- Serial to USB for netBook

- SE P910i & Bluetooth

- Re: Mea Culp

- Re: Serial to USB for netbook/5mx Battery

- Libretto Video Driver

- 9290/9210 as a modem

- RE: 5mxPRO

- P990i and Bluetooth

- Any experience?

- Re: Serial to USB for netbook

- Betr.: Revo Link to PC

Date: 28 Mar 2006 15:04:26 +0100
From: Trygve Henriksen <address truncated>
Subject: Serial to USB for netBook

David wrote:
> I would very much appreciate advice on converting the serial link to USB - > my new laptop has no serial port - I bought a converter cable and
> appropriate software came with it. All loaded well but the Psion is not
> recognised - I reloaded the driver from the internet but this has made no > difference.

This may be because you got a crap one.
Many cheap adapters doesn't have all the signals required for PsiWin to be able to establish a link.
If it's any consolation, it probably doesn't work with Palms either...

I generally sort them in two categories, those based on the FTDI chipset, and rubbish...

If by chance, your adapter does have all the pins enabled, you could try
to switch off the FIFO buffer on the serial port as this may also cause
some problems. (somewhere in the control panel)

:-)
Trygve

Date: 28 Mar 2006 15:18:44 +0100
From: Arabbitte <address truncated>
Subject: SE P910i & Bluetooth

To: Ian Chapple

>>>
Dear All,
having just "sold out" and finally bought a Windows laptop, I have hit a problem. I would like to back up my P910 using Bluetooth, but cannot get SE PC Suite to "see" my phone via Bluetooth; however, it works fine with the cradle. Has anyone actually succeeded in doing this, and if so, how? A friend of mine has succeeded with his Nokia 9300, and he assures me that it was totally straightforward. <<<
I only ever use the cradle for backups. For ad-hoc file transfers and occasional syncing I also often use bluetooth and Infra Red and therefore assumed that BT or IR could be used for backups. After all, why not? I was so sure I even said this in Digest 897. But I was wrong (as noted by Gunter Aigmueller in Digest 900). I have no idea why this isn't possible or why anyone would want to restrict the backup program in such a way. Instead of just using an available protocol (USB/IR/BT), it looks like the backup program was hardcoded to work only with the cradle.

The help option for the backup program says:
You can connect the phone to your computer in one of two different ways:
<SNIP>
Connecting using a cable (RS 232)
<SNIP>
Connecting using a cable (USB)
<SNIP>

As P910s are not supplied with a serial cable, your only option is USB. Infact, the USB is just the physical connection in this case, the actual protocol used - and therefore the observed transfer speed - is serial.

All the best from Dublin, Ireland
Alan Rabbitte

Date: 28 Mar 2006 17:15:16 +0100
From: Christopher J.Holly <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Mea Culp

Thanks, Keith. I will check that out. Problem is on internal C drive. I am not aware of any utility to "Ghost" an EPOC drive onto a CF card. Disk copy only wants to copy real files and none of the trash that i really want (file fragments not referenced in FAT, etc) Imagine that!

My plan is to backup a working installation with all my default programs and settings using PsiWin and then hiding that somewhere from PsiWin so I can always return to at least that no matter what happens afterward (I had trouble with my last backup from 6 months ago. When I did a hard rest and then restored that backup, I still got an error message when I tried to access Add/Remove Programs, so something went wrong that I was not aware of way back then.)

Then I will back up the internal drive regularly with PsiWin plus I will use FastBackup to backup the whole shebang to a spare drive in the PCMCIA adapter. And I will hide that from my dog, who likes his memory chips without guacamole dip . . . . (it's been a difficult month!)

Also I left zExe off this time because I have plenty of memory, and even if zExe speeds things up, which it seemed to do, it just seems like asking for trouble, esp. since I use Mobireader and Eric Lindsay reports that the two may not play well together.

By the way, thank you to Martin Guthrie, Chris Handley, Eric Lindsay, 3Lib, Mr. SMTPAuth, the Malaybook guy, and all you others who are keeping my 5mx and netBook from becoming obsolete despite the best efforts of inexorable "progress." I wish I had time to learn to program so I could add something useful, like a good outlining program

--Chris Holly

Date: 28 Mar 2006 18:18:34 +0100
From: Keith Giles <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Serial to USB for netbook/5mx Battery

K81010 wrote:

> I would very much appreciate advice on converting the serial link to > USB

Unfortunately, Psion seems to be very particular about which USB/Serial cable it will accept. Some on this digest have found Belkin to work - I couldn't get the Belkin I tried to work. I ended up buying one from Clove in the UK - they are (were?) Psion specialists and the cable they sold works for me. I guess what I'm saying, is that you'll just have to try different cables until you find one which works for you.

Elaine Smith wrote:

> setting a reminder to check the 5mx batteries monthly!

You might consider using a Macro to automatically show the battery condition once a day. You'll find a Macro on my web site (see Macro page). After personalizing the .opl file, open Macro5, go to Menu/Tools/Advanced/Macro at switch on, check Enable and Only once a day boxes, drill to the .opo file in the Macro box. The first time you start your Psion each day, the battery condition will show up for as long as you have set.

I hope I'm not being pedantic, but I hate getting vague instructions. :-)

Happy Cycling,
Keith
Sunnyvale, CA

http://ohsix827.home.comcast.net

Thought For The Day: Success in life usually expands the waistline or the hatband.

