of the main reasons I chose Sandisk (appart from it being one of the > fastest cards at teh time) was their known reliability with Psions.
> Psion's are particularly insistant on the CF interfacs and if the card
> has not been implemented strictly accorging to the CF standard, then
> there can be some obscure problems - I know I have been there!
>
> Personally, I would take the risk, I think the Ultra is 60x write speed > where the Extreme is 133x write speed - more that twice the speed!
>
> When I upgrade again to a 2GB card (I am sure I won't be able to resist > for ever!) I will be looking at the Extreme III (or the IV!).
>
> As I said at the time, the speed increase on my Psion was about 60% over > the standard SanDisk 512MB card.
>

Date: 10 Nov 2004 10:30:38 +0000
From: SA <address truncated>
Subject: Psion 5mx - don't forget to back up

We often hear about the importance of back up's. It's something I have done on occasions, but I recently bought a new PC and the copy of the Psion software to connect with Windows was not valid for XP. No problem I though, as I planned to update it soon. Unfortunately for me the internal battery of my 5mx was running down, I mistakenly though it was the main batteries and only replaced those. In the end, all of my data disappeared and I now have a Psion 5mx that looks like it has had a full reset. Moral of the story is back up, back up and don't ignore the battery warnings, make sure you have the right battery.

So now having lost all of my data I have decide to bring forward my move to a smart phone and not wait until Christmas as originally planned. So I have an 5mx for sale in good condition and only used for occasional word reports, contact database. If anyone is interested with a reasonable offer please contact me off digest via e-mail at<address truncated> 

Brendan

Date: 10 Nov 2004 10:46:42 +0000
From: Tom Robertson <address truncated>
Subject: Screen fading, then coming back

Dear All,

My Psion 7 screen seems to dim, the contrast irregularly fluctuates for no apparent reason... is this serious - ribbon going? screen dying? Any ideas?

many thanks,

Tom

Date: 10 Nov 2004 10:57:02 +0000
From: C. Prins <address truncated>
Subject: to Itamar Engelsman concerning handy day 2004/2005

Hello I am new here and finding my way.

Concerning:

TD> Aas I don't really need the improvements of Handay Day 2005 TD> and after my quarrel with them anyhow will not buy from them again TD> I think I will just stick with their 2004 program. It fulfills all TD> my needs and requirements at the moment, so what is bad ?

Yes, every year they introduce ONE new version,(no upgrades during
the year) and finally they upgrade but give it another name. So you have to pay for the new version, because it is "NOT an UPGRADE" (!!!!!).
Indeed tricky, moreover HD2004 is OK, HD2005 s***s. Consider AquaCalendar if you need day, week, month views (like I do). Aquacalendar is much more sophisticated than HD2004

Regards,
Cees

Date: 10 Nov 2004 13:08:29 +0000
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: Data to Contacts, Nokia touch screen, Copying Contacts, Handy Day 2004/2005,,

Answer to: Jack

Re.: Data to Contacts - To elaborate a little further, my problem is not converting from DATA to Contacts on the mBook, but exporting from contacts on the mBook to contacts on the P910 in that the exporting from Contacts on the mBook does not export all the fields.

Answer to: Norbert Fernkorn

Re.: Nokia touch screen - A phone with keyboard but without touch screen there is not much you can do. However, a phone with touch screen but without keyboard you can add the keyboard with a IR or bluetooth folding one and have both. All a matter of money ...... <G>

Answer to: Ian Chapple

Re.: Copying Contacts - Missing !  I exported one contact only to a xxx.csv file and opened it with Sheet. The fields are NOT there at all. Do it yourself, export one contact, call the file xxx.csv and open it in sheet, excel or another program that reads  csv files.  Would be interesting to hear the results. With me the fields "home town", "home postcode" and "home country" did not export. You export as .csv file by changing the extension of the file name from xxx.vcf to xxx.cvs, simple.  Here are the details exported from one of my contacts where believe me or not I filled in the home town, home postcode and home country at their respective fields :

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
REV:20041108T224601Z
N;X-EPOCCNTMODELLABEL0=Last name;X-EPOCCNTMODELLABEL1=First name;X-EPOCCNTMODELLABEL2=Middle name;X-EPOCCNTMODELLABEL3=Title;X-EPOCCNTMODELLABEL4=Suffix:;Cohen Sammy & Susan;;;
TEL;HOME;X-EPOCCNTMODELFIELDLABEL=Home tel:(020) 8202 4095
EMAIL;INTERNET;HOME;X-EPOCCNTMODELFIELDLABEL=Home email<address truncated>HOME;X-EPOCCNTMODELFIELDLABEL=Home address:;;37 Brampton Grove;;;
TEL;WORK;X-EPOCCNTMODELFIELDLABEL=Work tel:(020) 8270 0022
TEL;WORK;FAX;X-EPOCCNTMODELFIELDLABEL=Work fax:(020) 270 0333
NOTE;X-EPOCCNTMODELFIELDLABEL=Notes:Mobile IL: 054 - 498 405
END:VCARD

They are NOT THERE !!  Again, this is on te mBook exporting from Contacts, long before it gets to my P910.

