Phone and SMS:
In the UK +44 (0)787672-4631
In Norway +47 92053097
*++++++++++&
Date: 2 Sep 2002 22:09:20 +0100
From: "Mike Fellhauer"
Subject: Re: PDF filesizes...
People seem to have a misconception about the size of PDF files...it all depends on what's in the file; PDF documents save everything about the document, fonts, images, formatting, etc. so it will look the same and print the same on every machine...that's the whole idea behind PDF.
The last Epoc Digest (#64) size was 45K. I copied the plain text and pasted it into a Wordpad plain text document. I then created a PDF document from that using the "SCREEN" resolution...that PDF document was 53K, only an increase of 8K. I then tried to create the same document at 300dpi...52K, little change. If the fanzine was plain text, it wouldn't be anything outrageous as mentioned by others. Now if we wanted a fancy fanzine, with graphics, different fonts, a lot of formatting around those graphics, that's a different story.
So with that information known, you can make a valid decision on about going with a PDF document rather basing it on misinformation about PDF (in plain text format...I admit with lots of graphics and fancy text, PDFs can get
very large; the manual for my digital camera is 18 megs).
There's also Ewan Spence's "Your Epoc" data format. I can't remember how big the filesizes were for them though, but they also couldn't have been
very big as I had 3 issues in my machine at one point with everything else in the machine...only thing is it's not readable on the PC (unless you have the emulator)...could they be converted to a PC format, or maybe printed in PDF format?
Some things to think about.
Mike Fellhauer
Secretary of the Psion Enthusiasts Association of Toronto
http://www.phaedrav.com/peat/
*++++++++++&
Date: 2 Sep 2002 22:13:08 +0100
From: "Mike Fellhauer"
Subject: Re: EPOC Digest email address change...
When did the address change? Was there an announcement? Wished there would have been so I could change my address book (or did I miss the
announcement).
From: Epocdigest
Mike
*++++++++++&
Date: 2 Sep 2002 22:17:09 +0100
From: "Christian Roth"
Subject: 5mx, IrDA and WindowsXP ?
Fellow Psionists,
is there a way to accomplish synch between Outlook on a Windows XP Home machine on one, and the Psion 5mx on the other hand, using the infrared ports? I would need this coexistance of two worlds if I decide on a Psion again, having a notebook without a serial port.
regards,
Chris
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 10:30:58 +0100
From: Jack
Subject: white nB screen
Hi all,
That's the second time my netBook screen suddently went white permanently. I suspect Alarm+ autostart beeing a cause.
I had to hard reset and lost my 061, 062, 0063 Digests....is there someOne kind enought to mail them to...
Jack
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 10:50:00 +0100
From: "John George & Sons Ltd."
Subject: PDF file size
Reply to Chris Matthee
PDF File size
It appears that you have hit upon the answer. I didn't realize that graphic houses sent a scanned image in PDF format.
Your example of a 13 page PDF document coming up to about 50k is acceptable to me for a PDF magazine.
Thank you
Philip Bister
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 12:25:04 +0100
From: David Lir
Subject: Re: Washroom (ahem) 4 Itamar
"Re. Washroom - Actually .... NO, I don't "do it" in the washroom !"
Well, I don't "do it" in the washroom either! I said I *compute* in the washroom - why not? If I'm going to be sitting there for a while (ahem) I may as well read an old classic book in EBook or Mobipocket, or update my tasklist - why waste the time? Surely you've heard of people reading on the can :) It's like picking one's nose - everybody does it (except for me) - but nobody will admit to it :)
------------------------
David Lir - \\:>{o>
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 12:25:07 +0100
From: David Lir
Subject: Date Macro (4 Itamar)
Thanks for the macro, I'll give it a try :)
------------------------
David Lir - \\:>{o>
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 12:25:10 +0100
From: David Lir
Subject: Owen's dream (4 Trygve)
"I've seen his dream...
It's 28', made of wood(and fibreglass) and was built in Poland(or am I way off target here?) some years ago...
A nice boat, but a tad too small for me..."