Date: 28 Mar 2006 19:15:45 +0100
From: Mike Dyer <address truncated>
Subject: Libretto Video Driver

Hi Axel,

I sent you a driver but have since found a better one here:

http://209.167.114.38/support/Download/98Upg_Libretto.htm

Regards,
Mike Dyer

Date: 28 Mar 2006 23:14:27 +0100
From: Bob <address truncated>
Subject: 9290/9210 as a modem

I might have already asked this but I forgot if I did.  I think there is a way to use the 9290/9210 as a modem for our Psion and in my case the 7book. If I am out some where I can use my 9290 and it works fine but if I want to use a bigger screed like my 7book if I could use my phone as an IR modem that would be great.  Any suggestions please.

Thanks,
Bobby

Date: 29 Mar 2006 00:37:37 +0100
From: Alan Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: 5mxPRO

Axel Moberg <address truncated>

||> - The weak spot on 5mx seems to be the screen cable. And I ||> suppose the keys are the same?

I have a 5, 5mx, 5mx & 5mxPRO.

The touch screen cable broke on the 5.  NOT the screen cable, so I bought the first 5mx.  It's <space> key often did not register a press, but all else was OK.

Then I bought one of the last new 5mx in the shops.  The old 5mx was put away as spare and I had no problems with the new one.

The Clove were selling what I guess were new 5mxPROs built from spare parts.  So I bought one.  It them became my 'working' 5mx(PRO) and has no key problems.

||> But more complicated to load the programs. Any other problems with it? Hardly anyone talks about it in the Digest.

It works exactly the same as a 5mx apart from the shorter battery life. This is caused by the standby current being higher due to it's extra memory used for OS and drive C:.  Loading apps is as easy as on a 5mx. It has no extra problems (over a 5mx) so doesn't get talked about much. There are also not that many of them with English as they were originally only in German.

I'd recommend one.

I had to soft reboot once, which was once more than a 5mx.  I've no idea what caused it.  Once I let the main battery go flat, by Chris's FastBackup did it's job well.  I then decided to keep a copy of the OS image file on the 'working' drive D:.

Alan Morris.

Date: 29 Mar 2006 10:47:37 +0100
From: Steve Convery <address truncated>
Subject: P990i and Bluetooth

Hi all,

>On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:32:15 +0100, The Digest wrote:
>From: Ian Chapple
>Subject: SE P910i & Bluetooth
>
> Dear All,
> having just "sold out" and finally bought a Windows laptop, I have hit a problem. I would like to back up my P910 >using Bluetooth, but cannot get SE PC Suite to "see" my phone via Bluetooth; however, it works fine with the cradle. >Has anyone actually succeeded in doing this, and if so, how? A friend of mine has succeeded with his Nokia 9300, and >he assures me that it was totally straightforward.

Ian,
I've just moved to a Windows Pocket Mobile 5.0 phone but had a P910i before that, and in the help for SE PC Suite it states that you can only back up the machine when it is docked in the cradle NOT via Bluetooth. You should still be able to synchronize or install software etc to your P910i via bluetooth - after pairing your P910i with your laptop via bluetooth check which COM port the P910i has been assigned by the bluetooth drivers and make sure that this COM port and the special bluetooth COM port are checked in the SE connection program in the XP task tray. The laptop should then detect your P910i and another small task tray icon should appear. Click on this for the various options e.g. synchronize etc.


Regards,
Stephen Convery
Douglas,
Isle of Man.
British Isles
email -<address truncated>

Date: 29 Mar 2006 15:42:36 +0100
From: Franco Cozzani <address truncated>
Subject: Any experience?

Hello everyone.

Does anybody have any direct experience with the POS PSI X PDA? This is the POS-rebranded and newly manufactured (I think) Psion 5 Mx Pro.

Thanks for any info,

> Franco COZZANI
> Brussels
>

Date: 29 Mar 2006 21:42:26 +0100
From: Colin & Ali Messer <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Serial to USB for netbook

David Norminton wrote on 27 Mar 2006 09:13:33

> I would very much appreciate advice on converting the serial link to > USB - my new laptop has no serial port - I bought a converter cable > and appropriate software came with it. All loaded well but the Psion > is not recognised - I reloaded the driver from the internet but this has > made no difference.

There was some discussion about the cost of usb to serial converters as they varied in price from 10GBP to nearly 50GBP.  What are the cheap converters lacking and do we need it?  I regret that at this distance I have forgotten the details of the discussion, but as a consequence I bought a more expensive converter from Clove.

Installing was trouble free, but getting PsiWin to see the converter was another thing entirely.  My memory is clearer on this issue.  Uninstall PsiWin and make sure that all traces are removed by using the RegCleaner.
Install the USB to Serial converter then install PsiWin.  PsiWin will now see the new serial port.

As I had installed the USB to Serial converter over PsiWin, and not as I describe above it took me an evening of uninstalls, regcleans and installs until PsiWin saw the new serial port.  Since then the connection has worked flawlessly.

Colin Messer

Date: 30 Mar 2006 05:50:45 +0100
From: emai7s <address truncated>
Subject: Betr.: Revo Link to PC

> Don't know if the above is applicable in your case, but you
> might want to deactivate any other synching software on your
> PC before trying again with the Psion/Mako, since it may be
> blocking the needed port.
>
> Dear Peter,
> Followed your advice. Didn't work. I don't have any other
> PDA. But if in spite of it, my pc is running any such
> programmes (!?), is there any way to find out?
>
> Rgds,
> Thomas Antony

If you're not sure, ask a friend who is familiar with your computer system to take a look at it, and see if there are any active programs that might be using the port. Other than that, I'm out of ideas.

Peter