Epocdigest V1 # 428

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Epoc Digest Tue, 20 Jan 2004 Volume 01 : Number 428

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Sent to: 796 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 13 messages:

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- Zaurus CL-860

- Re: Random numbers

- Re: Random numbers.

- Re: Sita / n-Dream / mBook

- Re: Netpad,power supplys, wonderful digest

- Re: Random numbers.

- Re: Epoc Digest V1 # 427 (16)

- How do I convert Psion 5 Record (sound) files to play on my PC

- n-Dream and replacements

- Wireless

- Re: Random numbers

- Treo? Treo!

- Power supply rating for Netbooks

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 08:03:50 +0100

From: Gerrit Muilwijk

Subject: Zaurus CL-860

On 13 Jan 2004 10:43:32 +0100

Wong Koi Hin wrote about Zaurus CL-760 - now CL

860? OT

>>Does anyone know if the CL-760 has been renamed as the CL-860? Or is

it an upgrade? Thanks for any info on this.<<

As I understand, the CL-860 is identical to the CL 760, with one

exception: de CL-860 is a usb-device, so your pc recognises it without

specific software as an external disk. Try

www.shirtpocket.co.uk/docs/zaurus.SL-C750.SL-C760.php for a review.

Greetings,

Gerrit Muilwijk

Dordrecht

The Netherlands

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 08:41:19 +0100

From: Raymond Bergmark

Subject: Re: Random numbers

Hi!

Instead of

RANDOMIZE DAY+HOUR+MINUTE+SECOND

I would use

RANDOMIZE 86400*DAY+3600*HOUR+60*MINUTE+SECOND

If I remember correctly, seeds for random numbers should be odd, better still is to double the result above and add "1".

What happens when you use the original alternative is that the seed is set to the same value soon again. If you try it every second for 10 minutes, instead of 600 different seeds you get 51 values 10 times, 2 values 9 times, 2 values 7 times etc down to 2 values 1 time (a total of 600 values).

Hope this helps!

Best regards,

Raymond Bergmark

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 08:55:06 +0100

From: Thomas Richter

Subject: Re: Random numbers.

Hi Owen,

> the random doesn't seem to be very random.

That is 'cause the seed you use to initialize the random number generator is quite often the same, as you pick one value out of 120:

> RANDOMIZE DAY+HOUR+MINUTE+SECOND

Try to omit this line. Or execute it only once after starting your program, not every time before you need a "random" number.

Tom

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 11:25:11 +0100

From: Owen H. Morgan

Subject: Re: Sita / n-Dream / mBook

Howdy!

Andy Hayes wrote (> ):

> I still think that the best antispam measure is to

> keep changing your email address.

This will keep all those nice e-mails from people you haven't heard from for a while from cluttering up your mailbox too. Of course, if you want to disappear without a trace...

I've used the same e-mail address for a long time and hardly ever receive any spam. My solution is simply to never ever ever post my e-mail address on the WWW and to strongly discourage anyone else from doing so. Those of you who are already receiving spam by the truckload will have to change your e-mail address before employing this policy.

Works for me.

Owen

Thought for the day:

In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.

Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-928°07.85'N 15°25.66'W

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

http://home.no.net/naomij

Phone and SMS:

In Spain: +34 620520079

In Norway: +47 92053097

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 11:25:19 +0100

From: Owen H. Morgan

Subject: Re: Netpad,power supplys, wonderful digest

Howdy!

Scott Lloyd wrote (> ):

> I am now

> considering using a Revo as well because of the

> small form factor, does anybody else use a Revo

> daily and have you had any problems.

I have used a Revo daily for around three years. In the beginning, I used the Revo as the pocket machine and the 5mx as home base, but as I became more used to the Revo keyboard, it took over more and more, and the 5mx is now mainly used as a backup for the Revo (synched with EpocSync) and as an archive of old e-mail messages, Tomeraider files etc.