Actually, I dare say his dream is as wide and as clear as the sea and the sky - and is made of self-reliance, a dash or two of adventure and most importantly: a whole lot of solitude! What you have described is his *boat* ;)
------------------------
David Lir - \\:>{o>
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 12:25:13 +0100
From: David Lir
Subject: Coloured Screens and Battery L (4 Gary)
"I have been playing around with a Treo 90 with colored screen for about 2 weeks now and have had to charge it only 3 times so far -- including the initial charge. And I have put it through a lot of use and a lot of synchronizing and uses of IrDa for mobile phone SMS and email. It uses lithium ion batteries.
So a colored screen for the Series 5 might not drain the batteries too much."
Hi Gary,
I think it's the LiON battery which makes the colour screen workable (in terms of a reasonable run-time) in the Treo. The question is: could a colour-screened 5mx offer reasonable run-time on AA cells, or will such a screen-upgrade require a LiON pack to be fitted into the 5mx? BTW, could you approximate how many actual 'on' hours the Treo provides between charges?
------------------------
David Lir - \\:>{o>
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 12:25:20 +0100
From: David Lir
Subject: Re: Revo/Mako charging... (4 Mike)
"I knew exactly what Owen meant...the problem is the Revo loses only 3% of battery capacity a day, the RevoPlus/Mako 5-6%. The charger can charge the machine up to 80% in an hour in fast charging mode. In order to switch to trickle charge the batteries have to be 80% or less. In other words, the charger will overcharge the machine in no time...maybe if the charger is set to 5 minutes a day, or 30 minutes in one week. Like I said though, it's safest to just let the batteries run down while you are away (I plan to when I go on vacation next week)."
I didn't mean any offense Mike, honest :) Anyway I'll gladly defer to your wisdom and experience on this matter - and agree with you that a full backup of the Revo to a PC and then a restore is probably the best thing - rather than trying to maintain the battery's charge while away. Still - I thought that the Revo charging circuit would prevent any overcharge?
"As for what someone said regarding my comment about the possibility of the house burning down with Owen's plan, I meant that if the Revo batteries were to overcharge, overheat, melt the wires, cause a short circuit, ignite, ignite what the Revo's sitting on, and then the rest of the house, it *IS* a very real possibility to burn your house down."
I thought that the Revo's charging circuitry was at least competent enough to prevent that sort of horrible scenario from occurring!
"Anyway, this topic has been beaten to death...time to bury it. Some people recharge their machines daily, and eventually run into problems.."
Well, with a Revo I'd have *no choice* but to charge daily - since I would have depleted almost all of the charge in a single day. If you only need to charge your unit once a week you must use it on average less than an hour a day. Someone who depletes the battery almost entirely daily will burn through the total number of full charge-discharge cycles much faster than you will - and wouldn't that mean he'll also run into problems sooner than you might? FWIW, I'll take your advise and drop the subject now :)
------------------------
David Lir - \\:>{o>
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 12:25:25 +0100
From: David Lir
Subject: Re: Insert date into Word? (4 Julie)
"I'm sure Huub Linthorst will tell you himself that one option is to use ExAb <g>.
This is freeware if you run it as a macro, or shareware if you run it as a separate program ... but this doesn't let you choose your date format (AFAIK - Huub, if I'm wrong, please let me know how to do it) - it's always DD/MM/YYYY (in the order chosen in your International Settings in the Control Panel)."
Sounds good to me! I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks, Julie!
"Alternatively, you could use Macro5 and set up a shortcut of type ClipText, with the expansion of
%%date%%, or you can specify your date format as follows:
DN Full day name
Etc."
I'll give this a try too tonight. Thanks again.
------------------------
David Lir - \\:>{o>
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 12:25:29 +0100
From: David Lir
Subject: Re: S5 Battery Report (4 Keith)
Keith wrote:
"I was pleased to see that I had gotten 20h 12m of battery use. Run *that* up your Revo/Mako. :-)"
Careful there, Keith, you're going to start a cyberwar! (LOL)
"All my outgoing e-mails have been checked by Norton Anti-virus."
All my outgoing emails have NOT been checked by Norton Anti-virus.
------------------------
David Lir - \\:>{o>
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 12:25:32 +0100
From: David Lir
Subject: Fluff: RE: Textmaker for HPC & more (4 Tim)
"David,
I checked out TextMaker and it certainly appears to be a normal word processing application for a _Desktop_, and in multiple languages. The price of $69.95 seems a bit high until you realize what it does."
I agree about the price - but keep in mind it does include the full Desktop version also.
"Of course, all this comes at the expense of "disk" space better than 5megs."
