- Reinstalling mBook OS

- Describe your favourite program

- Describe your favourite program

- 9500 vs. 5mx

- Re: MC218... (cable problem)

- POP3 (access to Gmail)

- RE: 25 reasons why I will continue to rely on the Psion Series 5mx for at least another two decades

Date: 18 Dec 2005 14:31:10 +0100
From: Ian Chapple <address truncated>
Subject: Reinstalling mBook OS

Melvin,
>> 2. My MBook languished unused while I was abroad and for several weeks thereafter. Now when plugged in, it only displays the "My Schoolbook, My Way to Knowledge screen. I take it that this means that the battery ran down and I have to reinstall  the OS, which is on the CF card. But I can't recall how to go about that. I looked at the OS txt file on the CF card, but I can't follow  those instructions for reinstallation because no matter what I top on  the screen, nothing happens. Can someone please advise? <<

Just put a CF card containing the OS file (OS.img I think it is, and it should be in the root) in the CF tray and switch on; the OS will install in about 10 seconds and you should be ready to go...

Hope this helps, Ian.

Date: 18 Dec 2005 16:32:46 +0100
From: Simon Jeffree <address truncated>
Subject: Describe your favourite program

Itamar wrote:

<< Re. Describe your favourite program - As traffic off late is rather slow, I thought it might be a good time for subscribers to give us a short description about your favourite program on one of the new Symbian machines. I will try and do it myself in the coming days as well. Thanks. >>

I have one.  It's not a program as such, but a website:

http://www.iyhy.com/

It takes any given website & filters out all the unnecessary rubbish, showing only the text - nice & simple & completely free!  You can either just fill in the URL of the page you want to see, or you can register & let it build up a list of all the sites you view & then you can choose any one from that list, without having to type in the URL.

I use it all the time on my 9500 to view all my favourite websites.  I can thoroughly recommend it.  In the absense of a proper RSS agregator for the 9500, I use it to keep up with my favourite blogs, which have a predominantly text content.

A very merry Christmas to you all,
Simon Jeffree, UK

Date: 18 Dec 2005 20:00:35 +0100
From: Max Ozinsky <address truncated>
Subject: Describe your favourite program

To: Itamar

My favourite program on the 9500 is Idesk. This is the Macro5 of the 9500, only with additions like Notes and  compacting memory which I use alot.

My second favourite is Oggplay, something which is not on the psions, and gives a good use for all the extra space on my 1gig MMC card and no need to buy a seperate MP3 player. ;-))

BTW: I notice on the 9500 that when you close Web, Idesk's task list reports it as still open, often using large amounts of memory (often more than 1.5mb depending on the last page opened in it). Using Close in the task list gets rid of it completely and frees up the memory.

Regards

Max
******************
Max Ozinsky
Cape Town, South Africa
+27 82 4 147 147

Date: 18 Dec 2005 20:00:55 +0100
From: Max Ozinsky <address truncated>
Subject: 9500 vs. 5mx

To: Alan Rabbitte

<<< I'd have thought that a 9300 would be a better option if you're going to the bother of carrying around a folding keyboard? Otherwise the extra size of the 9500 - and the better keyboard that comes with it - would appear to be wasted? >>>

I would agree with you Alan, when I bought my 9500 the 9300 was not released yet. The 9500 also has Wifi which the 9300 does not have, but the 9300i will have. The extra memory in the 9300i will also be useful, but I have not had any problems using the 9500. I suppose if the size of the screen is an issue (as Moshe implied) then the 9500 screen is a bit bigger.

Most of the time when not in use the 9500 is in a pouch on my belt, so size is not much of an issue.

To: Charles Davies and Steve Litchfield

>>>An annoying feature of 9500 search it that after you have entered the search item you must NOT press enter but just wait until it does its thing. The 5mx in common with all other search programs requires you to press Enter after entering the word to be searched.

>> Most apps these days do things the 9500 way. It's called 'Quick matching' or 'Matching as you type'. <<

My fingers also get confused by this. I often press enter when doing a search, but after while you get used to just typing the characters.

