- Fairway

- Regclean and Return to Psion

- Failed to install PsiWin under Windows XP using serial to USB adapter

- serial to USB adapter, ABP,

- Fairway on a netBook

- Impressions of UIQ after 6 weeks of use

Date: 8 Mar 2005 21:42:00 +0100
From: Steve Litchfield <address truncated>
Subject: Fairway

Oh, come on, who didn't read the README.TXT, then?

8-)

Hint: there was another .SIS file in your ZIP download....

____________________________________________________________________ Steve Litchfield, 3-Lib, http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/
Software and features for Psion/Symbian handhelds and smartphones Also PocketInfo, useful files - http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/pocketinfo Journalism: sub-editor and/or senior contributor to:
Palmtop User - http://www.palmtop.co.uk/
PDA Essentials - http://www.paragon.co.uk/mags/pdaessentials.html
PC Basics - http://www.paragon.co.uk/mags/pcbasics.html
Reviews editor, AllAboutSymbian - http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/

Date: 9 Mar 2005 04:05:40 +0100
From: Jim Watson-Gove <address truncated>
Subject: Regclean and Return to Psion

Jack <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Regclean


<<I also prefer nConvert to the slow Psiwin conversion processes.>>

I also use a CF card for all backups - I use PsiWin only for file transfer to and from my MBook or 5mx from/to my windows machines.

If you don't use PsiWin for transfers, how do you transfer files?

jim - port townsend wa usa (about ready to take a complete set of palmtop and palmtop user to the dump as there have been no takers & storage space in my studio is at a premium) (how's that for a sig?)

Date: 9 Mar 2005 08:45:19 +0100
From: Franco Cozzani <address truncated>
Subject: Failed to install PsiWin under Windows XP using serial to USB adapter

Answer to Alan Morris:

Alan, I am amazed at your skills in getting at least a very slow connection rate, albeit much too slow to be of any use.
My experience with the infamous Belkin USB to serial is:

It is unfair to say that Belkin USB to serial does not work. It does, if you accept that its only apparent purpose is that of crippling a USB port, which turns into a perfectly useless serial and no longer recognise USB.

I synch my MC 218 (5 MX) - with some bugs - on serial-equipped PCs and transfer only files to a USB-only Wintel laptop via a CF card and PsiWin for XP installed.

Cheers

Franco COZZANI
Brussels

Date: 9 Mar 2005 13:42:27 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: serial to USB adapter, ABP,

Answer to: larsolov & Alan Morris

Re.: serial to USB adapter - I used this adapter from Belkin for several months in the office without problems. The set-up can be difficult as COM1 and COM3 as well as COM2 and COM4 are somehow connected to each other in computers and it can also be that another device is also connected to COM4 (for example, when I use MochaPPP I have to close Psiwin otherwise both try and occupy the same port). I seem to remember, but am not sure, that COM3 is a better port to use. I don't have the technical knowledge how this works exactly, maybe someone else can expand on this subject.

Answer to: Bramley, Charlie

Re.: ABP - Will the symbian versions of ABP exchange data with the EPOC version ?

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, U

Date: 10 Mar 2005 06:25:40 +0100
From: Thomas F. van der Zijden <address truncated>
Subject: Fairway on a netBook

Hello everybody,

I bought Fairway for the 5 and with the patch it worked fine on my 5mx. However, I changed to a netBook and I still find the game too fast to be playable on this fast machine.

Since Steve is reading this, I was wondering if there is a solution to make it playable on a netBook.

Yours truly,

Thomas van der Zijden

Date: 10 Mar 2005 13:50:20 +0100
From: Ian Chapple <address truncated>
Subject: Impressions of UIQ after 6 weeks of use

I thought that I would pass on my impressions of using a P910i, after 6 weeks of ownership, in case this is interesting for anyone considering "upgrading" from a Psion. I have also had a chance to compare it with the Nokia 9300.

* The handwriting recognition is very good, but one problem that I have is the size of the stylus; it is both thin and short, which I find makes prolonged data entry somewhat uncomfortable. I now have various spare Palm and Psion stylii (??) stashed in my wallet and in my office.

* The thumboard is a nice touch, but not hugely useful in practise. It does enable accented characters and symbols to be entered which are either difficult to write with the stylus or are not covered by the handwriting recognition, but it's location, combined with the weight distribution, makes it fiddly to use for any length of time.

* The jog-dial is a very neat touch, and makes navigating within lists extremely easy; it especially comes into its own when the flip is closed, as the touch screen is deactivated.

* The camera is basic, being fairly low-resolution (640x480) and not having a flash, but it's better than nothing. You can also use it as a video camera, but I haven't really tried this very much.