Not much of a problem for a 64mb unit though - and I think about 3 megs of that is storage - and can be installed on a CF card.
"I'll purchase as soon as the download version is ready. Thanks for the tip!!"
I hope you get great use from it; you're welcome :)
------------------------
David Lir - \\:>{o>
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 13:59:47 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman
Subject: 9210Data counter, GPRS costs,
Answer to: Kevin and David
Re. 9210 - I suppose one can expect Nokia to bring out better specified models in future, to be expected also with GPRS support and more. Patience is the name of the game.
Answer to: Kevin Collins
Re. Data counter - BIG UPS !!!! Your message made me think and look at the phone again. I have been TOTALLY wrong. I thought data sent in last session was the total bytes in and out, but now see there is a separate counter for in and out .... AAAAAGH. So my total sent and received bytes is now 3.499 Mb. Total time spent 2 hours and 181/2 minutes. A rough calculation shows :
3.499 Mb at Gbp 2.35 / Mb = Gbp 8.22
Double the time from GPRS to GSM (taking it low) means abt. 188 minutes at Gbp 0.70 / minute with GSM from Europe to UK = Gbp 131.60.
Still quite a difference .... !! As to the difference in size, that is exactly my question. It appears that outgoing emails need about 3 times the number of bytes than their original size. Is that the header only ? I don't know.
Answer to: Alex
Re. GPRS costs - Yes, I noted this cost on the German Psion digest. Are you sure it is in Moscow $ 0.25 / Mb and not Kb or B ? If correct, indeed very cheap.
Bye,
Itamar Engelsman
London, United Kingdom
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 13:59:57 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman
Subject: Fanzine, S7 upgrade, GPRS sheet, Broken penholder, Launching nConvert, Colour 5M
Answer to: Kevin Thorne
Re. Fanzine - Colour printing ? AFAIK that is not possible even from the S7. For digital photos I seem to remember there is a special program for this. Look at page 53 of issue 35 of Palmtop Magazine and on page 28 the program SFX to store photos, see www.stampark.co.uk.
Answer to: Trygve Henriksen
Re. S7 upgrade - Thanks for the details, I think I'll keep my S7 as is in working order. With a 128 Mb Cf disk I am "in business".
Answer to: Gary Y Reyes
Re. GPRS sheet - No, I manually input the details. But if you would know a way to do this automatically please let me know .... ?!
Answer to: Sinisa Hristov
Re. Broken penholder - As it is an internal mechanism I don't think you will need glue. Put a flat object (knife, credit card) between the outer case and the serial link underneath the RS232 sign and twiggle it around a little, both in and out and try to widen the gap. You will hear suddenly a little click and your pen will work again (take care not to damage the black strip on your credit card !).
Answer to: David Lir
Re. Launching nConvert - I just tried with Macro5 and no problem. Maybe you can assign a shortcut to it ?
Re. Colour 5MX - The difference would be that while the REVO after 5 to 6 hours needs an electricity outlet, the 5MX just needs a fresh set of AA's. Just keep 2 or 3 sets loaded at all times and within reach.
Bye,
Itamar Engelsman
London, United Kingdom
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 16:52:53 +0100
From: "Steve Hodgson"
Subject: Re: PDF Fanzine
> Me? I don't really care what file format is decided on - the real
> question is who is actually going to do this?
My guess is that unless there is someone out there with a lot of time
on his or her hands then no-one. I reckon that a lot on one-man bands
pack-up in the end because lifestyle changes remove the time required
to devote to such an undertaking.
On the other hand if there were a pool of contributors (I hesitate to
use the term talent!) available it might just get enough momentum to
get going. I am thinking of a 'Cathedral and Bazaar' approach where
what would be needed would be people prepared to do the following kinds
of tasks.
1. Editing input from contributors.
2. Mailing list for all contributors. This would be for suggestions
on articles for people to suggest/sign-up for.
3. HTML -- probably not going to get anywhere without a web-site even
if just for download.
4. Provide (administer) web space.
5. Chief stoker -- someone just to keep people moving and collate
input. "For heavens sake Steve, you promised me an article on
waterproofing a Psion by Tuesday!"
Maybe this way some of the effort needed could be minimised to the
point where the thing stands a chance of lasting. I'm certainly
prepared to put in some effort on this if possible but probably not a
huge amount in the near future.