>> Quick matching an entry on my 9500 (with 600 contacts) takes two seconds at most. Are you sure you haven't turned on the searching of fields in the 'Advanced' tab? <<

I have cut back my contacts to currently 1662 entries on the 9500 and I agree with Charles that this does take significantly longer time to search than the 5mx. This is worse when another application has to first open the  contacts app (eg to save a number from the log to the contacts) - it takes about 20 seconds, compared to about 5 on the 5mx.

However if you are addressing emails or sms' it is not neccesary to first search for the address. Just type name of the person you are addressing to in the appropriate field (or even just the first name or surname) and the message app will search for the matches to this very quickly when sending the message. This saves alot of time.

Regards

Max
******************
Max Ozinsky
Cape Town, South Africa
+27 82 4 147 147

Date: 18 Dec 2005 20:46:35 +0100
From: jAnO <address truncated>
Subject: Re: MC218... (cable problem)

(sorry for my English.)
Yeah, it's screen cable program: the only big problem with PSION 
5/-MX/-PRO / MC218:((( (I've ~three PSION 5 and ~two PSION 5MX -since 1999- with this problem, 
and the cable is expensive than an used PSION! - but the new cable -not 
PSION factory modell- is better! The problem is (the PSION cable): have a 
little hole' and with usage get a little crack... and then a lot of... and 
after the cable is "broken"...)

--
jAnO

Date: 19 Dec 2005 00:54:22 +0100
From: jAnO <address truncated>
Subject: POP3 (access to Gmail)

Why don't probe the XJMail? This is great email client (for PSION)!!!

(
xjmail.sis
http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/~ktkawabe/
http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/ktkawabe/densha.html
... )


--
jAnO

Date: 19 Dec 2005 04:15:47 +0100
From: Martin Maxwell <address truncated>
Subject: RE: 25 reasons why I will continue to rely on the Psion Series 5mx for at least another two decades

From: Martin Maxwell
Subject: 25 reasons why I will continue to use the Psion Series 5mx for at least another two decades.

EPOC has come a long way since we first saw it on the very first Psion Series 5. Today, we have Symbian devices supporting Bluetooth, Bluetooth HiFi, 3G, WiFi, Camera, SDIO, Push Email and a rapidly growing number of applications. We are now looking at ER9.1 and ER9.2 (or v9.1 and v9.2 to follow the official line) with single chip design support and software security brought down to object level. So with fantastic devices like the Nokia 9500 and the Nokia 9300i and with the Sony Ericsson P990 around the corner and even new Series 60 devices with keyboards, why do I keep on using a - from this perspective - hopelessly obsolete ER5 device?

Many people argue that the Symbian v7 and v9 devices (or ER7 and ER9 devices to follow the inofficial line) have finally done away with the need to keep on using the Psions. And for the most part I agree with those reasons. I agree, for instance, with Steve Litchfield's rating table where the most common aspects of normal usage are rated and compared across available Symbian, Palm and WinCE devices. I also agree that the 9500 and 9300 have totally eclipsed the need to use a Revo or any Series 3 machine. I would also say that the remaining reasons to keep on using a netBook have finally been eliminated by the emergence of a range of new devices and technologies. I still have one netBook left, but I'm using it less and less these days, its only remaining raison d'etre from my perspective being OPL development for Symbian phones.

But I am of the view that the Psion Series 5mx still reign supreme for a person like myself; the forever mobile, travelling and workoholic typing animal. The following are 50 reasons why I will stick with the Psion Series 5mx for at least another two decades. Perhaps they are sometimes very private and not widely shared. Nevertheless, they are very valid reasons for me. All of them. And I don't think I'm entirely alone. Judging from earlier communciation with POS Ltd and Clove, remanufactured 5mx devices are still selling. And I recently purchased another 5mx and two MC218s as spares.

I think one key point in the continued appreciation of the 5mx is that it's not your only device. For me, the combination of a 5mx with a Sony Ericsson P900 is key, later to be replaced by the P990 for WiFi. Perhaps Steve Litchfield - (do you hear me?) - should add another column for the 5mx-P990 combo. Why not? 5mxs are cheap these days. The 5mx is not much larger than a foldable keyboard. The 5mx works very well with the UIQ devices and I've been able to enhance this further through some small OPL applications.