Answer to: Chris S Handley

Re.: Handy Day 2004/2005, - I took the liberty to send your message to Epocware to show them I am not alone in this world. The answer was something like so what, so there is a second person, and so what if another forum tells a similar story, that is only one forum. And he said further that sales is goin well and that they almost have their development costs back already.
i decided not to contact them anymore. I can use my time better.
Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 10 Nov 2004 14:19:38 +0000
From: Chris S Handley
Subject: Importing data from MetroMap into TubeRoute

Hi

I have written a simple program to import all the data from a MetroMap database into TubeRoute.  Although MetroMap databases do not contain all the necessary information, they contain most of what is needed, so there is even less work needed in creating a TubeRoute database.

MetroMap can be found here:
http://dbrechalov.narod.ru/library/Soft4Psion/english.htm#MetroMap

Additional databases can be found here:
http://dbrechalov.narod.ru/library/Soft4Psion/maps.htm

Unfortunately there only seem to be databases for some Russian metros, and most of them are in Russian!  So I have only imported the (english) Moscow database, and I am currently trying to obtain permission to distribute the map picture.

If any Russians are reading this, their help would be greatly appreciated - please contact me privately.
---
Chris Handley

Date: 10 Nov 2004 14:23:40 +0000
From: Alan Rabbitte <address truncated>
Subject: P910 Rambling Observations/Questions, etc

Hi,

I've had my P910 now for exactly 1 month. One of the first things I did was open up a Quickword document and record any thoughts or questions as they came up. As such, what is written below may be somewhat rambling, however I'd like to think there are some bits in here that may benefit other users. And I have to say that, although some of what I have written may appear very negative, I am actually delighted with the phone - I'd give it 9 out of 10. That doesn't mean that I don't miss many of the features that were in my 5MX though ...

So, read and (hopefully) enjoy. I'd welcome any comments or corrections, but - please - don't flame me!


·  Backups are stored in one file archive - C:\\Documents and Settings\\<PC User-Name>\\Application Data\\Sony Ericsson\\backups. In here the various backup archives are stored, each with a naming convention of "<Phone User Name> YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS.ecs" These are actually zip files and - if you know what you are doing - these can be examined by first renaming them to a .zip file. When this .zip is then opened, it will contain all files in the backup, with each having a name N.dat (where N is a numeric identifier). Within each zip archive, there is also a file called "filestore.dat.txt" and this translates the N.dat file name into a actual full pathname including a disk identifier.
·  Is there any way of having a reduced volume click for button press, screen & keyboard use? All I can get is either a very LOUD click or nothing
·  Transfer speed from PC - P910 is abysmal - the Psion was no slower. And it used serial, not USB !!!
·  How can you enter data reliably without UIQ occasionally moving to the area of the screen being written on? Is the Palm's dedicated screen area for input a better solution?
·  Is there anyway of moving the scroll icon (visible in lower RHS)  when viewing/editing documents - it sometimes blocks text
·  Very stable in operation so far at an OS level - certainly compared to my Tungsten E. I have however seen some apps crashes - including some system-supplied ones.
·  Screen data entry using JOT is generally very good - with the following exceptions (mostly in comparison to my old Palm):
        ·    Screen not very responsive when switching fields or going from text entry to scrolling - if it doesn't register that in time, instead of scrolling, you get an "l" in the text.
        ·    A "." requires a "\" - not very intuitive...
        ·    A lower case "i" when typed on the "capital" area of the screen produces an "l", followed by a repositioning of the cursor where the "."landed. This is silly.
        ·    On the Palm, an "L" in the number area would produce a "4" - more (unnecessary) work is needed on the P910