Cheers,
Steve
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 16:53:52 +0100
From: "Steve Hodgson"
Subject: Re: The Times They Are Changing
> Jim wrote:
>
> "when I can no longer get my Psions repaired and the final unit goes
> belly up there are usable keyboard machines out there."
>
> Besides the machines you mentioned there is the Jornada HPC line.
> This would seem to be the closest direct replacement for > a 5mx.
My suspicion is that the Jornada line will not be around much longer.
The whole Windows CE scene seems to be moving away from clamshell
designs which is a real shame. The OS for such machines has been
superseded by PocketPC 2002 and does not contain the sort of
functionality that we are used to.
I think these days, I would be tempted to go for a Palm format machine
with an add-on Stowaway keyboard for those keyboard occasions. It's a
real shame (for me) that PDAs have dropped the use of keyboards but
probably not a feature required by the bulk of users.
Cheers,
Steve
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 17:26:04 +0100
From: "Mike Fellhauer"
Subject: Re: Psion battery life...
>From: Keith Giles
>Subject: S5 Battery Report
>
>I checked today and saw the S5 batteries were low, so replaced them. I was >pleased to see that I had gotten 20h 12m of battery use. Run *that* up your >Revo/Mako. :-)
>
Well, older machines did use less power...not only less CPU power was required, but also less memory to keep refreshed. You can see that difference between the percentage loss per day between a Revo (3%) and Revo Plus (5%).
If it was the case of wanting a machine for longer battery life I'd still be using my Siena...I got on average 35hours of battery use with that with
AAAs; sure beats your "20h 12m" with AAs. The thing is though, it was time for a more powerful Psion and the 5/5mx was too heavy, big and bulky for me.
The Revo's a compromise, but it's good enough for me (although I still wish it had user replaceable batteries; meaning a battery door to pop them out when they run low).
Mike
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 17:39:27 +0100
From: "Steve Hodgson"
Subject: PsiLinux
Just wondered whether anyone had played around with this at all. I was
checking out the website (http://linux-7110.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/
index.cgi) and some of the screenshots seem to be quite advanced with
window managers running in some cases. It appears to run on everything
from Series 5 up to netBook.
I wasn't sure if they were any distro's for this. It looks like one
would have to get very dirty hands playing about with this stuff!
Cheers,
Steve
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 20:39:23 +0100
From: Jim Watson-Gove
Subject: Re: Psion repair in North America
Mike,
<<Just thought I'd let you know there's still "Palmtop Support Services" in Toronto, Canada who repairs Psions, http://www.410palm.com/>>
I checked the URL and it failed. Thought it might be typoed so did a Google search "Psion Repair Canada." It came up with the same URL. I clicked on it and it still failed.
Either the place has gone away or (I hope) they have their site down temporarily for some reason.
When Psion stops supporting the PDAs (December 31st, 2004) I wonder if these outside repair centers like Pinnock etc will be able to obtain parts to continue servicing Psions.
jim - oakland
*++++++++++&
Date: 4 Sep 2002 12:41:10 +0100
From: vlad arghir
Subject: Route Planner and Street Planner DIGEST V1 # 052
> Kevin Thorne wrote:
> 2 What are the differences between the old and newer versions of the program?
Newer maps, and more of them (they say). Bugfixes. Better integration
between the two. Actually not much...
> 3 Presumably even the newer "Millenium" version has to be installed directly There is a subfolder with .sis - everything you need. U can find an update software on the TpmTom site for the version on CD.
> required the installation to be carried out from the
> CD-ROM only.
No.
best,
vlad
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 10:04:35 +0100
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: SMS
Dear Thomas,
<< With an earlier bill I noticed that my foreign SMS-s were not in the 'SMS' chapter, but in the 'Phone calls from foreign countries' chapter of the bill >>
You've mentioned previously that you couldn't use the SFR SMSC so that you used Ben's SMSC instead. Is it then surprising that the SMSs you sent while in France weren't logged by SFR as being SMS? The use of a foreign SMSC while on the SFR network may also be the reason why you're charged for them.
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 10:04:38 +0100
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: Dream 5mx
Dear Astrid,
<< Easy, everything the new sony clié nr70v has: colourscreen, proper mp3, camera, usb, hwr. >>
Why not buy the rights to the Series 5mx and build the proposed 'Series 5mxc Professional' when it's that easy? <g> Don't forget that Sony has been designing small form factor devices for years and has a vast body of knowledge and construction techniques readily available.
<< If palm and windows can add bluetooth - why not epoc? >>
Symbian OS, as EPOC is now called, has a Bluetooth protocol stack available. Problem is that the CF interface on the 5mx doesn't support I/O cards. The use of an add-on Bluetooth CF card is thus out of the question without a motherboard redesign.
<< Isn't there something else that the guys at POD can do about our wishlists? Bluetooth or USB would be nice >>
USB also means a motherboard redesign as well as a redesign of the Series 5mx's casing to fit a USB socket. While USB has the inherent problem of it being (a) strongly PC orientated and (b) a master/slave system. In other words, the PC is the master and the PDA the slave. Though you could make a PDA that's master when linked to a USB printer and slave when linked to a PC you immediately create incompatibility headaches. RS232C, or better EIA-232, is a much more universal standard as it allows you to link with a vast range of devices other than a PC.
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 10:04:42 +0100
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: DATA sending
Dear Kevin,
<< IMHO, the sent counters in the 6319i must be overstating matters; and, if not, GPRS may transpire to be more costly than we had thought! >>
Don't forget that the 6310i records *all* the bytes transmitted and received. Which includes the bytes sent as part of the mailbox log-in and the bytes received when the mail headers are retrieved in order to show the messages that are in your mailbox.
You also have to reckon with protocol overheads. An e-mail message is cut into pieces and transmitted as a series of packets. Each packet has an 'envelope' consisting of number of bytes for the start and end markers of the packet, addressing information plus the info that allows you to check whether the package was damaged during transmission. A protocol can also include a number of request and acknowledgement messages like 'Are you ready to receive' and 'Yes, give me the bytes'. A rough rule of thumb for transfer protocols is that the protocol adds 20-30% to the 'payload'. In other words, It takes about 25 kByte in overheads to transfer 100 kByte.
<< I also noticed that a 52Kb inmail Digest seemed to increase my received counter by 64Kb! >>
Which translates into a 23% overhead - nothing wrong with that.
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 10:04:46 +0100
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: PDF Magazine
Dear Simon,
<< However, in addition to just discussing the logistics of distributing the magazine has anything been done to actually put anything together yet? ... So far it has all be rhetoric with very little happening AFAIK >>
Come on Simon, give Andy some time to find out what's needed to produce and publish a newsletter/magazine on a regular basis. The idea is a good one, I trust many of us will subscribe and are willing to submit articles. But it's not a good idea to discuss the subjects of the first articles and who will be regular contributors and/or (guest) columnists without Andy being convinced he's able to manage it all. The way the newsletter/magazine is distributed is part of this. After all, many an idea comes to nothing because people didn't realise the work involved.
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
Date: 3 Sep 2002 10:04:51 +0100
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: PDF magazine file size
Dear Steve,
<< In that case maybe one format to consider would be more like a digest (HTML format??????) with emailed summaries of articles each accompanied by a hyperlink to the complete article >>
I don't think is the way to go for a number of reasons.
1) We're moving away from the idea of collecting articles, columns and other items people like to submit, compiling them into a simple publication and sending the publication out to subscribers. Your proposal means that you need to go on-line again to read the actual publication.
2) Picking up this HTML summary, as I'm inclined to call it, will take less on-line time. Problem is that accessing the web site and browsing the articles mentioned in the summary is guaranteed to take more on-line time than downloading the same in an all-in-one PDF file. A file you can read off-line when you have the time.
3) The on-line web site where the articles are stored will grow in time, requiring some expertise in managing such a site. While Andy has already indicated web sites aren't his forte.
4) The HTML summary doesn't prevent the on-line article not living up to what the reader expected from the summary title.
5) HTML isn't the right publication format when you like to use screenshots, pictures and small graphical elements to liven up the text. These are stored separate from the HTML itself. Managing this collection of elements is more time consuming and error prone than putting everything in a single PDF.
6) PDF has the options to optimise the publication for output file size as well as reading the publication on a Psion.
7) There are a number of Psion/EPOC related sites where you can find articles and discussions on several subjects. Then there's the EPOC Digest, the Psion newsgroups on Usenet, the CompuServe Forum and AOL Groups, etc. There are more than sufficient on-line 'publications. available - why add another?
--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands
*++++++++++&
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