* The aspect of multitasking has already been discussed in previous Digests, but it may be worth pointing out again; the UIQ standard
specifies that any application sent to the background *should* revert to a base state. This can prove incredibly frustrating, particularly if you
want to copy several items, one-by-one, from one application to another. Many 3rd party applications choose not to follow this recommendation, and are generally much the better for this.

* The Calendar application is very good; it is not quite as powerful as the Psion Agenda, but most of the features missing are directly attributable to the much smaller screen. There is a separate Tasks application, which runs completely independently of Calendar.

* The Contacts application is much the same as the Psion Contacts application, with the addition of one or two nice touches. A photo can now be associated with a Contact, which is displayed when a call is received from any of the numbers associated with that contact. Contacts now
supports categories, making it possible to maintain seperate lists of personal and business contacts in the one database, rather than necessitating the use of 3rd party applications to artificially switch between different contacts databases. It is possible to allocate personal ring tones to contacts, and voice-dialling commands can be allocated to individual phone numbers.

* Multimedia: this is an area where the Psions have no chance of keeping up with their more modern counterparts. The Music Player, Pictures and Video applications all work very well. Video only supports MPEG4 and 3GP formats; a free program is available from Nokia (somewhat uninspiringly called Media Converter), which allows existing videos to be converted to the 3GP format.

* Quickword and Quicksheet enable the viewing and editing of Word and Excel documents; due to the limitation of not having a keyboard, I haven't used these very much, but it is definitely a boon to be able to view Word documents, which are often sent as email attachments.

* The Messages application provides email, SMS and MMS capabilities. This seems to work well enough, the only real problem being caused by Orange in Holland not making it obvious what their SMTP server is called; in fact when I rang up to ask, they told me to use the SMTP server of a Dutch ISP (euronet), which struck me as very odd.

* The file manager application is extremely simple (some might say crippled), and does not allow the user to browse the System folder, which is good or bad, depending on your point of view.

* There is no built-in Data application, which is a real omission. I have bought Handy Databank, which works in much the same way as Data. This
comes with a PC-based conversion program; this enables large CSV files to be imported, which would otherwise take an age on the P910 itself.

* GPRS is not especially fast (compared to ADSL, it's downright
pedestrian), but it does enable basic Internetting and emailing while on the move. As my subscription provides me with 2MB of data per month, with
a charge of eur. 3 for every extra MB, I haven't used this extensively.

* Bluetooth is great; I've already bought a Bluetooth headset, and it's really convenient not having wires dangling everywhere while driving.

* Switching between active tasks is slightly tedious, for two reasons;

1. there is no built-in task manager, meaning that you have to keep returning to the main Applications screen, which allows you to swap appslications. However, if you have your apps classified in different categories, you will/may have to change category, or wade though a long list of available applications if you display all categories together. It works, but is far from ideal.

2. applications which adhere strictly to the UIQ standard will always revert to a base-state when not in the foreground (see the point regarding multitasking).

* There is also the problem that many applications do not have a close/exit option and that there is no other way to close applications, which may not matter unless something starts misbehaving. This can be solved by installing the free application SMan, which enables running
tasks to be closed; it does also slightly ease switching from task to task, but is not a perfect solution to this "problem".

* If there is one big problem with the P910, it is probably the same thing that has always troubled the Psion; synchronisation and backing up. Although the cradle that comes with the P910 looks like a USB device, it
is in fact only "pretend" USB; underneath, it is a serial device, and as such, is very slow. This becomes a real problem when transferring large files, such as MP3s or video, and unless you can get your memory card to work in a card reader (I can't), this can take a very long time indeed.


A friend of mine has just bought a 9300, so we've been comparing notes. The keyboard is not bad, but obviously suffers in comparison with that of the 5/5mx, due it's much smaller size. The screen is very nice indeed, but it not being a touch-screen does take some getting used to; okay, so there is a series of buttons (called the CBA I believe) and a small joystick,
but I do find it odd that Nokia have chosen not to make the screen touch sensitive.

Comparing the two has been quite illustrating; the fact that the underlying OS is exactly the same and yet the two devices are so
completely different is impressive. If you contrast this with Pocket PCs, where the hardware specification is very tightly controlled by Microsoft, they all look and feel exactly the same; there are obviously advantages to this, but it does seriously restrict the ability of manufacturers to make their machine stand out from the crowd.

There is a lot of shareware available for the P910, but very little freeware. This may change as OPL becomes more popular; this is currently only available as a beta version, and has some serious bugs which may make porting of existing Psion OPL programs difficult, if not impossible.

So, after a bit over a month of ownership, I am very happy with my P910. There are some limitations, the lack of a keyboard being the most obvious, and if you are used to a Psion, the P910 definitely does feel a bit "dumbed-down". However, the overall package is very good, and certainly overcomes the problem of not always having your Psion with you, due to its size.

I hope that this helps some potential converts/upgraders, cheers, Ian.