I started off with an 8mb Revo for around 6 months, then I sold that and replaced it with a Diamond Mako when those were dumped for $99 in the US. Last summer, my Mako was falling apart, but still working well. A friend donated a slightly malfunctioning 8mb Revo, and I put the Mako motherboard into the Revo case and this is the machine this message is being typed on.

Much has been said about the battery "problem" of the Revo. I normally use the Revo for at least an hour each day, often much more. My experience is that as long as I put the machine on charge every night, never charge it while it is switched on and always let it charge for at least 6 hours, I don't have a problem. On the rear occasions that I don't use the machine at all during the day, or only for a few minutes, I don't put it on charge that night.

The one thing to watch out for is if you don't have the original 6V power supply, you must make sure the one you use has enough oomph to charge the Revo. If you use a third party power supply rated at for instance 200mA, the Revo will think it's getting the full charge (400mA IIRC?) and stop the charge too early. The software will then show 100% when the battery is far from full.

Owen

Thought for the day:

A dirty mind is a joy for life.

Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-928°02.83'N 16°42.89'W

Los Cristianos, Tenerife

http://home.no.net/naomij

Phone and SMS:

In Spain: +34 620520079

In Norway: +47 92053097

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 11:36:48 +0100

From: Chris S Handley

Subject: Re: Random numbers.

Owen H. Morgan wrote:

> My problem is that the random doesn't seem to be very random.

> It very often comes up with the same records again.

> RANDOMIZE DAY+HOUR+MINUTE+SECOND

> RecNr%=1+INT(RND*MxRec%)

> Any idea how to make the selection truly random, or at least

> more so?

Hello Owen,

You have made a mistake which is easy to make, but before I give the solution, I will explain the mistake you made:

The number you feed RANDOMIZE determines the sequence of "random" numbers generated by RND. So if you give RANDOMIZE the fixed number (say) 86, then RND will always generate exactly the *same* sequence of numbers - not random at all!

You probably know all that, and will tell me you give RANDOMIZE the sum of the day, hour, minute & second, which is not fixed. This is where you are actually mistaken! It is like rolling a dice several times & then adding the result up:

Each dice gives a random number from 1-6, but if you add (say) four rolls of the dice up, then you are VERY likely to get the sum 14 (or 13 or 15), but very UNlikely to get the sum 4 or 24 (because four 1s or four 6s is very unlikely).

In the same way, adding up a "day dice" (1-31), an "hour dice" (0-23), a "minute dice" (0-59), and a "second dice" (0-59), you are VERY likely to get a number close to 86, but very UNlikely to get a number close to 1 or 172.

So since the number you feed RANDOMIZE will often be the same, you cannot expect RND to be random :-( . But do not despair! While you need to ensure you feed RANDOMIZE a different number each time, you do NOT have to make that number be "random" - even feeding it the sequence 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,etc will cause RND to output truely random numbers.

So a first step would be to feed RANDOMIZE the number "SECOND + 60*MINUTE", which gives a unique number every second in the hour. But thats still not random enough, so we can feed it "SECOND + 60*(MINUTE + 60*HOUR)", which gives a different number every second in a whole day. I guess you can see where this is leading? The final "ultimate RANDOMIZE number" is: <drum roll>

INT((((MONTH*31.0 + DAY)*24.0 + HOUR)*60.0 + MINUTE)*60.0 + SECOND)

The reason for using floating point numbers (e.g. 31.0 instead of 31) is that by the time you include the MONTH, your sum can potentially equal a VERY large number (nearly 35 million!) and this is too large for OPL to handle using 'short' integer maths (which only handles up to 32767 !).

Using this, you can comfortably expect a random sequence every second of the entire year :-)

Regards,

Chris Handley

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 13:09:02 +0100

From: Neil Ogden

Subject: Re: Epoc Digest V1 # 427 (16)

Can anyone tell me if I pursue the idea of changing to a USB connection,

1. How do I tell PSIWin that I want ti use this method of communication.

and 2. is this easy to do in Windows 98SE.

All my USB devices have required drivers to be installed, so if this will be the case with PSIWIN, where do I get that from, or will OSIWin automatically detect that communication from the docking station is coming to a USB port instead of a COM port?