1. Keyboard. It has been stated by some that an external keyboard will allow faster typing on a Nokia 9500, Nokia 9300 or a SE P900/910. While this is true in many situations, my need is for a tool which is instantly typeable and which can be typed on also when there is no flat desk surface. This rules out using a foldable external keyboard. Grabbing the 5mx from the breifcase and opening it for typing is just as fast as pulling the stylo out from the P900 and much faster than setting up and pair the external keyboard. If you want to capture the moment before your short term memory decides to abort the handover of a nugget of information to your long term memory is a question of seconds. The 5mx does it. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

2. CopyAnywhere. My life depends on the quick exchange of text between PC and PDA. Both directions. If I surf the web and find a piece of text I wish to save in something like data or Word for reading on the road. Likewise I want to quickly search data to find a contact, copy the Email address and paste into my Foxmail or Thunderbird. Exchanging complete files is not an option. Copying something on one machine and pasting it on the other is what I want. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

3. Talk and use. Yes it is possible to use a BT headset. Yes it is possible to turn on conference mode on the phone. But in most cases when you're getting a call and need to check your calendar or check various information quickly you're not prepared with this type of setup, whether it's in a car, at home, on a train, in a restaurant, at the pub or at the airport. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

4. Touch screen & keyboard. I'm a user of both at the same time. Personal preference yes. Marking a piece of text for copying is cumbersome on a 9500 or 9300, but very fast on the 5mx. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

5. Calculator. I need access to a calculator which I can type in numbers very fast on and without errors. Otherwise I have to carry around one of those large button solar ones. Ok, I've developed my own dpCalc which has buttons large enough for my fingers, perhaps I release it someday, but using the calculator on the 9500 or 9300 for quick calculations is cumbersome and prone to error. They keychoices were bad on the 9210 and are even worse now. I ported dpCalc to P900 trying to maintain the large buttons, so OK it works fine there. But overall the 5mx still reigns supreme.

6. Battery. For long periods I will not have access to powerpoints, or I might have forgotten the charger at home. But I can purchase AA batteries in just about any little stall or kiosk. And I can have a few spares in my briefcase all the time. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

7. No phone. I spend a lot of time in Asia. Most airlines over here cannot tell a difference between a phone and a PDA when they are housed in the same casing. It does not matter how many times I tell the air host or hostess that this feature will turn the phone off while the PDA is still on. They don't accept it. They want to see the whole thing off. Full stop. And I don't want to argue, arguments are stressful, and perhaps then they won't refill my brandy... There are also other cases when you do not wan't to bring a phone. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

8. The netBook and the emulator. I can move my CF disc from the 5mx straight into a netBook or into my USB Apacer MegaSteno, and get the whole file-tree up instantly in a netBook or WINS emulator. Whatever edits I do on those machines are stored straight back to the CF and follows the CF when I put it back into the 5mx again. The speed of the ER5 WINS emulator is also very good, which cannot be said of the WINS emulators for ER6 and above. I don't use this function a lot, but on a few occasions it has proven very valuable. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

9. Macro & OPL. Having multiple documents opened (Word, Editor, Data, Contacts etc) and switching between them is easy and fast. Macro & OPL also enables you to quickly automate repetitive tasks. Yes I have discussed a few times with my namesake G in Freepoc to port Macro5 to post-ER6 and make a Macro80 and MacroUIQ. I'm sure this will happen some day when we have sufficient time. 'Til then, the 5mx still reigns supreme.

10. Word processing. Seems like everyone is talking these days about the all the bells and whistles of DocumentToGo, QuickOffice and the like. And yes they are impressive in some ways. Sure it's useful to view MS Office attachments. But I do not really need to do so on the device I write on. I still have my P900 as the phone device with DocumentsToGo. I can use DocumentsToGo to save the file in RTF, and beam it over to the Psion when I need to. The Psion Word in my 5mx is fast and convenient to use, saves fast, is robust and works with CopyAnywhere. The Symbian Word processor in the 9500 or 9300 is actually a later version of Psion Word. But it has been dumbed down! The 5mx still reigns supreme.