·  To highlight an entire field when editing text in a field, move to the RHS of the field and make an upward movement.
·  I can't see any generic - JOT - way of cutting and pasting text in applications that do not support it in their EDIT menu - this was an often-used feature in my Tungsten-E
·  Don't like the loss of application/task control (compared to the Psion 5mx) - it seems dumbed down in terms of user control. If the OS can easily handle multitasking, then why not make use of it? My Palm - which didn't have proper multitasking in the OS - could manage this with 3rd party addons, so you could popup a calculator when writing an email, for example. I find this very irritating if I have to leave Jotter to check something - when I return, not only do I not get returned to the place in the document, I have to find and then reopen the actual document first!
·  Is there any way of getting a full list of the files on the P910 from a PC? In other words, can the "nanny" layer on the supplied PC filemanager be switched off? I wanted to copy some files from the PC to the P910 and could only do it by first copying them to the wrong place and then using a 3rd party freeware filemanager on the P910 to move them to their proper location - and this dumbing down is supposed to make it easier ?
(I now believe Epocware's  PC File Manager program may provide this functionality - at a cost!)
·  I was expecting the P910 to allow to allow proper subject-centric folders to be created containing a number of different file types. EG: a folder called "car" with documents (Invoice), spreadsheets (MPG Log), and pictures, etc. PCs can do this & my old Psion 5 could do it. My Palm Tungsten wasn't able and now I see my P910 can't either. The irritating thing is that UIQ has been artificially crippled for some reason - at least Palm OS didn't allow this for more honest reasons - it is not technically possible due to filesystem constraints.
·  I like the way the bluetooth implementation works with my Jabra BT200 headset - it offers you a once-off override option when making or receiving a call and will also attach itself if it is switched on during a call. Much better here than my old Nokia 6310i phone.
·  Very ugly from profile view (with keyboard attached)
·  Micro keyboard is usable - I support the phone with both index fingers while typing with my thumbs. Having said that,  I find myself using the screen input method (jot) more.
·  Keyboard spacebar is unresponsive over a lot of it's travel.
·  It would be nice if the P910's keyboard was lit up for night use.
·  Why isn't there an easy way to rotate/zoom the display. The rotate option would be very useful with spreadsheets or word documents for example. The zoom is a sorely missed Psion feature that was intuitive and made the device much easier to use.
·  Why can't the phone be trickle charged when only USB connection is present? If it did, I could leave the charger at home (This worked for my Palm Tungsten E)
·  Phone is removed from docking cradle by "rocking" it back off the contacts. I discovered this by accident and was initially using more force than I thought was correct for removal (doh!)
·  The docking cradle isn't actually a docking cradle at all - it is a poorly designed "shelf" that requires the phone to be carefully aligned before being inserted.
·  If I don't want to send by own number during a call, it appears that this facility is only allowed for numbers either configured as a speed dial or entered manually - just click on the numeric keypad's menu button and select the "Hide my number" option before pressing OK. Amazingly, this option does not appear to be available if calling a number from the contacts database. (Incidentally, there is a very simple reason for me needing this feature - my colleagues won't always answer their phone if they see it's me!)
·  There appears to be no way to set the backup program to automatically include the memory stick - this option has to be selected each time.
·  There is no spell checker built-in - much missed from my Psion.
·  The inbuilt word and sheet programs are very welcome, but why do they have to translate the document to a different format if you want to change it?
·  There should be zoom functionality , and - because of the portrait nature of the P910 screen - an option to switch the screen to landscape. I would consider both of these should be operating system, rather than application supplied.
·  Why no UNDO  feature? I have messed up a few docs because of this. (The revert option goes back to the last saved copy)
·  Don't like the fact that there is no option for scrolling one line - and not just one page - at a time in Jotter and Calendar notes. This is possible in Quickword.
·  If you start recording a  video in flip-closed mode and then open the flip, the video file is not saved. I would expect either the file to be saved, or the video session to continue without interruption. BUG?
·  If you want to clean the screen and do not want to switch off theP910, touch the battery icon and select "Lock Screen". This will stop the screen responding to cleaning movements - and there is no need to install special software to do this!
·  Its far too easy to switch the phone off - I've done this a few times.
·  I like the fact that the signal strength indicator shows both GSM and GPRS signal strengths. I often see a strong phone signal but nothing for GPRS when roaming - presumably this means the GPRS service doesn't roam as the GSM service does. This probably avoids wasting time trying to get GPRS email or web to work (not that this currently bothers me - see below)
·  Dynamic menus are a good idea (different options depending on if the AC power is connected or the flip is open or closed) but some confuse me: Option 1 in the Phone menu - AC-connected mode - is a toggle for silent mode on/off, whereas in battery-powered mode, it is the key lock on/off toggle. In the call-list option of the phone program, with flip-open, clicking on a past call will display the call details (including call duration), whereas in flip-closed, this redials the number.
·  There are lots of extra keyboard characters that may be entered on the screen that are not listed in the user manual - but are listed in the Jot help area: do an "l" (starting at the bottom of the stroke) in the number area and then type in ":" on the right-hand side. Great! Check on on-board help for details.
·  A press and hold of "c" on the flip dial toggles silent mode on and off
·  The jog-dial probably does most functions required in phone-mode
·  I am currently trying out the phone without the flip. Initial impressions are that the phone is much smaller and more pocketable without the flip, but is less easy to use *as a phone*. The jury is still out ...
·  I somehow managed to set SMAN to autostart the Phone application @ startup time. This resulted in 2 Phone programs fighting for SIM-Card PIN input and - effectively - preventing the P910 from starting/booting.
·  Just noticed that an updated version (release 3.1.1)  of  PC Suite is available for English (UK) users - download from SE web site
·  I have yet to try WAP, Internet or email, so none of the above relate to any of these.

All the best
Alan Rabbitte
Dublin, Ireland

Date: 10 Nov 2004 16:57:41 +0000
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: P910 as modem

As Rolf explained, there is a problem using the P910 as a modem in that you need to tell it somehow in the init string that you want to use the internet and not WAP or another service.
I checked on the internet  various forums and found that if you want to use it as a modem for a PC you have to use an extra init string +cgdcont=1,"ip","internet". My questions are :

1/ Is anyone using the P800/900/910 as a modem with their EPOC machine to use the GPRS ?  If yes, what are your settings ?
2/ Can anyone understand the above mentioned init string for a PC and translate that to something useful on the mBook ?
3/ At the website of Vodaphone it says that the APN must be "internet". What is the APN ?  Can you set that on an EPOC machine or do I hit here an incompatibillity due to the age of the mBook ?

Can anyone crack this for me ?

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK