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Epoc Digest Fri, 04 Apr 2003 Volume 01 : Number 221

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Sent to: 776 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 14 messages:

==============================

- Psion IR 56K Travel Modem

- Psion-friendly website design?

- Re: Mailing Labels

- Re: More Battery and CF Questions

- netBook power, FAT directory rant...

- CF problem with (Malay) netBook??

- Re: 6310i connection; GPRS and S7

- Re: Still the best

- RE: C700 Redux

- RE: C700 (response to Rolf Brunsting)

- Powerbase Caveat / EPOC Dreams

- Printing Problems / Other OS' / Enclosures

- Instant on, colour screen talk

- Company Accounting

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 08:41:41 +0000

From: Eric Lindsay

Subject: Psion IR 56K Travel Modem

Does anyone know if I can use my Psion InfraRed 56K Travel Modem with my Windows 98 laptop? The laptop IR port detects the modem correctly, however I'm not sure how to treat it. I got the modem second hand, so I have no manual or driver disk, and the Psion drivers on my Windows CD are pretty limited. Couldn't locate drivers on the Psion site, nor a copy of the manual (if there ever was one).

Eric Lind www.avalook.com

Airlie Beach, Nth Qld, Australia ph +61 7 4948 0450

http://www.ericlindsay.com NEW Airlie-SF-Psion-Epoc

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 13:36:48 +0000

From: Daniele Squarci

Subject: Psion-friendly website design?

I am about to start developing my personal website. I will be creating it on a PC, but would like to update it regularly whilst I'm travelling using a netBook with nFTP. Are there any design formats you would suggest to make updating via Psion easier?

The website content will be mostly text, but will have some photos and graphic elements.

Ciao

Daniele Squarci

Italy

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 16:14:52 +0000

From: "Euan Mee"

Subject: Re: Mailing Labels

On 2 Apr 2003, at 17:26, Jim Watson~Gove wrote:

> Anyone out there know how to go from a Psion data file to mail labels > using a Windows machine?

> Up until now, I have ... used scissors and scotch (Scottish?) tape.

Here in Scotland (and the rest of the UK), Scotch tape is called Sellotape. Except on Kiddie's tv shows on non-commercial

television, where it was resolutely referred to as 'sticky-back plastic'. :-)

> At the Arts Alliance, ... they want me to come up with something

> more efficient. ... if I can get ... a delineated file, [we] can

> use a label program on [a] Mac.

> I [tried it and the result] appears thusly:

> "Pat Austin","1309 9th St.

> Port Townsend

> WA 98368"

> "Jason Gunby","Box 764

> Port Townsend

> WA 98368"

> "Eileen Claire","P.O. Box 1415

> Port Hadlock, WA 98339"

> "Lisa Gilley",

> [For the Mac we want] ... a Tab-Delimited file... Another option

> that could work is a comma-delimited file, which is the same as

> [the result I get but] with commas to separate the address

> elements and a return to separate the people. What's causing the

> most trouble is the returns that show up in the address lines -

> there's no way for [the] software to know that it's not starting a new > label.

> [Or an] export as one long string of text ... might work too - ...

> the software [can] to look for zip codes and start a new label

> after that.

> As you all know, I am limited to Export as Text, which comma delimits > between fields in one record and then separates the records with a

> carriage return. I think I am losing the carriage return when I copy the > file from the text file and move it into email (as in my example above). >

> Anyone successful with this task on the list?

A bit of investigation turned up an 'Options' button after going to

File -> More -> Export as text in the menus.

Try these settings:

Text qualifier - None

Label Separator - Comma

Entry separator - End of Line

This'll give you the 'comma-separated' option that you detail.

(Or you could perhaps use the settings

Text qualifier - None

Label Separator - Tab

Entry separator - End of Line

Good luck!

Cheers,

Euathis).sf.(antispam.)net

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 17:01:30 +0000

From: Keith Giles

Subject: Re: More Battery and CF Questions

WoodyB wrote:

> I don't know how to handle the battery in the MBook

I don't either. AS a new MBook owner I'd be very interested. After all my problems getting my Mako battery to work OK, I don't want to go through that mess with the netBook.

> I've read Martin's page on CF formatting for speed and max space > and I do have some understanding of clusters and space, speed,

> from DOS days.

Well, I don't know a thing about any of that. I must be simple minded because I've never formatted a CF card, just plugged them in and away I go. Am I missing something, or is all this a tempest in a teapot?

Rolf Brunsting wrote:

> When I bought my first PDA, a Psion Series 3a, I didn't even know > which operating system it was using.

My first was a 5ive. I had never seen one, only hear the name "Psion" once, hardly had any idea what an OS was, a complete novice to the PDA scene. But I must say, I was quickly impressed with it after I got it in my hands. I have yet to see anything else on the market that will do what the Psion does for *me*.

I wrote re my new Malaysian netBook:

> Perhaps I'll print up something on a label, cut to the

> elongated oval shape, and stick it there.

Well, I didn't wait for anyone to answer. :-) My bike graphics didn't work out so well, so I printed out a label making the background pretty close in color to the netBook and superimposed a Psion logo graphic. Doesn't look too bad. :-)

Happy Cycling,

Keith

Sunnyvale, CA

http://home.attbi.com/~ohsix827/

Thought For The Day: Do you realize we can no longer teach that what goes up must come down?

All my outgoing e-mails have been checked by Norton Anti-virus.

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 19:09:21 +0000

From: Trygve Henriksen

Subject: netBook power, FAT directory rant...

Greetings!

Andrew Gregory wrote:

>> 1. I wouldn't trust those switchable 12V adapters for further than

>> I can throw them.

> Ah yes, but I'm using a purpose designed adapter with +/-1100V

> spike supression :-) and an automotive rated ultra low dropout

> power regulator (needs headroom of just 0.2V).

Sounds like a good one, then...

>> 2. The netBook can draw up to 1.5A at 15V, which would

>> probably be closer to 2A at 12V and 4A at 6V...

> I've hooked my netBook up to my lab power supply. It wasn't fully

> discharged at the time and drew 1A which eventually fell to about

> 100mA as the charge completed (it was operating).

>> A 15V/1.5A wall wart is cheaper than a 6V/5A one

> I was suggesting 12V for car use, not 6.

I mentioned this as examples of what a typical wall-wart PSU would have to be rated as if the netBook used another input voltage than 15V....

>> How many of those would have bought it if it took 3Hours or even

> 6hours to recharge?

> My netBook seems to take less than an hour to charge, but I'll call

> it an hour. Dropping the voltage 15->12 should result in 1.25 hours

> to charge? Perhaps an extra step-up PSU is needed with, say, an

> 80% efficiency. That's still just 1.5hrs - a long way from your 3 or 6.

I mentioned 3 or 6 hours as examples of recharge times if you dropped the amperage to use cheaper electronics in an 12V based charger.

But...

your tests showed that the netBook drew about 1A at 15V, and recharged in less than an hour?

The battery is rated at 1500mA, so would need 1.5A for an Hour to fully recharge.(Or 1A at 1.5hours) The recharge circuitry seems to be fooled by the voltage rise caused by the battery heating up.

That's the reason I try to leave it connected for at least half an hour, preferably even longer, after the charge indicator changes...

That's why I mentioned 3Hours, as it's the double of my normal recharge time(Then it wouldn't need more than about 500mA or so)

>> Just listen to the step-up regulator on a S5/S5mx when you turn on the

>> backlight.

> Yes, but that's stepping up from 3V or less. Even had the netbook

> been designed with a two-cell Lion battery (to better facilitate 12V)

> rather than the existing three-cell, that's still about 8V. It may not

> make that big a difference as doesn't the backlight run off about 50V

> anyway?

I have no idea of what the backlight draws, but lets assume 50V...

The Li-ion battery has a lower voltage at 10V(when the machine wants to switch off)

At that voltage you have to multiply the voltage by 5, meaning that you have to draw 5 - 6 times as high amperage as the backlight draws...

Assume 6.6V for the two-cell solution...

That would result in a multiplication factor of 7.5757575....

given the same loss of power in the converter that would end up as how many times the amperage?

Anyway, it draws power...

Of course, Psion could have connected the cells in parallell, giving the same power, but generally speaking, parallell batteries tends to die much faster...

(They would also have had to use more powerful chargers and all that)

BTW: The S3mx will run quite happily off 6V, also...

Or rather, my S3c registers 'external power' when it's connected to the PCMCIA pod and it is connected to 6V....

Edgar Brazda wrote:

> My great sadness is that I can not print via ethernet (HP hangs on the

> LAN, gets its IP from the DHCP server; nB is on an AP; e-mail, web run

> happily - so network side is OK; I can print via IR with the famous

> Johnson drivers - so driver side is OK, but I can not choose "via

> ethernet" in Print setup.)

That would take an OS device driver, written in C++ but should be possible...

All you need is a good understanding of the lower layer of the OS, excellent C++ programming skills, knowledge of LPR printing...

Or you could try to 'print to file' then use a terminal emulator and connect to the printer at port 9100 and see what happens when you feed it the file...

(Isn't there a program 'Hermes'? )

No, I haven't tried myself...

We have a HP LJ 2100 at the office and that one has Fast IRDa...

(Another reason my boss don't want me to bring it to the office anymore. The thing does all the things he can't do with his Toshiba :-)

----

Woody wrote:

> Directory/File structure question- On Martin's page it briefly talked

> about limiting the number of files and Directories in the Root Dir.

> That rang a bell from DOS days, I tried a Google search but didn't

> find what I was looking for, that is, information on how to build a

> proper "tree".

That was a problem on FAT(8/12/16 the number has to do with allocation units) as it only allowed 512 File entries in the root dir.

That was OK as long as they used floppies, but on HDD's it was soon causing problems. (Directories counts as files)

On VFAT(the cludge with long filenames) it gets really bad...

They kept the old structure, but gave every file TWO names, one short 8.3 name (in capital letters), and a longer name. The problem is that the long name was put together from the same type of file entries as the short names, resulting in a new entry created for every 11 characters in the filename. That resulted in each file using at least 2, usually 3 or 4 entries each, limiting it to 256 or less files...

That also explains why M$ actually warned against using disk maintenance tools not compatible with Win95 back then...

(A rare occurence)

How FAT32 does it, I have no idea, and frankly, am too afraid to check...

What is worse than the FAT table mess is how the files gets their space allocated...

The rule is that the OS searches for the FIRST available free space and places the file there. If that gap isn't large enough it is still used, and the rest of the file is allocated to the next free gaps. (even if there are free spaces that are large enough to hold the file)

Not much of a problem on a CF, but now you know why your Win95/98/me PC gets slower and slower and slower in reading and writing to the disk, even if you never install any new software...

As for FAT32, the reason they made that version is that FAT(16) only allowed 65536 'allocation units' which isn't too much when you considered that disks at that time had creapt past the GB mark.

(One AU is the smallest block that can be allocated to a file. 512Bytes on a floppy, and typically 2/4/8/16KB on a HDD of CF. It is also the max number of files for that partition, but that assumes no file takes more than one AU)

Want to know something even worse?

The FAT system was nicked from CP/M....

Now, who should we blame?

M$ for the cludgework, or IBM who actually paid for it?

Incidentally, M$ also made HPFS, the filesystem used on OS/2...

it has long filename support(255 characters) 512Bytes allocation units, is sorted and naturally defragmented....

NTFS on the other hand(as used on winNT/W2K/XP) also supports long filenames and seems to be sorted, but sheeesh! does it ever fragment...

(The first thing we do at the office after setting up a new server is to defrag the disks)

:-)

Trygve

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 20:39:54 +0000

From: Jaap Laméris

Subject: CF problem with (Malay) netBook??

I encountered a problem with a new bought SanDisk 64Mb CF card in combination with my new Mbook.

(1) When I try to sort a large database file within an OPL program, everything is doing well when the database file is located on the C-drive. (2) When this database file has been located on my brandnew SanDisk CF card in the D- or E-drive, sorting results in a freeze of the program, only to

recover with an emergency kill. (3) When sorting the same database file on my PC emulator or on my Revo

or psion5 everything is OK (4) Sorting the same database file stored on my SanDisk CF-card in the Q drive of my Series 5 also did not result in a freeze. (5) Other users of my program did not result any problems when sorting databases stored on CF-cards on their series 5(mx) (6) When I placed the database file on another CF card (Lexar, 64 Mb) and put it in my D-drive of my netBook, the program also stuck in a freeze mode. Placed in my old Series, no crash occurred.

Other details:

-- Malaysian netBook

-- CF card has not been formatted first

-- 42 Mb free on (SanDisk) CF-card

-- 10.5M free on C-drive

My questions are: (1) Has someone experienced this too and knows the solution or reason? (2) Is my CF card corrupt ? (3) Are there other solutions ? (like formatting the CF-card)

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Jaap Laméris

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 21:12:59 +0000

From: Rolf Brunsting

Subject: Re: 6310i connection; GPRS and S7

Dear Kevin,

<< ... you don't say whether you wish to use GPRS or GSM, so I am assuming the latter? Anyway, I connect as follows (my server is not HSCSD but offers a 14.4k connection) ... >>

I'm sorry, but the above doesn't make any sense when you're instructing your Nokia 6310i to use a 28,800 bps V.34 (HSCSD) connection with AT+CBST=16 as data initialisation string.

Kind Regards,

Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 21:13:03 +0000

From: Rolf Brunsting

Subject: Re: Still the best

Dear Kevin,

<< Did Psion panic, I wonder, when the heavyweight manufacturers first started producing their own PDAs for the mass market? >>

Psion didn't panic when Philips, Hewlett-Packard, Casio, LG Electronics, Sharp, Compaq and NEC launched the first Windows CE based H/PC models. Nor did it panic when the first P/PCs were rolling out of the factories. Had Psion panicked we'd never have seen the Series 5mx, Series 7, Revo and Revo Plus. History has proven Psion right in this respect, there are only three of the seven left.

<< And yet, as you say, most of us seem to agree that the OS and hardware are still hard to beat >>

The hardware of the Series 5mx was beaten by the HP Jornada 680 and 720 models. Have a look at what people like to see in an updated 5mx and they're items these two had already. What let them down, in my view, was the processor and memory hogging Windows CE and applications.

<< The 5mx was still selling well right up to discontinuation of manufacture so there was no proven huge drop in sales on the machine >>

The drop in sales was considerable. Psion had to produce about 35,000 to 40,000 of the Series 5 when it was launched, simply to keep up with demand. The sales figures for Psion a few months before its withdrawal were about 60,000 units in total for the quarter. Palm sold about 840,000 units for the same quarter.

<< In fact, I seem to remember the last list price was around 280 GBP which made it particularly competitive when you compare the functionality offered for that price against the competition >>

Psion needed to compete on price because it could no longer compete on specifications.

Kind Regards,

Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 21:29:15 +0000

From: "Wong Koi Hin"

Subject: RE: C700 Redux

To Jim Cooke,

JC>It may be irrelevant to you but once PDA's get to be near the size of a mini-notebook and have the same battery life, the comparison biomes more valid.

My contention obviously is that the C700 is PDA sized rather than mini-notebook size. See my response below.

JC>And you're preaching to what you believe to be the truth. If there was this

huge pool of people who wanted to have a Psion then Psion would still be producing the Revo. Many people have given up on their Psion's because they can't reliably sync to any desktop PIM. I don't know what you do for a living but being able to keep my schedule up in Outlook is important to me being able to keep my job. Also, remember that the "crowd" here is ~700 people, hardly a representative sample of what the world wants, let alone what the average Psion owner wants.

I am not arguing that the rest of the world wants a Psion. My point is Peter was writing to the 700+ people here, not the world at large. His comments were also meant for those 700+, as are my comments.

JC>You can suspect whatever you want about the ~700 people on this list but they are not representative of the population as a whole. In addition, the Sony provides a sleep mode that powers up in less than 5 seconds so your argument doesn't hold water.

Again, I am not addressing the world's population, just people on this list. Which is what Peter was doing as well. You may recall Peter was talking about a potential Revo Successor. While you were stating your preference for the Sony C1VN over the C700 as a reply to his post.

JC>I didn't say that the Sony was a PDA. I was pointing out that in size, capability, and price, the Sony wasn't far off the C700 and had a lot more capability.

Precisely, Peter was talking about PDAs while you brought in a mini-laptop. Your second statement contradicted itself, so I am taking the liberty of correcting it to be:

JC>I was pointing out that in size and price, the Sony wasn't far off the C700 and had a lot more capability. (I removed capability from the first part)

The Sony is almost double the price. At an extra 500+ I doubt that qualifies as being close in price. As for the size, I am assuming you have seen the Sony C1VN in person. I have and I assure it is a stretch to say it is "not far off" in terms of size. The size of the Sony and its weight:

249.0 x 28.0 x 152.0 mm

Weight : Approx. 995 g

If your comment is true, then the Revo should also be considered not far off the size of a Sony as well.

JC>

"From: http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/021112.html

External dimensions (W x D x H) Approx. 120 x 83 x 18.6 mm (4.7" x 3.3" x 0.7")

excluding protuberances and height at thinnest section - This rather different than giving the ACTUAL dimensions of the C700. My car, at it's thinnest section, had a rather different height than it does overall.

The weight is listed at 225 grams or 7.9 ounces

From:

http://www.psionplace.com/hardware/Psion-Revo-2000-08-18-psion-psion-spec.ht ml

Size (Inches): 6.2 x 3.1 x 0.7 These are the ACTUAL dimensions without any babble about protuberances or thinnest section

Weight: 1.45 oz - which looks to me to be about 1/4 of the C700.

Another question - the C700 is almost 1.5 inches less in width than a Revo yet they claim the have a fully fledged keyboard. How did they manage that in those dimensions? Seems more than a little difficult to believe those dimensions can be right."

The weight of the Revo is incorrect as stated above. I own one and it weights about 200g or about 7 ounces. Also rather than keep trying to convince you in numbers that the Revo and C700 are about the same size, here is a link that puts them side by side.

http://zaurus.cis92.net/maple/c700/KIF_1708.JPG

http://jpoq.tripod.com/zau1.jpg

JC>Maybe you need to re-read Peter's post as the reference to being carried in

his shirt pocket is in the first paragraph. I didn't just make it up.

Yes, you are right. I apologise for my mistake.

JC>You've got 'em. BTW, I noticed you made no response to my questions about the capitalization or repair facilities of the company that's apparently localizing the software and OS to English. Regardless of how cool the thing looks in the pictures and the specs, the company that sells them still matters. I also haven't seen any evidence of what the warranty coverage is yet. The Sharp page also lists that Japanese versions of Windows are necessary to connect to the C700. No mention of Linux at all. So it appears you're still stuck with Windows (assuming the port to English works) to connect to a Linux PDA. Seems pretty silly to me.

I made to response because there was nothing wrong with your statements. I have no vested interest in C700 or Dynamism. Neither is Peter promoting buying the C700 from Dynamism. However you might be interested in knowing Dynamism is known for selliing laptops which are officially exclusively available in Japan for a number of years,to the international market. In response to your latter statements, what is wrong in using Windows to connect to my PDA (linux or otherwise)? My Revo synchs very well with my Windows 2000 laptop running Outlook 2000, and I enjoy the combo, thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Koi Hin

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 21:29:17 +0000

From: "Wong Koi Hin"

Subject: RE: C700 (response to Rolf Brunsting)

Dear Rolf,

RB>A comparison is made between the Sharp C700 handheld computer and the small Sony C1VN laptop computer. One of the reasons for buying the Sony rather than the Sharp is the application and file compatibility Jim talked about.

Not quite the whole story. The comparison was made in the context of a successor to the Revo.

<< Again, while Peter was preaching to the choir, you are obviously talking to the wrong crowd, a lot of people on this list have been using their Psions very well despite not having 100% compatibility with MS products ... >>

RB>The reason why the EPOC Digest is 770+ members strong rather than 7,700+ could very well be that we're part of a minority group which doesn't need a high level of compatibility with Microsoft products.

Thank you for helping me make my point. Peter's comments were addressed at the people on this list. So as with your statement above, Jim's comments about compatibility is not a overriding factor.

<< I suspect they would take the Symbian OS any day over 100% MS compatibility if it means using MS OSes >>

RB>Count me out - I'm not interested in this kind of operating system snobbishness. When I bought my first PDA, a Psion Series 3a, I didn't even know which operating system it was using. Nor the name of the operating system of the Sharp Zaurus that lost the final competition for my money against the 3a. It's later that I learned that the Series 3a ran EPOC and the Zaurus Synergy. And the reason why I stayed with Psion equipment is that Psion succeeded to meet my requirements through the years.

How would this be construed as OS snobbishness? In my work and and personal spheres, I use Windows 2000, Windows 2000 server, Red Hat Linux, Mandrake Linux, Sun Solaris, Symbian ER5 and PocketPC. (yes, I do have a pocketpc device) I am using the Psion devices for the same reason you are; they meet my requirements. I would like to have 100% MS compatibility (again I reiterate, I suspect most people on this list do), but not if it means giving up the use of the EPOC operating system which I find more suited to my PDA needs.

Kind Regards,

Koi Hin

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 21:34:54 +0000

From: AndyH

Subject: Powerbase Caveat / EPOC Dreams

Hi All

Owen, or anyone else come to that, be careful with Powerbase if you decide to use it. If you create a table on a netBook and make the minimised table larger than screen depth of the Mako (this is just an example - you may not own the kit involved - but it makes a point), then copy the file to the Mako, you will find that you wont be able to reduce the size of the table to fit the depth of the Mako screen because you will never be able to get hold of the bottom corner to drag it up. It has happened to me!

Rather than yet another PDA, mine are selling well (!) the device of choice for me would be an EPOC PC. No emulator - never been able to get one working however simple the instructions. Just imagine an instant on EPOC PC. Excellent! We generally use Win2k on the desktop at work. Probably a couple of minutes to boot up and connect to the various network stuff. I was going to dump an old Compaq Deskpro 486 with Win 3.1 on it. Someone wanted it for their son so I deleted some rubbish off it and added some extra ram that I had laying around. I couldn't believe how quickly it booted up. I wish I had timed it, but for those that use RiscOS it wasn't that much slower.

Its nice to see so many people getting the Malaybooks. There is nothing quite as good as the netBook IMHO. Even though the size isn't always the most convenient, for me it is the best all round for size and usability. I will miss PsiNMEA, which doesn't run on the netBook. Once you have used a netBook for a while your eyesight starts to recover!

Andy Hayes

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 22:30:20 +0000

From: AndyH

Subject: Printing Problems / Other OS' / Enclosures

Hi all

Edgar asked: HOW TO PRINT VIA ETHERNET? Could you build a solution around FTP and VNC? Upload the files over FTP to the server then drop the file onto the printer icon using VNC. Not pretty, but it should work (well for some file types!). Looks like a trip to the PC shop to buy Acrobat (for its distiller), or a web visit to Neuon for nConvert! Would there be any way to set up a watched folder where the file was FTP'd to and would then be dropped onto the print queue automatically? Funnily enough I have a similar problem at work that I need a solution to.

Rick mentioned other OS' used on PCs. Until about 18 months ago all of the (300) desktop (at work) OS' were somewhere between DOS3 (yes really) and Win95. Servers were Novell 3.2, a couple of NT4s and a couple of Sun boxes. Now we have swapped over to Win2k servers mainly and Win2k on the desktop. The Suns survive as print servers for the Macs, but will be binned soon. No, don't ask me the question that is going through your head at the moment. I wanted to replace the Suns with linux boxes but my company doesn't like using free stuff on PCs that I was going to dump anyway. Some logic there I suppose, but haven't got my head around it yet!

Sergio mentioned enclosures. Just bought one today for 50 ukp. This will take 3.5 inch ide devices. I use one at home to put redundant hard drives in. The one bought today was for a CD burner.

Andy Hayes

*++++++++++&

Date: 3 Apr 2003 22:59:59 +0000

From: Kevin Thorne

Subject: Instant on, colour screen talk

Koi Hin replied to a posting:

Yes, I agree too. A 30 second boot up time is FAR too long for a PDA because of the way this particular type of computer is used. Just out of interest, I have a two-thirds full 1 GB Microdrive in my S7 and this can take 4 to 5 seconds to spin up to working speed when I first switch the S7 on....that's annoying enough as it is!

COLOUR SCREEN TALK

Without wishing to stir up the great battery debate again I just wanted to mention my own thoughts as we are discussing the merits of a colour screened 5mx again. I can only relate to my own experiences with my Nokia 9210 (which I've used for 9 months now). To me, this is the only acceptable replacement for my 5mx. I wanted decent battery life and a high resolution colour screen and now have both. Colour photos look great on it (4096 colours) but the rather squat aspect ratio makes me long for the same screen on a 5mx. It has a reasonable keyboard (but nowhere near as good as the Psion's) and the O/S is EPOC - although ER6 it has that familiar Psion feel. I can get 2 day's work out of it before a recharge. If I use it more moderately then 3 days. Take a spare battery and that turns into 6 days. Remember, this is also a fully featured phone so it's just one unit to take away with you. If you ONLY wanted to use the PDA side of it then my guess is it would last 7 - 10 days or more on one recharge, depending on usage of around 1 hour per day. My point is I wouldn't really want it to run off AA cells as the super slim Nokia li-ion pack is much, much lighter and smaller and gives a more than reasonable run time. What I am trying to say is that Nokia have already proved that you can now have a decent colour screen AND decent battery life without recourse to AA cells. All we need now is for Nokia's expertise to be bestowed upon a colour 5mx and I'd be a very happy bunny <G>

Regards

Kevin Thorne

*++++++++++&

Date: 4 Apr 2003 11:45:33 +0000

From: Dick Chatjaval

Subject: Company Accounting

Itamar, thank you for your suggestion. A search in Tucows turned up Company Accounting (Version 2.9.9). Website of vendor/author is:

www.pocketIQ.com

I haven't tried it yet, but after reading the Readme/Help file, I think it is very useful for small companies on-the-go with a need to make quick invoices including VAT. Also, reports on company performance can be generated. I have copied a section from the Readme:

"The Financial Overview contains the following financial key numbers:

-The total income within the given period (excluding VAT)

-The total expenses including assets (excluding VAT)

-Total balance of the period (total income minus total expenses)

-Total balance of the entire Company Accounting file (not only within the given period)

-Incoming VAT from sales within the given period

-Outgoing VAT from purchases within the given period

-VAT payments made to the tax office within the given period

-VAT balance within the given period (incoming VAT minus outgoing VAT minus VAT payments to the tax office)

-The total VAT balance (not only within the given period). This number tells me how much VAT I still need to pay to the tax office (negative number) or how much VAT the tax office owes me (positive number) "

The author has also presented his annual returns to the Danish tax dept. which was accepted by them.

My needs are for a program with accnt receivable/payable to track unpaid invoices and bills, which I will try in the next few days and report back.

Best regards,

Dick

*++++++++++&

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