11. Embedded objects. I use this feature a lot. I often put word documents and pictures inside Agenda and Data. The 9500 and 9300 implementations have only limited support if any. Another example of how the originally so versatile Symbian Office suite has been dumbed down in later incarnations. DTG and QO simple do not offer the same integration. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

12. Thesaurus. Still the fastest I've seen. Not as versatile as some online ones, like Dictionary.com, but pretty good. I use it a lot. Nothing similar available for Series 80 and UIQ unless you purchase fully fledged dictionaries. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

13. Agenda + BusyView. The first one is built in and genetically the grandfather of Calendar in the the Series 80 and UIQ machines. The second one is a brilliant piece of work by the late de Vries. Together they run circles around anything Agenda/Calendar-like in the history of computing, in fact in the history of humanity. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

14. Size. Some say the 5mx is too big. Yes it doesn't sit well in a shirt pocket. It cannot easily be fit into your Lewis back-pocket either. It's not your ideal choice of belt handgrenades either. But in a slim briefcase it fits wonderfully. And it does fit pretty well in your suite jacket inner pocket as well. For my needs, the size is absolutely optimal. The size is essential for the keyboard to be useful and it for being a stable typing platform. The 5mx is a very stable typing platform, even when sitting behind the steering-wheel and having it on your knee. A P900 or 9300 in my belt i and a 5mx in my small leather pouch is just right. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

15. Look & feel. Well now you'd think I'm just adding in things to reach 50, eh? Nope, for me the looks are important. The 5mx has a timeless feel about it. Moreover, it doesn't exude FMCG gadgetry. The colour and casing is like a Jaguar Sovereign. Eternal. Fine lines, discrete colours, stylish boilerplate. It melts just into my favourite creative setting of rainforest furniture, leather chairs and balinese gardens. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

16. Sunlight. Absence of colour is not of any importance whatsoever for what I'm using the 5mx for. The 5mx screen performs very well in any light condition, from the most intense sunlit beach to the darkness of an airplane cabin at night. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

17. Quiet. In many situations you do not want to make any noise when you type. It should be as quiet as when writing on a paper. Typing noise can be irritating for others, for instance in tense meetings, seminars etc. Since the 5mx has full keyboard feel, there is no need to use clicks and beeps. And it doesn't rattle like the portable foldable add-on keyboards I've tested. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

18. Backup file access. PsiWin backs up files as they are. I can make a WINS Emulator logical drive point to the backup directory and open the files in the WINS emulator. I can use the PsiWin converter on the PC itself. This is a very convenient and easy to use safety feature. Not that I use it a lot, but it's reassuring to know it's there when I need it. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

19. Backup speed. I'm conservative and careful. I don't mind the backup process taking some time. The PsiWin gives me status of the number of files backed up and the remaining time. Yes it takes some time, it's only 115k, but so what? At least you know the backup is there. It's robust. And you can do other work at the same time. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

20. File manager. I want to access the files directly. The 'Windows-style' shortcut desktop which was introduced in Series 80 v2 (9500, 9300) is not for me. When I copy a file symbol from one place to another, I want to be sure it's the physical file I'm copying, not the shortcut. The File manager in the Psion 5mx starts up with the shell. And all files are accessible, including the Z-drive. That's how I want it. Starting up a file manager from Extras or from an Office button is acceptable but not desirable. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

21. Robust. I have a Data-Contacts file of more than 3000 names. I have an Agenda file of significant size which also work as a diary for past events. I have a memo file, which is a differently configured Data file, with nuggets of information, passwords, bank details, memberships etc. They all open on the 5mx with just a little delay. I never lose data. I can open them on PC whenever needed with WINS just by moving the CF over. Or I can open it in the netBook via the CF. Nope, the 9500 is not there yet, not speedwise, not capability wise. The P900 quickly becomes unmanageable; if you do edit work on a name beginning with S, for every concluded operation, it scrolls back to A and you have to step back to S again. Unacceptable. I have done an OPL routine on the 5mx which filters out the names I want and compiles a vCard file which I can beam over to update the P900. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