I don't want to spend the money on a converter if it isn't likely this will work!

Thanks

Neil

****

www.neilogden.co.uk

>>>>Subject: communicating with USB port- made easy by a converter

I am using a "USB to Serial cable converter " in order to connect my Ericsson to a laptop PC. It is working fine. As far as I remember, I paied about 150 danish kroner, which is about 23 US$ for the converter.

"Prolific Technology Inc".is the manufacturer of the converter.

All the best

Davoud.>>>>

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 13:52:50 +0100

From: Roger C Haslock

Subject: How do I convert Psion 5 Record (sound) files to play on my PC

How do I convert Psion 5 Record (sound) files to play on my PC?

I am using an unimproved Psion 5, PsiWin version 2, and am living in Thailand.

I recently recorded some singing on my Psion, and would like to play it on my PC, but my attempts so far have failed.

1) Documentation suggests that Record produces wav files, but WinAmp won't recognise them.

2) The PsiWin converters don't.

3) File converters I have so far tried from the web seem only to address office tools.

4) Many internet links on this point seem to be stale.

I would appreciate any advice people can offer.

I can be contacted on +6638771667 or +6668246757.

Regards

- Roger C Haslock -

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 16:02:51 +0100

From: Kevin Collins

Subject: n-Dream and replacements

Hi folks,

Thanks for the suggestions. I am trying Spamache's 7-day trial at present, and it seems to be effective indeed!

The only problem I see with the free Despammed is that one needs a new email address, and I don't wish to change mine.

On the subject of n-Dream, there is now free Windows software on the site: I tried it briefly, but could not get it to work... however it is only at beta stage.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Kevin [Cork, Ireland]

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 16:30:39 +0100

From: Manuel Campos Galvan

Subject: Wireless

Answer to Itamar:

">e.: Wireless Card - I understand that downloading email is not a problem with Wifi connections, but how can you send email for example at McDonnalds if you don't know the SMTP server they use ?"

I had the same questions you had concerning the usage of outgoing SMTP. The McDonalds and Starbucks WiFi spots charge for their access, and they can provide you with the SMTP server to use. Since the service is subcontracted to ISP (T-Mobile handles Starbucks and certain airline lounges such as American Airlines) once you have the settings for one, it should work in all other locations. As for the free WiFi spots, that's more tricky. Some will have homepages that will tell you, otherwise you may only surf and download.

Regards,

Manuel Campos

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 21:47:18 +0100

From: David Steer $Plus$

Subject: Re: Random numbers

Owen,

Basically the code principle is good, however, the seed you pass RANDOMISE is actually quite limited and is likely to give you the same sequence. I use the following to seed the random number generator:

Rem *****************

Rem * Set Randomise *

Rem *****************

ThisSeed&=(Month*Day*Minute)

If LastSeed&=ThisSeed&

LastSeed&=LastSeed&+1

Else

LastSeed&=ThisSeed&

EndIf

SaveINI:

RANDOMIZE LastSeed&

I actually store the last seed value in a file so that I can ensure that the same seed is not used for two consecutive run times.

Regards

David

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

Date: 19 Jan 2004 23:30:12 +0100

From: Jim Watson-Gove

Subject: Treo? Treo!

I am finally retiring my Treo. If I could find a way to do BCC with the Psion on Earthlink, I would retire the Dana as well.

If anyone on the list wants to explore Palm OS it is available, with registered WordSmith and registered Snappermail. The cable charger and disk comes with it. I got it at a great price ($150) and will let it go to someone on the list for 50% of that number + postage.It's a Treo 90 {no phone, 15 megs, thumb-board), 32 meg flash, refistered Backup Buddy.

Please answer off-list.

jim - port townsend

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

Date: 20 Jan 2004 00:24:41 +0100

From: Shlomo

Subject: Power supply rating for Netbooks

Hi,

Can anybody tell me if an original UK power supply for Revo (6v/500ma), will suit the Netbook. If not, what is the required rating for the Ntb.