22. Support. Now this one is sure to get a few of you questioning my senses. How on earth can I claim that support is a reason to continue using the 5mx, when both the power of Nokia and the unit numbers shipped of 9500, 9300 and P900 dwarf the 5mx shippments even during it's peak years? It's quite simple really. The 5mx will not develop further. It's the most stable platform one can imagine because the platform will not change. All the issues with the 5mx are well known and addressed. It's mature. In fact it's beyond maturity; everything about it is set in stone. Do a simple search on the Web and you will get all the information you need, including excerpts from the EpocDigest back catalogue, PDAStreet, Deja/Google etc. Spare 5mxs are cheap. Screencables are provided. POS Ltd and Clove ensure continued provision of spare parts and remanufactured devices. If I need to send one 5mx for repair, I can easily switch over to a second one while the first one is getting repaired. All the info rmation is with me. If I don't have a PC backup, I can easily put all the information on a CF in one go, either using individual file copy or using a tool like Chris' FastBackup. Try to do that with a 9500 or 9300 or P900? Not possible. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

23. Speed. The file browser is slow in ER5, due to clumsily written code which was never fixed. So I never use it. Apart from that, the 5mx outperforms the 9500 and 9300 and P900 in almost every other aspect. Filesaving, file copying, opening a document, sorting data, saving a document etc etc. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

24. Travel light. Whereas I respect that many people do not have any other choice than to carry notebooks around, I don't. My P900 is sufficient for the need to read emails and attachments. I can easily transfer information back and forth between the P900 and the 5mx. I don't need a notebook. Even if there are light, netBook-sized, notebooks today, the additional complexity of travelling with a notebook, e.g. you need to store it with charger, CD-disc reader, modem cable etc, is impractical. A P900 and a 5mx is what I'm travelling with now. (Sorry that's not correct. I also travel with an ApacerMegaSteno which has slots for all the different memory types with a USB connector.) The P900 could be replaced by a P990 or a 9300i early next year, haven't made up my mind yet. They comprise two lightweight boxes which need minimal support peripherals to work. The 5mx does not need any peripherals whatsoever brought with it for a trip. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

25. Continuity reduces hazzle. Let's face it. We're changing phone every second year. Even though we might be the proud owners of a P910 or a 9500 today, we will certainly change within a few years time. I'm a P900 user right now. Likely I will be a P990 user by mid 2006. Perhaps I might even consider a 9300i or a E61. Maybe I'd like to have a second phone, a Series 60 phone with MP3 and large memory like the N91. In fact, I currently have my P900 with a Malaysian cellular operator and my old 9210 on a Swedish operator whenever I'm in Europe. I just purchased a pre-paid card for EDGE access with a second Malaysian operator. This adds up. I find it far, far easier to continue to rely on the 5mx for all my important data, as the default data centre. This makes phone upgrades as well as maintaining several phones significantly easier. Sure OPL helps a lot here because I can write small conversion applications whenever needed, such as preparing vCard files from Data for beaming to my P900 and import into Contacts. Since I've decided never to abandon my 5mx I will always enjoy a trustworthy, hazzle free, mobile and instantly accessible personal database over and beyond the twists and turns in the furtherance of mobile telephony. I feel I save a lot of time with the 5mx. That's more important for me than going with the latest vogue. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

So these are my reasons for all what their worth. Take them or leave them. What I think should be clear to everyone is that no matter the strong reasons to keep on using the 5mx for another two decades, we cannot change one basic fact: it's not a phone. It takes a person with a two box mind to use the 5mx. Many argue - also for good reasons - that the problem with selecting a 5mx as a second box is that you will easily end up with a third box, a notebook. So what do I do? I think this has a lot to do with the selection of phone. If I select a P990 or a 9300i as the 5mx companion I will not need to carry around the notebook. In short, I prefer thinking of new Symbian devices as completements to my 5mx, not as replacements, because they're not as far as I'm concerned.

Have a Merry Yuletide all of you.
Martin Maxwell Harnevie
Kuala Lumpur ~ Malaysia
Stockholm ~ Sweden